What’s Troubling Today’s Young Women?

  March 26, 1961, Women  

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March 26, 1961: The Times begins a series on the views and expectations of high school and college women. Is it enough to go to college, nab a husband and start a family? Are they really considering going into the workforce and competing with … men? I especially like the teaser for Part 2: What these rather angry young women believe.

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Jim Murray, March 26, 1961

  March 26, 1961, Jim Murray  

March 26, 1961: Jim Murray gets letters from Groucho Marx and Hedda Hopper and he hasn’t been so nervous since the days he faced questions like “What is Marlon Brando really like?”

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What If a Thermonuclear Blast Hit the Valley?

 
 

  March 26, 1961, Valley Blast  

  March 26, 1961, Valley Blast  

March 26, 1961: So, if a nuclear blast from the Soviets (who else?) hit the San Fernando Valley, it would be bad. How bad?

"The Valley would not survive a direct hit," The Times said. 

"A thermonuclear blast in the Valley would be like a giant firecracker going off in a teacup," says Clifford R. Standing, Valley Civil Defense coordinator. "We'd all be part of the fallout and all our plans would be useless."

Some of the predictions:

Every woman five months or more pregnant would have miscarried in the shock and turmoil of the attack.

There would be "wild and panicky mobs and cool and calculating looters."

Bodies of victims would have to be collected and buried or burned.

Standing’s advice: "Families should begin now to construct shelters with walls and ceilings at least 3 feet thick and adequately stocked for a long siege."

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Posted in 1961, San Fernando Valley | Comments Off on What If a Thermonuclear Blast Hit the Valley?

Found on EBay — Bullock’s Collegienne

Bullock's Westwood Bullocks Collegienne
This top from the Collegienne department at Bullock’s Westwood has been listed on EBay. Although Bullocks and Collegienne items are somewhat common on EBay, I don’t recall ever seeing anything from the Westwood store. Bidding starts at $14.99.
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March 25, 2011: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Centennial

March 25, 2011: Memorial to victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist FireMarch 25, 2011: Site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire / Photograph by Eve Golden

Note: Daily Mirror reader Eve Golden went to Friday’s memorial for the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims and sends these photos. Continue reading →

Posted in 1911, Fires, New York, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, March 25, 1961

 

 
 

  March 25, 1961, Comics  

 

March 25, 1961: There was a prisoner who had a wooden leg, but that was only the beginning of his problems, Matt Weinstock says.

One of Paul Coates’ readers has some urgent information for Red Skelton about his lottery ticket!

DEAR ABBY: Where we live, it is the custom for parents to give their children $5 for every A and $2 for every B on their report cards. I am 13 and got two A's and four Bs and I didn't get anything. Do you think that is fair?

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 25, 1941

 
 

  March 25, 1941, Reds Pledge Aid to Turkey  

  March 25, 1941, Comics  

March 25, 1941: Tom Treanor has another column on Jan Valtin’s “Out of the Night,” which I have begun reading, thanks to the Los Angeles Public Library, and I must say that so far the book is much better than I expected. In fact it’s remarkably good. As Richard Krebs (Valtin was a pen name), the author was quite a figure in San Quentin, where he worked on the prison newspaper after being convicted of a 1926 assault. He was paroled in 1929 and pardoned in 1941.  

It took Robert Rossen three times as long (six months) to script "The Sea Wolf" as it took Jack London to write the novel, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, Zombie Reading List | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 25, 1941

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

  Triangle Shirtwaist Co.  
  An undated photo of Triangle Shirtwaist Co. employees courtesy of HBO.  

  March 26, 1911, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire  

March 26, 1911: “A 13-year-old girl hung for three minutes by her fingertips to the sill of a 10th-floor window. A tongue of flame licked at her fingers and she dropped into a life net held by firemen. Two women fell into the net at almost the same moment. The strands parted and the two were added to the death list.

“A girl threw her pocketbook, then her hat, then her furs from a 10th-floor window. A moment later her body came whirling after them to death."

ALSO

Last Survivor of 1911 Sweatshop Fire Dies

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Posted in 1911, Fire Department, Obituaries | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

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

Here’s this week’s mystery lady! Nobody identified our weekend mystery guest so I’m going to have to figure out how to proceed. Maybe I can find some more photos of her that will offer additional clews.
 
There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 36 Comments

Found on EBay — Bullocks Collegienne

Bullock's Collegienne Collegienne

This sweater from the Collegienne department at Bullocks Pasadena has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $39.95.

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Matt Weinstock, March 24, 1961

 

 
 

  March 24, 1961, Comics  

March 24, 1961: Matt Weinstock drives to Alhambra for the first time in a long while and wonders why he keeps seeing big green signs directing motorists to Bakersfield.

CONFIDENTIAL TO "IN LOVE WITH THE BOSS": The wise tailor doesn't do the jig in the same room where he cuts the cloth. Don't mix business with pleasure.

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Paul Coates, March 24, 1961

 
 

  March 24, 1961, Mirror Cover  

March 24, 1961: Paul Coates dips into the mailbox for items on the mayor’s race and women’s measurements.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 24, 1941

 

  March 24, 1941, Yugoslavs Rage at Hitler Pact  

  March 24, 1941, Comics  

March 24, 1941: Tom Treanor has an item about a man on crutches leading a blind fellow across the street at 3rd and Grand.

Ingrid Bergman is still dazed from the startling discovery, while enjoying a professional guide's "Tour of the Movie Stars' Homes," that she lives in one of Beverly's biggest mansions, whereas she was under the impression that she resides in a four-room apartment, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Jim Murray, March 24, 1961

  March 24, 1961, Day in Sports  

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March 24, 1961: Jim Murray takes a fond look at one of the characters among sportswriters: Arthur Maxwell “Max” Stiles, who had worked at many Los Angeles papers in his career. 
 
ALSO

Maxwell Stiles at latimes.com

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The Funny Pages, 1951

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Looks like someone has painted a big arrow on the pavement! Are we really supposed to believe that anybody could fit in a slot machine? Even in “Dick Tracy?”


March 24, 1951:  Here’s what was on The Times’ comics page in 1951. There were the long-running stalwarts, like  “Dick Tracy” and “Nancy,” but also some obscure strips, like “Dawn O’Day” and “Casey Ruggles.” 

ALSO

The Times comics in 1931

The Times comics in 1941

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Posted in 1951, art and artists, Comics | 3 Comments

Elizabeth Taylor’s Obituary — Outtakes From a Work in Progress

 
 

  Nov. 27, 1957, Michael Todd, Elizabeth Taylor  
  Photograph by George R. Fry Jr./Los Angeles Times  

Nov. 27, 1957: Michael Todd and Elizabeth Taylor.


Elaine Woo has a nice post about writing the obituary on Elizabeth Taylor, including some items cut from the final piece:

Elizabeth Taylor's death Wednesday moved me in an odd way. Although I never met or spoke to her, I had a "relationship" with her that spanned a dozen years: Hers was the first advance obituary I ever wrote for The Times. The assignment, which I received in 1999, probably was precipitated by one of Taylor's nearly annual brushes with death. I read a mountain of articles and books over a three-month period before writing a lengthy piece. And nearly every year since then I updated the article, adding a worthwhile quote or details about her latest illness. I felt I had come to know her and, unlike many of my subjects, I liked her.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Photography | 1 Comment

Found on EBay — B.H. Dyas

Dyas Golf Club Items from the B.H. Dyas store in Los Angeles are a rarity on EBay. This St. Albans putter has been listed with bidding starting at $19.99.

ALSO

A Walker Cup driver on EBay.

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on Found on EBay — B.H. Dyas

Matt Weinstock, March 23, 1961

  March 23, 1961, Comics  

March 23, 1961: Matt Weinstock has an item on an animated billboard for Dristan showing a man’s sinus cavities. Is it TV movie villain Skip Homeier?

CONFIDENTIAL TO MARCIE: Some folks, who can't add and subtract, quit school to get married and have no trouble multiplying.

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Paul Coates, March 23, 1961

  March 23, 1961, Cover  

March 23, 1961: Desi Arnaz, ABC and the National Italian American League to Combat Defamation
reach an agreement that fictional characters in “The Untouchables” will not have Italian names. Arnaz also agrees to show the contributions of Italian Americans in a favorable light. Paul Coates uses this as a point of departure for a satire.

I apologize for the poor quality of this scan. Sometimes it’s awfully difficult to get anything legible off the microfilm.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 23, 1941

  March 23, 1941, Slavs Join Axis  

  March 23, 1941, Comics  

March 23, 1941: The Times’ editorial page opposes raising taxes to fund the library. It’s the war, you know, and if we go around handing out money to the library, next in line will be the police, and firefighters and the parks department, The Times says.  (Voters defeated the measure, 20,277 to 13,292).

Ellis Kutten is a refugee Pole in Hollywood, the man who was in charge of cement manufacturing for all Poland…. Today, with Mrs. Kutten, he is making a fresh start from a Hollywood rooming house. He has been in America for two months and has no job but he is as sure of himself as if he were already behind an executive's desk, Tom Treanor says. 

Terse description of Mickey Rooney: Peter Pan-ic, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, City Hall, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Politics, Tom Treanor | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 23, 1941