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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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.

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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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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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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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Found on EBay – Ocean Park Bathhouse

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
image
 
The bathhouse at Ocean Park, as shown in the Los Angeles Herald.

July 5, 1905, Ocean Park Bathhouse ocean_park_bathhouse_ebay

This card, postmarked 1907, showing the bathhouse at Ocean  Park has been listed on EBay. The bathhouse was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1905. The bathhouse, built at a cost of $200,000 ($4,789,896.02 USD 2010), contained 531 rooms, 2,500 suits and 5,300 towels. The Los Angeles Herald said "4,000 persons can use the plunges during a period of 10 hours with comfort."

The postcard is listed as Buy It Now for $7.23.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 24, 1941

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 24, 1941, 5000 Germans Drowned Off Crete  

  May 24, 1941, Comics  

May 24, 1941: HOLLYWOOD AFTER DARK: The Mocambo orchestra hailing Jimmy Stewart home on leave with "Till Reveille" … Maureen O'Hara at the Beverly Tropics, giving the waiter an involved order in French — and escort Bill Lundigan amazed when it turns out to be a hamburger … Orson Welles, on a boulevard corner, eyeing an overhead blimp trailing a "Citizen Kane" ad — blimp ogles blimp … An aviation officer at Florentine Gardens getting aitch from his girlfriend when he too obviously enjoys being kissed by the entire chorus.

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Vice President Predicts ‘Long, Costly’ Struggle in Southeast Asia

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

May 24, 1961: Radio and TV comedy star Joan Davis dies of a heart attack and gets a Page 1 obituary with a jump. Raymond Chandler got an six-paragraph obituary on Page 4.  Davis was 48 when she died.

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Posted in 1961, broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Politics, Raymond Chandler, Television | 1 Comment

Jim Murray, May 24, 1961

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 24, 1961, Day in Sports  

  May 24, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 24, 1961: Donald George Bragg is depressed. In the first place, some young upstart had just broken his listed world record in the pole vault. In the second place, the upstart had done it using a fiberglass pole and it is the considered opinion of Donald George that this is like winning a craps game with dice you can't throw a seven with, or a card game with five natural aces.

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Bullet of Mystery – Part 5

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

July 11, 1901, Lionel Comport lionel_comport_nd_crop

In case you just tuned in, I’m posting a small case study of research I did with Caroline Comport on her grandfather Lionel Comport for her master’s thesis. Researching Los Angeles is a treasure hunt, and every time I dig into the resources I find something new.

Bullet of Mystery – Part 1
Bullet of Mystery – Part 2
Bullet of Mystery – Part 3
Bullet of Mystery – Part 4
 
In Part 1, I summarized the case of Lionel Comport, a milkman who was shot in the back while making his rounds in 1901. In Part 2, we looked at some of the resources for online newspapers, and in Part 3, we examined sites that have property records on the corner where the shooting occurred. In Part 4, we delved into the Sanborn maps of the neighborhood. In my final post in the series, I’ll talk about one of the happy discoveries of research. There are, of course, many more places to look. This is a merely a sample.

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Posted in #courts, 1901, Crime and Courts, Film, From the Stacks, health, Hollywood, Pages of History, Zombie Reading List | 3 Comments

Found on EBay – Duesenberg

Posted on May 23, 2011 by lmharnisch
duesenberg_generator_ebay Perhaps your Duesenberg Model J needs a rebuilt generator. Or perhaps you can’t afford an entire Model J but would like a piece of one. A Delco-Remy generator for a Duesenberg has been listed on EBay for $755. As with anything on EBay, an item and vendor should be examined thoroughly before submitting a bid.

Also on the Daily Mirror: Otis Chandler’s Duesenberg.
Posted in Found on EBay, Transportation | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 23, 1941

Posted on May 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 23, 1941, Navy Guns Blast Nazis at Crete  

  May 23, 1941, Comics  

May 23, 1941: Why is Luise Rainer, a brilliant artist, permitted to twiddle her thumbs at the Beverly Hills Hotel? (She came here to get her final divorce decree.) Why are incompetents given fine dramatic roles to ruin, when an actress of Miss Rainer's PROVED ability could make those parts great?

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Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 21, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

May 15, 1949, Ivan Jandl [Update 2: This is Ivan Jandl in "The Search." Jandl received a special Academy Award and a miniature statuette for outstanding juvenile performance, The Times said. According to IMDB, Jandl died in 1987. The Times apparently never published an obituary.]

[Update: Please congratulate Mary Mallory, Dewey Webb, Jenny M, Bob Levinson, Gerald McCann, Mike Hawks, Michael Ryerson, CandyC, La Peregrina and Rick Scott for identifying him!]

Here’s our weekend mystery lad!

There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 25 Comments

Jim Murray, May 23, 1961

Posted on May 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

  May 23, 1961, Day in Sports  

  May 23, 1961, Jim Murray  

May 23, 1961: The Angels, who have a clear track to 10th place at the moment, are even ready for desperate measures. They are encouraging people to come out and root AGAINST them.

I tested this idea for soundness with an old friend of mine from my magazine days, Chuck Champlin. He quickly switched his thoughts into gray flannel, pushed his horned-rimmed glasses up his nose and decided that what was needed was good old Madison Avenue know-how.

 

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