Three Sought in Robbery, Killing

Posted on November 18, 2009 by lmharnisch
 Nov. 18, 1919, Ads

Dance tonight at the Roma, 616 S. Hill St.

 image 

 
Nov. 18, 1919: The housekeeper of a downtown rooming house is sought in the robbery and murder of the proprietor, W. Frank Sheets, and police are also looking for her husband and an associate in the killing.

Police say that the housekeeper, Margaret Evans, was secretly married to Philip Gargano and that witnesses identified photos of Gargano and Alfonso Bassano as the two men seen running from the Santa Anita rooming house after the killing. A pistol found near the rooming house was registered to Gargano, police say.

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Witness Describes Union Violence

Posted on November 18, 2009 by lmharnisch
 Nov. 18, 1909, Union Violence 

 
Nov. 18, 1909: In Chicago, Bruno Verra testifies against Vincent and Joseph Altman, brothers charged with several bombings and arson fires on behalf of the carpenters union. Verra says he was paid $5 each to hit non-union carpenters and later got a steady job "to commit lawless acts" for $25 a week.
 

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November 19, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

Cross Your Fingers

Matt WeinstockWell, today’s the day.  If we get past it we’re in.  Of course, no one is sure for what or for how long.

Today, according to Kenneth D. Wilkins of Manhattan Beach, a momentous event in world history will occur.  He doesn’t know what.

Wilkins bases his theory on a careful study of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  Pyramidologists, he told reporter James Hubbart, believe the mathematics of its construction are too profound and precise to be coincidence.

They contend that such things as the length of the solar year in days and weeks, the earth’s solar diameter and distance from the sun and the equinoxes are built into the famous stone monument in Giza.  They regard it as a “witness in stone” to man’s prophesied 6,000-year span on earth, ending, the way they figure it, Jan.28, 2001. Continue reading →

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Found on EBay – 1907 Shriners Convention

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

1907 Shriners Spoon

An Ostrich in a Fez!  

The 1907 Shriners convention in Los Angeles  inspired all sorts of commemorative trinkets. Most of the items were pins, badges, glassware and ceramics, which frequently turn up on EBay. Here’s something I’ve never seen before, a spoon that was evidently issued by the lodge in Wheeling, W.Va. Bidding starts at $9.95. 

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November 17, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

Farming Lesson

Matt WeinstockYoung schoolchildren who are found after tests to be retarded are placed in a Point 1 group, as it is called, and given special tasks to perform.

A little boy in such a group in a suburban school was instructed as part of his therapy to plant radish seeds in the school garden.  Soon he harvested a large, healthy crop.  As he proudly took his radishes into class the teacher discreetly asked why he had planted them in a circle instead of rows.

“That’s the way you get them in the market,” the boy explained innocently.

A commercial vegetable grower heard of the incident and now grows his radishes in circles.  The idea, he realized immediately, is a boon to stoop labor required for the job. Continue reading →

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November 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1959: Mirror Cover

Poet in the Poky Has Samson Sort of Woes

Paul Coates, in coat and tieJerry Baker, the promising young coffee-house poet, appeared in my office yesterday afternoon, shortly after being released from Lincoln Heights jail.

He sat down, gazed fondly at an open pack of cigarettes on my desk, and informed me, “You smoke my brand.”

I offered him one.  He took it, thanking me.

“I’m here,” he said, “because I’m told you’re a fair man.  You have  a good reputation.  You come very highly recommended.”

Borrowing a match, he lit his cigarette.

“In fact,” he continued, “not one, but two of my cellmates recommended you as the man to see.” Continue reading →

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A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 17, 1954, Hedda Hopper 
Nov. 17, 1954: "Touch Connors has been signed to play a Confederate soldier — and he'll be mighty handsome in that uniform — in 'Five Guns West' with John Lund and Dorothy Malone."

Eventually “Touch” Conners became known as Mike Connors, star of “Tightrope” and “Mannix.” “Five Guns West” gets 2.9 stars on imdb, slightly less than “Robot Monster” but more than “Eegah.”

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood | 1 Comment

Plane Crash Kills 42

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

Nov. 17, 1959, Times Cover

Nov. 17, 1959: Investigators speculate on whether a bomb exploded on a National Airlines DC-7B that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 42 people. Ultimately, no cause was ever determined. … And  Gene Sherman reports on border drug traffic.

Nov. 17, 1959, Jack Smith 

Jack Smith writes: "It is easy enough to find statistics suggesting that we are soft — mentally, physically and morally. More people are in hospitals. More people are swallowing pills. More people are in jails. More people have tics and syndromes. The New York Yankees are falling apart and the heavyweight champion of the world is a Swede."

Robert R. Kirsch says John Gosling’s “Ghost Squad” is “a must for every true crime buff.”

Nov. 17, 1959, Dotty

”Mother, May I Go Steady?”
 

image

Nov. 17, 1959

Jeane Hoffman had a typically interesting story about all the wannabe teams hovering around Los Angeles.

The Chargers—yes, they started in L.A.—were the closest to reality. Then there were the Stars (baseball) and Jets (basketball), teams that had to overcome several factors to become real franchises.

The Chargers looked like the real deal, heading to the Coliseum in 1960. "We get fourth choice in Coliseum dates but that's enough for seven home games," said Tom Eddy, assistant to Barron Hilton.

The Stars were lined up with names like Branch Rickey as president of the Continental League and Mark Scott, host of TV's "Home Run Derby," as team vice president. But where to play if they really got going?

Hoffman said the Stars were talking to Walter O'Malley about playing in the Dodgers' yet to be built ballpark "but if he doesn't let them in they'll have to go to Orange County—or to court."

As for the Jets, who apparently had Bing Crosby involved, they were confident that an L.A. franchise would come their way. Said Len Corbosiero, "If we can't get a new franchise, we hope to move out an established team."

–Keith Thursby

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Baseball Players May Sue Over Nonpayment of World Series Bonuses

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 17, 1919 
The Chicago players have been waiting for more than a month for their money from the World Series.

Nov. 17, 1919, Pants

Nov. 17, 1919: Pacific Coast League umpires want the league to pay for pressing their pants.

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Father Seizes Daughter in Child Custody Dispute

Posted on November 17, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 17, 1909, Kidnapped 

Nov. 17, 1909, Kidnapping

Nov. 17, 1909: The courts and the police grapple with a child custody case after a father seizes his 2-year-old daughter and refuses to say where she’s been hidden, based on advice from his attorney. 

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Cooking With the Junior League – The Twin Cities

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch

always_superb 
Yes, the table is made of ice, Mary says. 		In her latest installment of Cooking With the Junior League, Mary McCoy looks at the cuisine of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

She writes:

Visit a city like Minneapolis-St. Paul in high September, and you begin to find yourself mentally packing your bags, and imagining a life for you and yours in an idyllic Midwestern wonderland.  The streets are tidy, the people are interesting and kind, and the politics are progressive, and tempered by a kind of Lutheran good sense and practicality.  Local music is good.  Beer and cheese are plentiful.

Things get a little more Darwinian in February.  That’s when you realize that not only are the people interesting and kind, they are of a hardier stock than most.  This is Little House on the Prairie country.  Here, putting food up for the winter is more than a quaint, slightly anachronistic hobby, and ice fishing is considered recreation rather than torture.

Read more>>>

 

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November 16, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 16, 1959: Comic panel: A man is being beaten up while a guard says "I think I'll read the funnies."

Conditioned Reflexes

Matt WeinstockAfter a business failure several years ago a young man decided to pursue the career he’d always wanted — teaching.  He was aware that it meant a drastic change and involved great sacrifice but he and his wife decided it was worth it.

He went back to school, and, meanwhile, got a part-time job.  His wife also worked.  To keep the house running smoothly, the three young children were assigned regular duties and responsibilities.  After dinner, for instance, they quietly took their own dishes into the kitchen to be washed.

Recently after a long, hard struggle the husband got his credential and his teaching assignment and he and his wife decided to celebrate by dining in a good restaurant, something they’d denied themselves for several years. Continue reading →

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Nov. 16, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch

November 16, 1959: Mirror cover

Search for Better Brand of Justice

Paul Coates, in coat and tieErle Stanley Gardner, you either like or dislike.

He’s easy to categorize.

If you don’t like him, he’s a troublemaker, a rebel who gets his kicks by destroying the public’s illusions concerning the integrity and intelligence of our district attorneys and police.

As author of more than 100 Perry Mason mystery novels, he’s continually belittling these public servants.  His man Mason always shows them up.

As a private citizen, Gardner founded the now-famous Court of Last Resort, which, in freeing dozens of innocent men from prison, has proved in fact that our system of justice isn’t infallible. Continue reading →

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A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 16, 1953, Hedda Hopper 
Nov. 16, 1953: Edgar Bergen recalls the time Frank Farrell kidnapped Charlie McCarthy.

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November 16, 1969: Once Around the Radio Dial

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch

One of the true pleasures of contributing to The Daily Mirror is reading old columns by Don Page, The Times’ longtime radio critic.

I regularly check his work, these days for 1959 and ’69. Some things change—by 1969 he no longer wondered whether rock stations will survive or be the end of radio. But there are some constants, such as complaining about too many commercials, too many boring stations and too many stations that sound too similar. Seems to me Page complained a lot and I like that. A reader knew how he felt. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, broadcasting, Dodgers, Music, Rock 'n' Roll, Sports | 2 Comments

Family Killed in Kansas Farm Town

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch

 Nov. 16, 1959, In Cold Blood

"The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there.' Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them."

–Truman Capote, “In Cold Blood.”

Nov. 16, 1959, Cover

Nov. 16, 1959: Intentionally avoiding a direct endorsement until the Republican National Convention, Republican leaders show their support for Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential race.

Nov. 16, 1959, Toys for Tots

Monte Montana! Ty Hardin! Jerry Mathers!

Nov. 16, 1959, Ferd'nand

Ferd’nand invents the Man Cave.

Nov. 16, 1959, Sports

Back when stock cars were really stock. Elmer Musgrave wins a 100-lap race at Ascot Stadium in a 1958 Pontiac. Rodger Ward is second in a 1958 Ford.
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Orchestras Ban Women Musicians

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch
Nov. 2, 1919, Music War 

Nov. 2, 1919: Orchestra managers want to ban women musicians because an ensemble consisting entirely of men in tuxedos is more pleasing to the eye, The Times says. No, I'm not kidding.

Nov. 16, 1919, Women Musicians

Nov. 16, 1919: Alma Whitaker writes about the attempted ban on women musicians.

Nov. 16, 1919, Ridge Route

Nov. 16, 1919: The Ridge Route opens and the Times publishes a terrific illustration by artist Charles Owens – nearly 20 years before he worked on “Nuestro Pueblo” … And the Auto Club writes a proposed law to make Hill Street, Broadway, Spring Street, Main one-way and to ban delivery trucks from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in designated congested areas such as downtown.

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Plans for Aviation Meet

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lmharnisch
image 

Glenn Curtiss takes to the air over Los Angeles, 1910.

Nov. 15, 1909, Aviation Meet 

Plans are underway for an aviation week in early 1910. Glenn Curtiss has already signed a contract to appear.

Nov. 15, 1909, White Slavery

The “woman in black” may be involved in white slavery.
Nov. 15, 1909: "There are more aeroplanes building and in design in Southern California than in any other like section of the world. All these are local products and at least a half dozen new machines are ready to be tried out or about to be tested, while a half score of others are nearing completion and may be ready for aviation week."

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Found on EBay –Lili St. Cyr

Posted on November 15, 2009 by lmharnisch

Lili St. Cyr Letter  

 May 12, 1947, Lili St. Cyr Lili St. Cyr performs at the Follies on Main, May 12, 1947.

At left, this letter from Lili St. Cyr, a legendary striptease artist who performed at the Florentine Gardens and many other nightclubs, has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at a pricey $45.

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Voices – Jules Feiffer

Posted on November 15, 2009 by lmharnisch
Sept. 12, 1969, Little Murders

Sept. 12, 1969, “Little Murders” runs for more than six months in Los Angeles.
After writing a post about “Little Murders” and the monologues in the play, especially the one by homicide Detective Lt. Miles Practice, I e-mailed playwright and artist Jules Feiffer to ask how he wrote them.

My question: One of the more distinctive elements of "Little Murders" is the extended monologues given to the major characters, like "To the Guy Who Reads My Mail" or "Every Crime Has a Pattern." These are long, thoughtful pieces and I was curious as to when you did them in the process of writing the play. The beginning? Middle? End? I'm also wondering how long it took you to distill your thoughts for these pieces.

He writes: What an interesting question, and one that has never come up before. The wedding speech and the Judge's speech are lifted virtually without change from the novel that LM was meant to be before I gave up on it. Two years later they went into the play. Alfred's monologue, as well as Lt. Practice's, were written for the play, Alfred's in the first draft, Practice's after several revisions that didn't work in the Boston tryout. The Practice speech and its setup prior to the speech were  the last writings I did on the play. Film Forum in NY is screening a new print of the movie in Oct.

JF

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