| Larry Harnisch Reflects on L.A. History

Paul Coates, Nov. 19, 1960

Posted on November 19, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 19, 1960: Paul Coates writes about his encounter with a con man in the Soviet Union. And Marilyn Monroe takes up modeling in Part 6 of Maurice Zolotow’s "The Real Marilyn Monroe."

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Paul Coates | Comments Off

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Nov. 19, 1940

Posted on November 19, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 19, 1940, Italian Base Reported Seized

Nov. 19, 1940: CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIQUE to Vivien Leigh: Be smart and quit giving out interviews about your great love. Three are people who disapprove, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in Columnists, Fashion, Food and Drink | Comments Off

November 19, 1960: Gene Autry a Contender in American League Expansion Team

Posted on November 19, 2010 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1960: Sports cover

Nov. 19, 1960: Hank Greenberg, former baseball star who was part owner of the Chicago White Sox, was out as the potential bidder for the American League baseball team hoping to start play in Los Angeles in 1961. So who was in?

The Times reported that several people were talking about taking over, including Gene Autry, the former cowboy star described by the paper as a “television tycoon.”

Autry got into the ownership sweepstakes only after talking to Greenberg about carrying the new baseball team’s games on Autry’s radio station, KMPC. Dodger owner Walter O’Malley had moved his team’s games from KMPC to KFI. Now Autry was in the mix as a potential owner.

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Posted in Dodgers, Downtown, Sports | 1 Comment

Ritchie Valens and ‘Donna’

Posted on November 19, 2010 by lmharnisch

Feb. 5, 1959, Donna Ludwig.

Feb. 5, 1959: Here’s a story I neglected to post in my original coverage of “The Day the Music Died,” an interview with Donna Ludwig of Granada Hills, the subject of Ritchie Valens’ song “Donna.”

The Times said: While in one of their long telephone conversations one night last September, Donna said, she chided him about writing that promised song for her. “While we were talking, right there on the telephone, he wrote the words to ‘Donna’ and he read them to me.

“He called me the next night and sang the song to me and played the guitar. It was wonderful. I didn’t believe it was going to be recorded.”

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Posted in Obituaries, Rock 'n' Roll | Comments Off

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 18, 1960

Posted on November 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 18, 1960: A woman who missed a court date arrives with a note from her doctor saying that she’s ready to “resume her occupation,” and that, of course, is why she was in court, Matt Weinstock says.

DEAR ABBY: There are six of us children (all married) in the family and every Christmas we go through the same thing. We have always pitched in to buy our parents one nice gift from all of us. One sister is behind three years for her share and one brother has never put in his share. We would rather buy one nice gift than six cheaper ones. none of us are poor. What do you suggest?

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off

Paul Coates, Nov. 18, 1960

Posted on November 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 18, 1960: One glance at the front page shows the Mirror was nothing like The Times — but all of that is going to change in a little more than a year….

Paul Coates writes about the problem of alcoholism in the Soviet Union …. and Jim Dougherty goes on a date with Norma Jean Baker in Chapter 5 of Maurice Zolotow's biography of Marilyn Monroe.

Also on the jump, Chester Otto Weger describes beating three women to death at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois.

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Nov. 18, 1940

Posted on November 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 18, 1940, Italians Driven Out of Greece

Nov. 18, 1940: Note to Realtors: The Basil Rathbone house is NOT for sale! Jimmie Fidler says.

[Note: This is how errors were often handled at one time. Rather than publish a correction, The Times would “fix” the mistake in later stories.]

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off

Former Mirror Writer Beaten to Death – Update

Posted on November 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

Roby Heard: Man wearing glasses and a telephone headset. Roby Heard, 1921-1960.

Note: This is a blog post from 2010.

This is something I wrote in 2002 at the request of Det. Rick Jackson of the LAPD’s cold case unit. Jackson said that the “murder book” for 1960 was missing and that the department had no information the case, so I pulled this together from news accounts.

There was some speculation at the time of the killing that Heard had been assaulted by a couple of young self-styled Nazis who were attacked while picketing a Sammy Davis Jr. performance, but that theory was eventually abandoned. The case was eventually closed by the LAPD, and as I recall it was based on what was aired on an old TV program. One website attributes the killing to Clarence Best.

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Posted in Homicide, LAPD, Obituaries | 4 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 17, 1960

Posted on November 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 17, 1960: Matt Weinstock discovers “2,000 Years With Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.” “A wildly creative ad-libber who wrote for Sid Caesar for 10 years, Brooks could well become the hottest satirist in town,” Weinstock says.

DEAR ABBY: The company psychologist told my husband that he has an IQ bordering on "genius." Consequently, no one can live with him anymore. Everyone else, in his opinion, is now "stupid," "infantile" or "lame-brained." (I am included). He belittles me in front of the children. Ninety percent of the time he is a wonderful husband and loving father. He has a brilliant future with a well-known company and we have all the material things I could hope for, but his mental "superiority" is causing me heartaches.

And more on Clark Gable….

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Nightclubs, Obituaries | 1 Comment

Paul Coates, Nov. 17, 1960

Posted on November 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 17, 1960: Clark Gable dies in Room 209 of Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital at the age of 59… Paul Coates reports on impressions of President-elect Kennedy in the Soviet Union … and the Mirror publishes Part 4 of Maurice Zolotow’s biography of Marilyn Monroe, in which marriage is arranged for the 15-year-old “man trap.”

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Paul Coates | Comments Off

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Nov. 17, 1941

Posted on November 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 17, 1941: Fibber and Molly McGee are at Palm Springs. Molly hasn't been feeling well, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Tom Treanor | Comments Off

Wildfire Destroys 61 Homes in Bradbury

Posted on November 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 17, 1980: A brush fire roars through Bradbury. On the jump, a story by the master, Eric Malnic, who notes that race car driver Mickey Thompson lost six vehicles but saved his house. (Thompson and his wife were shot to death in the driveway of their Bradbury home in 1988.)

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Posted in Fire Department, Homicide | Comments Off

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 16, 1960

Posted on November 16, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 16, 1960: Matt Weinstock has an item on the demolition of the Haig Prince Building at 2nd and Broadway, which was built in 1898.

DEAR ABBY: This morning I received a telephone call from a man who would not tell me his name. He just told me to give my husband a message….

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Paul Coates, Nov. 16, 1960

Posted on November 16, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 16, 1960: Paul Coates files the first story in his series on the Soviet Union. He writes from Moscow: “This is the other side of the moon. A place so strange to western eyes that it defeats my most determined attempts at accurate description.” Fifty years later, it may be hard to understand how unusual Coates’ trip was. In the early 1960s, the Soviet Union was viewed as mysterious, secretive and very dangerous to the free world. It’s not quite like having tea with Osama bin Laden, but almost.

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Posted in Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates | Comments Off

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Nov. 16, 1940

Posted on November 16, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 16, 1940: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are packing for a trailer trek to Nebraska, where they'll visit her relatives, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in Countdown to Watts, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off

Mary Astor Mystery Photo

Posted on November 16, 2010 by lmharnisch

At left, the publicity still from “Return to Peyton Place.” At right, Mary Astor in a 1959 photo.

At left, the publicity still from “Return to Peyton Place.” At right, a photo of Mary Astor from 1961.

Oh, Harnisch, why don’t you let go of this and move on to something fun? Because this is fun. At least my idea of fun. I went down into the archives last night and rooted around in the Mary Astor photos. Most of them are from “The Maltese Falcon” era with a smattering of pictures from the silents but I found a few from the late 1950s and early 1960s, though nothing from “Return to Peyton Place.”

To be frank, I have a hard time convincing myself these are the same lady.

The good news is that I found another page of her diary. She met George Kaufman and “I fell like a ton of bricks as only I can fall,” she says.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | 10 Comments

Bus Strike Begins!

Posted on November 16, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 16-21, 1960: Another bus strike ends after six days, with MTA mechanics winning a raise of 54 cents an hour to be given in three steps. Officials say that the raises will probably require an increase in the 20-cent [$1.43 USD 2009] basic fare.

Interestingly enough, the city traffic department set up an emergency ride-sharing program using a map that divided the city into large zones. Motorists were encouraged to pick up people at bus stops in these zones and give them a ride downtown. People seeking a ride from downtown to the outlying areas were to stand in areas designated for various zones.

And yes, the main commute was to and from downtown Los Angeles.

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Posted in Freeways, LAPD, Transportation | Comments Off

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 15, 1960,

Posted on November 15, 2010 by lmharnisch

Nov. 15, 1960: A copyreader named Mike knows how to liven up a newsroom tour, Matt Weinstock says.

DEAR ABBY: I am a very happily married woman with a family. I really love my husband but I can't help this schoolgirl crush I have on my doctor. Recently I had a little surgery….

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