|
Typeface fans, this is for you. |
|
Vilma Stech, who learned to drive a Peerless in 30 minutes, is one of the "fair chauffeuses" in Los Angeles, The Times says. There are at least 150 women in Los Angeles who have learned to operate automobiles skillfully. On the jump, what the well-dressed woman needs to go hunting. |
|
|
|
June 25, 1940: “It would be a happier world if all ladies looked as trim in slacks as Paulette Goddard,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
| |
|
As I have said before, W.W. Robinson is one of my favorite Los Angeles writers. He may not be the most vibrant author – his prose is plain to the point of being sparse – but he is perhaps the most reliable historian I have encountered. Some of today's popular, widely published Los Angeles writers could take a lesson from his meticulous, airtight accuracy. |
| |
|
June 25, 1910: F.A. Horton had been working for about a week as a projectionist at the Art Theater, 508 S. Broadway, when a length of nitrate film caught fire. "The film ignited with a flash and the fire raced down into the magazine and followed the ribbon along the floor of the steel-lined, asbestos-padded operating room," The Times said. Horton grabbed the burning film and put it in a corner, then slammed the door of the steel-lined projection booth before four more reels of film caught fire. The audience filed out of the theater so calmly that not a single chair was upset. Horton was taken to the receiving hospital and treated for an injured hand, The Times said. On the jump, it’s Wunderhose Day! And the local Hebrew Benevolent Society has been asked to take part in a nationwide effort to help 300 Jews immigrating from Russia, but officials say they can’t help. "We do not feel that we can encourage the importation of any unskilled labor at this time. We are taking care of as many industrious Hebrews as we can find employment for, and until the industrial situation in this section improves, we must proceed carefully," A.M. Norton says. |
| |
|
June 24, 1960: Matt Weinstock has the story of a practical joker who finds a little humor in the William Desmond Taylor murder. Abby says, DEAR "STRAIGHT": Many of your "straight up and down" sisters buy "curves" because they want to look better in their clothes — and it is not a matter of baiting their hooks with sponge rubber. It's no more "dishonest" than using artificial color on your cheeks and lips or putting an artificial curl in your hair. All's fair in love and war, and the war is on! |
|
|
June 24, 1960: A reader asks whether Paul Coates has ever actually helped Parkey Sharkey.And a reader shares his experiences about a water heater malfunction. |
| German troops advance while Soviet prisoners march to the rear in an unidentified photo. |
|
June 24, 1941: “FOR YOUR PREFERRED LIST: Walt Disney's ‘The Reluctant Dragon.’ Filmville's No. 1 magician pulls new rabbits out of a hat,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
 Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times |
|
I went to the city archives on Monday to see what I could find about the Oct. 1, 1910, bombing of The Times. There wasn’t too much (the Police Commission minutes for that period are missing, btw) but I did get to examine the first volume of Fire Commission minutes, including Ordinance 205, establishing the Fire Department. I was hoping that there was some sort of record on fire inspections of The Times Building as it was under construction in 1886, but according to one entry, it wasn’t until 1887 that the Fire Commission asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance giving it authority over building construction. Fire Commission minutes in the early years are quite brief and consist mainly of an accounting of money (buying feed for all those horses), equipment and such things as the placement of fire plugs. By 1910, the commission was far more involved in granting permits for gasoline engines, electric motors, boilers, fuel storage tanks and that sort of thing. And the minutes are typewritten – thank goodness! On the jump, the text of Ordinance 205 from The Times, Dec. 2, 1885. |
| |
|
June 23, 1960: While the Democrats are in town for their national convention, they’ll be attending Hollywood Park, where a horse named Lucky Nixon is doing pretty well. Matt Weinstock has the story. DEAR WOMAN DRIVER: One who is basically considerate and kind does not suddenly become rude, selfish and uncivilized when he gets behind a wheel. He is merely being his ugly self because he thinks he will never see those he offends again, Abby says. |
|
|
June 23, 1960: Paul Coates takes a look at the high cost of car insurance, 1960s style. |
| The Times publishes another war map by Charles Owens. |
|
June 23, 1941: “TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX'S 'WILD GEESE CALLING' SET AT A GLANCE: Two extras in lumberjack costumes ruefully regarding a huge log, a saw — and their own well-manicured hands,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
| Photograph by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times |
|
Celebrating the V-J Day Kiss Seen 'Round the World* The 60th anniversary of the end of World War II focuses new attention on the joyful smooch between two exuberant strangers. Sunday August 14, 2005
By J. Michael Kennedy Edith Shain didn't think much about the kiss after it happened 60 years ago Monday. Oh, it was a long one all right — a doozy — but a moment that came and went. And she didn't mind that she'd never met the guy before. The context was too glorious — Times Square, V-J Day, with thousands of people celebrating the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II. What better place to kiss a stranger, especially a young sailor dressed in Navy blues who made his way through the throng, kissing any woman he could find, young or old. In the crowd that day, Aug. 15, 1945, was a photographer for Life magazine. Alfred Eisenstaedt, one of the pioneers of the candid photo, was looking for the perfect shot to reflect the euphoria of the moment.
|
 |
| I’ve been looking for a copy of “Los Angeles in 7 Days” since my friend Carolyn Strickler, former head of The Times’ History Center, showed me a copy of the 1932 book. Bookfinder has a few copies, but for more than I care to pay. Fortunately, it can be downloaded from Google Books. Notice that I’ve opened the digitized copy to the section on the Los Angeles Public Library. Ahem.
Former Times reporter Lanier Bartlett, who wrote “The Spoilers” for Selig Polyscope, and his wife, author Virginia Stivers Bartlett, cover quite a bit of ground rather quickly, so there aren’t extended entries on most of the sights, but they do provide some excellent details on many landmarks that have changed or vanished in the intervening years. Notice that it provides a detailed description of the Biltmore. But what’s this? “We were moving very slowly in congested traffic and had time to chat about days gone by.” And yes, this was in 1932, before freeways, in the golden age of public transportation with the Los Angeles streetcar system. |
| |
| June 22, 1960: ABC is planning to ionize the air in the green room for politicians waiting to go on the air to discuss the Democratic National Convention, Matt Weinstock says. And who is W. Hermanos?
CONFIDENTIAL TO ANNETTA: This may sound like another version of a very old joke, but it conveys the message perfectly: "No one will buy a cow he can milk for nothing," Abby says. |
|
| June 22, 1960: In case you missed it, Earth was invaded by spacemen on Dec. 6, 1957, and Paul Coates has the story.
And the Mirror has added what must be one of the most forgettable slogans in the newspaper business: Edited to Merit Your Respect. |
| |
|
June 22, 1940: “Robert Taylor's 'calm disposition' can't stand the strain of golf. One too many slices yesterday and he threw his clubs away and stalked off the course,” Jimmie Fidler’s staff says. |
|
|
|
June 22, 1960: A Chemex! The scientific way to make coffee. On the jump, “The Apartment” or “Macumba Love?” Tough choice. |
I once read an excellent book about single life that included this recipe for depression: “Go out and rent a movie with Cary Grant in it, come back and put the kettle on.” This advice has never failed me. You cannot go wrong with Cary Grant; his movies are invariably cheering (although “Arsenic and Old Lace” can be headache-inducing). Even in a weepy thriller like “Notorious,” it’s just nice to see him, you know?
The best thing about “His Girl Friday” is what a great ensemble he’s got. Ralph Bellamy is hilarious and Billy Gilbert always absolutely slays me in his small part as Joe Pettibone, but the movie really belongs to the magnificent, suit-wearing, bon-mot-slinging Rosalind Russell. Usually with Cary Grant movies you want to be Cary Grant, but here you really want to be Rosalind.
Does the plot need rehashing? Grant plays Walter Burns, editor of the Morning Post newspaper, and Russell is his ex-wife and ex-star-reporter Hildy Johnson. She drops by to tell Walter she’s marrying boring insurance man Bruce (Bellamy); she’s tired of the exhausting, unpredictable newspaper business and she’s got no regrets about divorcing Walter: “Instead of two weeks in Atlantic City with my bridegroom, I spent two weeks in a coal mine!” she snarls. Distraught but externally unflappable, Walter starts pulling strings to get her back in the newsroom.
| |
|
June 22, 1910: A grocer sends two employees to the home of Francisco Belasco, 232 S. Avenue 19, to recover some goods delivered there by mistake. It doesn’t go well. |
| |
|
June 21, 1960: Matt Weinstock has an update on Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, who was held by the North Koreans for more than three years. CONFIDENTIAL TO CAROLE: Woman does not chase man — neither does mousetrap chase mouse, Abby says. |
ladailymirror.com 
