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March 20, 1926: I have to say, Peg was a pretty fair sports columnist, as he shows in this piece on the Phillies. He writes: "They will lose with rousing reluctance, the customers will see earnest, if not polished, baseball. There will be a World Series in which the Phillies will have no interest and next spring the Phillies of Philadelphia will come all the way to Florida to work themselves into good losing condition again." |
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March 20, 1960: The Dodgers were giving up hope they would open the 1961 season in their new Chavez Ravine stadium. Walter O'Malley complained to The Times' sports editor, Paul Zimmerman, about the "little delays" that kept construction from starting. |
| Los Angeles Times file photo Update: This is Anne Nagel in a publicity photo stamped Sept. 17, 1936.
July 8, 1966: Anne Nagel dies of cancer at the age of 50. |
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March 20, 1960: The Gallup Poll says: “…the Republican Party nationwide continues at one of its lowest ebbs in basic voting strength.” I have to wonder whether results like this set off any alarms among Republicans. Perhaps later stories will provide an answer. It certainly won’t come from Times political editor Kyle Palmer, who continues to write as if Vice President Richard Nixon will be virtually uncontested in the presidential election. |
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March 20, 1920: After reading this long litany of crime, I began to wonder if The Times was merely going to catalog everything that was wrong with society or provide a solution -– perhaps a call for more police officers. The answer is on the jump. |
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March 20, 1910: The Commissioner General of Immigration reports that there are 3,457 fewer Japanese in the U.S. and Hawaii, due to a decrease in immigration and an increase in emigration. The largest category of non-laborers is “no occupation,” but includes women and children. |
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Pig Stickers, En Garde
"In a few days we leave here (North Island) for South Island, where the hunting is fantastic. Up to about 75 years ago there was no native game. They were imported, flourished (no predatory animals) until they threatened to overrun the country, with the result the government sent out extermination crews to thin out the herds. Now there are all kinds of deer — chamois, thar, fallow, whitetail, sambar and elk. All over the area are European boar. Local sports go in for pig-sticking. Dogs track down the boar and drag him by the ears. Then the hunter steps in with his knife. This can be ticklish, as wild boars go up to 500 pounds and don't like the idea of having their throats cut. By the way, no hunting license is needed, and there are no game limits. |
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Mash Notes and Comment
 (Press Release) "John Mason Brown is a conversationalist critic whose verbal outpourings since birth have never ceased to be witty and original, as well as readily and steadily forthcoming . . . " (Signed) Esquire Magazine, New York city.
–Like the day he was born he had them in stitches when he turned to the nurse and said, "Hurry up with that umbilical cord, Honey. I want to contemplate my navel." ::
(Press Release) "Reinhold Schmidt, the Bakersfield grain buyer who reports he recently flew to the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, Egypt, in a space craft from the planet Saturn, will be in Los Angeles Thursday night March 24, to tell the public about his experiences in a lecture sponsored by the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America. "The widely known speaker, who made nationwide news with his first extra-terrestrial contact near Kearney, Neb., in November of 1957, will speak at 8 p.m., in Severance Hall, 940 S Figueroa St. |
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March 19, 1980: Lawrence Christon reviews Ron Milner’s “Season’s Reasons,” which he calls “a state of the black union address." "Much of the play emphasizes how little American racial attitudes have improved," Christon says. Milner died in July 16, 2004. |
| “The Three Caballeros” premieres at the Guild Theatre.
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March 19, 1945: “The Academy should never be allowed to give awards without Bob Hope as m.c.,” Hedda Hopper says. |
Well, it was the 1970s….
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March 19, 1970: Ted Williams, manager of the Washington Senators who knew a few things about hitting, had high praise for two Dodgers. "Within three years (Bill) Bucker will lead the National League in hitting," Williams told the Dodgers' Red Patterson, according to a story by Ross Newhan in The Times. Newhan reported earlier that week about Williams' high praise for Dodger center fielder Willie Davis. Williams, who hit .406 in 1941, thought Davis had all the tools to reach .400 someday. "If Willie's learned to bunt he might just hit .400," Williams said. The headline to the Davis story, "Willie Davis Could Be .400 Hitter, Says Ted Williams" was a bit misleading. Williams said he read where Davis thought he could hit .400 "and I'd say he has a chance." Williams also called Matty Alou, then with Pittsburgh, "a Houdini with the bat" but didn't think he was strong enough to hit .400. –Keith Thursby |
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March 19, 1960: A 2.8-mile section of the Golden State Freeway opens and officials hope that it will relieve congestion. Also on the jump, complaints about poorly designed off-ramps on the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley … "The Beast From Haunted Cave" … and the Dodgers' Ron Fairly. |
| “When a Feller Needs a Friend,” by Clare Briggs.
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| March 19, 1920: The Ince Studios presents a film of the Los Angeles Fire Department, including half a block of buildings that were set on fire, The Times says. |
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March 19, 1910: Until recently, about three cars a week were stolen in Los Angeles, The Times says. |
“Travel Town,” by Marion Eisenmann. |
| Marion Eisenmann and I went to Travel Town in Griffith Park last summer because the old trains are popular with young children and I thought there would be some opportunities for interesting sketch subjects. It didn’t work out exactly as I thought because most of the youngsters were riding the miniature train that goes around the park instead of playing on the locomotives.
Marion did this while I wandered through the old rolling stock and studied one of the streetcars – did you ever notice that they’re high off the ground and wonder about handicapped access? Marion says: “A light key suggests the present peacefulness of the place frequented by children and their caretakers. The image has no challenging perspective and looks simple and rudimentary. I felt a little bit like a deer in a nature reserve, well protected against predators, knowing that the trains don't move, as I was sitting right next to some tracks on a foldable drawing chair. There was one exception to the idle gigantic transportation machines, the miniature train that was filled with cheering kids, and they made it easy to hear when it was approaching. “When I get a chance I will go back there.” In case you just tuned in, Marion and I are visiting places that say something about life in Los Angeles in a project inspired by Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens’ Nuestro Pueblo. Daily Mirror readers who are interested in copies of Marion’s artwork should contact her directly. |
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For Liquid Prose
Today's study in wonderful irrelevance brings us to a brochure announcing Writer's Digest's annual $3,500 short story contest. First prize is $500 and contestants must subscribe to qualify. But money and fame aren't the only incentive sending exhilarated, hopeful amateurs to their typewriters. It's the rest of those crazy prizes. Second prize, as described in the folder: "The key to a new world of beauty and enchantment. This winner will receive a complete Voit Underwater Diving Lung, expert instruction in the use of it, and will sail into the blue Caribbean Sea to explore the wonders of the water world for five days. Food, compressed air and underwater writing equipment included. If allergic to water, alternate prize of $300." Fourth prize is a mountain climbing outfit and one week expedition to Pike's Peak. Twenty-fifth prize is an interview with an established writer, travel and overnight expenses furnished. |
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| March 18, 1960: I always worry when Coates is sick because the poor fellow died at the age of 47 in 1968. |
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March 18, 1980: Robert Hilburn wonders whether The Jam will be The Who of the 1980s. Actually, they broke up about 1983. |
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March 18, 1944: Jennifer Jones replaces Gene Tierney in “Laura?” Did this woman ever get anything right? |
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March 9, 1960: The Times ran “You Call It!” as a daily feature in March 1960, but I’m stretching it out to one a week so it will last longer. |
Sportsmen who complain they have to go farther and farther for good fishing and hunting — prepare to drool. Dr. Louis Higger of L.A. writes from Kati, New Zealand: "Here we are on the other side of the globe. This is an unspoiled area on the Bay of Plenty, where in a few hours one can catch two or three striped marlin that will go 250 to 300 pounds. Occasionally one can tangle with a mako shark, 800 to 900 pounds, a tremendous fighter when the hook has been set.
