September 12, 1944
Charles Holdren, 45, lived at 1515 Trolleyway, Venice, with his wife, Ellen, and daughters from a previous marriage: Virginia, 20, Peggy, 18, and Lois, 13. He worked as a fish cutter and after Charles and Ellen had spent Sunday drinking heavily, he decided to go to bed.
Where he found his wife, Ellen, 44.
The Times said he “objected to her presence in bed when he started to retire.”
At the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre: Rainbow Rhapsody with ‘Spectratone.’
“Boogie-Woogie Blue Plate” is No. 2on this week’s juke box hits.
Sept. 11, 1947: KLAC disc jockey Al Jarvis replies to Earl Griffin’s criticisms in last week’s Sentinel. “To knowingly plug a sponsor who discriminates against the Negro race is contrary to every belief I have ever had or ever will have.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
“Big Bill,” driver for Maier & Zobelein, blockaded a procession of cars on Spring Street yesterday afternoon because he was insulted and angry. He had driven his big brewery wagon too close to the tracks and a passing car rolled one of the kegs of beer into the gutter and spilled the contents. For revenge, “Bill” drove his wagon into such a position that not a car could pass north on Spring Street and the trolley coaches began to pile up behind the foam cart.
The team was allowed to stand and “Bill” went into the saloon to refresh himself and cool off as much as possible.
September 11, 1944
You needn’t be surprised if you find Mervyn LeRoy producing pictures in Bulgaria, setting up shop in Italy or moving into France. Mervyn has formed an independent producing company to be known as the Arrowhead Productions.
When Fred Allen faces the cameras come Monday, he’ll have Binnie Barnes, gifted actress, as his screen vis a vis.
VIRGO: The more you extend yourself and the less worry and doubt you engage, the fuller the response you receive. Industry, professions favored.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com
September 11, 1943: The Times features the Los Angeles Times-Army Ordnance in Action Show being held at Exposition Park.
The Times promised that
“visitors will see the massive 32-ton Gen. Sherman tanks whose tough armor and deadly firepower blasted the vaunted divisions of Marshal Rommel from the sands of Africa.
They will see tanks in action, their cannon and machine guns firing, in a grimly realistic simulation of an actual battle.They will see the dreaded Long Tom, 155-millimeter mobile rifle, whose long, probing muzzles sought out enemy targets with devastating accuracy.”
What visitors will not do is take pictures — cameras will be will be confiscated, The Times warns.
Expatriate novelist Lion Feuchtwanger is fighting eviction by his landlords from a home at 13827 Sunset Blvd.
Photo: City Hall, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. Credit: Larry Harnisch/LADailyMirror.com
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Sept. 11, 1907
Direct Wire From New York
Wow! Now this is the kind of quote one simply doesn’t see every day, at least in the 21st century. The Victorians certainly had a different attitude toward women’s physiques:
“The woman who gets the proper sort of corset will have the fashionable figure, even if she weighs a ton.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
There are some obstacles that even love cannot overcome, or so David Everett has discovered. The 30-year-old mechanic is in critical condition at Torrance General Hospital after shooting himself in the head and neck in despondency over his frustrated love for his 17-year-old first cousin Janet. And yes, she lives in a trailer park.
Everett is the man who was handing out $100 tips the other day after withdrawing all his money from the bank. Not just to Flora Killingsworth for bringing him ham and eggs, but to 15-year-old newsboy Edward Grant for a nickel paper, and to a cabdriver who took him to Glendale. To top it off, Everett ripped up some $100 bills and threw them in the street.
Sept. 10, 1944
The influence of Andre de Toth, the director, has been very important in the life of Veronica Lake. She is no longer the girl who doesn’t care. She cares very much now what people think of her, and she is eager to win the respect of fellow workers and to explain why she has done some of the things in the past that have brought criticism on her — not really serious things, but impulsive, foolish little exhibitions of her temperament.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
September 10, 1907
Los Angeles
A very uncertain day. No evil omens glare anywhere but in all aspects there lies a heavy veil, defying those who would peer into this day. Beware, therefore, of all and any unconsidered act. Promise nothing unless you comprehend clearly the full scope and limit of the pledge. Sign neither note nor contract this day without full security in your hand. Avoid speculative enterprises like the plague.
“A red flag flows wildly” this day. Take heed that neither spark nor flame be left carelessly in dangerous places. Do not retire tonight without guarding against fire with much more care than usual. A great fire is threatened for a large city on the Atlantic Coast this night.
Reminder: Boxie and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on George Hodel and Steve Hodel on Tuesday, September 16, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube.
Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later. Remember, this is ask me anything, so please remember to ask questions rather than make comments. Thanks!
Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, by William J. Mann, Simon & Schuster, 464 pages, January 27, 2026, $31.
Like a game of Clue with an actual cold case to solve, a well-worn list of suspects in the 1947 Black Dahlia killing released 22 years ago continues to provide the “true” crime community and the multimillion-dollar industry that feeds it with endless possibilities for speculation and, occasionally, another book.
Was it the murderous Dr. George Hodel at the Sowden House in a gruesome attempt at surrealist art? Mob nightclub owner Mark Hansen at the Florentine Gardens hiring morgue-trained assassin Leslie Dillon to take care of a troublesome dame? Army butcher Carl Balsiger in a fit of violence?
All of them are fakery and fraud by writers Steve Hodel (the ongoing Black Dahlia Avenger franchise launched in 2003), Piu Eatwell (Black Dahlia, Red Rose, 2017) and Eli Frankel (Sisters in Death, forthcoming in October 2025) who, if they read all of their source material, knew their suspect wasn’t the killer and proceeded anyway. Truth is the first victim for a “true” crime author with hopes of making The New York Times bestseller list and everything that goes with it. Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was the 1934 Warner Bros. film Fashions, with William Powell, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, Verree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Henry O’Neill, Phillip Reed, Gordon Westcott, Dorothy Burgess, Etienne Giradot, William Burress, Nella Walker, Spencer Charters, George Humbert, Frank Darien and Harry Beresford. Continue reading
Sept. 7, 1947: Oh, the innocence here.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Say kids, it’s Sunday morning, let’s look at the comics. Why it’s a 10-page section, imagine that. Los Angeles Times, World’s Greatest Comics—15 cents. That would be $1.42 today.
Who have we got here? Looks like Dick Tracy has finally captured Coffyhead with the help of the Junior Crimestoppers. Red Ryder and his pals are expanding the Rimrock School. Who’s that kid? His name is Little Beaver and he’s supposed to be a Native American. He’s saying: “Him make-um eyes like wolf at teacher. Me gusdusted.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Sept. 7, 1907
Los Angeles
Henry Sief of the health office has released the latest figures on infectious diseases in Los Angeles and the news is wonderful.
There were only 20 cases of diphtheria in August, a 31% decrease from the 29 cases in July. Scarlet fever was down to 9 cases in August, a 55% drop from July, when there were 20. Tuberculosis is down to 10 cases from 24.
ladailymirror.com 