Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, May 23, 1960

 
May 23, 1960, Mirror Cover

May 23, 1960: Paul Coates gets a second column out of the arrest of two people in a 25-cent gambling pool on roller derby at the Olympic Auditorium.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 23, 1940

 
May 23, 1940, Jimmie Fidler

May 23, 1940, Charles Owens 
Staff artist Charles Owens illustrates the French fleeing the Nazis.

May 23, 1940: “Sometimes it seems futile to sit here writing about movies and movie personalities, when on the other side of the world hundreds of thousands are horribly dying in the wreckage of all they held dear,” Jimmie Fidler says.

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Freeway Trench Cave-In Kills Boy, 6

 May 23, 1960, Cave-In

May 23, 1960: Kelly "Randy" Holmes of 2829 Allesandro St. is killed when he is buried under four feet of dirt while playing in a trench for the Golden State Freeway near what is now the interchange with the Glendale Freeway. Two friends from the neighborhood, Alfonso Garcia Jr., 9, and his 7-year-old brother, Gilbert, were unhurt despite being half-buried in dirt.

On the jump: “Should We Really Believe Weird Stories of Red Missile Bases in Cuba?”

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Husband, Best Man Fight Over Wife

May 23, 1910, The Rose of the Rancho

“The Rose of the Rancho” Gringo invasion!

May 23, 1910: On the jump, a fight with an ax and brass knuckles ensues after Hugh Wilson of San Diego comes home at 3 a.m. to find his wife in the same room with D.J. Carroll, the best man from his recent wedding. All three of them were living together in a rented bungalow, but the landlord had ordered them to move out. Mrs. Wilson says she is going home to mother.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 22, 1940

 
May 22, 1940, Blitzkrieg

May 22, 1940, War Map, Charles Owens
A Page 1 map by our Nuestro Pueblo artist, Charles Owens.

May 22, 1940: “B. Taylor gave B. Stanwyck furs instead of his usual diamonds on their anniversary,” Jimmie Fidler says.

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Movie Mystery Photo

May 22, 2010, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo
Here’s two mystery guests in a mystery film…..

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 7 Comments

Movie Star Mystery Photo

    
May 17, 2010, Mystery Photo 
Los Angeles Times file photo

I’m calling this series of mystery photos “Lucille Ball and Friends.” In going through The Times’ files of Ball photos, I was struck by the number of unfamiliar images.  We’ve all seen the stills of Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory.  These photos were different – the unknown Lucy.

I especially like this photo because it shows Ball with a group of aspiring actors and actresses she had under contract in her project to provide the kind of training she received early in her career. Here they were in 1959, having achieved some measure of success, and yet I didn’t recognize a single one of them. And aren't the outfits great? So 1950s!

The Times’ clips provide the names of the Desilu Workshop Theater members, but the people aren’t identified on the back of the photo. See if you can match the names with the faces:

Jerry Antes, Bob Barran, Majel Barrett, Janice Carroll, Carole Cook, Georgine Darcy, Dick Kalman, Marilyn Lovell, Fran Martin, Gary Menteer, Johnny O'Neill, Bob Osborne, Roger Perry, Howie Storm, Mark Tobin and Bob Trevis.

And yes, there are 14 unidentified people and 16 names. Welcome to the world of unlabeled photos.

 

May 17, 2010, Mystery Photo 

Los Angeles Times file photo

May 17, 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. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only reward is bragging rights. 

The answer to last week's mystery star: Lucille Ball and friends! The weekend mystery guest was Otis Chandler!

There’s a new photo on the jump!

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Posted in broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography, Television | 46 Comments

The Empire Strikes Gold

 
May 22, 1980, Empire Strikes Back

May 22, 1980: People line up for three blocks outside the Egyptian to see the 12:01 a.m. showing of “The Empire Strikes Back.”  And yes, they’re in costume. “Terri Hardin, a 22-year-old freelance artist from Sun Valley, has seen ‘Star Wars’ 178 times and plans to double that number for ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ ” The Times says.

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Man Saves Life by Killing Runaway Horse

 
May 22, 1910, Arlington Square

arlington_mlk
Arlington Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. via Google maps’ street view.

May 22, 1910: In a century-old version of “flipping,” a developer says speculators can make money on lots in Arlington Square, at Santa Barbara Avenue (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) and Arlington  Street. On the jump, a miner is badly injured when he is dragged 300 feet by a runaway horse before shooting the animal to death.

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Found on EBay – Batchelder Vase

batchelder_vase_ebay Batchelder Vase
This Batchelder vase has been listed on EBay. The tile turns up fairly often but this is only the second vase I recall seeing – a previous item was listed in March but didn’t sell. Bidding on this vase starts at $39.99.
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Matt Weinstock, May 21, 1960

 
1960_0521_comics

May 21, 1960: Matt Weinstock gets an update on life in Japan from Col. A.L. Thomas …

CONFIDENTIAL TO 'CONFIRMED BACHELOR IN THE OFFICE': Bachelors often get tangled up with several women in their frantic effort to avoid getting tied up to one. Beware!

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Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, May 21, 1960

 
May 21, 1960, Mirror Cover

May 21, 1960: Paul Coates writes his weekly letters column … a short-sleeved summer suit for men? No, really!

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 21, 1941

 
May 21, 1941, Nazis

May 21, 1941, London

May 21, 1941: “Edna May Oliver attributes her amazing good health to her habit of downing two quarts of vegetable juice daily,” Jimmie Fidler says.

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Robert Kennedy Sets Up JFK Campaign Headquarters

 
May 21, 1960, Robert Kennedy

May 21, 1960, Robert Kennedy 

May 21, 1960: Robert F. Kennedy talks to reporters at the Biltmore Bowl after arriving in Los Angeles to set up campaign headquarters for his brother Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass). And a headline writer takes the easy way out, shortening “Robert” to “Bob.”

On the jump, "La Dolce Vita"  wins the Palme d’Or at Cannes …  And the Southern Baptist Convention approves a resolution against having a Roman Catholic as president.

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LAPD Reports Fewer Arrests, More Crimes

 
May 21, 1910, Police

May 21, 1910: The Times reports some alarming statistics for the Police Department. Arrests have fallen off sharply and criminal complaints have increased. Various officials offer different explanations: officers don’t bother with trivial offenses,  they are frustrated with permissive judges, stool pigeons have been eliminated and officers are afraid of losing their jobs over a complaint. Several officers refer to an organization called the League of Justice, which will require more digging.

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Matt Weinstock, May 20, 1960

 
May 20, 1960, Junior League
“UINUERLAOEJG!”

May 20, 1960: "I've worked in local coffeehouses for over a year," a reader tells Matt Weinstock,  "and I've yet to see a beatnik. It's for un-real. A joke perpetuated by the press and perpetuated by coffeehouse owners. I suppose everybody's happy with it, however. The 'beat' label allows bad painters, singers and writers to 'express' themselves, the owners get high prices for the coffee and the atmosphere and it keeps the Angry Young People off the streets. It's really quite funny — the nonconformists comfortably conforming over their cappuccino cups. Who knows? Perhaps it has enriched our culture."

CONFIDENTIAL TO WORSHIPED HIM: Now that you are wiser, ask him to park his clay feet under somebody else's sofa every night.

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Posted in books, Columnists, Matt Weinstock | 1 Comment

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, May 20, 1960

 
May 20, 1960, Mirror Cover

May 20, 1960: Paul Coates writes about two people who were charged with felony bookmaking for running a 25-cent pool on roller derby at the Olympic Auditorium.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 20, 1940

 
image

May 20, 1940, Earthquake Damage

May 20, 1940: “Hollywood After Dark …  At Ciro's, Dolores Del Rio drawing gasps with a gown of black net over a flesh-colored slip which looked like black net over Dolores,” Jimmie Fidler says.

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Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs | 3 Comments

Angels’ Forecast a Little Cloudy

 
May 20, 1970, Sports

May 20, 1970: Looking back, it's hard to imagine anyone comparing the 1969 Miracle Mets to the 1970 disastrous Angels. But after Rudy May pitched a two-hitter to beat the White Sox, longtime baseball executive Frank Lane tried to make such a comparison.

Lane, a scout for the Baltimore Orioles, who lost to the Mets in the 1969 World Series, told The Times' John Wiebusch: "I shudder to say it but this Angel team—man to man and just about all over—is a better team than the team that beat us last year."

Angels Manager Lefty Phillips said after the win, "More and more, in every way, this team is amazing."

If he only knew what was ahead.

–Keith Thursby

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20 Held in Chinatown Gambling Raids

 
image
Notice all the car dealers around 10th (Olympic) and Olive streets.  

Olive and Olympic 
Olympic and Olive via Google maps’ street view.

image

May 20, 1910: Sgt. Charles E. “Charlie” Sebastian, the future police chief and mayor of Los Angeles, leads another raid on gambling in Chinatown. Notice that the officers borrowed cars for the raid, perhaps because the department’s vehicles were unreliable. What’s particularly interesting is the description of all the hidden panels and compartments used to conceal evidence.

“It is said that the interior of Ah Chee's place is partially demolished. This has happened dozens of times before but he quickly rebuilds and makes the place more indestructible and his doors thicker,” The Times says.

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