Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, Feb. 25, 1961

Posted on February 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  Feb. 25, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 25, 1961: A "confessed love slayer" is among 11 men who escaped from the booking room at the County Jail.The leader of the jailbreak is identified as "love slayer" Joe Morgan, who at the age of 16 killed Jose Rojo of East L.A.  in 1945.

Matt Weinstock publishes some grammatical outrages, including: "Her has gone, her has went, her left I all alone. Can't her never come back to I, must I always go to she? It could never was."

Paul Coates has the story of a man who used an unconventional method to look for a job – and became famous.

DEAR ABBY: I am having a terrible time trying to convince my mother that her old-fashioned ideas about dating are not right for this day and age. She says if a boy asks you to a school dance and you tell him you are going out of town or something, you can't show up with another fellow. This means a girl has to accept the first boy who asks her, whether he's a drip or not, or else stay home. Abby, please tell my mom in your column that times have changed.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 25, 1941

Posted on February 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 25, 1941, U.S., Britain Warn Japanese  

  Feb. 25, 1941, Comics  

Feb. 25, 1941: An attorney tells Tom Treanor that the legal profession is on the decline. "People don't need lawyers any more, they need accountants," the attorney says.   Being a stockbroker is likewise overrated, another friend says.

Ginger Rogers has 47 costume changes in "Tom, Dick and Harry" — a new wardrobe high, Jimmie Fidler says.

Robert Stack, actor, has a portrait of himself made of 20,000 canceled stamps, according to Lee Shippey.

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Faith and the Negro ‘Question’

Posted on February 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 25, 1911, Hats  

  Feb. 25, 1911, Faith and the Negro 'Question'  

Feb. 25, 1911: Religion columnist William T. Ellis has a few things on his mind about the Negro “question,” but none of them involve defining what the “question” might be. Presumably it was so familiar to readers that he felt no need to explain it.

 
Ellis considers African Americans “brothers,” but they are, as far as he is concerned, younger brothers who need guidance from their wiser,  older white siblings: "A weaker brother, a deficient brother and perhaps an erring brother he may be, but the black man is still a brother," Ellis says.

Patronizing, condescending white superiority masquerading as Christian compassion and acceptance. Ugh.

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Posted in 1911, Countdown to Watts, Religion | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 24, 1961

Posted on February 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Feb. 24, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 24, 1961: Crazy times on the back lot at MGM: As one crew was shooting a scene for "Gunslinger," a Confederate cavalry charge from "The Americans" came thundering through the scene (evidently the riders had trouble stopping their horses). As the bandits and the Confederates were regrouping, a helicopter being used in a third production rose in the background, Matt Weinstock says.

DEAR ABBY: Twenty years ago I went to live with a man as his wife without marrying him. We had three children. When our youngest reached his 18th birthday (last week) this man told me he was selling our home and everything in it, as he plans to take off and find himself a "wife" and live a little.

I asked him when he was giving me my half of the money. He said "Since when does a man give his housekeeper half his money?" As his common-law wife am I not entitled to half his money? I haven't a dime to call my own and have never worked outside my home. What are my rights? I don't want to go to a lawyer as I have my pride.

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Feb. 24, 1961, Paul Coates

Posted on February 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  Feb. 24, 1961, Mirror Cover_racing  
  Feb. 24, 1961, Take Home Edition  

Feb. 24, 1961: Notice the different headlines between the two editions: "I JUST HAD TO KILL," L.A. SLAYER ADMITS and SUICIDE BARES THIRD IOWA BANK SCANDAL. All of this will change when the Mirror staff is either laid off or absorbed by The Times in January.

Irving Waldorf, 22, a disc jockey who prowled the streets with an "uncontrollable urge to kill," according to the Mirror, told police he shot Max Lisecki, 54, in the back on skid row after spending the day searching for a victim.

A reader asks Paul Coates: Would you please send me all the information you have on "ant hunting?"

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Posted in #courts, 1961, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Front Pages, Paul Coates | 2 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 24, 1941

Posted on February 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 23, 1941, War Summary  

  Feb. 24, 1941, Comics  

Feb. 24, 1941: Heavy rains are causing flooding in Los Angeles, so Tom Treanor visits the Los Angeles County flood control center. Notice that Devil’s Gate Reservoir is still in operation.
 
Clark Gable will thank anyone who can explain to his father how a boy who ran away from home to escape farm chores could grow into a man whose chief hobby is farming, Jimmie Fidler says.

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What Next for Richard Chamberlain After ‘Shogun?’

Posted on February 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  Sept. 15, 1980, Shogun  

 

  Feb. 24, 1981, Richard Cmaberlain  

Feb. 24, 1981: Young persons…. There was once a sensationally popular TV miniseries called “Shogun,” based on James Clavell’s novel set in feudal Japan, that aired in September 1980 and starred Richard Chamberlain, the former heartthrob of the 1960s TV series “Dr. Kildare.”

The story of John Blackthorne and Lord Toranaga (Toshiro Mifune) quickly became a touchstone of popular culture. In writing about “Shogun,” Times TV critic Cecil Smith reported that "Nielsen numbers show that more than half the people in the country are caught up in it." 

Several months later, Times writer Roderick Mann catches up with Chamberlain, who says he’s interested in another miniseries: “The Thorn Birds.”

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Posted in 1981, books, Film, Hollywood, Roderick Mann, Television | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 23, 1961

Posted on February 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

  image  

Feb. 23, 1961: Mildred and Gordon Gordon celebrate the sale of their suspense novel "Operation Terror" with … ice cream bars. In their early days, they had to give up ice cream bars because they were too expensive and ever since the desserts were a sentimental symbol of success, Matt Weinstock says.
 
DEAR ABBY: I am a boy who is 14. I take piano lessons and want to be a fashion designer. To most boys I am an ideal sissy. On the bus going home from school they pester me and try to pick a fight. Abby, I don't want to fight, although I think I could knock their stupid blocks off. Don't tell me to ignore them. It won't to any good.

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Paul Coates, Feb. 23, 1961

Posted on February 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  Feb. 23, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 23, 1961: For a column pegged to Washington’s birthday, Paul Coates  recalls his suspicions about a lemon tree that met an unhappy fate.

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Town Called Hollywood, Feb. 23, 1941

Posted on February 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 23, 1941, Mayor's Race  

  Feb. 23, 1941, Spam  

Feb. 23, 1941: An old hand at writing columns but feeling his way in his new assignment, The Home Front,  Tom Treanor writes: "Of all the times in the history of the world to be writing a column this is unquestionably the most exciting.

“And of all the places in which to be writing it, Southern California is probably the most varied and interesting.”

Jimmie Fidler has the day off, so instead I’m running Philip K. Scheuer’s “Town Called Hollywood,” in which he makes his Oscar predictions (he likes “Rebecca” for best picture) and talks about movie directors’ attitudes toward color.

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Posted in 1941, City Hall, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood, Politics | 2 Comments

Van Nuys Is Born!

Posted on February 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Oct. 14, 1984, Virginia and Van Nuys  

  Feb. 23, 1934, Van Nuys  
  Sylvan and Van Nuys  

Sylvan Street and Van Nuys Boulevard via Google maps’ street view.

  Feb. 23, 1911, Van Nuys  

Feb. 23, 1911: The Times says, “There are few more beautiful sites for a city anywhere than that which lies in the San Fernando Valley, at the gateway of Los Angeles. Fifteen miles from the city's center as the crow flies, its setting is the largest tract of undeveloped land near a great city in the world; its background the green-carpeted and rolling hills of scenic beauty unexcelled in all the Southland.”

Notice the names mentioned in a Feb. 23, 1934, story marking the 23rd anniversary of Van Nuys: William Mulholland, W.P. Whitsett, and, yes, The Times’ Harry Chandler.

Referring to staff poet John Steven McGroarty, The Times; 1934 story said: "He was there at the first birthday party and he hoped he would be there for the party fifty years from now. But if he were elsewhere, if he and some of the others were not there fifty years from now, they would gather together at the ramparts of heaven and look down upon the little homes in the San Fernando Valley and be happy at the sight he was sure to behold."

Here’s a curiosity: The 1911 story refers to the junction of Virginia Street and Sherman Way. If Virginia Street became Sylvan, as sources indicate, these streets would be parallel. Perhaps The Times reporter meant Van Nuys Boulevard, as indicated in a 1984 caption.

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Posted in 1911, Photography, San Fernando Valley | 5 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 22, 1961

Posted on February 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Feb. 22, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 22, 1961: The Arriba Poulson group has been formed in East Los Angeles to support the mayor in his upcoming campaign, Matt Weinstock says.  

DEAR ABBY: My Mommy and Daddy got a divorce and I live with my Mommy. My Mommy says that Daddy is a very nice man. When Daddy takes me to his place on Sundays, he says that Mommy is a very nice woman. If my Daddy is so nice and my Mommy is so nice, please tell me why they couldn't get along with each other and stay married?

PATTY ANN (Age 9)

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Paul Coates, Feb. 22, 1961

Posted on February 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  Feb. 22, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 22, 1961: Longtime readers of the Daily Mirror may recall Paul Coates’ 1959 columns about a young African American boy named Butch Harris, who faced exclusion from the Cub Scouts because of his race. Today, Coates has another instance of a black, 9-year-old boy who is being excluded from the Cub Scouts.

Notice the "Book Burning" item about the Assembly investigating the state Department of Education for burning 184,000 obsolete but unused textbooks. The state had burned hundreds of thousands of textbooks in the last few months, mostly English books for grades 4 through 8 and some music books, the Mirror said.

In this era, textbooks were printed by the state of California, which leased printing plates from commercial publishers, the Mirror said.  

ALSO

Butch Harris on the Daily Mirror

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Posted in 1961, Columnists, Countdown to Watts, Front Pages | Comments Off on Paul Coates, Feb. 22, 1961

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 22, 1941

Posted on February 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 22, 1941, Flooding  

  Feb. 22, 1941, Comics  

Feb. 22, 1941: Los Angeles gets nearly 2 inches of rain in 24 hours, leaving Reseda and Canoga Park virtually cut off because of rising floodwaters, The Times says.

Dr. E.H. Pitts of Sacramento writes a letter to The Times praising countries with sterilization laws that “prevent the birth of babies doomed to lives of misery. These nations  act similarly with their criminals, their blind, their carriers of other inherited diseases.”
 
Tom Treanor is off again today, so we have another column by Lee Shippey, author of “It’s an Old California Custom” and “Luckiest Man Alive,” among many other books.  Shippey talks about writer Robert Sherwood, whose play "There Shall Be No Night” was about to open.

Hit Parade: "Andy Hardy's Private Secretary." Topper of the Hardy Family series, made more important by the debut of a sure-fire coming star, Kathryn Grayson, Jimmie Fidler says.

ALSO

Lee Shippey on the Daily Mirror

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Posted in 1941, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Stage | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 22, 1941

Grammys Hit a New Low in Conservatism

Posted on February 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 22, 1981, Grammys  

  Feb. 22, 1981, Grammys  

Feb. 22, 1981: “The nominees this year represent a new low in Grammy conservatism,” Robert Hilburn says. "The gap in attitude between NARAS members — the people who are in the business of making music — and critics, who spend their time thinking about and responding to music, is conveniently underscored in the Village Voice's annual poll of the nation's leading pop and rock critics.

The results of the Village Voice best album poll:

1. The Clash, "London Calling"
2. Bruce Springsteen's "The River"
3. Talking Heads "Remain in Light"
4. "Pretenders"
5. Public Image, Ltd's "Second Edition"
6. Captain Beefheart's "Doc at the Radar Station"
7. Elvis Costello's "Get Happy!!"
8. Stevie Wonder's "Hotter Than July"
9. Prince's "Dirty Mind"
10. Gang of Four's "Entertainment"

ALSO

Rock Shuts Out Disco at Grammys

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Posted in 1981, Columnists, Music | 1 Comment

Found on EBay — Parkey Sharkey

Posted on February 21, 2011 by lmharnisch
Parkey Sharkey A copy of “Whiskey Road” by the incomparable Parkey Sharkey has been listed on EBay. Sharkey was a frequent presence in Paul Coates’ columns and many readers suspected that Coates fabricated Sharkey’s letters. Not at all. Sharkey was an actual person, but a rather eccentric one.

“Whiskey Road” is sometimes described as a book, but it’s really a pamphlet and much of it consists of Sharkey’s letters to Coates.

This copy is signed and is accompanied by a wine list from the Skywood Lodge. I think Sharkey would approve. Bidding starts at $27.95.

ALSO

Parkey Sharkey on the Daily Mirror
Posted in books, Food and Drink, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Parkey Sharkey

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 21, 1961

Posted on February 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 21, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 21, 1961: Ever wish there was a traffic cop around to catch some idiot driver? Well, this time there was, Matt Weinstock says.
 
CONFIDENTIAL TO N.H.: Tell your children nothing about your past "sins." If you are now living a good, clean, respectable life, the Lord forgave you years ago.

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Posted in 1961, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock, Feb. 21, 1961

Paul Coates, Feb. 21, 1961

Posted on February 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

  Feb. 21, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 21, 1961: The choice of which Mercury astronaut will be the first launched into space narrows to Marine Lt. Col. John H. Glenn Jr., Air Force Capt. Virgil L. Grissom and Navy Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard Jr.

Herman Abrams' crusade against red lights and other traffic laws has earned him 430 traffic tickets.

Paul Coates has an update on con man John Milton Addison, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

ALSO

A Real Conjure Man, May 4, 1960

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Posted in #courts, 1961, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Front Pages, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 21, 1941

Posted on February 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 21, 1941, Four Deaths Laid to Three-Day Rain  

  Feb. 21, 1941, Comics  

Feb. 21, 1941: Tom Treanor has the day off. Instead, we have a column by Lee Shippey on Walt Disney. Shippey was blind, but almost never refers to it in his columns.

MGM AT A GLANCE: Stylist Adrian (sizing up a beauty) "Ummmm, 5 feet 3, 34 bust, 32 hips, 22 waist, blond." Studio office boy (sizing up the same girl): "Hot dawg!" 

 

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Another Good Story Ruined — The Battle of Los Angeles

Posted on February 21, 2011 by lmharnisch
Los Angeles Times file photo

I haven’t talked to a movie publicist since Brian De Palma’s ghastly “The Black Dahlia” came out, but I was recently bombarded with pitches to do some sort of story about the rather comical February 1942 “Battle of Los Angeles” to hype the upcoming science fiction shoot ’em up “Battle: Los Angeles.”

And frankly, if the publicity campaign wanted to establish UFO research as nothing but lies and fakery, it couldn’t have done a better job.

In case you don’t know, every year about this time, someone revisits a rather ridiculous episode of wartime hysteria that occurred shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in which more than 1,000 rounds were fired at strange objects in the sky over Los Angeles. The objects were later suspected to be weather balloons – although  nobody was ever really sure. In later years, the reporters who lived through the Battle of Los Angeles treated the whole thing as a big joke. And if the incident sounds familiar, that’s because it inspired the movie “1941.”

ALSO

Battle of Los Angeles on the Daily Mirror 2008

Battle of Los Angeles on the Daily Mirror 2009

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Posted in 1942, Another Good Story Ruined, Film, Hollywood, Photography, UFOs | 11 Comments