| Hey, remember “Brubaker?” |
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July 3, 1980: For its 52nd anniversary, the Hollywood Women’s Press Club takes a look at the evolution of covering the entertainment industry. “We did not write scandal," says Harriet Parsons, daughter of columnist Louella Parsons. “We did not write sensational stuff like the fan magazines have done in recent years. We wrote gossip. It was all very whipped cream and upbeat, flattering to the stars.” |
| Maybe beer is something other than “liquid bread.” |
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July 2, 1960: It’s Saturday (in 1960) which means Paul Coates, Matt Weinstock and Abby are all on the same page! |
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July 2, 1940: Jimmy (Date 'Em All) Stewart is a whiz on the accordion, Jimmie Fidler says. |
Photograph by Rosanna Xia / Los Angeles Times |
| Rosanna Xia, a summer intern with The Times, visited an art show in Pershing Square on Sunday and took this photo of Dan Brown’s “Tribute to the King of Pop,” a portrait of Michael Jackson done with cola cans. (And yes, many of them are Pepsi cans). |
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July 1-5, 1910: The Times’ Harry Carr writes from Reno: "The 'battle of the century' made me think of nothing so much as the butchery of an old bull. "When, at the end of the 15th round, old Jeff lay, half through the ropes, smeared with blood, the light all gone out of his eyes, stricken and helpless, I half expected him to give the 'moo' of a dying bull. "When the moving pictures are shown I think you will see a strange thing — that Jeffries lay in the exact attitude of the statue ‘The Dying Gladiator,' as he was being counted out, with this addition: The group will have another figure, a tigerish, fierce black giant standing over the bleeding gladiator, his terrible fists waiting. "I felt sorry for poor, old Jeff, but most of my pity went out to the black man. "I never before saw any human soul so shaken with fear. "When the fight began Johnson was so frightened that his face was a deathly, ashen gray. His lips were dry and his eyes were staring with a sort of horrified terror. He seemed utterly friendless. "Out of that enormous pack of humanity I saw only one face that turned up to him in sympathy. That was the drawn, tragically beautiful face of the white woman who is Johnson's wife." Here's Johnson's 1931 account of the fight. On the jump, stories by Jack London and Harry Carr. |
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July 1, 1960: Matt Weinstock visits the Monet exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum. It’s the most popular show since the Van Gogh exhibit in 1957. CONFIDENTIAL TO KAREN: A smart girl doesn't show her hand until she's asked for it, Abby says. |
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July 1, 1940: “Looks like Vic McLaglen must face fire before the Screen Actors Guild for beating up a producer's kin on the 'Pago Pago' location,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
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June 29, 1910: Times cartoonist Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale on the labor situation in Los Angeles. Lissner is Meyer Lissner (d. 1930), whom The Times attacked as a Goo-Goo (Good Government) official and political boss. Lissner was chairman of the Lincoln Roosevelt League and head of the Public Utilities Commission. Harris Newmark said in “Sixty Years in Southern California” : Mayor George “Alexander’s campaign was managed by Meyer Lissner, an arrival of 1896 who had a brief experience as a jeweler before he turned his attention to law. He possessed much political sagacity, and was therefore quick to turn the Alexander success to the success of Hiram Johnson, who was soon elected governor.” July 1, 1910: It is frequently said that the Internet will be the death of newspapers, but for researchers at least, it also offers new life in the form of archival inquiries at almost the molecular level. I thought it would be interesting to contrast The Times’ coverage of the 1910 strikes with stories from the Herald, which are available online from the Library of Congress. Note particularly the story about the steamship company president receiving a threatening note with a nonunion worker’s severed ear. These guys played rough. |
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June 30, 1960: Matt Weinstock has an update on the case of Ida Gutierrez, who was wrongly accused of stealing a sweater. A reader asks: “Abby, would people think we were out of our minds if I went back to work and my husband quit his job to keep house? My boss keeps calling me. My husband says he would like the arrangement if it weren't for what people would say. We'd like your opinion.” |
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June 30, 1941: UNIVERSAL'S 'ALMOST AN ANGEL' SET AT A GLANCE: Deanna Durbin phoning her cook between scenes to detail her dinner menu — and looking very proud of her new housewife role, Jimmie Fidler says. |
| Women’s swimsuits are on sale for $11.99 [$85.89 USD 2009]. |
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June 30, 1960: Bad news for the Buzz Inn, 3025 Tweedy Blvd., and the Chug a Lug, 3042 Tweedy Blvd. And yes, the Chug a Lug is still there. It’s now known as El Salon Juarez, according to Google maps. |
| Women’s bathing suits are on sale for $3.45 [$78.45 USD 2009]. |
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June 30, 1910: Jack London (yes, that Jack London) has the latest on the James Jeffries – Jack Johnson fight in Reno, coming up on the Fourth of July. And railroad police report an increase in men riding the brake beams to see the prizefight. |
| Here’s an unusual fashion item: A jacket promoting the Herald Examiner (d. 1989). Bidding starts at $20. |
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June 29, 1960: A young lady from Sweden wants to know why Americans, who have so much, are so cynical, Matt Weinstock says. CONFIDENTIAL TO BUZZ: Your friends sound like blisters. They show up after all the work has been done. There must be others who are worthier of your friendship. Look around, Abby says. |
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June 29, 1960: Paul Coates gets a column out of a 30-second phone call about a man with a wife and eight children who dropped out and became a beatnik. |
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June 29, 1940: Boss, you should have shared our table the other night and listened in while Wayne and Bubbles Morris dished out baby advice to prospective parents Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, Jimmie Fidler’s staff says. |
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