Found on EBay – Dodgers

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch

dodger_pennant_ebay_crop  This Dodger pennant – made after the 1959 World Series but before the opening of Dodger Stadium – has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $9.99.
Posted in Dodgers, Sports | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Dodgers

November 21, 1959: Matt Weinstock, Nov. 21, 1959

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch

Car Troubles

Matt WeinstockTwo years ago, Bob Joseph bought a two-cylinder French Panhard, which has positively no area in front for a license plate.  He has been driving it with only the rear plate.

On consecutive days recently he received two citations.  A new law went into effect in October requiring cars to have both plates, and it is being enforced.  He explained ineffectively to the officers that the dealer sold him the car with only one plate.

He went to the Traffic Fines Bureau at 810 Wall St., where a courteous marshal showed him the nice new law and advised him to go to the Motor Vehicle Department at 35th and Hope Sts. and get new plates. Continue reading →

Posted in #gays and lesbians, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Music, Rock 'n' Roll | Comments Off on November 21, 1959: Matt Weinstock, Nov. 21, 1959

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 21, 1959

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch
 
Nov. 21, 1959, Mirror Cover
 

Mash Notes and Comment

Paul Coates    "Mr. Paul Coates, dear friend:

    "About 2 1/2 months ago you called me at 12 a.m. and asked me if I could tell you who was President in 1875.

    "I didn't know and I didn't win the stove.  I'm not too sorry because I don't like stoves.

    "You told me, however, that I would get some prize but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.  So far I haven't got anything from you.

    "My neighbors claim that I never heard from you, so please answer this to straighten things out." (signed) Mrs. Theresa Herron, Glen Ellen, Calif.

   –It wasn't me who called you at 12 a.m.  I know who was President in 1875.

::

    "Dear Paul,
   
"I feel silly writing this letter, but the boss is out and I've got nothing else to do so why not?

    "I'm a secretary with a problem.  A funny problem, maybe, but it's beginning to get to me.  It's about -  you suggested it — my BOSS.

    "He's one of these practical jokers.  Tacks on my chair.  That kind of thing.

    "One time he pinned a sign on the back of my coat and I didn't discover it until I got back to my apartment.  It said, 'Danger Explosives,' and boy did he get a kick out of razzing me on that one.

Between the Cheese and Ham

    "I've been putting up with this for about two years now, so the other day when he sent me out for his sandwich, I decided to get even.  I typed on a little slip of paper, 'Help! I'm locked in the icebox,' and stuck it in his sandwich between the cheese and the ham.

Nov. 21, 1959, Abby    
"From my desk I can watch him eating, and I kept waiting for him to find it to watch his expression, but he didn't.  He ate it!

    "Everyday for  a week I kept putting the same note in but the jerk kept eating them.  Finally, I wrote it on a piece of cardboard to be sure that he'd find it.

    "He ate that one, too!

    "Now I can't help laughing when he's eating and he keeps calling out to me what am I laughing about?  Then I get hysterical.  Naturally, I can't tell him because he's eaten so many notes now if he gets sick he'd blame me.

Time for a Change

    "I think I better start job hunting.  Every time I look at him I break out in giggles. 

    "Incidentally, I type 60 words a minute, take Gregg shorthand like a whiz and have a VERY presentable appearance.  If your secretary is worn out, why not give me a call????" (signed) Mitzi, L.A.

    –I would, Mitzi, but cardboard repeats on me.

::

 image   (Press Release) "Ask and ye shall receive!!!

    "Ira Cook, KMPC's genial disc jockey, found out that there is more to this saying than meets the eye.

     "Last week Cook lamented on the air that one of the toughest chores he is faced with daily is finding a pen to sign the KMPC log.

    "He asked his listeners to send him a pen if they might have  a spare around their desks.

    "To his amazement, Ira received more than 1,500 pens since his request.

    "Largest shipment of more than 200 came from Standard Brands, Inc.
   
"Ira is wondering now if he asked for  a trip to the moon whether one of his listeners would come up with it." (signed) Publicity Dept.,KMPC, Hollywood.

   –I can't swing the moon, Ira, but I'll give you bus fare out of town.

   
   

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 21, 1959

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov, 21, 1957, Hedda Hopper

Nov. 21, 1957: “It was bound to happen. Marlon Brando and Stanley Kubrick, director, parted company. Brando may take on directorial job himself. The credits could then read: Written by, directed by and starred in ‘One-Eyed Jacks,’ or he may let Karl Malden direct. Karl’s making a fortune on this picture: on salary since Sept. 1. When I asked why Brando does anything he likes, I’m told he’s box office.”

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Dodgers Moving to KFI

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch
 

Nov. 21, 1959, KFI 

 

Nov. 21, 1959

This was a very small story that turned into a big deal.

The Dodgers were moving on the radio from KMPC to KFI for the 1960 season. The significance? Gene Autry's company owned KMPC and when the Dodgers left, he looked for something to fill in the large gaps (and hopefully big ratings).

When the American League decided to expand beginning in 1961, KMPC wanted the rights to broadcast the new team that would play in Los Angeles.

Of course, Autry got a lot more than that, becoming the owner of the Los Angeles Angels.

So would the Angels not have been born had the Dodgers stayed on KMPC?

–Keith Thursby

Posted in broadcasting, Dodgers, Sports | Comments Off on Dodgers Moving to KFI

Man Beaten With Ukulele

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch
April 29, 1930, Ukulele 

April 29, 1930, Safe Trip
“Safe Trip Ends in Death” – OK, but it made you look.
April 29, 1930: I was researching a story from Nov. 21, 1959, and came across a much more interesting account of a man beaten into unconsciousness with a ukulele.

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November 21, 1919: Wife Divorces ‘Girlish’ Army Officer

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 21, 1919: Comic panel by Briggs, When a Feller Needs a Friend

November 21, 1919: Lucille Howell seeks a divorce from her husband, an Army captain who likes to wear a girdle. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, #gays and lesbians | 3 Comments

Pioneer of Covered Wagon Days Seeks to Save Oregon Trail

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 20, 1909, Ezra Meeker

Ezra Meeker, who first traveled the Oregon Trail in 1852.

Nov. 21, 1909, Ezra Meeker

The city is overrun with loose dogs, The Times says.

Nov. 21, 1909, Ezra Meeker

Dec. 4, 1928, Ezra Meeker

Dec. 4, 1928: Ezra Meeker dies at the age of 97.

Nov. 21, 1909: The Times profiles Ezra Meeker, who traveled the country in an ox cart to promote his campaign to preserve the Oregon Trail as a national highway. Meeker is the fellow with the ox cart in the photos of the 1910 Aviation Meet.

Posted in Animals, Front Pages, Transportation | Comments Off on Pioneer of Covered Wagon Days Seeks to Save Oregon Trail

Artist’s Notebook: Gustavo Dudamel

Posted on November 21, 2009 by lmharnisch


Gustavo Dudamel, by Marion Eisenmann, Nov. 12, 2009.

Marion Eisenmann and I have been looking at Los Angeles landmarks as a modern version of Nuestro Pueblo, but we realized that the debut of Gustavo Dudamel as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is also part of local history.  Marion was fortunate in being able to attend a rehearsal and she sends her impressions of Dudamel. She says: His personality, playfulness and passion speak in this study.

 

Posted in 2009, art and artists, classical music, Marion Eisenmann, Nuestro Pueblo | 1 Comment

Found on EBay – Thomas Bros. Map

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch

Thomas Bros. Map   This 1940s vintage Thomas Bros. map of Los Angeles has been listed on EBay. These maps and street guides – which show the city before freeways – are entertaining and can be useful references for anyone researching the history of Los Angeles. I rely on them often at the Daily Mirror HQ in tracking down streets that have vanished over the years. Bidding on this map starts at $4.99.
Posted in Downtown | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Thomas Bros. Map

November 20, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch

About Football

Matt WeinstockThis is Big Game Week and I might as well get into the act, too.  I suppose it’s true — once a sports writer, you never get over it entirely.

SC and UCLA are being criticized for the way they play football.  Also the Rams, who can’t win for losing.  Everyone’s disgusted with them.

The Trojans have a great defense, the hecklers say, but their offense falters.  Oh sure they’re No. 2 in the nation, but that’s because of the wonderful McKeevers.  The heck its is.  It’s because they’re strong in all 11 positions.

UCLA, newly come alive, sends the self-appointed experts into despair.  The team looks good one game, bad the next.  Not only that, it plays the single wing, which the critics call horse and buggy football.  I happen to find the single wing a refreshing change from the ubiquitous T system, with all its variations. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on November 20, 1959: Matt Weinstock

November 20, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 20, 1959, Mirror Cover: U.S. Chutist Makes Record 15-Mile Jump

Drama in Housewife’s Life Is Fraught With

Paul Coates, in coat and tieI’ve come to the labored conclusion that housewives lead more interesting lives than career girls.

This, I’ve done without benefit of polls or surveys.  In fact, I’ve even ignored those subtle inferences in the Kinsey report.

It’s strictly my own, personal conclusion.  I reached it myself.

I’m probably dead wrong, but, the way I see it, it’s better to come up with a wrong conclusion than to just sit around and come up with no conclusion at all.

You know the old saying, idle minds gather no moss. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Comments Off on November 20, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 20, 1957, Hedda Hopper

Nov. 20, 1957: “Chuck Heston did as much painting as acting in ‘The Big Country,’ so his canvases will be used to publicize it.”

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Movie Star Mystery Photo

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch

Nov. 16, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo
 

Update: As many readers realized, this is Milton Sills. Although there’s no caption information on the back, the photo is evidently from “The Sea Hawk.”

Sept. 16, 1930, Milton Sills 

Sept. 16, 1930: The Times reports the death of Milton Sills.

Sept. 16, 1930, Milton Sills

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: Jane Frazee!

Nov. 17, 2009, Mystery Photo Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Milton Sills and Gertrude Olmstead in “Puppets,” Aug. 22, 1926.

Here’s another photo of our mystery star with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Eve Golden, Joan Myers, Mary Mallory, Mike Hawks (who says "this one is too easy") and Donna Hill for identifying him.

Nov. 18, 2009, Mystery Photo Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Mary Astor in “The Runaway Enchantress” or “The Sea Tiger,” April 3, 1927.

Here’s our mystery guest with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Don Danard, Rick Scott, Carmen and Suzy Q for identifying him. 

Nov. 19, 2009, Mystery Photo Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Milton Sills and Corinne Griffith in “Single Wives.”

Here’s our mystery fellow with another mystery companion. Please congratulate Stacia, Laura Aikens and Christa for identifying him and Jeff Hanna, Michael Ryerson, Mike Hawks, Carmen and Don Danard for identifying yesterday's mystery companion.

Nov. 20, 1959, Mystery Photo Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Dorothy Mackaill in “The Barker,” Jan. 6, 1929.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | 46 Comments

Amelia Earhart – Airplane Babe

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch
Amelia Earhart Amelia Earhart

Los Angeles Times file photos
After the release of “Amelia,” the film about Amelia Earhart, I thought it would be fun to get into The Times’ photo archives and see what we had. Here are two pictures dated March 25, 1937, in which an anonymous photographer evidently tried to get some glamour poses of her. In the left photo, she’s looking through the radio antenna from the aircraft. In the right photo, she’s sort of draped herself against the propeller of her airplane. Earhart was a good sport about these poses – but honestly.

Posted in Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Transportation | 1 Comment

Man Denies Daughter in Divorce Suit

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 20, 1919, Comics
“Wonder What a Decoy Thinks About” by Clare Briggs

Nov. 20, 1919, Divorce

Nov. 20, 1919: A judge refuses to declare that a young girl is Eurasian simply because a man charges in a divorce suit that the father was a Japanese cook employed by his wife’s family.

Posted in #courts, Eurasians | Comments Off on Man Denies Daughter in Divorce Suit

Teacher Hospitalized After Undressing in Class

Posted on November 20, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 20, 1909, Teacher 
Nov. 20, 1909: An unidentified woman, deranged over the death of her brother, is taken to a hospital after the school nurse finds her undressing in front of her class.

Posted in #courts, Education | Comments Off on Teacher Hospitalized After Undressing in Class

November 19, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 19, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1959: Mirror Cover

Saga of a Guy Who Flipped From Poky

Paul Coates, in coat and tie“I walk alone,” the voice on the phone told me, more as an apology than as a boast.  “With me, it’s habit.  I guess I never learned any other way.”

The voice was a man’s and a drawl.  It continued:  “Funny I should be calling somebody like you for help after all these years of going it alone.”

The time was about 3:45, yesterday afternoon.

“What do you need?” I asked.

“I need-” he started, and stopped.  “Is this phone tapped?”

“No.”
Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Transportation | Comments Off on November 19, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Posted on November 19, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 19, 1956, Hedda Hopper 
Nov. 19, 1956: "Jose Quintero, bright young director of the "Long Day's Journey Into Night," is a rage overnight. He's a Hollywood boy who couldn't make good in his hometown — tried as an actor there and came to a little theater project in Greenwich Village. Mrs. Eugene O'Neill saw his direction for "The Iceman Cometh" and insisted he direct the O'Neill autobiography."

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Stage | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Found on EBay – Ann Toth Letters

Posted on November 19, 2009 by lmharnisch
Ann Toth letters 
A lot of letters written to Ann Toth, who was the roommate of Elizabeth Short – the Black Dahlia, were listed on EBay. The vendor carefully noted that the letters were from the 1950s to the 1970s, rather than from 1946, when Toth lived with Short at the home of Florentine Gardens executive Mark Hansen. The vendor also noted that none of the letters were written by Toth. Instead, there are letters from  a son, a bill for auto insurance, employment contracts, a receipt for the purchase of a television set and miscellaneous letters of transmittal, etc.

Even so, the final bid on the lot was $560.

Posted in Homicide, LAPD | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Ann Toth Letters