A Mysterious Prisoner in Jail

April 15, 1910, Stranger

April 15, 1910: The Times publishes a curious story about a man whom jailers have nicknamed Charlie Cash, inspired in part by one of the incomprehensible phrases he says: “Kush, kush.” He’s an industrious fellow and whenever he’s put on the chain gang for one of his routine arrests for vagrancy, he does the work of two ordinary prisoners.

“He has a most peculiar tongue and every effort to find someone who could understand him has been fruitless. Linguist and interpreters have been called to talk with him but each one has failed,” The Times says.

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Matt Weinstock, April 14, 1960

 
April 14, 1960, Milton Berle

Let’s go to the Ambassador  and see where Milton Berle performed — no wait, we let L.A. Unified tear it down.

Feeding Fosdic

Matt Weinstock     In the event anyone is wondering what will happen to all those forms the census enumerators are collecting, this will introduce Fosdic.  Fosdic is an electronic monster who lives in Jeffersonville, Ind.  His full name is Film Output Sensing Device for Input to Computers.

    After the 160,000 enumerators in the United States finish filling out the census forms with a special Fosdic pencil, they turn them in to their local offices, where they are checked.  They are microfilmed, sent to Washington D.C., then shipped home to Indiana, where they are fed to always-hungry Fosdic.

    They way the census people tell it, fearless Fosdic is infallible.  But let's assume  a bunch of careless enumerators in Stubbed Toe, Miss., didn't press hard enough on their pencils in making the final notations and the notations failed to register.  This has happened to billing machines, you know, and could happen to the fearless one.  Conceivably such a  miscalculation could wipe out the entire population of Mississippi.

 
   

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Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, April 14, 1960



 
April 14, 1960, Mirror

Tijuana Has Tourist Bureau That Works

Paul Coates    On Sept. 29 of last year, a flimsy, unimpressive booth was erected at 390 Avenida Revolucion, downtown Tijuana's busiest thoroughfare.  On it was tacked the sign, "Tijuana Tourist Bureau."

    It was a humble undertaking.  It had no city, state or federal money behind it.  Its originators — the men who paid for its construction, its services and the salaries of responsible Tijuana merchants, tiered of being a part of the infamy of the corrupt border city.

    It's questionable whether they knew, at the beginning, exactly in what way their effort might help cure a bad sore on Tijuana's reputation, or how successful it would be in luring back the estimated 5 million potential tourists who avoided "TJ" in 1959.

    But the entries in the booth's logbook today seem to supply much of the answer.  Abbreviated, here are a few of the dozens of troubles brought to the booth's attendants by tourists:

    "There are two sides," Tijuana's new vigilante of community morals added, a little sadly, "to every story."

  

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Nuestro Pueblo

Oct. 14, 1938, Nuestro Pueblo
Oct. 14, 1938: Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens visit the La Brea tar pits for another installment of Nuestro Pueblo. In case you just tuned in, the posts of the original 1938-39 run ended last year. I’m going back and picking up the ones I missed the first time around.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, April 14, 1941

April 14, 1941, That Night in Rio

April 14, 1941: “Orson [Welles], having at last backed his boasts by producing a very fine picture, should now set himself the more difficult task — if it's not too late — of making a few friends,” Jimmie Fidler says.  … and watch out for Carole Landis’ peanut brittle!

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Contract Awarded for Dodger Stadium

image

April 14, 1960: The contract to build the Dodgers' ballpark in Chavez Ravine was announced and Walter O'Malley once again talked about delays.

"A final completion date cannot be fixed at this time due to the uncertainty of the various actions that have to be taken by the City Council and the Board of Supervisors but it is believed that there will be full cooperation," O'Malley said.

In other words, plan on staying in the Coliseum a little longer.

The Dodgers said construction of the ballpark would cost more than $11 million, with other costs bringing the price closer to $16 million. Still a bargain.

–Keith Thursby

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Brown Signs Nation’s First Smog Law

April 14, 1960, Smog Bill

April 14, 1960, Brown Signs Smog Bill

April 14, 1960: Gov. Pat Brown signs America’s first law requiring emissions controls on automobiles. "I consider this bill one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation to come across my desk in my 15 months as governor," he said. In a few years, the old road-draft tubes will be replaced by the "California emissions package."

On the jump, Caryl Chessman says he expects to be executed May 2 … And manager Casey Stengel refuses to predict a pennant win for the Yankees, who finished spring training with the worst record in the American League.

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Death at the Bimini Baths

 
April 14, 1910, Bimini Baths

April 14, 1910: The story is old and the details are fragmentary. Victor Lamar, 15, and Father E.V. Reynolds, a Catholic priest from Oklahoma, met somehow in Los Angeles. Reynolds might have paid Lamar $3 or $4 [$68-$90 USD 2009] to go “have a good time,” according to Marie A. Lamar, but her brother wouldn’t talk about it.

What’s certain is that Victor’s body was found at the bottom of the Bimini Baths, at 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue. Initial reports said he had been badly abused, but later testimony said injuries from vigorous attempts to revive him may have misled investigators. According to an autopsy, he died of heart trouble.

Victor’s father won a $1,000 [$22,738.82 USD 2009] settlement from the Bimini Baths for negligence, but The Times is silent on whether Reynolds was charged with molestation, although one story calls him “a moral degenerate.”

The Internet adds a few, skimpy details. There was a Father E.V. Reynolds in Chandler, Okla., about that time, but there’s nothing more. 

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Matt Weinstock, April 13, 1960

 
1960_0413_peanuts

Sweden and Chessman

Matt Weinstock     David Stone, instructor at John Adams Junior High School, plans a trip to Europe this summer with another teacher.  Not long ago he wrote a friendly letter to a newspaper in Sweden giving the date they would be there and expressing the hope they might meet interested persons for an exchange of information.

    Stone has been shocked the last few days to receive three replies, all disturbingly striking the same note.

    One, from a  religious order, stated, "Sir:  Why do you want to come to Sweden?  You are representative of a country where a criminal must die eight or nine times.  God allows a human being to die but once."

    Another:  "Sir: Come to Sweden by all means.  Explain to us your judicial system.  We are full of admiration for the procedure in the Chessman case.  You surpass the Nazis and the Bolshies.  Ten Swedish Mothers."

  

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Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, April 13, 1960


April 13, 1960, Mirror Cover

 Beverly Aadland, 1960

In a photo taken by guest Bob Profeta during a party at their Hollywood apartment, Florence Aadland, left, scuffles with her 17-year-old daughter, Beverly, during an argument over whether the television was too loud. You may recall that Beverly Aadland was in the news in 1959 as Errol Flynn’s “protege.” She was being held on charges of prostitution and lack of parental supervision after William Stanciu was shot to death while struggling with her over a gun.

Tijuana's Vigilantes Swing Into Action

Paul Coates    In Tijuana, the vigilantes have formed.

    They were no broad sombreros, no special uniforms, no shiny badges.  They pack no pistols.

    They are quiet, unobtrusive vigilantes.  And they're careful.

    When they step on the toes of the moneyed dealers in sin, they say "Excuse me."

    But they say it firmly, so as not to be misunderstood.

    They have no official commission, no legal authority.  But so far, they've been getting their own way.

    Why they have, they're not exactly sure themselves.

    Except for the fact that they've got right on their side.  And what they're doing could save the bawdy border city from self-destruction. 

   

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, April 13, 1940

 April 13, 1940, Nazis Occupy Oslo
April 13, 1940, Nazis Occupy Oslo  

April 13, 1940: “Wot's this re: Orson Welles retrenching financially by moving into the Hollywood YMCA,” Jimmie Fidler asks.

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Dodgers Open With 11th Inning Win Over Cubs, 3-2

April 13, 1960, Dodgers

April 13, 1960, Dodgers

April 13, 1960: The Dodgers opened the season with another record crowd at the Coliseum, with 67,550 fans watching a 3-2 victory over the Cubs. Chuck Essegian's home run made the difference and Don Drysdale stuck out 14 as the opening night starter.

The crowd was the biggest for a National League night opener.

The Times ran a short story about someone who complained to police after he wasn't allowed in the Coliseum. His three tickets bought for $1 each were phony.

Dick Walsh, the Dodgers' assistant general manager, said the tickets didn't have seat numbers and other items found on real tickets. The Times said the case "touched off a possibly large scale forgery operation."

–Keith Thursby

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Giants Open Candlestick Park With Win

 
April 13, 1960, Nixon, Willie Mays

April 13, 1960, Candlestick Park 

April 13, 1960: Candlestick Park opened in San Francisco and The Times' Al Wolf described the stadium as "magnificent."

Candlestick Park?

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Union Officer Recalls Lowering U.S. Flag at Ft. Sumter

April 13, 1910, Ft. Sumter

April 13, 1910: The Times marks the [Update: 49th — I think a 100-year-old correction is some sort of record] 50th anniversary of the firing on Ft. Sumter by interviewing an officer who was there, Lt. Col. W.H. Hamner, a Virginian. The Times found Hamner playing billiards at the Ingraham Hotel and gave the following account, posted after the jump.

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Matt Weinstock, April 12, 1960

1960_0412_peanuts 

An Escape to Nature

 

Matt Weinstock     There's this hideaway up near Lake Hughes and Sunday, responding to an urge to get away from mundane affairs, a group of weekend pioneers, equipped with enough picnic lunch for twice their number, headed there.
 
    We drove up the Ridge Route, Highway 99, always an enjoyable journey for those who remember it as it was in more primitive days.  Approaching Gorman we came upon one of nature's most glorious sights.  The hills were covered with soft blankets of brilliant gold  poppies. Here and there the gold was trimmed with blue  lupine.  A gas station attendant attributed their profuse growth this year to the heavy early snows.
 
    From there we headed east on Highway 138, which connects with Lancaster, but turned off on the Lake Hughes road and came eventually to the place — acres and acres of acres.

   

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Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, April 12, 1960

Barbara Stanwyck’s Son Thinks It Over

Hollywood kids have a habit of making headlines the hard way.

Some — like Barbara Burns, Eddie Robinson Jr. and Cheryl Crane — started precociously in their teens.

Others — Dennis Crosby and Diana Barrymore, for example — waited until they were of voting age.

And that’s the way it was with Anthony D. Fay.  A couple of days ago, at age 28, he reluctantly joined the list. The charge against him:  attempting to sell lewd books to teenagers.

Not much of a crime for a Page 1 story, but that’s part of the reason for the ever swelling public list of Hollywood’s “bad children”:  If your father or your mother is a movie star, the spotlight catches you, too.

Strangely, it almost passed Anthony Fay by.

When he was taken to the Venice police station last Friday, his name registered with no one.  Then, while he was being booked, a pair of reporters dropped into the station.

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, April 12, 1940

April 12, 1940, Rancho Grande

June Storey in “Rancho Grande” with Gene Autry.

April 12, 1940: Seen in profile, W.C. Fields' expression is touchingly nose-talgic, Jimmie Fidler says. 

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A Second Look at Reagan’s Campaign Claims

April 12, 1980, Reagan

April 12, 1980, Reagan

April 12, 1980: “It is often said of Reagan that he never met a statistic or an anecdote he didn't like if it helped him illustrate the evils of big government,” according to The Times’ Bill Stall and William Endicott.   Notice how carefully the headline avoids saying that Ronald Reagan is inaccurate or distorts the facts.

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Otis Chandler Named Publisher of The Times

 
Norman Chandler and Otis Chandler
Photograph by Frank Q. Brown / Los Angeles Times 

Norman Chandler, left, during the luncheon to announce that his son, Otis, was the new publisher of The Times.

image

April 12, 1960: Otis Chandler is named publisher of the Los Angeles Times. In a speech to more than 700 civic leaders at the Biltmore Bowl, Norman Chandler said: “Otis, as my successor and as my son, I say to you — you are assuming a sacred trust and grave responsibilities. I have the utmost confidence that you will never falter in fulfilling these obligations. This trust is dearer than life itself.”

In his speech, Otis Chandler replied: “I pledge to you to carry out the sound principles which have guided you. I will not let you down. It is with humility and gratitude that I accept.”

And in 1999, Otis Chandler echoed these words in his famous memo dictated to then-City Editor Bill Boyarsky during the Staples scandal: “When I think back through the history of this great newspaper I realize how fragile and irreplaceable public trust in a newspaper is. This public trust and faith in a newspaper by its employees, its readers, the community, is dearer to me than life itself.”

I never realized until now that he was referring to his father’s speech 39 years earlier; a speech that everyone else had probably forgotten – except him. 

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Mule Driver Doesn’t Swear – Even When Kicked in the Head

April 12, 1910, Mule Driver

April 12, 1910, Divorce 

April 12, 1910: The geometry of the eternal triangle is particularly complicated in the case of David Perry Doak, who kept a home in Los Angeles with  Jessie May Doak – and a ranch at Klamath Falls, Ore., with B. Freda De Haven and her child. And you thought newspapers only put heart-shaped frames on photos in “Citizen Kane” and “Chinatown.” 

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