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June 6, 1940 — Jimmie Fidler has a little story that begins: “Franz Waxman, the composer who scored 'Rebecca,' has a newly acquired Chihuahua pooch.” |
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June 6, 1940 — Jimmie Fidler has a little story that begins: “Franz Waxman, the composer who scored 'Rebecca,' has a newly acquired Chihuahua pooch.” |
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June 6, 1980: With the skill of a surgeon, Martin Bernheimer dissects a performance by operatic sensation Luciano Pavarotti (d. 2007). “He conquered. He came. He sang. In that order,” Bernheimer says. Notice that in return for agreeing to use a dress rehearsal as a preview, Pavarotti demanded that protege Madelyn Renee replace Diana Soviero as Mimi for one performance. Soviero was understandably upset and told Bernheimer: "I hope I never see San Diego again.”
You knew “La Boheme” had its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles, right? (Oct. 14, 1897). |
| Anne Blanche in “Freckles” at the Los Angeles Theater. |
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June 6, 1910: Exhibit 1 in the argument that the past was not a kinder, simpler time is Abraham Flexner’s book “Medical Education in the United States and Canada.” The Times reports on Flexner’s shocking and brutally honest study about the dismal quality of many medical schools in the United States. Please notice that in California at this time, medical students weren’t even required to have a high school diploma.
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| KTLA’s Stan Chambers, left, Times reporter Nieson Himmel, center, and Jerry Clark. |
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Note: Jerry Clark, who died Tuesday, was a longtime newsman who ran an informal group of retirees called the “Old Farts of The Times” (or in polite company, the OFS, pronounced “oafs”). One of his customs was to send members a weekly e-mail of someone’s recollections in a feature he called the “Saturday Story.” This is his “Saturday Story” from March 27, 2010. Writing -30- to a 35-Year Career Seventeen years ago today was my last day of almost 35 years of working for Times Mirror newspapers–4 years with the Los Angeles Mirror News and 30-plus years with the Los Angeles Times.
Could it be that I have been retired half as long as I was employed at First (and Second) and Spring? My final night seems just like yesterday.
The 1993 company buyout, the second in two years, was perhaps the most generous of the many buyouts that cut the Times work force by more than 50% over the years.
I had not considered the buyout when I first heard about it. As a member of management, I was too busy answering employees' questions: Will their be another buyout next year? How will we get the paper out without the experienced workers who will be taking the buyout? Will there be more overtime for those who remain? Will part-timers be made full-time? I didn't have the answers but pointed out that overtime increased in the previous year after the first buyout.
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June 5, 1940: “MGM's new Adonis, who'll be given a romantic tint, is Cliff Anderson, ex-Ciro's waiter, who was studying civil engineering while tray-pushing,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
| Los Angeles Times file photo Update: As most people realized, our mystery guest is Hollywood nightclub owner Earl Carroll, who died in 1948 plane crash. In the above photo, he’s the young fellow with Elbert Hubbard (sorry, folks, he’s not Will Geer) in a photo dated May 27, 1915. Carroll’s famous nightclub on Sunset Boulevard is now the Nickelodeon building.
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June 5, 1960: Cheryl Crane and two other inmates escape from El Retiro School for Girls, where she had been committed for killing Johnny Stompanato. "This was a big change from the meek and mild little girl who came in here on a homicide rap," Beverly Hills Police Chief Clinton H. Anderson says. "She's very defiant, antisocial and a nonconformist. It looks like she led the other girls out." |
| Kilflea Dog Soap does the job! |
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June 5, 1910: The battle lines are becoming increasingly firm in the metalworkers’ strike and the attempt to unionize Los Angeles’ foundries, rolling mills and machine shops.
The Times says: "There is no secret about the laborite plan. [San Francisco union official Andy J.] Gallagher and other trouble-making bosses of the metal trades announced the programme. For fear that some of the local agitators might prove too soft-hearted, the work of unionizing the foundries and machine shops has been intrusted to the San Franciscans. “These fellows boast that there will be a concerted move tomorrow. They say peaceful measures are useless; that Los Angeles must taste of bloodshed and riot before she yields to the labor-union anarchists.” "Work at the Baker Iron Works has gone ahead without interruption," company official Fred Baker says. "Personally, I would rather raze our plant to the ground and sell the land for city lots than give in." The Times also reports in the brewery strike that picketers' calls of "Unfair beer!" on South Main and Los Angeles streets "have acted as a stimulus to the thirsty." |
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April 21, 1948: The Times reports that John Wooden is coming to UCLA as “head cage mentor.” On the jump, Wooden takes UCLA to the NCAA title for his last game, March 31, 1975. |
| Items rarely show up from Haggarty’s, an upscale chain of Southern California women’s shops that opened in 1917 and closed in 1970. An Australian vendor has listed this dress with bids starting at $25 AU (note shipping costs). As with anything on EBay, an item and vendor should be evaluated thoroughly before submitting a bid. |
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June 4, 1960: The odd fate of Richard M. Kelley is a story worthy of Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock or John O’Hara…. CONFIDENTIAL TO 'NEEDS TO KNOW': You have been misinformed. There is no law which compels unmarried mothers to give up their babies for adoption. See your Family Service Assn., Abby says. |
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June 4, 1940: “Well, it's come more quickly than I expected! For months I've warned Hollywood producers against the peril of anti-Nazi films,” Jimmie Fidler says. Variety says: “Belief is strong in some circles that Uncle Sam will crack down on American distribution of any films objectionable to Hitler.” |
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June 4, 1980: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and former California Gov. Ronald Reagan take the California primaries in the presidential race. A Times poll finds that two-thirds of the Democrats who voted in the primary say Kennedy should drop out in the interest of party unity now that President Carter has enough delegates to clinch the nomination. On the jump, a bomb explodes in the Story Room in the base of the Statue of Liberty. The blast occurred at 7:25 p.m., after the last ferry boat of the day had left Liberty Island, The Times says. The bombing was later attributed to Croatian terrorists. And TV columnist Howard Rosenberg looks at changes in the way television covers elections. In case you’re wondering, Rosenberg refers to "Death of a Princess," a sensational British TV dramatization — now mostly forgotten — about the 1977 execution of Saudi Arabian princess Mishaal, 19, for adultery. Mishaal was killed by a firing squad and her lover was decapitated. “Princess” is not on Netflix, but you can watch it here. |
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June 4, 1910: Friends and neighbors in Watts told Mrs. Taple that she should leave her husband, Chris, a pleasant, industrious man except when he was drinking. She always ignored their advice, saying that she needed to stay so he wouldn’t drink even more. One day, she reached the breaking point and when Chris came home drunk, he found that she was moving to a neighbor’s house. As she ran away across an open field, he took a shotgun from a corner of the parlor and fired at her. She tripped and fell, saving her life as the shot went over her head, but Chris apparently assumed that he had killed her and went inside his home to prepare for a gunfight with the law. Warning: As with many stories from this era, the details are extremely graphic. |
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June 3, 1940: Tip to ladies: Ida Lupino smears honey on her face before retiring — says it's tops as a beauty aid, Jimmie Fidler says. |
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June 3, 1960: Matt Weinstock writes a few lines about Fairly Honest Joe, a bartender at a Hill Street saloon called the Rainbow. It’s gone and so is Fairly Honest Joe. CONFIDENTIAL TO SANDY: "Silence is not always golden — sometimes it's guilt." Ask for a yes or no, Abby says. |
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June 3, 1960: James A. McDonald, 14, and his 12-year-old brother, Thomas, of Pomona took their dog and ran away from home, determined to steal a plane – destination unknown. Several months before, someone had caught them hot-wiring a plane at Cable Airport in Upland, but on this night they were successful in starting a Piper Tri-Pacer owned by a construction company. About 10 minutes after taking off, the plane crashed in a recreation yard at Emerson Junior High at Lincoln and Towne avenues in Pomona, killing the boys and their dog. They were "typical youngsters, no more interested in flying that others," their mother, Katy, said. |
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June 3, 1910: The Times’ court reporter files a story in dialect about two African American women who are charged with fighting. Ouch. And police arrest newsboys shooting dice behind the offices of Los Angeles Record (1886-1931). |