A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Aug. 31, 1979, Comics

Aug. 31, 1979: "Drabble," in an early, crudely drawn panel, replaces "Jeff Hawke." Notice that Stan Lynde has stopped drawing "Rick O'Shay," which is being done by Mel Keefer and Marian Dern. Also notice the reference in "Apartment 3-G" to the gas shortage.
Posted in art and artists, Comics | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Two Blacks Killed in Fight With White Co-Workers

Aug. 31, 1899, Sun Glasses

Aug. 31, 1899: Boston Optical has sunglasses.

Aug. 31, 1899, Blacks Killed

A racial fight between members of a crew working on track for the Illinois Central Railroad near Rockford leaves two African Americans dead and one more injured. The contractor and his son say neither of the dead men was an employee, but the crew's cook contradicts him. After a meeting at the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the blacks of Rockford call for a thorough investigation.

Posted in Countdown to Watts, Transportation | Comments Off on Two Blacks Killed in Fight With White Co-Workers

Eastside Scandal

Aug. 31, 1889, Starch

Aug. 31, 1889, Scandal

A juicy item about a "frisky grass widow" and a prominent real estate man — with a "deluded" wife and "two or three" children. 

Posted in #courts | Comments Off on Eastside Scandal

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Aug. 30, 1978, Tumbleweeds

Aug. 30. 1978: I had forgotten about Tom K. Ryan's "Tumbleweeds" until I started going through the old comics pages. The strip is full of annoying stereotypes but the one I found the most obnoxious was Hildegard Hamhocker, the desperately man-hungry spinster who is, of course, dowdy and bucktoothed. The passage of time has, if anything, made her even more odious. Oh, is she cross-eyed too? Nice.

Posted in art and artists, Comics | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Study Finds Widespread Grade Inflation at L.A. County Schools

Aug. 30, 1899, Teachers

Aug. 30, 1899: Hawley, King & Co. buggies, 5th and Broadway.

The county Board of Education finds "deplorable laxness and inefficiency" in most Los Angeles County schools.

By 1899, California required each county to send standardized tests to all its schools for students in fifth grade and above. The graded exams were to be returned to the county boards as a check on teachers' effectiveness.

In previous years, the magnitude of the paperwork precluded a detailed study of the exams. This time, however, thorough scrutiny of the tests reveals widespread falsification of grades. "Some of the teachers have sent in correctly marked examination papers, but the great majority have marked their pupils' examination papers from 5 to 50 percent higher than deserved," says Luther G. Brown, president of the Board of Education.

"In a number of instances the children of trustees were graded with very much more leniency than other pupils," Brown says

 

Posted in 1899, Education | Comments Off on Study Finds Widespread Grade Inflation at L.A. County Schools

The Los Angeles Tribune Does Not Tell the Truth

 Aug. 30, 1889, Ads

Aug. 30, 1889: Mrs. E.C. Freeman is moving her bakery to 339 S. Spring St.

Aug. 30, 1889, Gen. Otis

Harrison Gray Otis responds to an article in a rival paper: "The Los Angeles Tribune, as usual, does not tell the truth." The Tribune accused Otis of warning City Council President Capt. J. Frankenfield that The Times would oppose the sewer bonds in the upcoming election unless the Police Commission members were fired.

Otis wrote that in a meeting several months earlier, he told Frankenfield the Police Department was so disorganized that it would be in the public interest if the Police Commission members were removed. Otis said he only alluded to the sewer bonds.

In a letter to Otis, Frankenfield wrote: "What you did say is that if the council desired to win the confidence of the people and carry the bond proposition, the Police Commission should be removed; and upon that question we could not agree, as I claimed there was no cause for removal."

Posted in City Hall, Environment, Politics | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Aug. 29, 1959

Aug. 17, 1959, Weinstock Is on Vacation

Matt Weinstock is on vacation.
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August 29, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

August 29, 1959: Paul Coates hears from Elvis fans who want to forgive him for the scathing review Coates wrote of Elvis’ notorious performance at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium. Dear Abby has advice for a man whose wife doesn’t care for her dog.

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on August 29, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Aug. 29, 1977, Comics

Aug. 29, 1977: "Kelly" is replaced with Sydney Jordan's "Jeff Hawke," another short-lived strip. 
Posted in art and artists, Comics | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Movie Star Mystery Photo

Aug. 24, 2009, Mystery Photo  
 Los Angeles Times file photo

Sept. 20, 1983, LeRoy Prinz Above, Paramount dance director LeRoy Prinz with, from left, Esther Pressman, Beula McDonald, Bonita Barker, Kay Gordon, Dorothy Thompson and Dene Myles, April 15, 1935.

Update: Our mystery guest is LeRoy Pnriz.

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 prize is
bragging rights. 

The answer to last week's mystery star: Laurie Mitchell!

Randy Skretvedt  writes: I still say I'm correct, with the exception of LeRoy Prinz. Go look at
your entry for Grace Bradley (July 25, 2009) and see the picture of the
Paramount Protégés there. They are the same girls as in the first
mystery picture. The second girl is unquestionably Ann Sheridan, the
fourth is Gail Patrick (the girl you love to hate in "My Man Godfrey"
and other films, later a successful television producer), and the girl
at the very back is Wendy Barrie.

Very well, then. See for yourself:

Aug. 29, 2009, IDs.

Aug. 25, 2009, Mystery Photo

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Six LeRoy Prinz dancers were recently given contracts as stock actresses at Paramount studio because of their all-around beauty and ability to act. They are shown with Prinz, dance director. Left to right, bottom, Esther Pressman, Dene Myles; middle, Kay Gordon, Prinz, Beula McDonald; top, Dorothy Thompson and Bonita Barker, March 5, 1935.

Here's another photo of our mystery guest with some mystery companions. Evidently there wasn't a photo in the world that couldn't be improved with a little tilting by The Times' art department.

Aug. 25, 2009, Mystery Photo Tilt

The cropped and tilted version.

Aug. 26, 2009, Mystery Photo

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Edward A. Prinz, right, with his son LeRoy. The dancers are, from left, Esther Pressman, Dene Myles, Bonita Barker, Dorothy Thompson, Kay Gordon and Beula McDonald, rehearsing for a sequence in "Rose of the Rancho" with Gladys Swarthout, Aug. 8, 1935.  

Here's another photo of our mystery guest with even more mystery companions. Please congratulate Dewey Webb for identifying him!

Aug. 27, 2009, Mystery Photo

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: LeRoy Prinz with 12 dancers leaving Hollywood for a tour of the British Isles. Front, from left, Jean Dillon, Joan Matthews and Claudia Fargo. Middle, from left, Dorothy White, Harriet D'Busman, LeRoy Prinz and Bonita Barker. Back, from left, Sentha Williams, Jean Carmen, Althea Henley, Elizabeth Cook and Margaret Carthew, Dec. 31, 1935.  

Here's another picture of our mystery guest with more mystery companions! Please congratulate Mike Hawks and Mary Mallory for identifying him!

Aug. 28, 2009, Mystery Photo

Photograph by Los Angeles Times

Dec. 19, 1945: LeRoy Prinz, studio director-producer, as he testified at trial of Herbert K. Sorrell, union leader, on contempt charge. Prinz said he was knocked down in film strike riot and when he got up saw Sorrell standing in mob with fists clenched.

Please congratulate Jeff Hanna, Meara and James Curtis for identifying him!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | 39 Comments

Judge Bars Bus Strike; Giants Beat Dodgers

Aug. 29, 1959, Cover

Aug. 29, 1959: A judge's temporary restraining order prevents a bus and streetcar strike.

Aug. 29, 1959, Baskin Robbins



Someone has a Cold War souvenir in the shed. Let's fire it up and see what happens.

Aug. 29, 1959, Siren

Aug. 29, 1959, Editorial Cartoon

The threat of communist aggression casts a shadow over world peace. And Times readers are talking about singing the National Anthem, what it means to get old in America, hating Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev … and looking for a lost dog.

Aug. 29, 1959, Film Boycott

Aug. 29, 1959, Beatniks

Above, more trouble with Beatniks: Mrs. Swan kept a record of "goings-on" in and around the Gas House.

It contained such notations as, "Music not so loud tonight … closed at 2 a.m."

But it also told how one beatnik was "kissing and messing around" on the beach in front of the Gas House on July 12. On the same date, the bongo drums began at 10 am. until police stopped the bearded beats at 10 p.m., she testified.

At left, leaders of the National Council of Churches, encouraged by Paramount President Y. Frank Freeman, study whether to begin calling for a boycott of films that emphasize sex and violence.

George A. Heimrich, who initiated the idea, says: "We have no interest in harming the movie industry, but apparently producers feel it's difficult to get good box office and that they need sex and violence. We are well aware of the importance of the motion picture industry and we are as much for good box office as the producers. But we don't feel sex and violence are the best answer."

Aug. 29, 1959, Li'l Abner

One nice thing about ProQuest is that it's possible to enlarge the comics and see the details that aren't visible in the newspaper, especially strips like "Li'l Abner."

Aug. 29, 1959, Synanon

Aug. 29, 1959, Steaks

Above, an expert calls for fluoridation of water to prevent dental cavities. In time, the fluoridation of water came to be viewed — at least by some — as a shadowy communist conspiracy … calling Dr. Strangelove!  

At left, trouble for Synanon. In the 1950s, The Times wrote stories praising the program's success. But by the late 1960s, leader Charles E. Dederich turned the drug treatment program into a cult.

Read more>>>

Aug. 29, 1959, Sports

After losing to the Pirates and the Phillies, the Giants beat the Dodgers in a 5-0 shutout.

Posted in #courts, #Jazz, art and artists, City Hall, Comics, Dodgers, Film, Food and Drink, Front Pages, Hollywood, LAPD, Nightclubs, Politics, Religion, Transportation, Venice Division | Comments Off on Judge Bars Bus Strike; Giants Beat Dodgers

Wife Shoots Cheating Husband in the Head

Aug. 29, 1899: Cupidene restores lost manhood. Continue reading

Posted in #courts, Homicide | Comments Off on Wife Shoots Cheating Husband in the Head

Man Nearly Suffocates While Hiding From Police

Aug. 29, 1889, Fall Fashions

Aug. 29, 1889: J.T. Sheward has the latest in mourning fashions, including wool warp Henriettas.

Aug. 29, 1889, Opium

Detectives looking for stolen merchandise at a bordello find an opium setup and a naked man hiding in closet. One of the officers makes himself comfortable during the search by closing a trunk and sitting on the lid. As they are about to leave, they decide to open the trunk and find a nearly suffocated man hidden inside.

Posted in #courts, Fashion, LAPD | 1 Comment

Artist’s Notebook — Pasadena City Hall

2008_0906_pasadena_city_hall_thumb

Pasadena City Hall by Marion Eisenmann, Sept. 6, 2008

Marion sends her impressions of this Pasadena landmark, which was closed for a major restoration and renovation after being badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1991 Sierra Madre quake. As part of the work, the building's substructure was replaced with a system of base isolators to insulate it from further seismic damage.


Now that the retrofitting is done, the 1927 building sparkles like new, especially when it's lit up against the night sky.


Marion says:
It is probably not the most accessible view of the Pasadena City Hall,
yet the sky-high cypresses emphasize the monumental value of the
architecture behind them.

There is no palm tree in the
drawing, because there was none standing there, which is uncommon for a
site in Pasadena. Just a few weeks ago I was commissioned to do a
painting of the San Gabriel Mountains viewed from Pasadena. The person
paid the full amount up-front and asked me to leave out the palm trees,
she didn't like them. This just came to my mind, while I thought about
the production of this pencil sketch. That's funny, no?


2009_0808_union_station_thumb

"Union Station"
2009_0808_olvera_street_thumb

"Olvera Street"


By the way, Daily Mirror readers have asked about buying copies of Marion's artwork. Naturally, the interest is gratifying because I think Marion's work is terrific and one of my great pleasures is sharing it with readers
every week.

When we began this project, it was without any thought of sales so Marion and I hadn't discussed the matter until now. We decided that the project is still new and evolving, and that it's a journey about discovering Los Angeles rather than creating things to sell. Working as an independent artist, Marion is busy with other projects and says she isn't set up to mass-produce prints but she would entertain inquiries about specific pieces.

For further information, readers should contact Marion directly.

Note: In
case you just tuned in, Marion and I are visiting local landmarks in a
project inspired by what Charles Owens and Joe Seewerker did in Nuestro Pueblo. Check back next week for another
page from Marion's notebook.



Posted in Architecture, art and artists, Marion Eisenmann | 1 Comment

Found on EBay — Mullen and Bluett

Mullen & Bluett Suit EBay

Mullen & Bluett Suit EBay
This Palm Beach suit from Mullen & Bluett
has been listed on EBay. Of the fashion items I follow on EBay, Mullen
& Bluett shows up  about as often as Oviatt's, which isn't much. The suit is listed at $89 under Buy It Now.

June 23, 1952, Mullen & Bluett Palm Beach

Above, an ad for Palm Beach suits at Mullen & Bluett, June 23, 1952. Adjusted for inflation, the $29.99 suit cost $240.70 USD 2008.

Posted in Fashion | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Mullen and Bluett

Matt Weinstock, Aug. 28, 1959

Aug. 17, 1959, Weinstock Is on Vacation

Matt Weinstock is on vacation.
Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock, Aug. 28, 1959

August 28, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

August 28, 1959: L.D. Tallent, a man with "half a body." August 28, 1959: The success story of L.D. Tallent — a man born with less than half a body — isn’t quite believable, but it happened anyway, Paul Coates writes. Continue reading

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on August 28, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Aug. 28, 1976, Comics

Aug. 28, 1976: A time capsule of the '70s: Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Gerald Ford with the logo of the 1980 Olympics in Jim Berry's "Berry's World." The U.S. led the boycott of the 1980 summer Olympics, held in Moscow, to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Posted in art and artists, Comics, Politics, Sports | Comments Off on A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Comics

Nuestro Pueblo — Ft. Moore Hill

Aug. 28, 1939, Nuetro Pueblo

Aug. 28, 1939: Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens visit Ft. Moore Hill for Nuestro Pueblo and The Times writes about Lt. E.O.C. Ord's 1849 survey of the city, giving a history of early street names.

Posted in art and artists, Downtown, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off on Nuestro Pueblo — Ft. Moore Hill

Chinese Troops Cross India Border!

Aug. 28, 1959, Cover

Aug. 28, 1959: The Times brings out an extra as Chinese troops cross into India.

Aug. 28, 1959, Beatniks

Aug. 28, 1959, Beatniks

Aug. 28, 1959, Chubby
Are these girls really supposed to be chubby?

At left, strange occurrences at the Gas House (d. 1962), 1501 Ocean Front Walk in Venice.

"Mrs. Mabel Hardy, living in an apartment building across from the Gas House, complained of jukebox and bongo noises and the parking of a 1933 hearse in front of the building."

"A lot of us are old and don't feel very good and that hearse didn't make us feel any better," she said.

Eric "Big Daddy" Nord says: "Think of the good that could be brought with bongo drums pounding out a message of peace. But, people are afraid of bongos. The sound of bongos would be better than the beep-beep-beep of interstellar hardware."

Aug. 28, 1959, Comics

"In the silent room, Tony's whispered words hang like wisps of smoke…"

Aug. 28, 1959, Wide Head

Above, if the headline doesn't fit, just run it out into the gutters. Nobody will notice. 

Aug. 29, 1959, Wide Head

And what the headline would be if it squared off with the type, as it's supposed to. Nice work, guys.

Aug. 28, 1959, Hedda Hopper, Strategic Air Command

The Air Force does a "meet and greet" with Hedda Hopper and Joan Crawford.

Hopper summarizes the Cold War mentality perfectly: "The Soviet Union controls one-third of the people of the world and one-fourth of its geography, and their sworn goal is the conquest of America. Never before in history has a peaceful nation been prepared to go to war within 15 minutes."

Aug. 28, 1959, Hearst
By 1962, Hearst will fold the morning Examiner into the Herald-Express to create the Herald Examiner.
Aug. 28, 1959, Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht's play "Winkleberg" "is a monotonous series of uninteresting incidents which serve as an opportunity to recite his wares and expound his dreary philosophy."

Directed by Patrick MacNee!

Aug. 28, 1959, Sports

The last-place Phillies take a double-header from the first-place Giants!

Posted in Fashion, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Stage | Comments Off on Chinese Troops Cross India Border!