L.A. County Cuts Welfare Costs, Pays Immigrants to Go Back to Mexico — Updated

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

December 3, 1941: Li'l Abner as Zoot Suit Yokum

March 14, 1941: Legislature drops rule banning relief to "aliens illegally in this country."
December 3, 1941: I have been reading old newspapers for years and very little about Los Angeles history surprises me anymore, but this one amazed me.

To reduce the welfare rolls, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approves paying $100 [$1,441.19 USD 2009] to immigrants to move back to Mexico. Families were to receive $10 a month for 10 months either through the Mexican government or the U.S. consul, The Times said.

[Update, Dec. 5, 2010, 3:57 p.m.: A headline and previous version of this post said payments would be offered to illegal immigrants. Further research in The Times’ clips shows that in 1941, legal and illegal immigrants were apparently eligible for relief (see the above story from March 15, 1941, in which the state Legislature tried to ban welfare to illegal immigrants). However, it appears that payments were to be offered to all immigrants, regardless of legal status.]

The story is on the jump.
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Posted in art and artists, Comics, Immigration | 2 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Dec. 5, 1960

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 5, 1960, Comics  

Dec. 5, 1960: Two L.A. gendarmes and a highway patrolman have "retired" after being caught by a vice squad officer in the company of a bad gal, Matt Weinstock says.

DEAR ABBY: I just found out that a woman comes to this town almost every weekend to see my husband. She is married and has children. I could tell her husband and break up her home, but I hate to do that to innocent children. Please put this in the paper for my husband to see. He never misses your column. I want him to know I am on to them. If they don't stop seeing each other I will be forced to tell her husband. I can't stand it any more.

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Paul Coates, Dec. 5, 1960

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 5, 1960, Mirror Cover  

Dec. 5, 1960: Paul Coates writes about the curious contrasts in Soviet society, between the advanced technology in its space program and the shortcomings of its commercial aircraft, and notes the first-rate department stores stocked with fourth-rate merchandise. 

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

Autry to Get L.A. Club, O’Malley Says

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 5, 1960, Angels  

Dec. 5, 1960: Gene Autry would be the owner of Los Angeles' new baseball team, according to none other than Walter O'Malley.

Frank Finch's story claimed that O'Malley's priority in the selection of an owner for the American League expansion team was the businessman's "caliber," whatever that means, and O'Malley noted he had good relations with Autry and his business partner Bob Reynolds when their station KMPC carried the Dodger games.

The Times' story said O'Malley left Autry's station because a sponsor wanted a change.

The story also included some interesting speculation. Former Yankees Manager Casey Stengel had been talked to about becoming the team's manager and there were plans for the Angels to open the season against the Yankees at the Coliseum. None of that worked out, however.

A story in The Times on Dec. 6 said the deal wasn't quite done, with the National League wanting to postpone American League expansion for a year to match the debut of National League teams in New York and Houston. According to Finch, O'Malley was "vigorously opposed" to another team playing in Los Angeles in 1961.

–Keith Thursby

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Lakers Draw Small Crowd for Celtics Game

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 5, 1960, Lakers  

Dec. 5, 1960: The Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics, 113-103 at the Sports Arena but the statistic that jumped out was the attendance.

The Times' headline noted the presence of 9,224 fans at the Sports Arena, an unthinkably small number by today's Laker standards.

Perhaps the game wasn't sold out because the teams were playing the following night again. The Lakers and Celtics in a back-to-back series? I know the league was trying to save teams travel costs but that's just incredible.

–Keith Thursby

Posted in Front Pages, Lakers, Sports | Comments Off on Lakers Draw Small Crowd for Celtics Game

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on December 4, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 29, 2010, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

  Dec. 4, 2010, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

Update: Yes, this is Thelma Todd, above, in “Follow Through.” I’m a bit pressed for time this morning so I’ll be back later today with more info. Stay tuned for a little Toddiana!

Isn’t this a great wristwatch? Our “mystery” guest is wearing it.

Last week’s mystery guest was Mack Sennett. The Keystone Kops and Bathing Beauties mystery photos were taken from his photo file.

There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 33 Comments

April 11, 1954, Not So Boring!

Posted on December 4, 2010 by lmharnisch

  April 12, 1954, Spy  

A programmer unleashes a computer on the history of the 20th century …

  April 12, 1954, Bob Dobbs  

  The ads have been infiltrated by Bob Dobbs! Yikes!  

…. and discovers that April 11, 1954 ….

  image  

  Good grief, even the comics were dull!  

… was the most “boring day” in history.

 
Well, not quite.

In truth, this was a brilliant publicity stunt by William Tunstall-Pedoe to advertise his search engine, True Knowledge. The idea was to search material on the 20th century and quantify the importance of each day based on birth and death dates, and significant events, such as World War II.

Obviously, in selecting those criteria, one date had to come out with the fewest significant events, births and deaths, and that happened to be April 11, 1954, which through the notion that the 20th century was the most significant,  was deemed the “most boring day in history.”

Of course, Tunstall-Pedoe has been shrewd in not revealing the “least boring day in history,”  because under this program, there must be one. 

So what actually happened on April 11….

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Posted in art and artists, Comics, Religion, Sports | 4 Comments

Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, Dec. 3, 1960

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 3, 1960, Comics  

Dec. 3, 1960: Matt Weinstock says: "People are warming up to our town's pro basketball team, the Lakers. But something will have to be done about that name, which derives from their former home state, Minnesota, with its 10,000 lakes." 

Paul Coates digs into the mailbag after being on assignment (but nothing from Parkey Sharkey!).

DEAR ABBY: Our mother, age 70, eloped with a real estate dealer who sold her lovely big home to her. He claims to be 65 but looks much younger. No one knew she was even interested in getting married again. She had been a widow for 14 years.  Mother isn't the smartest woman in the world and we think perhaps…

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Santa Monica Man Admits Strangling Waitress

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 23, 1960, Mirror  

Dec. 3, 1960: Gerald "Frenchy" Fernandez admits strangling Susan Kilgore, whose body was found outside the Wind and Sea Tavern, 101 Broadway, Santa Monica. Her clothing was "disarranged" and Fernandez says he killed her when she "resisted his advances."

Kilgore had a drinking problem and had been married three times, according to her mother. She was 24.

Darryl Zanuck couldn't believe Marilyn Monroe was really singing in the rushes for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," so he had her sing for him, Maurice Zolotow says in "The Real Marilyn Monroe."

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On the Trail of the Keystone Kops

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Oct. 25, 1915, Costume Ball  
 
Dec. 11, 1914, Keystone Comedians 		 

  Feb. 28, 1913, Keystone  

Oct. 25, 1915: Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle … and Mayor Sebastian?

The ad for the costume ball is the earliest reference to the “Keystone Kops” that I can find in The Times. However, a little more digging turned up a Dec. 11, 1914, ad that refers to a live performance featuring the Keystone Comedians with the Keystone “Cops.”

One of the first references I found to the Keystone Comedy Co. is a Feb. 28, 1913, article about Mack Sennett taking over a mile of streetcar tracks around Central and Vernon for a picture (possibly “The New Conductor”) starring Ford Sterling.

The earliest reference I can find to Sennett in The Times is the Feb. 20, 1913, story of Barney Oldfield speeding him to rescue Mabel Normand, who had been tied to the railroad tracks. 

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Stage | 2 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Dec. 2, 1960

Posted on December 2, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 2, 1960, Comics  

Dec. 2, 1960: For a second time, Matt Weinstock debunks the notion that the tear-off strips on cellophane cigarette packs should be saved as a way to raise money.  Urban myths are hard to kill, he discovers.

Also on the jump, Marilyn Monroe is continually late, Maurice Zolotow writes in the latest chapter of “The Real Marilyn Monroe.” 

DEAR ABBY: Please do a humane service and put something in your column about these inconsiderate women who perfume themselves so heavily that everyone in the office practically chokes when they come in. I want to cut it out and post it on the bulletin board.

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Matt Weinstock | 1 Comment

Paul Coates, Dec. 2, 1960

Posted on December 2, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 2, 1960, Mirror Cover  

Dec. 2, 1960: Paul Coates and his wife visit the tomb of Lenin (and, at that point, Stalin) … and John Grover takes a humorous look at President-elect Kennedy’s plan to televise news conferences. 

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Dec. 2, 1940

Posted on December 2, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 2, 1940, Greeks Capture 7000 Prisoners  

  Dec. 2, 1940, Buck  

RKO's new importation, Signe Hasso, almost severed a finger peeling a potato; it's sewed in place and doctors say she won't lose it, Jimmie Fidler says. 

ALSO

Signe Hasso on the Daily Mirror

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Bruno Walter’s Last Concert

Posted on December 2, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 2, 1960, Van Cliburn

 
  Feb. 18, 1962, Bruno Walter  

Dec. 2, 1960: Van Cliburn, the Cold War sensation who won the 1958 Tchaikovsky piano competition, performs the Brahms second piano concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Bruno Walter at Shrine Auditorium.   [Yes, I cringe to think of what the acoustics were like in that big barn.]

I’ve posted Albert Goldberg’s review on the jump, not because it is exceptionally good but because it reflects music criticism of the era when one was supposed to be “transported” by the music. Goldberg’s reviews are certainly head and shoulders above those of  Isabel Morse Jones and he was an institution at The Times. And he does note that Cliburn can play something besides Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

What’s significant about this performance is that it was last live concert conducted by Walter, who died in Beverly Hills in 1962. He continued to make recordings, however, according to an online discography.  

Also on the jump: Zubin Mehta will make his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1961.

IF YOUR CHILD IS BORN TODAY … he will have a life full of changes and interesting experiences, dealing with fascinating personalities. [I guess if you have a girl you are out of luck!]

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Posted in classical music, Music, Obituaries | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Dec. 1, 1960

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 

  Dec. 1, 1960, Comics  

Dec. 1, 1960: Matt Weinstock complains because Charlie Chaplin has no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has an update on the fire hydrant in the gutter at 2nd and Hill streets. 

DEAR ABBY: Have you any advice for a man who is married to a woman who spends every afternoon (and half her evenings) playing poker? We've been married for two years and I am getting tired of it.

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

Christina Makes Peace With Joan Crawford, Dec. 1, 1960

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

 

 
 

  Dec. 1, 1960,  

  Dec. 1, 1960, Eastside Beer  

Dec. 1, 1960: Eastside Beer is $1.09 a six-pack or $7.81 USD 2009.

On the jump, Joan Crawford’s daughter Christina tells Lee Belser: "At long last Mummy and I seem to be feeling a bond of common experience."

And Marilyn Monroe meets Joe DiMaggio in Maurice Zolotow’s biography “The Real Marilyn Monroe.”

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Posted in Film, Front Pages, Hollywood | 1 Comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Dec. 1, 1941

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

  U.S. Pilots Guard Burma Road

  
  Dec. 1, 1941, Tom Treanor  

Dec. 1, 1941: Tom Treanor visits the cavalry troops at Camp Seeley and mentions the remarkable lack of interest in the war. All the men talk about is their horses and maybe the M-1 Garand.

Pat (Notre Dame fan-atic) O'Brien is circulating a petition, urging the Fighting Irish to break no-postseason-games rule and seek a Rose Bowl bid, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Movieland Mystery Photo – Update 2

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 28, 2010, Mystery Photo  
  Los Angeles Times file photo  

Here’s another mystery photo I found in Mack Sennett’s file. 

Update: Alas, these young women aren’t identified on the back of the photo. It was supposedly published in The Times on June 27, 1948, and dates from 1922, but I can’t locate the picture in The Times’ archival pages on ProQuest, so I'm guessing that it was pulled from later editions.  The photo appears several places on the Net, but none of them has any identification. I also went through Google’s news archives for 1922, but couldn’t find anything. A true mystery photo!

On the jump, Edward Cline describes the origins of Sennett’s Bathing Beauties in a Feb. 26, 1924, Times story.  As with the Keystone Kops, it was an accident (Sennett  tried to slip his actors into a Shriners parade for some comedy scenes and was chased by the police).

Update 2: I’m always impressed by the knowledge and dedication of the Daily Mirror “brain trust.” Mary Mallory writes: Checked almost 30 envelopes of photos of Sennett bathing beauties, and we don't have that one.  I saw Brent Walker last night, and he says he doesn't really have any idea either.

Thanks, Mary!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 11 Comments

Labor Secretary Calls for Immigration Crackdown

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 1, 1930, Bruce Russell

 
  Dec. 1, 1930, Immigration  

Dec. 1, 1930: Editorial cartooning from the pen of a younger Bruce Russell, in the days when newspapers ran them on the front page. And no, Russell’s concepts didn’t get any clearer over the years. Compare his 1960 cartoon on Richard Nixon’s experienced hair.  (Hm. Reminds me of A. Victor Segno.)

Also on the front page: James J. Davis, President Herbert Hoover’s outgoing secretary of Labor (he resigned to become a senator from Pennsylvania), calls for tighter restrictions on immigration.  Notice the proposal of Sen. David A Reed (R-Pa.) who wants to shut down immigration for two years.

On the jump, how should sports announcers cover football games? Lots of color and constant chatter or pure statistics and long pauses?

ALSO

Times Editorials on Immigration:

The Japanese ‘Menace,’ 1920

Accepting Jewish Refugees Is Impractical, 1938

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What to See in L.A., 1924

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lmharnisch

 

  Sept. 7, 1924, Post Office  

I don’t post much on the 1920s (so many stories, only one Larry Harnisch) but I stumbled across this feature page when looking for something else and found several interesting pieces. The first is a long interview with Joseph M. Abrams, vice president and general manager of a tour bus line, who says the most popular sightseeing spots are: 

1) Mary Pickford's house

2) Rudolph Valentino's house

3) Charlie Chaplin's house

4) Gloria Swanson's house

5) Will Rogers' house

6) Pauline Frederick's house

7) Milton Sills' house

8) Jackie Coogan's house

9) Tommy Meighan's house

10) William Desmond's house

11) William S. Hart's house

12) Eugene O'Brien's house

13) Pola Negri's house

14) Lois Wilson's house

15) J. Warren Kerrigan's house

16) The house on Dayton Avenue where Jim Jeffries was born. [Note: The home was at Dayton and Cypress Avenues, presumably 535 Cypress, according to the 1909 city directory, available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. A subtle reminder to budget-slashing civic leaders who think librarians only reshelve books. And yes, Jeffries’ father was a minister.]  

“Most of the reservations for sightseeing trips about Los Angeles are made by the women. They constitute 80% of our patrons. Men want to go to the baseball game or to a prizefight or to the beach, where the bathing girls are. When they go to view the city they usually are hauled along by their wives,” Abrams says. 

Then there’s a piece on old and vanished buildings of Los Angeles and  the unusual home of “occultist” Ben Hansen  (no address, alas). It is built entirely of eucalyptus and decorated with Egyptian/Assyrian/Persian/Aztec symbols. With a couple of Buddhas  tastefully thrown in.

ALSO

Jim Jeffries and the “Fight of the Century”

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Posted in Architecture, art and artists, Downtown, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on What to See in L.A., 1924