Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 10, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main title: Fancy lettering over dark seas.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1937 Twentieth Century-Fox film Crack-Up, with Peter Lorre, Brian Donlevy, Helen Wood, Ralph Morgan and Thomas Beck. Continue reading →

Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 35 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 3, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main Title, lettering over city at night.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1933 RKO picture Lucky Devils, with Bill (William) Boyd, Dorothy Wilson, William Gargan, Robert Rose, Rosco Ates, William Bakewell, Julie Haydon, Bruce Cabot, Rochelle Hudson, Creighton (Lon Jr.) Chaney, Phyllis Fraser and Betty Furness. Continue reading →

Posted in 1933, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Frank S. Hoover, Portrait Photographer and Apartment Developer

Posted on June 3, 2024 by lmharnisch

SunsetPlazaBrooks
Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Early Hollywood portrait photography developed from the need of stars for portraits to send out looking for roles, and from studios realizing the value of selling their product through stars. Los Angeles and Hollywood photographers recognized for taking photographs of society folks were hired to shoot these images. One of the first to enter the field was a Hollywood-area photographer by the name of Frank S. Hoover.

Born in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 16, 1875, Hoover graduated from the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied art and became a pictorial painter. He traveled to Hollywood in 1902 to join his parents, who had built the Hollywood Hotel in 1901.

Continue reading →

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Reminder – My Next ‘Ask Me Anything’ on the Black Dahlia Case Is June 4

Posted on June 1, 2024 by lmharnisch

Reminder: Boxie (formerly Boxy) and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on the Black Dahlia case Tuesday, June 4, at 10 a.m. Pacific time, on YouTube and on Instagram.

I’ll give an update on the book and discuss the books on the Black Dahlia case.

Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! I’ll also get to the backlog of questions from previous sessions. The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later.

Remember, this is only Black Dahlia questions. I have a separate Ask Me Anything on George Hodel on June 18, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 27, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main Title: Lettering on Native American art as background.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1956 United Artists film Comanche, with Dana Andrews, Kent Smith, Nestor Paiva, Henry Brandon, Stacey Harris, John Litel, Lowell Gilmore, Mike Mazurki and Tony Carbajal. Introducing Miss Linda Cristal. And Reed Sherman. Continue reading →

Posted in 1956, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Donald Biddle Keyes, Cameraman

Posted on May 27, 2024 by lmharnisch

D. B. Keyes

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Most motion picture still photographers picked up cameras at young ages, intrigued at how they could paint with light. Many yearned to do more than just snap shots in a portrait studio or for a newspaper. They hankered for excitement, exploration, eclecticism, all of which they found working for movie studios.

In the early days, cinematographers also shot production stills for films. By the 1920s, the division of labor between stills photography and cinematography was established, keeping practitioners of one from performing the other on the same production.

Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 20, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main title: Lettering over image of Big Ben in scaffolding.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1956 Twentieth Century-Fox film 23 Paces to Baker Street, with Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Winwood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Natalie Norwick and Terence de Marney. Continue reading →

Posted in 1956, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Japanese Gardens Bring Serenity to Los Angeles

Posted on May 20, 2024 by lmharnisch

Hunt. Hotel Jap Garden
A postcard showing a Japanese garden at the Huntington Hotel, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

 

Note: This is an encore post from 2015

Throughout its history, Los Angeles has been blessed with an abundance of beautiful parks and gardens in which to relax. In the early twentieth century, Japanese gardens were all the rage, and many dotted the Southern California landscape. Estates as well as city parks contained serene tea gardens in which to contemplate nature and just be.

Popular culture helped lead the way to the creation of many of these Oriental gardens. After American Commodore Matthew Perry and his ships entered Tokyo Bay on July 8, 1853, Japan reopened trade with the West. Textiles, ceramics, and prints soon gained in popularity both in Europe and America, leading to the term, Japonism, referring to the influence of Japanese aesthetics, art, and philosophy on Western culture. A craze for collecting all things Japanese exploded.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Continue reading →

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‘Ask Me Anything’ on George Hodel – May 21

Posted on May 17, 2024 by lmharnisch

Reminder: Boxie (formerly Boxy) and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on George Hodel and Steve Hodel on Tuesday, May 21, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube and Instagram.

In this session, I’ll talk about some Elizabeth Short photographs that Steve Hodel published in Most Evil and what’s their real story.
Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, May 2024

Posted on May 13, 2024 by lmharnisch

In the May 2024 Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I talk about the whether the LAPD of the 1940s was as corrupt as some people claim, citing the Police Commission minutes from the 1940s. As a bonus, there’s a link to the Liberty magazine article The Lid Off Los Angeles, which chronicles civic corruption in the 1930s under Mayor Frank Shaw, who was recalled, leading to a reform movement at City Hall. Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 13, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main Title: Lettering (Italic and Roman) over striped background.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1947 United Artists film The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, with George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Ann Dvorak, Frances Dee, John Carradine, Susan Douglas, Hugo Haas, Marie Wilson, Albert Basserman, Katherine Emery, Richard Fraser and Warren William. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 36 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Max Davidson

Posted on May 13, 2024 by lmharnisch

Max Davidson "Call of the Cuckoo"

Photo: Lillian Elliott and Max Davidson in “Call of the Cuckoo.”

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

America has always been the land of immigrants. From when this part of the world was a mere colony to other countries, this nation has been a haven for the oppressed, weak, and dreamers, and grew mightily with this influx of people. The largest years of immigration occurred from the late 1800s into the early decades of the twentieth century. New forms of entertainment like vaudeville arose, catering to many of these immigrants, and employing ethnic humor. Many ethnic groups such as Italians, “Dutch” or German, and Jews,were stereotyped or parodied through dialect, expression, or movement in a way that revealed the common foibles of each group, how alike each were. Most of these stereotypes were carried over into film, with people like Weber and Fields excelling as “Dutch” comedians and George Beban as Italian.

Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Yutaka Abe, ‘DeMille of Japan,’ Started in U.S. Silent Films

Posted on May 6, 2024 by lmharnisch

filmdailyvolume556newy_0274
Jack (Yutaka) Abe in an ad for Mystic Faces in Film Daily, Sept. 1, 1918.

Note: This is an encore post from 2022.

Virtually unknown today, young Yutaka Abe gained fame in the American silent film industry after immigrating to the United States in 1912. While not as successful as fellow Japanese immigrant Sessue Hayakawa, Abe received excellent reviews for his film work, even writing for the screen. When the country became increasingly intolerant in the early 1920s and added Japanese immigrants to the harsh dictates of the Exclusion Act, originally written to handcuff the Chinese in the United States, Abe returned to his home country, becoming a successful director.

Born February 2, 1895, in Yamato, Miyagi, district, Abe and his younger brother, Toshinaka, immigrated to the United States with their father from Japan’s Sensai district, arriving in San Francisco on June 3, 1912. Later newspapers would claim that he was the son of the renowned Japanese ship builder. They arrived the year before California passed an alien land bill against the Japanese in 1913, preventing them from purchasing land or working certain professions.

Continue reading →

Posted in Asians, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 6, 2024 by lmharnisch

2024_0511_main_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1936 Republic picture The Lawless Nineties, with John Wayne, Ann Rutherford, Harry Woods, George Hayes, Al Bridge, Snowflake, Etta McDaniel, Tom Brower, Cliff Lyons, Jack Rockwell, Al Taylor, Charles King, George Chesebro, Tracy Layne, Chuck Baldra, Sam Flint and Tom London. Continue reading →

Posted in 1936, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Sam ‘FU’ Zell’s Tacky, Trashy Memorabilia Up for Sale (Updated)

Posted on May 5, 2024 by lmharnisch

Miniature figure of Sam Zell up for auction
Sam “FU” Zell portrait in an automaton titled Zell 2012. Bidding starts at $500.

Sam “FU” Zell was man of unusual tastes. That is, if he had any taste, which he didn’t, based on my experience during the debacle of the Zell years at the Los Angeles Times.

“Crude, gaudy and tacky,” seem to sum up Mr. “FU” Zell (as The New York Times would refer to him) and that’s an apt description of a collection of his weird automata (I would add “malfunctioning”) that’s coming up for auction later this month. They span the years 1995 to 2015 with a gap at 2008, perhaps because Mr. “FU” Zell was too busy telling his newly acquired Tribune employees “FU.”

UPDATE: All but three items sold at auction and they are marked “PASSED.” They are Get Over It, Wired Exports and Consensus. Continue reading →

Posted in 2007, Architecture, Coming Attractions | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Reminder – My Next ‘Ask Me Anything’ on the Black Dahlia Case Is May 7

Posted on May 4, 2024 by lmharnisch

Reminder: Boxie (formerly Boxy) and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on the Black Dahlia case Tuesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. Pacific time, on YouTube and on Instagram.

I’ll give an update on the book and discuss reality vs. myth in portrayals of the LAPD in the 1940s. Then open the discussion for a Q&A.

Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! I’ll also get to the backlog of questions from previous sessions. The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later.

Remember, this is only Black Dahlia questions. I have a separate Ask Me Anything on George Hodel on May 21, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: TCM Festival Salutes Hollywood’s Golden Age

Posted on April 29, 2024 by lmharnisch

The recently concluded 15th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival brought together film fans from around the world to Hollywood to celebrate films, friends, and fun. Filled with diverse programming offering something for everyone, the Festival brings together archivists, academics, and celebrities to explain and discuss the making of movies to film fans, presenting newly restored or struck prints in lush vintage movie palaces. The weekend truly does acknowledge the wonder and joy of going to the movies.

I spent the weekend attending a wide variety of programming which informed and entertained, ranging from documentaries to silent film to presentations, among excited and contented film fans. While programming, presenters, and projection were top notch, supervision of queues was lax, leading to congestion, disorganization, and sometimes discontented patrons. Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 29, 2024 by lmharnisch

Main Title, lettering in the style of an antique sampler.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1938 MGM film Of Human Hearts, with Walter Huston, James Stewart, Gene Reynolds, Beulah Bondi, Guy Kibbee, Charles Coburn, John Carradine, Ann Rutherford, Leatrice Joy Gilbert, Charley Grapewin, Leona Roberts, Gene Lockhart, Clem Bevans, Arthur Aylesworth, Sterling Holloway, Charles Peck, Robert McWade and Minor Watson. Continue reading →

Posted in 1938, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

George Hodel: Ask Me Anything, April 2024

Posted on April 26, 2024 by lmharnisch

Here’s Boxie (formerly Boxy) and I with this month’s “Ask Me Anything” on George Hodel.

The first subject was where was George Hodel in December 1945 and why does it matter?

And the second, somewhat related subject was one of Steve Hodel’s chief enablers, a fellow who calls himself Luigi Warren.
Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clara Bow’s 1920s Home for Sale, a Cozy Cottage for Star of Silent Films

Posted on April 23, 2024 by lmharnisch

Clara Bow's 1920s house, with a brick sidewalk and palm tree in front.
Clara Bow’s former rental at 7576 Hollywood Blvd. is on the market for $1.3 million.

Hollywood homes can show a star’s character just as much as any candid portrait. Ostentatious or understated, hip or homey, residences serve as a snapshot in time and place for their owners and society as well. Vivacious flapper Clara Bow remained a vulnerable little girl at heart, always seeking out a comfortable nest to create the safe, happy home life denied her growing up. For a short time she rented 7576 Hollywood Blvd., a small, lovely Spanish Colonial abode now up for sale and under threat.

Born into poverty and degradation July 29, 1905, Clara Bow endured hunger, misery, and abuse in a Dickensian childhood bereft of normal family pleasures. Looking for a chance of escape, she entered Brewster Publication’s Fame and Fortune Contest announced in Motion Picture magazine in January 1921. Her instinctive talent and energetic personality overwhelmed the judges, who awarded her first prize after a series of contests. Bubbly and effervescent in front of the cameras, her piercing, sensitive eyes revealed the true sadness underneath. Continue reading →

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