Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Aug., 23, 1940

Posted on August 23, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 23, 1940, RAF Blasts

Aug. 23, 1940, Tom Treanor

Tom Treanor, who was killed covering World War II for The Times, on housing in Rome.

Aug. 23, 1940: George Raft's been startling New York natives by making nite club rounds in bedroom slippers, Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Tom Treanor | 1 Comment

On Assignment

Posted on August 23, 2010 by lmharnisch
Aug. 23, 2010, Times Eagle
Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times 

May 31, 1938, Times Monument
A Memorial Day ceremony at the monument in 1938.

I visited Hollywood Forever Cemetery over the weekend to see the memorial to victims of the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times. I was told that The Times’ eagle has been missing its wings since at least 1990 and indeed, they are gone.

Four of the victims were buried elsewhere. Assistant City Editor Churchill Harvey-Elder, for example, is in Rosedale Cemetery. After visiting Hollywood Forever Cemetery, I went over to Rosedale to see if I could find his grave, but the office was closed. Rosedale, which is on Washington Boulevard just east of Normandie Avenue, is an older cemetery with narrow roads, and I ended up getting caught in a funeral procession that parked en masse for a graveside ceremony.

Posted in 1910 L.A. Times bombing, art and artists, Cemeteries | Comments Off on On Assignment

From the Vaults: ‘Friday the 13th’ (1980)

Posted on August 23, 2010 by lmharnisch

F13poster *claps hands to face, shakes feathered hair, screams*

I'm sorry! I meant to do this last week. Larry pitched this idea when he first started running posts from 1980, and I thought "ooh, there's a Friday the 13th in August" and then I didn't think about it again until, well, last Friday morning, when my "House of Usher" post had just gone live. Well… "Friday the 13th" itself was released on May 9, 1980, so at least there is precedence for not getting the date quite right. That counts… right? ….

Besides, there's no actual mention of Friday the 13th in the movie. It's given as the date for much of the action, but nobody ever says "Boy, I sure hate Friday the 13th! Things always get crazy!" or anything like that. This is fitting; the movie intentionally follows the template of the tremendously successful "Halloween" (1978), which was originally titled "The Babysitter Murders" and involves the holiday largely as window dressing. In the coming years "My Bloody Valentine" (1981) and "April Fool's Day" (1986) would treat their own holiday themes much more seriously. For the original F13, though, it's just all about the camp counselors.

And what counselors they are! Not a single camper is to be seen in this film, unless you count the drowning Jason (was he a camper or just an employee's kid that nobody was really in charge of?) shown in flashback. This film is concerned about the counselors, thank you, the nubile teenagers in high-waisted shorts and crisp white panties. This film clearly knows which side its bread is buttered on! All the action takes place on the day before Camp Crystal Lake is to open, so at least there's a good reason: the story centers on the counselors who are helping get the camp ready. Sadly for them, that will never happen.

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Posted in Film, From the Vaults, Hollywood | 3 Comments

Found on EBay – Theda Bara’s ‘Salome’

Posted on August 22, 2010 by lmharnisch

Theda Bara Salome Theda Bara Salome

This still from Theda Bara’s lost film “Salome” has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $9.99.
Posted in Film, Hollywood, Photography | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Theda Bara’s ‘Salome’

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on August 22, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
 Aug. 20, 2010, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Aug. 22, 2010, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Here’s our mystery guest with a mystery companion!

Here’s our weekend mystery guest. I like to keep things more informal on the weekends so I’ll post all the comments as they come in rather than waiting. This week’s mystery guest was Raymond Hackett.
Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 6 Comments

‘Once in a Lifetime’ Chance to Coach the Lakers

Posted on August 21, 2010 by lmharnisch
image

Aug. 21, 1960: The Lakers of Los Angeles were coming together.

West Virginia University Coach Fred Schaus was hired as the team's new coach. "It was an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime," he told UPI. The team already had a great young player in Elgin Baylor, and the Lakers' top draft choice was Jerry West.

Schaus coached the Lakers until the 1966-67 season, then become the team's general manager.

Earlier in the month, the Lakers turned down $200,000 from the St. Louis Hawks for Baylor and they hoped West would soon join Schaus, his old college coach.

"The Cleveland AAU team is bidding for Jerry's services. Naturally I hope he joins me out here," Schaus said.

— Keith Thursby

Posted in Lakers | Comments Off on ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Chance to Coach the Lakers

Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, Aug. 20, 1960

Posted on August 20, 2010 by lmharnisch

 Aug. 20, 1960, Comics
 

Aug. 20, 1960 –  DEAR ABBY: My husband stays home just long enough to eat, sleep and change his clothes. Our children hardly ever see him. This has been going on for 10 years.

Last month I thought I heard a prowler so I called the police. A police officer came and offered to stay with me until I got over my nervousness. I made coffee and we had a wonderful visit. He's a big, good-looking bachelor, but it isn't what you think. I don't cheat on my husband even though he cheats on me.

This policeman has been dropping in for coffee every night around midnight. Only someone who is as lonely as I was can realize what his visits mean to me. I have heard that my neighbors are beginning to talk. Should I explain that this is an innocent, clean friendship. Or do you think I am doing wrong?

[I wonder if she's related to the woman who gave a house key to the milkman, don't you? lrh]

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock, Aug. 20, 1960

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Aug. 20, 1940

Posted on August 20, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 20, 1940, British Air Hosts

Aug. 20, 1940, War Map
The Times publishes the latest war map by Charles Owens.

Aug. 20 1940: CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIQUE TO Lili Damita: I sort of agree with you that marital separations are helpful in families where both husband and wife are of fiery temperament but don't you honestly feel that five or six months apart every year is overdoing it?

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off on Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Aug. 20, 1940

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on August 20, 2010 by lmharnisch

    Aug. 16, 2010, Mystery Photo    

Los Angeles Times file photo 

 
Just a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and reveal the answer on Friday … or on Saturday if I have a hard time picking only five pictures; sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day.

I have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately, that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again).

If you're right, you will have to wait until Friday or Saturday. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only reward is bragging rights. 

Last week’s mystery guest was Tod Andrews.  The weekend mystery guest was William Henry.

There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 18 Comments

On Assignment

Posted on August 20, 2010 by lmharnisch
Clarence Darrow Trial
Los Angeles Times file photo

The trial of Clarence Darrow. Do you recognize the young Jerry Giesler to Darrow’s left? 

dropcaps_1904riends … I have spent this week at the Huntington Library going through material on the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times. It has been fascinating – beyond fascinating, in fact.

In one folder, I found a map that a pressman drew on a piece of scrap paper showing where he was when the bomb went off and how he got out of the building. In another, there was Jim Bassett’s interview with May Goodan, Harry Chandler’s daughter, in which she talked about taking drives with her father through the barley fields outside Los Angeles and how he would say that it would all be homes someday.

Rather than focusing exclusively on retelling the story, I have been looking at questions such as “Who owns history?” “Who gets to tell the story?” and “Why is memory so fragile?” How is it that an incident that was so thoroughly documented at the time has been so completely recast over the last century? Why is it that most people in Los Angeles today have no idea precisely where the bombing occurred? Or why?

Jimmie Fidler fans, don’t worry. He and Tom Treanor and Matt Weinstock and Paul Coates will be back. But right now my life is all about research. 

Posted in #courts, 1910 L.A. Times bombing | 2 Comments

The Dodgers’ Super Cool Pitcher

Posted on August 19, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 19, 1970, Sports

Aug. 19, 1970: The Dodgers were saved by a pitcher described as "23, right-handed and super cool."

Sandy Vance pitched a five-hitter to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2. The Times' John Wiebusch, who gave Vance the "super cool"  label, said Vance wasn't Manager Walt Alston's first or even second choice to fill in as a starter. But Alston was impressed.

"He's going to be a good one," Alston said. "He has remarkable concentration and he's a much improved pitcher."

Injuries shortened Vance's career to parts of two seasons with the Dodgers.

Speaking of Alston, longtime baseball official Frank Lane predicted his eventual successor with the Dodgers' would be minor league manager Tom Lasorda.

"I don't think there's any question that when Walt Alston decides he wants to stay in Ohio that Lasorda will be the man to replace him. That is unless some other club hasn't snapped him up first."

— Keith Thursby

Posted in Dodgers | 1 Comment

Found on EBay: ‘The Equine Detective’

Posted on August 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

Selig Polyscope I don’t usually mention reproduction items and I’ve ignored similar posters for other Selig Polyscope films. But "The Equine Detective”? What was it, the “Sherlock Holmes of the Stable” going undercover pulling a wagon? The possibilities are almost endless.

In fact, according to a 1914 article in The Times, Arabia was a well-known horse who performed in vaudeville and also appeared in films by Universal.

Bidding starts at $7.99.
Posted in Animals, Film, Hollywood | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Aug. 18, 1960

Posted on August 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 18, 1960, Comics

Aug. 18, 1960: A man goes into a place that sells hearing aids and … Matt Weinstock has the story.

Also on the jump, Richard Nixon talks about civil rights during a campaign stop in Greensboro, N.C.

DEAR HOWARD: Not all women are naturally round, firm and fully packed. And a man who would turn down a girl just because she wasn't "all there" isn't all there himself, Abby says.

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Richard Nixon | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock, Aug. 18, 1960

Paul Coates, Aug. 18, 1960

Posted on August 18, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 18, 1960, Mirror

Aug. 18, 1960:  Paul Coates has an update on one of his regular characters, Desmond Slattery.

Also on the jump, Jim Denyer has a piece on the FBI’s “most wanted” list. I don’t recognize Denyer’s byline, but I’m assuming he was one of the Mirror staffers who got a turn at a writing column.

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Posted in Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Paul Coates, Aug. 18, 1960

Drysdale Hit by Line Drive

Posted on August 18, 2010 by lmharnisch
 
Aug. 18, 1960, Sports

Aug. 18, 1960: You don't very often see the phrase "nearly maimed" in headlines for baseball stories.

Don Drysdale escaped serious injury when he was struck by a line drive, then he lost the game on the next pitch when Chicago's Ernie Banks homered to beat the Dodgers, 1-0.

And how tough was Drysdale?

"If Don was shaken up, he didn't show it," wrote The Times' Frank Finch. "When Manager Walt Alston asked him if he was hurt, Drysdale said, 'Gimme the ball and let me pitch.' "

Great quote but some dubious journalism. Just where was Finch when he heard Drysdale say that?

— Keith Thursby

Posted in Dodgers | Comments Off on Drysdale Hit by Line Drive

Found on EBay: Foo and Wing Herb Co.

Posted on August 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Foo Wing This c. 1907 postcard for Foo and Wing Herb Co., 903 S. Olive St., has been listed on EBay. At right, an advertisement for Foo and Wing from 1913. Bidding starts at $6. Foo and Wing  
Posted in health | Comments Off on Found on EBay: Foo and Wing Herb Co.

Matt Weinstock, Aug. 17, 1960

Posted on August 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 17, 1960, Comics

Aug. 17, 1960: A motorist wins a battle over a parking ticket (it wasn’t filled out properly) … and one Whittier market has such a problem with kids stealing cigarettes it doesn’t even bother to report them.

CONFIDENTIAL TO UPSET MOTHER: The least lovable child needs the most love. Force yourself.

Also on the jump: Some employers are switching to staggered work hours in an attempt to ease traffic on the freeways. Yes, this is 1960 and yes, freeway traffic was a problem 50 years ago.  And yes, this is when Los Angeles still had streetcars (d 1963).

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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Freeways, Matt Weinstock, Transportation | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock, Aug. 17, 1960

Paul Coates, Aug. 17, 1960

Posted on August 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

 
Aug. 17, 2010, Mirror

Aug. 17, 1960: Paul Coates writes about an economic boycott against African Americans in the South who register to vote.

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Posted in Columnists, Countdown to Watts, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

On Assignment

Posted on August 17, 2010 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles Times file photo

Clarence Darrow addresses the jury during his 1912 trial in Los Angeles on charges of attempting to bribe jurors while defending the McNamara brothers in the 1910 bombing of The Times. [Update: This photo was published in The Times on Aug. 15, 1912. An earlier version of the post said the photo was taken in 1913, the date that was written on the back of the picture].
Dear Daily Mirror readers: Posting will be light this week because I’m going through The Times archives at the Huntington Library to research a story for the centennial of the Oct. 1, 1910,  bombing. I’ll continue posting mystery photos, but it’s unclear whether I’ll have time to do anything more.
Posted in #courts, 1910 L.A. Times bombing, Photography | 3 Comments

August 16, 1940: Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood

Posted on August 16, 2010 by lmharnisch


The Times publishes a war map by Charles Owens.

August 16, 1940: Joan Crawford is mulling the notion of a second adoption as companion for her recent first, Jimmie Fidler says.
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Posted in art and artists, Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off on August 16, 1940: Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood