Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 7, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 7, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another mystery photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb!

Update: This is Cyril Cusack. Please congratulate Don Danard (first), Mike Hawks (second) and Megan Lee and Thom (third) for identifying him.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on May 7, 2012 by lmharnisch

hearse_cadillac_1968

A 1968 Cadillac hearse attributed by the vendor to Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold has been listed on EBay.

Queen of the Dead – dateline May 7, 2012

•  Two fashion models have left us. Lee Pepper Eliott, 86, died on April 26—she was a Miss New York runner-up in 1945, and modeled for the Richard Hudnut and Elizabeth Arden salons; she was also married to two radio comics: first Raymond Knight, then Bob Elliott (Chris Elliott is one of her children). “To the Queen!” reads her family’s obit for her. “Her warm smile and razor-sharp sense of humor will be dearly missed.” 1960s model Yvonne Presser (who died on April 20) is not telling us her age. But she modeled for Norman Norell, in “‘Boy Style’ haircut and ‘Von  Dongen’ eye makeup,” and appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country and other glossy mags, till she retired in 1970.

Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Authors, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Times Wins Pulitzer for Public Service

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 5, 1942, Comics

May 5, 1942, Times Wins Pulitzer

May 5, 1942: The Times wins a Pulitzer Prize for public service. The prize was awarded after The Times fought contempt of court charges for publishing editorials on pending cases.

The dispute began in 1938 when a group from the Los Angeles bar association went before a Superior Court judge asking that The Times be held in contempt for publishing the editorials in 1937-1938. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld The Times’ right to publish the editorials “and reaffirmed the doctrine of freedom of the press,” The Times said.

The editorials were:

Dec. 21, 1937, on the conviction of 22 in a sit-down strike at the Douglas plant.

Feb, 13, 1938,supporting a guilty verdict in the manslaughter trial of Paul Wright.

April 14, 1938,on the conviction of Helen Werner for soliciting a bribe.

April 16, 1938,on the legal fight between Jackie Coogan and his mother over his earnings as a child actor.

May 5, 1938,opposing probation for two Teamsters members convicted of assaulting nonunion truck drivers.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 4, 2012, Mystery Photo

For Friday, we have another photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb!

Please congratulate Xavier for identifying Patricia Knight!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

For Mother’s Day – The Victory Bra

Posted on May 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

Victory Bra

May 3, 1942: No, really. There was such a thing.

Posted in 1942, Fashion, World War II | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Snake Killer Dies on Gallows

Posted on May 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 2, 1942, Comics

May 2, 1942, Rattlesnake James

May 2, 1942: Major Raymond Lisenba, better known as Robert S. “Rattlesnake” James, becomes the 214th and last person to be executed by hanging in California. James was hanged because the murder of his wife occurred in 1935, before the introduction of the gas chamber in 1937.

James tried to kill his wife by binding her and putting her leg into a box containing two rattlesnakes. Although she was bitten, the venom wasn’t fatal — or at least hadn’t taken effect, so James drowned her in a bathtub and placed her body face-down in a backyard fish pond. (And yes, drowning in the backyard pond makes me think of “Chinatown.”)

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Homicide, World War II | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Movieland Mystery Photo

And here’s a mysterious chap…..

[Update: This this is Chester Morris in “After Midnight With Boston Blackie.” Please congratulate Bronson Bias (1), Don Danard (2), Mike Hawks (3), Kevin King (4), Rick Scott (5) and Mary Mallory (6) for identifying him.

Here’s my real reason for running the pictures:  Most of the Boston Blackie films were done on a sound stage or a back lot, but  “After Midnight With Boston Blackie” has a few street scenes during a car chase. (Ambulances, police cars and other official conveyances are never safe when Boston Blackie is around).  I don’t recognize any of them (it is “After Midnight”) but maybe someone will.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Black Dahlia Exhibit – Leslie Dillon

Posted on May 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Leslie Dillon

This is one of the 1949 photos of Leslie Dillon displayed in the Black Dahlia exhibit at the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.

In case you don’t recall, Dillon is the fellow who contacted LAPD psychiatrist J. Paul DeRiver after reading about the Black Dahlia case in a pulp crime magazine. DeRiver came to believe that Dillon was the killer and got Dillon to come for a rendezvous in Las Vegas under the pretext of taking a job as his personal secretary. DeRiver and the gangster squad began a separate – and secret – investigation, bypassing lead homicide detectives Harry Hansen and Finis Brown.

Oh, did it not end well.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1949, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Museums | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Found on EBay – Mullen and Bluett

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

Mullen and Bluett, Hawaiian Outfit

mullen_bluett_hawaiian_outfit_label When vintage fashion collides with Tiki-mania, look what happens: This vintage Hawaiian outfit from Mullen and Bluett, listed on EBay with bids starting at $99.99.

Posted in Fashion, Found on EBay | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 30, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s today’s mystery guest, courtesy of Steven Bibb!

[Update: This is Mickey Shaughnessy in “Pocketful of Miracles.” Please congratulate Dewey Webb (first), Pamela Porter (second), Bronson Bias (third), Michael Ryerson, Jenny M., Bill Krieger, Mike Hawks, Gary Martin, Barbara Klein, Herb Nichols, Roget-L.A., L.C. and Rick Scott for identifying him. ] 

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

hearse_1990_cadillac

A 1990 Cadillac hearse listed on EBay at $6,995.

Queen of the Dead – dateline April 30, 2012

•  Oh, dear. You know those Passion Plays—the religious kind, not the porno kind? Well, Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck, 27, was playing Judas, and you know that scene where he hangs himself? You see what’s coming, don’t you . . . During a Good Friday outdoor performance in Sao Paulo, his safety harness slipped, and photos show fellow cast members draping him in a shroud and carrying on with the show, not realizing the poor guy wasn’t breathing (which, I hope, means he was not in pain!). He died on April 22, after 17 days in the hospital on life support.

Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Religion | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

April 29, 1992

Posted on April 28, 2012 by lmharnisch

crowd is trying to break windows on 3rd floor… we can hear rocks hit…
(HARNISCH, 4/29/92 21:00)

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

On Assignment

Posted on April 27, 2012 by lmharnisch

I’m on assignment. It’s fun, but there are only so many hours in the day.

–Larry

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Men 45-64 Register With Draft Boards

Posted on April 26, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 26, 1942, Comics

April 25, 1942, Draft Registration

April 26, 1942: Men between the ages of 45 and 64 form a line a block long outside the draft board at 329 W. 2nd St. to comply with a new registration order.

The men would be called upon to serve in civilian jobs rather than in uniform, The Times says.

Among the first to register was one local draft board’s examining physician, Dr. Frederick L. McLeod, who was 63. “This is an all-out war we’re having,” he says. “We’ve got to get behind it. I think everyone should be registered — including women.”

The Ice-Capades of 1942 is at the Pan-Pacific.

Gag writer Wilkie Mahoney gives a brief explanation of humor in Philip K. Scheuer’s Town Called Hollywood.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Comics, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on April 25, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 25. 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another mystery photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb!

Update: This is John Lodge in “Mayerling to Sarajevo.” Please congratulate Mike Hawks and Mary Mallory for identifying him.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Black Dahlia – Los Angeles Police Historical Society

Posted on April 25, 2012 by lmharnisch

Black Dahlia Interview

The Daily Mirror visited the Los Angeles Police Historical Society on Saturday and stopped in at the Black Dahlia exhibit.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, Black Dahlia, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Museums | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on April 23, 2012 by lmharnisch

hearse_1959_oldsmobile
A postcard of a 1959 Oldsmobile hearse, listed on EBay with bids starting at $8.99.

Queen of the Dead – dateline April 23, 2012

•  The last of the old-time tummlers is gone. Lou Goldstein, famed at the borscht-belt hotel Grossinger’s from 1948 till it closed in 1986, died on April 2, aged 90. “Tummler” is, essentially, Yiddish for “obnoxious loud-mouth.” Not literally, of course: but they were hired by hotels to run around like six Lucille Balls on crack, making jokes, singing, clowning, anything to get lazy vacationers up and enjoying themselves, whether they goddam wanted to or not. Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar and Red Buttons all started their careers as tummlers, so—well, there you are. Blogger Adam Dickter in The New York Jewish Week recalls Goldstein’s “winning personality as a natural people person, exactly the type the managers at Grossinger’s and other hotels needed: a front man to work the crowd, remember their names, kibitz with them and compliment their kids on how fine they’ve grown up.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Found on EBay, Hollywood, Queen of the Dead, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

State OKs Women Wearing Pants to Work

Posted on April 21, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 21, 1942, Women Wear Pants

April 21, 1942, Women Wear Pants

April 21, 1942: It took the approval of State Public Works Director Frank W. Clark, but women are wearing pants to work!

The fashion iconoclasts are Olive Faisy and Lorena Hermance, telephone operators at the State Building. They were joined by Ruth Jordan, a stenographer for the city of Los Angeles, who received permission from J.D. Lathrop, chief clerk in the traffic violations bureau.

The ladies say that wearing slacks and a blouse is more economical than a dress, and they avoid the costs of a slip, hose and can wear less expensive shoes.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Fashion, World War II | Tagged , | 3 Comments

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 26

Posted on April 20, 2012 by lmharnisch

"Full Service" cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

We have moved on, ever so slightly, to the further exploits of Scotty Bowers in 1946. In this portion of the book, he’s discussing life in Los Angeles.

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

 

Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 25 [Updated]

Posted on April 19, 2012 by lmharnisch

"Full Service" cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

Several regular readers have asked whether I have given up on “Full Service.” The answer is no. I’ve been busy with my job at The Times, writing an occasional column (shout out to Ed Fuentes) and working on “Titanic. 100 Years Later,” an e-book that The Times has released.

In addition, the Daily Mirror HQ is undergoing renovations. The painters are here and everything is shrouded in plastic. Anyone who has done home repairs knows what I’m talking about.

But let’s plunge ahead to Page 7 — and according to my calculations, at the present rate, it will take more than 1,000 posts to finish the book. Hm. Should I rethink this?

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24

Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , | 8 Comments