A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

Posted on October 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
Oct. 28, 1955, The Phenix City Story 

Oct. 23, 1955

Oct. 28, 1955: “The Phenix City Story” plays in Los Angeles. It’s not on Netflix!

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

Teen Hoped to Bear Errol Flynn’s Child

Posted on October 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
Oct. 15, 1959, Beverly Aadland  
Los Angeles Times file photo

Errol Flynn and Beverly Aadland in a photo published Oct. 15, 1959.

image

Oct. 28, 1959, Beverly Aadland

Oct. 28, 1959: Jack Smith interviews Errol Flynn’s teenage girlfriend Beverly Aadland (whom Smith describes as the actor’s “last playmate”)  and her attorney Melvin Belli. Aadland says that most of her clothing is inaccessible because it’s under Flynn’s name. She says she isn’t pregnant but wishes she were.  I assume The Times used “protege” in headlines because it’s shorter than “girlfriend,” but it’s really silly, as several writers have noted. 

Posted in #courts, Film, Hollywood, Jack Smith, Obituaries | 1 Comment

Nuestro Pueblo

Posted on October 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
Aug. 1, 1938, Nuestro Pueblo 
Aug. 1, 1938: Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens visit Griffith Park and discover an old lime kiln left from mission days. Note: I posted most of the Nuestro Pueblo features when I was going through 1938-39, but I’m picking up the ones I missed.   

Posted in art and artists, books, Nuestro Pueblo | 1 Comment

Squalid Jail Conditions Shame Los Angeles

Posted on October 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
Oct. 28, 1919, Jail 

image
Dec. 10, 1916: The Times exposes dreadful conditions at the jail.

Dec. 10, 1916, Jail 
"Prison Pit of Poe Is Outdone in Horrors by Los Angeles City Jail"		 Dec. 10, 1916, Jail 
"Under present conditions in this city it is absolutely impossible to care for prisoners in a humane manner," Police Chief J.L. Butler says.

Oct. 28, 1919: The Times editorializes about the shabby condition of the City Jail, which reporter Alma Whitaker documented in 1916. 

Posted in LAPD | Comments Off on Squalid Jail Conditions Shame Los Angeles

Judge Foils Attempt to Get Women on Jury

Posted on October 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
Oct. 28, 1909, Fur Turbans

Arctic turbans are the latest rage — $82.86 USD 2008.

Oct. 28, 1909, Women Jurors

Oct. 28, 1909, Jurors

Oct. 28, 1909: Prosecutor Guy Eddie is determined to get women on juries despite Police Chief Dishman’s order that they not be summoned. His latest tactic is an attempt to dismiss an entire jury, but he’s overruled by the judge. The defendant in the case, J.W. Slocum, represented himself against charges that he and other socialists violated the rules against public speaking in Central Park (now Pershing Square) during a “harangue over free speech and single tax.”

And in Des Moines, a judge orders that a case between two Jews be heard by an entirely Jewish jury.

Posted in #courts, Fashion | Comments Off on Judge Foils Attempt to Get Women on Jury

Matt Weinstock, Oct. 27, 1959

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch

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 →

Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock, Oct. 27, 1959

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

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch

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 →

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates, travel | Comments Off on October 27, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Grand Jury to Investigate USC Fraternity Hazing Death

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.

Posted in #courts, Front Pages | Comments Off on Grand Jury to Investigate USC Fraternity Hazing Death

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.

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

Dark Side of the Moon!

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.

Posted in Front Pages, Science | Comments Off on Dark Side of the Moon!

Grauman to Remodel Rialto Theater

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.”

Posted in Architecture, Downtown, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on Grauman to Remodel Rialto Theater

Boy, 6, Gets a Toy Sword – Mayhem Ensues

Posted on October 27, 2009 by lmharnisch
Oct. 27, 1909, Edward Trimble 
Oct. 27, 1909: Master Trimble goes hunting Indians on South Main, armed with his new sword.

Posted in #courts, LAPD | Comments Off on Boy, 6, Gets a Toy Sword – Mayhem Ensues

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

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch

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>>>
Posted in Food and Drink | Comments Off on Cooking With the Junior League – New York, 1970s.

October 26, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch

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 →

Posted in Columnists, LAPD, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on October 26, 1959: Matt Weinstock

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

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch

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 →

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on October 26, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

TV Star’s Wife Returns After Suicide Attempt

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch
 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.

Posted in broadcasting, Front Pages, Sports, Television | Comments Off on TV Star’s Wife Returns After Suicide Attempt

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Roller Derby

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.

Posted in #courts, Stage | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Roller Derby

Landmark Nightclub Modernized

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.
Posted in Architecture, Downtown, San Fernando Valley, Sports, Suicide | Comments Off on Landmark Nightclub Modernized

The ‘Unwritten Law’ on Homicide

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch
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

Posted in #courts, Comics, Homicide, Mickey Cohen | Comments Off on The ‘Unwritten Law’ on Homicide

Doctor Dumped Severed Body Into Creek, Chauffeur Says

Posted on October 26, 2009 by lmharnisch
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.

Posted in #courts, health, Homicide | Comments Off on Doctor Dumped Severed Body Into Creek, Chauffeur Says