Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

  Feb. 17, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: This photo, published March 28, 1982, shows the set of Lizzie Borden High School for “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion.” The movie was filmed at Pasadena College of Chiropractic, which, despite its name, was in Pico Rivera.]

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 6 Comments

Another Good Story Ruined — The Black Dahlia

  Medford Map  
 
This item comes from the Atlantic:

by Mark Bernstein

“My morning drive to Eastgate, our software workshop, is literary.

“In the car this morning, I listened to the estimable Katherine Kellgren reading  Connie Willis' new historical fiction, Blackout. This is fun (and better for my blood pressure than talk radio), but it's also work: Eastgate has always been very interested in interlinked electronic narrative and for years I've been trying to interest hypertext writers in  historical fiction. I've not always been convincing. If the argument doesn't go better soon, I may try my hand.
“My morning drive takes me past the former site of the Fannie Farmer School, deeply influential in popular American cookery and in American technical writing. Next comes the the house from which the Black Dahlia embarked for Hollywood and a different narrative than she'd contemplated.”

 


 

Sorry, no. I haven’t been to Medford, Mass., for years so I’m not sure what is being pointed out as Elizabeth Short’s house these days. In fact the triple-decker home at 115 Salem where her family was living when she was killed was torn down years ago. I have combined a 1920 map of Medford, with a red dot showing the approximate location of 115 Salem, and a Google map. Note the location of Fifield Court, where the Pacios family lived.
Posted in #courts, Another Good Story Ruined, books, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 17, 1961

  Feb. 17, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 17, 1961: Matt Weinstock has an item on an exhibit of works by blind artists and he explains how blind people are taught to paint.
 
CONFIDENTIAL TO "MADAME BUTTERFLY": Have nothing more to do with him until he can give you proof (from a physician) that he is 100% well. [My, and I wonder what that was all about!—lrh]

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Paul Coates, Feb. 17, 1961

 

  Feb. 17, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 17, 1961: The death of Burdette E. Lowery, 67, was an accident – or was it? Lowery, a retired engineer, was tenant in a home at 514 Via De La Paz occupied by Turner Ashby Martin, 41, and his wife, Julie.

The Martins told police that Lowery had fallen and hit his head. However, psychologist Dr. Elias Porter  told the coroner’s inquest that Turner Martin had admitted during a counseling session “I crushed his head like an egg shell and I haven't been able to sleep since.” This made the investigation doubly complex because not only was the admission made during what was supposedly a confidential counseling session, but Porter was Julie Martin’s ex-husband.

The deputy coroner eventually testified that Lowery died of a condition caused by an old injury, and murder charges against Turner Martin were dropped.

And Paul Coates has some pointers for novice columnists like Al Capp: A columnist who wants to keep his readers must never malign, criticize, ridicule or write harshly about:

Dogs, Debbie Reynolds, Clifton's Cafeteria, Norman Vincent Peale, the Alamo, Toots Shor, Knott's Berry Farm, the Reader's Digest, Carl Sandburg, Whittier, Irene Dunne, Knute Rockne, Lady Bird Johnson, "What's My Line?", Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

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Posted in #courts, 1961, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Front Pages, Homicide | 3 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 17, 1941

  Feb. 17, 1941, Singapore Mined to Block Japan  

  image  

Feb. 17, 1941: Tom Treanor, who was killed covering World War II for The Times, has a story about British reporter Clare Hollingworth and her ingenuity against Romanian censors and attempts to make her leave the country.

The one irresistible perfume, in Henry Fonda's opinion, is the smell of freshly baked bread, Jimmie Fidler says.
 
ALSO

Clare Hollingworth in the Guardian

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Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

  Feb. 16, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: These photos of former Marine Capt. Dale Dye are truly a mystery. They were taken Aug. 19, 1985, during filming of “Invaders From Mars” but never published. However, I did find a feature on Dye from 1985, so keep reading for that… ]

Today I have a pair of photos from the same movie shoot. Keep reading for the second one….

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 7 Comments

Pages of History — A. Victor Segno’s ‘How to Be Happy Tho’ Married’

  How to Be Happy Tho' Married  

A. Victor Segno The library at the Daily Mirror HQ recently acquired the elusive work “How to Be Happy Tho’ Married” by our favorite charlatan and con man, A. Victor Segno.

Although we have several of Segno’s works (“The Law of Mentalism” and “How to Live 100 Years”) “How to Be Happy Tho’ Married” has been near the top  of our desiderata list because Segno abandoned his wife in Los Angeles and ran off with another woman. 

As such, we hoped to find amusement in this little 1901 pamphlet (which cost more than $25 in 2009 dollars), but it seems that in some ways little has changed in more than a century:

“Marriage, like all human institutions, has its advantages and disillusions; therefore, it should be entered into with care and the selection of a partner founded upon good judgment.”

"Marriage is the door through which many deluded mortals have returned to earth — and their senses."

We’re still looking for “How to Have Beautiful Hair.”

ALSO

A. Victor Segno on the Daily Mirror

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Posted in 1901, books, Pages of History | 5 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 16, 1961

  Feb. 16, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 16, 1961: One lesson a person learns over and over in this business, but never accepts entirely, is not to get overly playful with words. If he does, he's likely to lose or confuse people, even on what seem simple, self-explanatory matters, Matt Weinstock says. 

CONFIDENTIAL TO "LOVE IN KOREA": DO NOT MARRY HER! If it is really "love" it will last until you get back to the States and are able to think it over.

Fashion note: Women who wear tight, short skirts shouldn’t cross their legs, Abby agrees.

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Paul Coates, Feb. 16, 1961

 

  Feb. 16, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 16, 1961: Paul Coates dips into his mail and turns down a chance to audition showgirls for Le Crazy Horse in Paris. 

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Town Called Hollywood, Feb. 16, 1941

  Feb. 16, 1941, RAF Sets French Coast Afire  

  Feb. 16, 1941, Comics  

Feb. 16, 1941: Tom Treanor files a report from Palm Springs, saying that the desert outpost seems impossibly remote from the war in Europe. “Nigel Bruce, the English actor, has been showing some British fliers around the past few days and their bewilderment must be past description,” Treanor says.
 
Jimmie Fidler has the day off. Instead, Philip K. Scheuer reports on the filming of “Tobacco Road” in Town Called Hollywood. Notice the reference to the camera having the new coated lenses, which is what allowed Gregg Toland to get some of the shots in “Citizen Kane.” 

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Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

  Feb. 15, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: This 1989 photo allegedly shows the filming of that masterpiece “Beverly Hills Corpse,” a film I cannot locate. 

[However the director, David "Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama," DeCoteau, is listed on imdb, so I guess it’s an actual movie rather than — as I initially suspected (the swimming pool, the women in ridiculous wigs, the zilch production values) — a porn film.]

Today’s mystery photo isn’t so much about identifying the production but to show what happens to wire photos from the 1970s and ‘80s: They turn this lovely shade of orange. 

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 8 Comments

Pages of History – Morrow Mayo’s ‘Los Angeles’

  Los Angeles, Morrow Mayo  

Morrow Mayo didn’t do terribly well in the first page of his chapter on the 1927  Marion Parker case (“Strange Interlude”) in “Los Angeles.” Let’s see if the next page is any better.

We find that once again, Mayo has trouble quoting documents accurately. This is his version of William Edward Hickman’s telegram to Parker’s father:

  Morrow Mayo, Los Angeles, Page 294  

In comparing this text with a photo of the telegram from the Los Angeles Evening Express, Dec. 19, 1927, we find that he dropped a few words and he misspelled Marion as Marian. The text actually reads:

[Marian] Marion secure. [Use good judgment.] Interference with my plans dangerous.

[Marian] Marion Parker

George Fox

[I apologize for the poor quality of the scan. It was a challenging day with the microfilm reader.]

Keep reading for a photo of a letter Hickman sent to Marion’s father compared with Mayo’s purported text of the letter. And I have to say that while Mayo’s transcription makes Hickman sound somewhat rational, seeing the actual letter, with its crazy quilt of cursive writing and printing, conveys some of Hickman’s lunacy. 

  Hickman Telegram  

ALSO

Fact-Checking ‘Los Angeles’ – Part 1

Fact-Checking ‘Los Angeles’ – Part 2

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Posted in 1927, Another Good Story Ruined, books, Marion Parker, Pages of History | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Feb. 15, 1961

  Feb. 15, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 15, 1961: Matt Weinstock has an item about hospital care 50 years ago.  Read it and remind yourself that this was supposedly a “kinder, simpler time.” 

CONFIDENTIAL TO BROWN EYES: Don't confess "all" to a man who is as unforgiving as your boyfriend appears to be.

 

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Paul Coates, Feb. 15, 1961

 

  Feb. 15, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 15, 1961: Paul Coates writes about a house for rent, “an ornate, slightly garish Mediterranean-style home on a hill overlooking Hollywood” built in the ‘20s by a movie star. “Never heard of her,” says one prospective tenant. 

And Groucho Marx writes a letter to syndicated columnist Al Capp, setting him straight about the Marx Bros. movies.  "Our audience didn't drop us. We dropped them," Groucho says. "The pictures just became physically too tough to do and we decided to retired to greener and more comfortable pastures."

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Posted in 1961, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Feb. 15, 1941

  Feb. 15, 1941, Yugoslavia Yields to Germany  

  image  

Aug. 2, 1943, Ploesti Raid Feb. 15, 1941: Tom Treanor, who died covering World War II for The Times, has an interesting and, in fact, prophetic piece about the difficulty of any attack on the oilfields of Romania to keep the Nazis from obtaining gasoline. I won’t get into the famous raids on the Ploesti oilfields but here’s The Times headline from Aug. 2, 1943.

”The wells themselves are nearly impossible to put out of commission,” Treanor says.” It takes almost a direct hit to blow up a well. With the Germans on hand fully prepared for firefighting, the percentage is also against success with incendiary bombs. In other words, general bombing of the fields doesn't offer much hope.”

Jimmie Fidler says: Great excitement on the Warner Bros. lot the other ayem when Merle Oberon, working in "Affectionately Yours," discovered she had lost her handkerchief — a major catastrophe since it happened to be wrapped around approximately $5,000 worth of jewelry!

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Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

  Feb. 14, 2011, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

[Update: This is director James Goldstone and George Segal filming “Rollercoaster” in a photo taken Dec. 2, 1976. ]

I blacked out the slate so this photo won’t be too easy….

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 16 Comments

Back in the News: Fred Otash

 

  Feb. 15, 1961, Comics  

 

  Feb. 15, 1961, Fred Otash  

Feb. 15, 1961: Remember Fred Otash’s alleged involvement in the doping of racehorses? The private detective (and former LAPD officer) got probation. 

ALSO

Fred Otash on the Daily Mirror

Posted in #courts, 1961, Animals, art and artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Sports | Comments Off on Back in the News: Fred Otash

Found on EBay – Matt Weinstock

My L.A.  

matt_weinstock_ebay

Muscatel at Noon

Matt Weinstock’s “My L.A.” and “Muscatel at Noon” have been listed on EBay. “My L.A.” is fairly common and is available in a modern reprint, but “Muscatel at Noon” is a little more difficult to find. Notice that “Muscatel” is autographed.

Bidding starts at $15.

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Matt Weinstock, Feb. 14, 1961

  Feb. 14, 1961, Comics  

  Feb. 14, 1961, Comics  

Feb. 14, 1961: A valentine to Matt Weinstock from a longtime reader: "Back in 1947 a romance developed between myself and a man with no more auspicious beginning than his sharing your column with me at the drugstore counter. We eventually married, only to learn that the only thing we had in common was an appreciation of Matt Weinstock. Somehow, I can't help feeling that you contributed to this fiasco, albeit unknowingly. I thought you might like to know the gentleman and I are still friends but we buy separate newspapers."

CONFIDENTIAL TO HOWARD: You've been angry too long. Washington's Birthday would be an ideal time to "bury the hatchet."

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Paul Coates, Feb. 14, 1961

 

  Feb. 14, 1961, Mirror Cover  

Feb. 14, 1961: Officials of Birmingham College of Advanced Technology in England approved a fund-raiser for women's athletic programs in which male students could win a female student for the night. But the male students rejected the idea. And the whole affair serves as a point of departure for Paul Coates. 

Evidently the women were undeterred and said "We'll fine other males interested in winning a girl for the night," according to a UPI story. And it should be noted that college officials approved the idea after being assured that no impropriety would be involved.
 
ALSO

The Boys Object to a Coed Raffle

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Posted in 1961, Columnists, Education, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Sports | 1 Comment