Matt Weinstock, Oct. 27, 1959

October 27, 1959: Peanuts

Street Shrinkers

Matt Weinstock
Studies are constantly being made to determine the effects of alcohol, smoking, overeating and noise on people but another perhaps more deadly trauma-producing experience is relatively neglected.      Driving in traffic, I mean. It does things to people.  At least it has to a man named Hank.

“I finally got it figured out,” he said the other day.  “You know these outfits that are always digging up streets and funneling three lanes of traffic into one?  They’ve got extrasensory perception!”

Continue reading

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October 27, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Coates Is Reluctant Stripper of Airways

Paul Coates, in coat and tieYou want my opinion, I say there’s something almost indecent about Japan Air Lines’ luxury flight to Tokyo.

We left Los Angeles after midnight — an hour when self-respecting Occidentals give some thought to retiring.  And that was the kind of idea I had in the back of my mind.

But immediately after the no-smoking lights were off, an adorable hostess sidled up to me and, without so much as a by-your-leave, began unbuttoning my jacket.

Well, I knew right then and there what kind of a ride this was going to be.

Continue reading

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Grand Jury to Investigate USC Fraternity Hazing Death

Oct. 27, 1959, Mirror Cover  

Oct. 27, 1959: General Motors lays off 2,103 autoworkers in Los Angeles because of the continuing steel strike … And the grand jury will investigate the death of Kappa Sigma pledge Richard Swanson.

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A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

Oct. 27, 1954, Bengal Brigade 

Oct. 27, 1954: “Bengal Brigade” opens in Los Angeles. Something is really wrong with Rock Hudson’s proportions this artwork.

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Dark Side of the Moon!

Oct. 27, 1959, Cover  

Oct. 27, 1959: In another setback for America in the space race, the Soviets release a photo of the hidden side of the moon, while two U.S. satellites plunge from orbit.

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Grauman to Remodel Rialto Theater

Oct. 27, 1919, Grauman  

Oct. 27, 1919: Sid Grauman has big plans for the Rialto theater on Broadway near 8th Street. Grauman will install a Wurlitzer organ and cover the theater’s seats in white satin. The first three films booked after the theater reopens are “Male and Female,” “Scarlet Days” and “Everywoman.”

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Boy, 6, Gets a Toy Sword – Mayhem Ensues

Oct. 27, 1909, Edward Trimble 

Oct. 27, 1909: Master Trimble goes hunting Indians on South Main, armed with his new sword.

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Cooking With the Junior League – New York, 1970s.

beefwithbeer2 
Beef with beer, ala New York of the 1970s.
At Cooking With the Junior League, Mary McCoy writes:

The Frenchified ’70s vibe of the Junior League of the City of New York’s New York Entertains is ideal if you’re hosting a retro ladies’ luncheon, a benefit for the Philharmonic, or perhaps a key party.  However, any cookbook that suggests cream of scallop soup for a tailgating menu just does not have its finger on the pulse of the sporting community.

Read more>>>

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October 26, 1959: Matt Weinstock

October 26, 1959: Peanuts

L.A. Justice

Matt WeinstockAll Steve Medved wants is to be left alone by the LAPD.  He hopes that now, after a third trial, he has it made.

Medved, 38, is a big (6’2, 230), easy going fellow of Yugoslav descent.  But he can be tough and stubborn when aroused.  He was in the Marine Corps during the Second World War.

His trouble began last Feb. 5 when two officers stopped him at 6th and Bixel and accused him of being drunk.  He said he wasn’t but admitted he’d had several beers.  The words became hotter and the nightmare began. Continue reading

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October 26, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Columnist’s Wife Influences Column

Paul Coates, in coat and tieTOKYO — There’s an ancient and revered Oriental proverb which, roughly translated, goes: “Man who take wife to Japan is man who bring coal to Newcastle.”

But to my way of thinking, this is an archaic, reprehensible attitude.  It has no place in today’s western world of togetherness.  In our way of life, marriage is a partnership.  Fifty-fifty.  When we do things we do them as a team.  That, friends, is red-blooded, true-blue American sportsmanship.  Am I right?

Take my own case, for example.  Where I go, my wife goes.

She insists on it.

Continue reading

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TV Star’s Wife Returns After Suicide Attempt

 Oct. 26, 1959, Mirror Cover

Reporters meet Virginia Arness at the airport and follow her home. Photographers ask James Arness, the star of "Gunsmoke," to pose with her, but he refuses.

1959_1026_arness

Oct. 26, 1959, Conelrad

Oct. 26, 1959: The front page teases a story about the Lions getting a bonus to beat the Rams, but I can’t find the story anywhere in the sports pages. Very curious … and the Conelrad frequency was a fixture of the Cold War era.

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A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Roller Derby

Oct. 26, 1953, Roller Derby 

Oct. 26, 1953, Theater Brawl

Oct. 26, 1953: It’s ladies night at the roller derby! And a group of teenagers attacks a former boxer after the girl sitting next to him at a theater claims he molested her.

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Landmark Nightclub Modernized

Oct. 26, 1959, Arness
Virginia Arness attempts suicide in Hawaii.
Oct. 26, 1959, Biltmore Bowl

The Biltmore Bowl is heavily modernized so that is virtually unrecognizable.

Oct. 26, 1959, Chinatown

New and Old Chinatown, divided by Broadway.

Oct. 26, 1959, Chinatown "I don't belong to the tong. I am an American. I belong to the Kiwanis Club."


Oct. 26, 1959, Kodak Copier
Five copies a minute, only 2 1/2 cents each.

Oct. 26, 1959, Sports

The Lions beat the Rams, 17-7.
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The ‘Unwritten Law’ on Homicide

Oct. 26, 1919, Buster Brown

Halloween with R.F. Outcault’s Buster Brown.

Oct. 26, 1919, Unwritten Law

Oct. 26, 1919: The “unwritten law,” that a husband was justified in killing any man who romanced his wife, appears frequently in The Times and was cited as a defense for decades – often successfully. In fact, the term appears as recently as  1981 in Al Martinez’s profile of legendary Los Angeles attorney Max Solomon, who defended Mickey Cohen, Brenda Allen and Bugsy Siegel.

Nvo. 10, 1981, Max Solomon

Nov. 10, 1981, Max Solomon

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Doctor Dumped Severed Body Into Creek, Chauffeur Says

Oct. 26, 1909, Union Bombing 

Labor activists in Indianapolis set off four precisely timed bombs targeting a contractor using non-union workers. One bomb destroyed a barn at his home, two bombs wrecked buildings under construction and the fourth damaged a building at his plant.

Oct. 26, 1909, Abortionist

A chauffeur testifies in the trial of Dr. George A. Fritch, accused of killing Maybelle Millman of Ann Arbor, saying that  Fritch threw three heavy sacks into Ecorse Creek.  

"Have you been killing someone?" the chauffeur asked.

"You are not supposed to know anything," the doctor replied.

"Millman's body was found in three sections in sacks in Ecorse Creek and lower Detroit River early last September. The police decided the body showed evidence of a criminal operation," The Times says.

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Movie Star Bonus Mystery Photo

Oct. 25, 2009, Mystery Photo
Photograph by Ray Graham / Los Angeles Times
Here’s a little bonus: A certain film star’s funeral. See if you can identify the (not very) mysterious pallbearers.

Update: As most people realized, this is Errol Flynn's funeral. Curiously enough, although the papers reported that Jack Oakie was unable to get into the service because of tight security, he's in this picture. Also shown, from left: Mickey Rooney, Raoul Walsh, Guinn Williams and Otto Reichow. The other folks are unidentified.

Posted in Film, Forest Lawn, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Obituaries | 9 Comments

The March King Comes to L.A.

Oct. 25, 1909, Sousa 

The hall, later known as Philharmonic Auditorium, at 5th and Olive.
 
Oct. 26, 1909, Sousa
Oct. 26, 1909, a Times review.

Oct. 28, 1909, Sousa
Oct. 28, 1909, Sousa

Oct. 25, 1909: John Philip Sousa and his band arrive for a weeklong engagement in Los Angeles. The Sousa band was composed of first-rate players and their skill comes through even on early, primitive recordings.

Notice the variety of the selections. Of course, there are Sousa’s marches, but he has also  programmed Rachmaninoff, Goldmark, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Smetana, Bizet and Chabrier. Sousa is also preparing for production of his new opera, “The Glassblowers.” And he's brought his family along.

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Matt Weinstock, Oct. 24, 1959

October 24, 1959: PeanutsYet another panel you’ll never see in the legacy version of “Peanuts.”


Bearded Bamboozler

Matt WeinstockWhile driving south from San Francisco recently, Mike Molony stopped in Paso Robles and was momentarily puzzled to discover he was the object of the admiring glances of passerby.

He soon caught on.  The men of the town had gone in for whisker growing in observance of the annual Pioneer Day celebration and Mike’s distinguished white beaver, a thing of beauty, virtually established him as king for a day.

Not one to holler copper, Mike permitted himself to be lionized by several home guard enthusiasts as a local pioneer and ventured a few ad lib historical comments.  Among other things he recalled the last Indian raid on Paso Robles, back in ’93 he thought it was, and the blood-curdling yells of the marauding redskins. Continue reading

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Warning to the ‘Cat Ladies’ of Glendale!

Oct. 24, 1959, Cats

Glendale limits residents to three cats!

Oct. 24, 1959, Abby

Oct. 24, 1959:  “You women who have good husbands should stay home and take care of them. If you leave him alone again, the next girl might not be as charitable as…”

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Brubeck Quartet at Reseda High School

Oct. 24, 1959, Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck at Reseda High School: $2.

Oct. 24, 1959, Mirror Cover

Oct. 24, 1959: Don’t worry. That train crash is actually in Canada … The New York district attorney is considering perjury charges against Charles Van Doren and Hank Bloomgarden, who voluntarily made substantial changes in their testimony about rigged TV shows.  Dist. Atty. Frank S. Hogan refuses to reveal what the changes were.

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