Chicken Boy

Posted on March 15, 2011 by lmharnisch


Photograph by Bruce Cox/Los Angeles Times

Feb. 5, 1970: Behold the wonder of Chicken Boy on the roof of a restaurant on Broadway near 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

In 1977, Art Seidenbaum looked at oversized signs as part of Los Angeles’ vernacular architecture, which he called “litertecture” as in “literal architecture.”  Chicken Boy’s oversized playmates included a turbaned swordsman over Ali Baba’s Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, the Carpeteria Giant, the supersized mechanic for Hal’s Tires in West Hollywood and the Colossus of Hickory Burger.

There are several more plastic giants to be found in Los Angeles, according to a website that tracks them.
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Posted in 1970, 1977, Architecture, art and artists, Art Seidenbaum, Downtown, Food and Drink, Photography | 2 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 15, 1941

Posted on March 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 15, 1941, British Plan Continent Invasion  

   March 15, 1941, Comics  

March 15, 1941: Tom Treanor writes about two articles on Los Angeles, one in Fortune magazine and the other in Western Advertising, by Ramsey Oppenheim.

Treanor says: “In trying to interpret Los Angeles, Mr. Oppenheim goes into an extensive analysis of our basic physical advantages to which is added something he calls the Los Angeles spirit, which is such a complicated, peculiar, individualistic thing that it defies summary here.

“Without being able to describe it, we all have a vague notion of what it is, and whatever it is, we can thank whatever powers may be that we have it. In half a century or less it probably will make us the greatest city in the world.”

I hear the Hays office will slap the wrist of the movie mag that printed a captious caption under a Bette Davis-Mary Astor photo, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Jim Murray, March 15, 1961

Posted on March 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  March 15, 1961, Patterson- Johansson  
  March 15, 1961, Jim Murray  

March 15, 1961: Jim Murray watches a broadcast of the Floyd Patterson – Ingemar Johansson fight at the Orpheum Theatre on Broadway.  

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, Columnists, Sports | Comments Off on Jim Murray, March 15, 1961

Another Good Story Ruined — The Black Dahlia

Posted on March 15, 2011 by lmharnisch
Mady Comfort I received a news alert the other day about an upcoming play titled “The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse” in which Daniele Watts will portray Mady Comfort, at left, purportedly “Elizabeth Short's best friend.”

I honestly don’t know how such nonsense gets started.

Mady Comfort was not Short’s “best friend.” There is nothing in any original newspaper accounts or in any official documents to show they ever met.  Comfort did nothing more than pose for photos for Dr. George Hodel, according to “Black Dahlia Avenger.”     Any attempt to link Comfort and Short is nothing but lunacy.

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, books, Coming Attractions, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Stage | 6 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo Fan — Eve Golden

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

eve_golden_ndEve Golden, a regular Daily Mirror reader and Mystery Photo fan, is a photo archivist in New York and has written several show business biographies, including “Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara” and “Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow.”  

In an interview with The Hollywood Sign Girl, she says: I never took any writing classes or planned to write. But I was working as an advertising copywriter in the late '80s and thought "what a shame there has never been a decent book on Jean Harlow," then thought, "Why don't I write one myself?" being kind of an idiot and not having the slightest idea what I was getting myself into.
Posted in books, Mystery Photo, Photography | 2 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 14, 1941

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 14, 1941, British Open Vast Air Offensive  

  March 14, 1941, Comics  

March 14, 1941: Some time ago, this column told of the work of Ruby Berkley Goodwin, the Fullerton Negro poetess whose work has attracted national attention. Wendell Malliet & Co., New York, have just announced Mrs. Goodwin's first volume of poetry, "From My Kitchen Window," Lee Shippey says. 

THAT GREAT-WINGED monster, the B-19, is almost finished. I saw it yesterday and it was like seeing a nightmare, according to Tom Treanor.

Ask Paramount why Luise Rainer isn't being tested for Maria in "For Whom the Bell Tolls?" She'd be terrific, Jimmie Fidler says.

Also on the jump: Ruby Berkley Goodwin, former personal secretary to Hattie McDaniel and Ethel Waters, dies in 1961 at the age of 58.

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Posted in 1941, 1961, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Obituaries, Tom Treanor | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 12, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: This is Sally Marr, Lenny Bruce's mother. She is conferring with Frankie Ray ("Dracula's Dog") Perelli on the set of the film "Cinderella." Please congratulate RJ, Dewey Webb and Mary Mallory for identifying her and Kitty Bruce.

Here’s a mystery lady with a mystery companion.
 
There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 5 Comments

Jim Murray, Feb. 27, March 14, 1961

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  March 14, 1961, Patterson  

 

  Feb. 27, 1961,Jim Murray  

Feb. 27, 1961: Jim Murray takes his wife and two other women to see boxing at the Olympic. One question: The best way to wash blood out of boxers’ trunks.

Murray writes a nice piece about Angel Macias, who is at the Angels training camp, even though he is 16 and too young to be signed to a contract.Murray mentions a TV documentary about Macias titled "How Tall Is a Giant," which sounds like it might be worth seeing. 

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, broadcasting, Columnists, Film, Sports, Television | 1 Comment

In Walter (Cronkite) We Trust, March 14, 1981

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  image  
   March 14, 1981, Dan Rather  

March 14, 1981: Howard Rosenberg, The Times Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic, watches Dan Rather’s debut in taking over from Walter Cronkite on the “CBS Evening News” and he is not a happy man.

Art Seidenbaum and I overlapped at The Times, but I was a rookie and he was one of the senior writers at the paper, so I never introduced myself when I would see him in the hallway or (usually) smoking a cigarette somewhere. I regret that now because I enjoy reading him and he sounds quite approachable. The book he's reviewing, Bill Henderson's "His Son: A Child of the Fifties" may not be remembered now (it ranks 9.3 millionth at Amazon), but Art's insights are well worth reading.

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Posted in 1981, @news, art and artists, Art Seidenbaum, Blues, broadcasting, Columnists, Comics, Howard Rosenberg, Television, Walter Cronkite | 2 Comments

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 7

Posted on March 13, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 26, 1942, Searchlights  

  Feb. 26, 1942, Copy Negative  

These days, many of The Times photos and negatives are held at UCLA. Here’s one of two negatives that Scott Harrison of our photo department got from the archives. As I said at the beginning, the searchlight photo has been heavily retouched, but it is authentic to some extent.

ALSO

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 1

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 2

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 3

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 4

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 5

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 6

Another Good Story Ruined: The Battle of Los Angeles

 

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Posted in 1942, Another Good Story Ruined, Photography, UFOs | 4 Comments

Jim Murray, March 13, 1961

Posted on March 13, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  March 13, 1961, Patty Berg  

 

  March 13, 1961, Jim Murray  

March 13, 1961: Jim Murray writes from Palm Springs about a game between the Angels and the Cubs.

“The opposition was the Chicago Cubs, not formidable under the best of circumstances, but this was their "B" team. The Cubs, of course, don't have an "A" team. They have two units of equal mediocrity in spring training but the one Ernie Banks travels with usually rates a "B-plus" classification.”

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, art and artists, Columnists, Sports | 2 Comments

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 6

Posted on March 12, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 26, 1942, Searchlights  

  July 8, 1947, Flying Disk  

July 8, 1947: The first links between the searchlight photo, the Battle of Los Angeles and flying saucers seem to have emerged in the late 1940s.  A Times editorial dismissing UFOs compared them to the mystery object targeted during the 1942 air raid. “…antiaircraft bursts caught in searchlight beams were magnified into 27 twin-engined Japanese bombers, majestically flying in formation," The Times said. 

In 1952, Times columnist Bill Henry  referred to "the Battle of Los Angeles of 1942 in which something resembling a flying saucer — it was really an errant weather balloon — touched off the gosh-durndest artillery barrage that our community has witnessed before or since."
 
Today, an Internet search reveals a vast number of websites devoted to the searchlight photo and UFOs.

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 1

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 2

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 3

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 4

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 5

Another Good Story Ruined: The Battle of Los Angeles

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Posted in 1942, Another Good Story Ruined, Photography, UFOs | Comments Off on Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 6

Found on EBay — Rube Wolf

Posted on March 12, 2011 by lmharnisch
Rube Wolf Poster This poster from the 1935 showing of “The President Vanishes” at the Paramount Theatre has been listed on EBay. Fans of vintage typography (you know who you are) this is for you!

Bidding starts at $400, which is too rich for my blood. As with everything listed on EBay, an item and vendor should be evaluated thoroughly before submitting a bid.

ALSO

Rube Wolf on the Daily Mirror

Rube Wolf inside the half-demolished Paramount Theatre
Posted in 1935, Downtown, Film, Found on EBay, Hollywood, Music | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Rube Wolf

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 12, 1941

Posted on March 12, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 12, 1941, Nazis Wait Go Signal in Balkans  

  image  

March 12, 1941: The first 100 pages of James Hilton’s “Random Harvest” are disappointing but the rest of the novel more than makes up for it, Lee Shippey says.

Tom Treanor talks to some watchmakers about the ways war is affecting their field.  Time fuses and the difficulty in getting diamonds are some of the new challenges. And then there’s the difficulty in selling a new watch to a railroad worker.

Clark Gable still manages to look sheepish when asked to state his profession, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on March 12, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 7, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

  March 7, 2011, Mystery Photo  

  Mystery Stalker  

[Update 2: Here’s our mystery stalker!]

[Update: This is Francis X. Bushman Jr. and Alma Rayford in “Away in the Lead.” Evidently this is a lost film because there was almost no information on imdb about it. I updated the record as much as I was able, based on very slim clips in The Times. The mystery stalker could be Charles Clary, Gino Corrado or Billy Franey. ]

Today, we have a very tall mystery guest, a petite mystery companion, a mystery stalker and a mystery fountain!

Our friend Eve asks for a close-up. Here you go!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 27 Comments

Jim Murray, March 12, 1961

Posted on March 12, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 12, 1961, Racing  

  March 12, 1961, Jim Murray  

March 12, 1961: After a month of writing six columns a week, Jim Murray wonders what hit him! He dips into the mailbag for readers’ comments. But even when answering readers’ quibbles, Murray is entertaining.

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Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, Columnists, Sports | Comments Off on Jim Murray, March 12, 1961

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 5 [Updated]

Posted on March 11, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 25, 1962. Battle of L.A.  

[Update: The Times published this photo with a story about the Battle of Los Angeles, but the photo was actually taken another time and used in error, according to Scott Harrison, who researched it for The Times'  Framework blog.] 

  Feb. 25, 1962  

Feb. 25, 1962: As the years passed, the Battle of Los Angeles became a local curiosity. For the 20th anniversary, The Times attempted to unravel the incident, but only uncovered confusion and chaos.

Quoting a military report, The Times said: “At 3:06 a.m., an object resembling a balloon was sighted over Santa Monica and four units were ordered to fire.

"Thereafter, the official records are so confused and contradictory — and the subsequent testimony of eyewitnesses, both civilian and military, complicates, rather than clarifies them — that it seems impossible to reconstruct accurately the story of the next few hours."

Jack Smith wrote about the incident for the 1967 anniversary and Donna Scheibe  revisited the incident in 1979.
 
ALSO

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 1

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! — Part 2

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 3

Another Good Story Ruined: Saucers Over L.A.! – Part 4

Another Good Story Ruined: The Battle of Los Angeles

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Another Good Story Ruined, Photography, UFOs | 1 Comment

Death Toll Exceeds 100,000 in Japan’s Holocaust, Sept. 3, 1923

Posted on March 11, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Sept. 3, 1923, Death Toll Exceeds 100,000  

  Sept. 3, 1923, Quake Map  

  Sept. 3, 1923, Japan Quake  

Sept. 3, 1923: This is the earliest map I’ve ever seen by our old friend Charles Owens, who later worked on Nuestro Pueblo with Joe Seewerker. I have been selective in posting stories because the images are quite difficult to read.

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Posted in 1923, art and artists, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off on Death Toll Exceeds 100,000 in Japan’s Holocaust, Sept. 3, 1923

All Tokio in Flames; Death Toll Staggering, Sept. 2, 1923

Posted on March 11, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Sept. 2, 1923, Japan Quake  

  Sept. 2, 1923, Japan Quake  

Sept. 2, 1923: Tokio is afire, many of the buildings of the city have collapsed, the water system is destroyed, the loss of life is heavy, all traffic has been suspended and the flames are spreading to surrounding towns, according to a message received here tonight by the Radio Corporation of America from the superintendent of the company's station at Tomioka regarding the great earthquakes of today.

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Posted in 1923 | Comments Off on All Tokio in Flames; Death Toll Staggering, Sept. 2, 1923

Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, March 11, 1961

Posted on March 11, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 11, 1961, Comics  

March 11, 1961: The unemployed man who turned in $240,000 that fell from a Brink’s armored car gets a job offer!

An overturned propane trailer causes a five-hour jam on the Hollywood Freeway, Matt Weinstock says, back when such things were still a novelty. 

Paul Coates interviews a woman whose husband was charged with abusing the couple’s young daughters after he inflicted second-degree burns by holding their hands over the flame on a gas stove. The girls’ crime? They “messed up” clothing in dresser drawers.

DEAR ABBY: Your advice to "OFF MY SCHEDULE" should have been framed. Thanks, Abby, for having a kind paper shoulder for so many to cry on. Like "OFF MY SCHEDULE" I, too, had a young neighbor who would come to my home too often and stay too long. She had two little children and there were times when she kept me from my work. I became weary of her company.

When she moved, she thanked me for my kindness in letting her come. She confessed she had been on the verge of becoming an alcoholic and when she felt she needed a drink she would come to my house instead. My only regret now is that I became weary at all.

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Posted in #courts, 1961, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Matt Weinstock, Paul Coates, Transportation | Comments Off on Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, March 11, 1961