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Someone recently asked me when “L.A.” became a common term for Los Angeles. I said I didn’t know and was reluctant to speculate because at the Daily Mirror, we don’t guess, we look things up. This postcard of Central Park (now Pershing Square) listed on EBay shows that “L.A.” was in use by 1907, far earlier than I expected. Bidding on the postcard starts at $4.21.
Notice the lush landscaping of Central Park, a stark contrast to the current moonscape, which was intended to repel the homeless. |
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The Vanished Bus
A fun-loving Hollywoodian is sweating out a nightmare, hoping it will go away. The complication is that it wasn't a nightmare, it was real.
He went to Tijuana and became so simpatico with the spirit of manana he overindulged or, as the boys put it, he got load-dead. As he headed home a policeman stopped him and suggested diplomatically that he was in no condition to drive. "Why don't you park your car and take the bus," he said.
The idea appealed to our hero. After all, why risk damaging his new car. It didn't matter about an old, beat-up bus. You see, in his exuberant state he took the officer literally. He selected a bus out of a batch of 10 or 12 of them parked nearby and drove it all the way home.
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NEXT MORNING he awoke with a terrible hangover and a vague feeling that all was not well. His suspicion was verified when he peeked down the street and saw the bus.
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New Information on Griffith Park Hermit
Call this an update on Dennis Farrell.
It's not good news. But it's not bad news, either. Dennis — In case his name has slipped your memory — is the 33-year-old ex-GI who wandered into town out of the Griffith Park hills 10 months ago. For six years, he had lived alone in the 4,200-acre park, hiding in the thick undergrowth by day and stealing into the picnic areas at night to scavenge garbage cans for enough food to stay alive. His sudden appearance one June night last year — bearded and barefoot and bound in rags — answered a couple of questions, but raised a lot more. It answered for his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Farrell of North Platte, Neb., the mystery of what had happened to their son after he had casually walked out of the house one evening in May, 1952. |
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April 22, 1940: “There's talk that Daisy, edjoocated purp of the 'Blondie' pics, will be replaced because the dog's owner is asking too much dough,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
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March 11, 1960: How do you rate as a grandstand manager? Try your hand with the Baltimore Orioles of 1959 and see if you come up with the same strategy as manager Paul Richards. |
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April 22, 1910: Samuel Langhorne Clemens “recognized his daughter Clara (Mrs. Ossip Gabrilowitsch), spoke a rational word or two and feeling himself unequal to conversation, wrote out in pencil: “ ‘Give me my glasses.’ “These were his last words. Laying them aside, he sank first into reverie and later into final unconsciousness.” |
| Movie memorabilia comes in all shapes and forms, but I’ve never seen a pennant like this Theda Bara item before. A little research shows that a series of nearly 200 such pennants was issued about 1915. Ooh, is that a Hobart Bosworth? A lot of 192 of these movie pennants sold for $907.52 in 2008, about $4.72 each. Bidding starts at 24.99 GBP (the vendor is located in the UK). |
| “So I’ll Save the Wear and Tear on Your Tonsils, Mr. Ames.” |
A Hard Life
 If no one minds, I'd like to get literary for a moment. Whitney Balliett of the New Yorker magazine, in reviewing two current books, wrote:
"They deal with what has become, in the past decade, a new hero in American novels — the tired, kindly, fearful, foolish-wise, middle-aged urban white-collar worker who is presented with a suddenly accumulated myriad of complex and often overwhelming moral problems that must be resolved (often in 24 hours or less) without trampling others or compromising himself."
He refers to such character as "the newest Milquetoast."
I have just finished reading Irwin Shaw's novel, "Two Weeks in Another Town" and the leading character' John Andrus, seems to fit this description. He is a former movie actor who lives is Paris and works for NATO. He is married to a French girl and they have two children.
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Being a Celebrity Weighs So Heavily Since everyone else is hesitant to say it, I'll say it myself. I'm a celebrity.
It's been a long, hard, often discouraging fight to reach the top. But, really, I've been a brick through the whole thing.
I bore no grudge against Ralph Edwards even though "This Is Your Life" never once considered mine.
I continued to spend large chunks of my expense account at the Brown Derby even though Bob Cobb never beseeched me for an autographed picture to put up on the wall.
I will still admit, under pressure, that Ed Sullivan is a warm, glib personality kid despite the fact that he has never introduced me from the audience.
But now, I don't need them. Any of them.
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April 21, 1941: “Yvonne of the King Sisters and musician Buddy Cole are on the love list,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
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April 21, 1960: Elvis Presley’s return to Los Angeles to film “G.I. Blues” is put safely on Page 2. Instead, The Times leads the paper with the resignation of the South Korean cabinet. ps. Georg Solti is named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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April 21, 1910: The Times publishes an update in the curious death of Morgan Shiveley (or Shively), in which an examination of bloody fingerprints merely deepens the mystery.Charges against the Stones were eventually dismissed and the case was abandoned. |
| This Catalina tile table has been listed on EBay. According to the vendor, it was sold on Santa Catalina Island in 1950. Bidding starts at $1,150 with a Buy It Now price of $1,300. As with everything on EBay, items and vendors should be evaluated thoroughly before submitting a bid. |
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Plane Bomb Jokers
Persons who go airplane riding had better get used to the idea that authorities don't think wisecracks about bombs are funny. A story from Chicago a few days ago stated that nine persons have been grabbed by FBI agents there this month for saying, in jest, that they had bombs in their bags. One is under sentence of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, the maximum penalty. Another paid a $100 fine, another $50. The charge is making a false bomb report concerning a public carrier in intestate commerce. When such bomb reports are made flights are delayed while baggage is taken off and inspected. If the plane is in the air the pilot is instructed to land at the nearest airport while a search is made. Airlines estimate the cost of this delay at $850 an hour.
A Long Beach youth named Brian is wiser as a result of an incident a few days ago at San Francisco's airport. He was departing from home and a schoolmate was heading from Boise. As the Boise boy checked in his stuff he told the clerk he would carry his briefcase.
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Census Takers' Woes Myriad in a Big Way Census takers take, among other things, oaths.
Before beginning their tours of duty, they solemnly swear that they are not Communists, fascists, blabbermouths or mixed up in payola. They also take a pledge that — no matter how distasteful or misrepresented they find working conditions — they won't unite against Uncle Sam and go on strike.
This last little clause, I can tell you now, is going to save the Bureau of Census and the United States government from chaos unequalled in our 184-year history.
Before the government began recruiting enumerators, it sent out advance propaganda agents to lull prospective applicants into thinking that they would earn approximately $12 a day, whether they were paid by the hour or were paid a bounty for the heads which they counted.
Which was, even in these inflated times, a reasonable enough wage.
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April 20, 1940: “Femme stars at Paramount are squawking about male execs hogging the studio's only sunbathing roof,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
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April 20, 1980: Linda Ronstadt tells Robert Hilburn, “A lot of musicians mistakenly think you're supposed to know everything about your craft at age 18 just because a couple of geniuses, like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger, seem to have it all together at that age. They don't accept the fact that most of us need time to develop our skills. “The result for me was that I always used to worry because I didn't think I could sing well enough. Looking back, I realize I just didn't know enough about singing to be satisfied. I've finally realized that this is what I do for a living and that I do it pretty well.” |
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| April 20, 1910: Samuel Clemens "has been perfectly conscious and in possession of all his faculties throughout his illness and, weak though he is, frequent flashes of the characteristic wit that made him a unique figure when in health, appear in his conversations with his physicians and nurses,” The Times says.
On the jump, the police surgeon discusses the problems of jailing alcoholics. |
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A Lounge Lizard
A flagrant instance of heresy, one that cannot be unchallenged, occurred during the recent Sportsmen's Show. This is an attempt to erase it, lest such a mammoth slur cast a shadow on outdoor living in this glorious paradise dedicated to same. People who visited a certain booth were given the opportunity to enter a contest for a 14-foot boat worth around $750. They filled out entry blanks, dropped them in a box, kept the tabs with duplicate numbers.
The drawing was held and the winner announced. The sponsors had trouble locating him but finally did and broke the wonderful news. At first the winner was merely half-hearted, then something unpleasant seemed to occur to him and he said he didn't want the darn thing.
The sponsor was astounded. What did he mean he didn't want it? Everybody wanted a boat. Did he realize what he was saying? The boat was his, free. He didn't care, he didn't want it. He said it very emphatically.
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