Yorty Elected Mayor!

Posted on June 1, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  June 1, 1961, Times Cover  

  June 1, 1961, Comics  

June 1, 1961: Sam Yorty defeats Norris Poulson in the mayor’s race. Poulson says one reason for his loss was the Memorial Day riot in Griffith Park in which a mob of African Americans attacked a small group of LAPD officers. The riot broke out when the operator of the merry-go-round tried to eject a teenager who had gotten on without paying, The Times said. Two men were eventually convicted in the incident.

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Posted in #courts, 1961, art and artists, Comics, Countdown to Watts, Crime and Courts, Front Pages, LAPD, Parks and Recreation | Comments Off on Yorty Elected Mayor!

Jim Murray, ‘Gentlemen, Start Your Coffins!’

Posted on May 31, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 29, 1966, Mag Wheels  

  May 29, 1966, Jim Murray  

June 29, 1966: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the  50th annual Memorial Day Safety Contest, the world's fastest traffic jam. This year, in order to more nearly approximate road conditions on our nation's highways and test performance under authentic hazards, we have brought about several changes in the field."
 
By special request! This one’s for you, Art!

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1966, Columnists, Motor Sports | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 31, 1941

Posted on May 31, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 31, 1941, Arthur Hohmann's Son Dies  

  May 31, 1941, Comics  

May 31, 1941 – Arthur Hohmann, the LAPD’s reform police chief, will step down in June, citing the deaths of his son and his mother. He was replaced by Clemence C.B. “Jack” Horrall, who served as chief during World War II and retired in 1949 during the Brenda Allen scandal.

Lee Shippey says: It is strange how masterminds disagree as to whether the president's speech last Tuesday means war. So I think I should clear up the matter for my readers.

The speech does not necessarily mean war. All it means is that we must fight or the Nazis must surrender. I'm not joking. I do not think it impossible that the Nazis will surrender.

Also on the jump:  The Times opposes gasoline conservation, Daylight Saving Time and other measures as the country moves toward  wartime stringency measures. Typically, The Times says that the real way to prepare for war is to forbid strikes by unions!

And yes, The Times’ editorial page featured a Bible quote every day for many years.

HOLLYWOOD AFTER DARK: Carole Lombard grinning apologetically at the Hollywood and Vine traffic cop as her car rolls too far into the intersection, Jimmie Fidler says.

Also From The Times’ Editorial Page:

Don’t Recall Mayor Frank Shaw, 1938
Don’t Change Immigration Quotas for Jewish Refugees Fleeing Hitler, 1938
We Don’t Need a Federal Anti-Lynching Law, 1938
U.S. Shouldn’t Recognize Red China, 1959
Times Endorses Nixon, 1960

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Posted in 1941, City Hall, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 31, 1941

Jim Murray, May 31, 1961

Posted on May 31, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 31, 1961, Indianapolis 5000  

  May 31, 1961, Indianapolis 500  
  May 31, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 31, 1961: Emile Griffith is a slashing boxer from the Virgin Islands whose waist is so narrow and shoulders so wide that he would have to go to a tailor for his suits even if it weren't the only way he could get a belt in the back that buttons in the middle — and colors to match the silver and gold buckles on his shoes.

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, boxing, Columnists, Sports | 2 Comments

Vote for Poulson!

Posted on May 31, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 31, 1961, Vote for Poulson  

May 31, 1961: The Times publishes a Page 1 editorial urging readers to reelect Mayor Norris Poulson because Sam Yorty would “ruin good government.” Despite The Times’ aggressive endorsement of Poulson, voters elected Yorty, who was mayor until 1973, when he was defeated by Tom Bradley.

Posted in 1961, City Hall, Politics | Comments Off on Vote for Poulson!

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 30, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 28, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: This is Lisa Eilbacher in a photo published Nov. 24, 1977. Please congratulate JM Green, Cold in Phoenix, Barbara, Mary Mallory and Candy C for identifying her. ] 

Here’s our weekend mystery gal!

There’s a new photo on the jump!

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

Memorial Day, 1941

Posted on May 30, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 31, 1941, Memorial Day  
  May 31, 1941, Memorial Day
May 31, 1941, Memorial Day 		 
  May 31, 1941, Spanish American War Veterans  
  May 31, 1941, Spanish American War  

  May 31, 1941, Civil War  

  May 31, 1941, Memorial Day  

Memorial Day, 1941: “The crowd rose to its feet in acclaim to two troops of Boy Scouts marching along behind their unit banners and the national ensign.

“The boys were all Japanese.

“But none carried themselves more proudly than these boys of Los Angeles Scout Troops 197 and 379.

“And who could say that he was a better American than 16-year-old Yoneo Nakashima, color-bearer of Troop 197?”
 
History will provide an ugly answer to that question in a few months.

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Posted in 1910 L.A. Times bombing, 1941, Cemeteries, Hollywood, World War II | Comments Off on Memorial Day, 1941

Found on EBay – Symphony Theater

Posted on May 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Symphony Theater, 1921  

  Symphony Theater, 1921  

 

Oct. 9, 1921, Never Weaken Oct. 8, 1921, Never Weaken

A photograph of what appears to be the opening of Harold Lloyd’s 1921 “Never Weaken” has been listed on EBay. The vendor erroneously says that the theater is the Mason Opera House, but The Times shows that the film premiered at the Symphony, at 6th Street and Broadway, and a few letters of the word “Symphony” are  visible  behind Lloyd’s picture.

I don’t encounter the Symphony Theater very often in the old clips. It opened Aug. 29, 1914, “on the east side of Broadway near Sixth,” The Times said.  The theater was apparently demolished in 1923.

Bidding on the photo starts at $9.99.

Posted in 1914, 1923, Architecture, Downtown, Film, Found on EBay | 4 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 28, 1941

Posted on May 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 28, 1941, President Declares Emergency  

  May 28, 1941, Comics  

May 28, 1941: LONDON, May 27 (AP) — The 35,000-ton German battleship Bismarck, one of the newest and most powerful in the world, was smashed and sunk today by British warships and aerial bombers on the fifth morning of as coldly implacable a chase as sea warfare has ever known.

Jimmie Fidler says: Tucked away in a corner of the Los Angeles Times the other day was an item that left me cold with rage…. The item to which I refer digested down to this: "The Hollywood Guild may have to close its doors and cease aiding unfortunate members of the film industry because the drain of foreign charities has cut so deeply into the guild's income as to threaten its existence.”

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! How can American-born actors and executives of the movie industry be so blind? How can they continue to pour thousands of dollars into foreign relief funds, meanwhile ignoring the pitiful cry of indigents right here at home?

Also on the jump: A map of the Bismarck’s demise by Times artist Charles Owens.

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Nuestro Pueblo, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 28, 1941

Jim Murray, May 28, 1961

Posted on May 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  May 28, 1961, Surfboards  
  May 28, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 28, 1961: On the battlefields of baseball this year it has become quite evident that the Los Angeles Angels are the Serbs of the American League. They do not have the firepower to win the war or even any major battles.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 27, 1941

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  May 27, 1941, Battle Raging in Atlantic  

  May 27, 1941, Comics  

image  LONDON, May 27 (Tuesday.) (AP) — British warships apparently were engaged in a mighty duel with a German battle squadron, including the 35,000-ton Bismarck, in the North Atlantic early today after a British naval plane rammed an aerial torpedo into the Bismarck.

Lee Shippey has an item on Homer Lea (d. 1912), the author of the 1909 book "The Valor of Ignorance." (The book is also listed on world.cat.) Despite considerable physical handicaps, Lea became a military advisor to Sun Yat-sen and his observations on Japan were widely studied during World War II. (I wrote a long post about Lea for the 1947project. Stay tuned for another one on the Daily Mirror.)

The home for destitute actors, to be built near Hollywood with Motion Picture Relief Fund money, will be named "Roosevelt Home," Jimmie Fidler says.  

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 27, 1941

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 23, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update 2: Yes, I got tricky. There were two Jack Lamberts in the Jack Lambert envelope!

[BAD MAN … 1800 style … is popular character actor Jack Lambert, here seen as the villainous Valentine, right-hand man to bandit Wallace Beery in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Big Jack." Beneath the scar and coonskin cap, Lambert's really a solid citizen who would sooner kid than kill. In addition to Beery, the cast includes Richard Conte, Marjorie Main, Vanessa Brown and Edward Arnold. Richard Thorpe directed, Gottfried Reinhardt, producing.

[Jack Lambert — Popular character actor. Latest release "Big Jack" opposite the late Wallace Beery. Just finished featured lead in "Stars in My Crown" opposite Joel McCrea for M-G-M. Lambert has played in 35 pictures in 4 years.

[The photo is stamped July 26, 1949. ]

[Update: This is everybody’s favorite villain! Please congratulate Julie Merholz, Bob Levinson, Michael Ryerson, Jenny M, Fibber McGee, Lee Ann Thom and Megan, [Update: Mike Hawks], Carmen, Mary Mallory and Don Danard (via email) for identifying him!] 

Here’s a tough-looking mystery fellow!

There’s a new photo on the jump!

 

 

 

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 37 Comments

Coming Attractions: Silent Movies!

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 8, 1920, Humoresque  

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is presenting Summer of Silents, nine selections chosen from movies that were awarded Photoplay magazine’s  Medal of Honor. Except for “The General,” the films will be shown on Monday nights at 7 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., starting June 13 and concluding Aug. 8. Most presentations will include opening remarks by a film historian.

A pass for the series is $25 ($20 for Academy members and students). Tickets for individual films go on sale June 1.

The films are:

June 13, "Humoresque" plus "One Week" (1920), Cari Beauchamp.

June 20, "Tol'able David" plus "Never Weaken" (1921), David Shepard.

June 27, "Robin Hood" plus "Pay Day" (1922), Jeffrey Vance.

July 11, "The Covered Wagon" (1923) plus fragments of "Abraham Lincoln" (1924) and 3-D images from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923).

July 18, "The Big Parade" (1925), Kevin Brownlow.

July 20, "The General" (1927), Kevin Brownlow.

July 25, "Beau Geste" plus "Saturday Afternoon" (1926), Frank Thompson.

Aug. 1, "7th Heaven" (1927) plus "Mighty Like a Moose" (1926) and a fragment of "The Patriot" (1928), Janet Bergstrom.

Aug. 8, "Four Sons" plus "Two Tars"and a fragment of "The Case of Lena Smith" (1928).

Further information is here.

Posted in Coming Attractions, Film, Hollywood | 2 Comments

From the Stacks: ‘Bookmen and Their Brothels’

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

“Bookmen and Their Brothels: Recollections of Los Angeles in the 1930s” by Ward Ritchie recently showed up on EBay for too much money, so I borrowed a copy through interlibrary loan and spent a happy hour or so reading what was presumably the transcript of a speech to the Zamorano Club.

“Bookmen” is a splendid little item of 42 pages printed by Grant Dahlstrom in 1970 and evokes what must seem an improbable time when people cared about custom printing and binding – rather than a Kindle with generic fonts.

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Posted in 1970, art and artists, books, From the Stacks, Pages of History, Zombie Reading List | 2 Comments

Found on EBay – Shriners Convention

Posted on May 26, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Shriner postcard, 1907  

1907_0505_shriner_ostrich This postcard from the 1907 Shriners’ Convention in Los Angeles has been listed on EBay. The convention generated an almost endless assortment of pins, ribbons, plates, tumblers, postcards and other ephemera. I have never seen this one before. Bidding starts at $10.

At right, the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena welcomes the visiting Shriners.

Posted in 1907, Found on EBay | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Shriners Convention

Jimmie Fidler, May 26, 1941

Posted on May 26, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  May 26, 1941, Japan Army Seizes U.S. Property  

  May 26, 1941, Jimmie Fidler  

May 26, 1941: PITTSBURGH, May 25 (AP) — A man's leg was found along the Ohio River at suburban Moon Township tonight and detectives seeking the remainder of the body said it was probably "another murder" by the long-sought "Mad Butcher" of Cleveland, O."

We turn out a masterpiece titled "Grapes of Wrath" and convince our Latin neighbors that rural North America has gone to hell in high gear. We produce "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" to prove our political corruption, "Citizen Kane" to demonstrate the vices in our capitalistic system, "The Devil and Miss Jones" to make it plain that we're a bunch of downtrodden wage slaves and "Tobacco Road" to put across our cultural standards,  Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in #courts, 1941, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler, May 26, 1941

Jim Murray, May 26, 1961

Posted on May 26, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  May 26, 1961, Day in Sports  

 

  May 26, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 26, 1961: There was in our midst this week a young man whom the pressures of baseball exploded like a too-tightly wound clock. Jim Piersall has lived out his baseball career on the narrow edge of hysteria — and once in 1952 he toppled over when the Boston Red Sox (reluctantly, because he's a gifted player) had to throw a straitjacket over him and put him in a mental institution.

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Found on EBay – Batchelder Tile

Posted on May 25, 2011 by lmharnisch
 batchelder_tile_flowers_ebay_crop This Batchelder tile has been listed on EBay. According to the vendor, these tiles are 6 inches square and are stamped Batchelder on the back. Bidding starts at $42 or Buy It Now for $300. As with anything on EBay, an item and vendor should be investigated thoroughly before submitting a bid.

ALSO
Batchelder tile on the Daily Mirror.
Posted in Architecture, art and artists, Found on EBay, Real Estate | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Batchelder Tile

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 25, 1941

Posted on May 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  May 25, 1941, Nazis Sink Hood, British Sea Giant  

  May 25, 1941, Comics  

LONDON, MAY 24 (AP) — The 42,100-ton battle cruiser Hood, largest warship in the world, was blown to bits in the waters between Greenland and Iceland today by the new German battleship Bismarck during a battle of grave import between the behemoths of the British and German navies.

How refreshing to see a young actress as refreshingly plump (not fat) as Joan Leslie, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 25, 1941

Jim Murray, May 25, 1961

Posted on May 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  May 25, 1961, Day in Sports  

 

  May 25, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 25, 1961: Baseball fans may be a superstitious lot, but they’re nothing compared to the players and their mystic rites. Jim Murray says: “You can always tell a ball team on a winning streak. The locker room smells like a flophouse. Most ballplayers wouldn't think of changing an article of clothing while they're winning.”

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, art and artists, Baseball, Columnists, Comics, Sports | Comments Off on Jim Murray, May 25, 1961