Found on EBay — ‘Salome’

Posted on March 7, 2011 by lmharnisch
Salome Lobby Card salome_lobby_card_ebay_01

The item at left, described as an original lobby card from the Theda Bara version of “Salome,” has been listed on EBay. Interestingly enough, the card has entirely different lettering than the one above, which was listed last October.

Bidding on the lobby card at left starts at $29.99.
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Matt Weinstock, March 7, 1961

Posted on March 7, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 7, 1961, Comics  

March 7, 1961: The DWP magazine reports on a broken water main at Ventura Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon that spouted 100,000 gallons of water per minute. It took a crew of 12 working in pairs 2 1/2 hours to close about 25 valves and isolate the broken section and four more hours to drain the residue.

"If anyone wonders why it took so long — I did — the main line valves require 550 turns for full closure. Otherwise there would be serious damage from water 'hammer' caused by the pressure," Matt Weinstock says.

CONFIDENTIAL TO LORENA:     Take his temperature. If it's normal — marry him.

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Paul Coates, March 7, 1961

Posted on March 7, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 7, 1961, Mirror Cover  

March 7, 1961: Paul Coates looks at the problem of a family caring (or not caring) for an ailing parent who is on welfare and a veteran's pension.

He writes: How any society but a degenerating one can mesmerize itself into believing that it's perfectly normal and moral to kick your parents out of your lives when they're no longer functioning at top efficiency, I'm not going to begin to contemplate.

But I can tell you one thing.

That the attitude, in our society, is a growing one.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 7, 1941

Posted on March 7, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 7, 1941, Yugoslavia Yielding to Hitler  

  March 7, 1941, Comics  

March 7, 1941: Lee Shippey writes about the Asia House, a group open to anyone who has lived "somewhere east of Suez for six months or more" and he publishes a letter from wartime Britain by one of columnist Alma Whitaker's relatives.

"Take a look some night at the science room in the public library and you will see the cruel consequences of war as being suffered by muscular but ambitious aircraft employees… For God and country they are battering their brains against some of the most stubborn and complicated problems in modern science, the aviation techniques. It's the first time the library has had best-seller demand and a real shortage of this type of book," Tom Treanor says.

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD AT A GLANCE: Fat girls in loose slacks and loose girls in skin tights … Autograph hunters eagerly looking for stars and stars eagerly looking for autograph hunters… Extra (appraising a diamond in a pawnshop window) "Gee, I'd buy that if I was a star!" Ex-star (staring at the same gem) "Wonder if I can ever redeem it?"… A cafe waiter glumly regarding a tablecloth covered with figures in the millions — and a one dime tip … Milliner's clerk: "Has anyone ever told you, madame, that you resemble Kay Francis — much prettier, of course?" Customer:" I AM Kay Francis?" … Chorus shapelies defying the anti-silk stocking campaigns.

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Jim Murray, Feb. 21, March 7, 1961

Posted on March 7, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 21, 1961, Jim Murray  

Feb. 21, 1961: Jim Murray writes a second column about jockey Johnny Longden.  “Johnny has to be one of the super athletes of our time. Unlike golf, croquet or cribbage, riding racehorses is not normally considered an old man's game,” Murray says.

March 7, 1961: Following up on Gene Fullmer’s victory over Sugar Ray Robinson, Murray writes: “The last day was such an incredible carnival of Dixieland bands (Al Hirt's), tap dancers (Eleanor Powell), crooners (Nat Cole) and general merriment that the casual visitor might have thought Sugar Ray was in training for the Mardi Gras instead of a championship fight.”

ALSO

Jim Murray on Johnny Longden 

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

Matt Weinstock, March 6, 1961

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 6, 1961, Comics  

March 6, 1961: Matt Weinstock says he’s at a loss for words when people begin comparing notes about their European travels. The only foreign places he’s ever been are Iwo Jima, Manila, Tacloban and Morotai.  “There isn't much I can add except that an island in the Pacific is simply an island in the Pacific, that it was very hot and that the only art treasures within view were cans of cold beer,” he writes. 

DEAR ABBY: Tell "Alligator" I have been all over the world and in my opinion the American women have more intelligence, taste, dignity, initiative, charm and moral strength than any other women in the world. And what's more, they are better looking.

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Paul Coates, March 6, 1961

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 6, 1961, Mirror Cover  

March 6, 1961: Paul Coates has the story of 8-year-old Lillian Gonzales Gossett, who lives in Tijuana because immigration officials won’t allow her to join her mother and stepfather in the U.S.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 6, 1941

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 6, 1941, Russia Grabs for Balkan Spoils  

  March 6, 1941, Comics  

March 6, 1941: HOLLYWOOD AFTER DARK: Carmen Miranda improvising Portuguese lyrics to an American jive tune as she dances with Cesar Romero at the Mocambo.

Also on the jump: A roundup of items from Lee Shippey and Tom Treanor.

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Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 6, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

I came across this picture while researching something else and thought it would make a good weekend mystery photo.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 28, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: Yes, as everyone figured out, this is Stephen Crane (d. 1985), above, in a photo stamped 1942]

Here’s this week’s mystery guest!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 56 Comments

Jim Murray, Feb. 20, March 6, 1961

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Feb. 20, 1961, Jim Murray  

Feb. 20, 1961: Jim Murray writes about Walter O’Malley’s impact on Los Angeles, and the construction of Dodger Stadium underway at Chavez Ravine.

March 6, 1961: Jim Murray takes a look at jockey Johnny Longden. "Will Johnny be the oldest jockey ever to win at Kentucky?" someone wanted to know. "He'll be the oldest jockey ever to win anywhere," came the answer.

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Confessions of a Story Editor, March 6, 1981

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 

  March 6, 1981, Howard Rosenberg  

  March 6, 1981, Comics  

March 6, 1981:  Pulitzer Prize-winning TV columnist Howard Rosenberg talks to a story editor about lining up people for a canceled show called "That's My Line."

Z (Rosenberg's source) was one of six story editors — two ex-Hustler magazine staffers, two Los Angeles free-lancers, a former National Enquirer writer and a dentist's wife — whose jobs were to find people who did the wild things that could be filmed, then pitch them for the show.

"When Steve Weisberg was 9, his mother was afraid that his face might freeze into the shape of a Hudson car. Inspired, the little rubber-faced tyke progressed until now, at age 26, his living is made imitating old car grilles."

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 5, 1941

Posted on March 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 5, 1941, Fire Bombs  

  March 5, 1941, Comics  

March 5, 1941: Lee Shippey says: Every striker who delays defense is striking a blow for Nazi victory which may take from him the right to labor as a free man. Every manufacturer who tries to hold up his government for unjust profits is striking a blow for the fascist ideal of state control of all industry. And every senator who indulges the undemocratic process of blocking and delaying legislation the majority of the people wish enacted right now is mightily encouraging the foes of democracy.…

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIQUE to Alice Faye: Don't you worry. If that nasty Jack Oakie tries to steal your scenes just turn your profile and take a deep breath, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Jim Murray, Feb. 19, March 5, 1961

Posted on March 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

  March 5, 1961, Gene Fullmer  
  March 5, 1961, Fullmer Beats Robinson  
  Feb. 19, 1961, Jim Murray  

Feb. 19, 1961: Baseball fans are over-conservative, Jim Murray says, so they don't like Phil Wrigley's idea of using eight coaches and a computer to manage the Cubs.
 
March 5, 1961: Jim Murray writes about a conference call between him, Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson after watching their televised bout at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. "It all brings up the fine point of whether you can really see a fight on TV," Murray says.  

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Architectural Ramblings, March 5, 1911

Posted on March 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

  image  

  March 5, 1911, Chalet  

  image  

  236 Adelaide  

236 Adelaide Drive via Google maps’ street view.

  March 5, 1911, Chalet  

March 5, 1911: The Times features the new home of Los Angeles capitalist Isaac Milbank at 236 Adelaide Drive, Santa Monica. According to the clips, Milbank, a former executive of the New York Condensed Milk Co. (later Borden) and Union Oil, only lived here a few years before building an even bigger home at 3340 Country Club Drive, where he was living at the time of his death in 1922 at the age of 58.

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Posted in 1911, Architecture, Obituaries | 2 Comments

Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, March 4, 1961

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 4, 1961, Comics  

March 4, 1961: Matt Weinstock has a cautionary tale proving that gamblers should only place bets with reliable bookies.

Paul Coates has the story of a desperate caller who says she is trapped in a phone booth by one of the men who escaped in the mass jailbreak.

CONFIDENTIAL TO "BOWLEGGED BOY": Find a girl who is knock-kneed and together you'll spell O.K.

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Jimmie Fidler, March 4, 1941

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 4, 1941, Russia Condemns Nazi Grab  

  March 4, 1941, Comics  

March 4, 1941: Lee Shippey writes in favor of young men who build hot rods and gives a plug for letting them use deserted highways for racing – with traffic officers’ permission.  (Notice the mention of the Southern California Timing Assn.)

Tom Treanor has a roundup of items, including the Army’s trouble in finding dentists and how builders are forced to eliminate distinctive details in government housing.

Pic of a so-so week: Paramount's "The Lady Eve" (Barbara Stanwyck-Henry Fonda). Two of the screen's better dramatic stars turn to zany comedy and generate a steady flow of laughs, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Jim Murray, Feb. 17, 1961

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

   Feb. 17, 1961, Jim Murray  

Feb. 17, 1961: Jim Murray has an item on horse player Joe Frisco. Notice a mention of Murray’s former Examiner colleague Will Fowler.

There’s no Jim Murray column for March 4, so I’m just running the Feb. 17 column. (In case you’re wondering, I missed the debut of Murray’s column and I’m running two most days until I get caught up.)

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Another Good Story Ruined — Saucers Over L.A.!

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 26, 1942, Battle of L.A.  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

I have been working with The Times’ historic photos for years and I know how the newspaper’s art department used to retouch pictures, so the moment I saw this image last week while doing the “Battle: Los Angeles” post I knew it had been heavily retouched.

My first question was whether we still had the original print.

We do, but it took a few days to get it. 

I’ll be writing more about the picture next week. 

ALSO

Another Good Story Ruined – The Battle of Los Angeles
Posted in 1942, Film, Hollywood, UFOs | Comments Off on Another Good Story Ruined — Saucers Over L.A.!

Matt Weinstock, March 3, 1961

Posted on March 3, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  March 3, 1961, Comics  

March 3, 1961: Some 13-year-old English students turn to Matt Weinstock for help with an assignment to find “osculate” and 119 other words in print. 

DEAR ABBY: My husband doesn't respect me because I gave in to him before marriage. He said at the time it would prove I loved him, but now he calls me a tramp and says he will never trust me. I have never been unfaithful to him and never will be.

I am saving your columns for my daughter, Abby. Mothers can tell daughters things, but coming from you it means more. I want more than anything else in the world to see my daughter walk down the aisle in white.

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