Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 30, 1959

Posted on January 30, 2009 by lmharnisch




CONFIDENTIAL FILE

Crackdown Hits Death Ballads

Paul_coates_2
Stop that dancing up there. And sit down a minute. I want to talk to you.

I suppose you know that most of this town’s top disc jockeys have —
either by choice or station edict — banned a new release called "The
Ballad of Barbara Graham."

If you didn’t know, I’m telling you now. The record’s subject matter, they say, is too hot. Too controversial.

It’s such a sizzling "political" issue that in the space of a week, KFWB has jerked it off the air, KDAY has gone out of its way to inform listeners that the record is banned, and KMPC program director Bob Forward has warned his disc jockey staff by memo:

"There are several new recordings on the market which appear to be out-and-out propaganda against capital punishment.

1959_0130_cover
"The decision as to whether to be for or against capital punishment is
one that will be made by station management and will be plainly stated
in an editorial campaign.

"I am referring specifically to ‘The Ballad of Barbara Graham’ and ‘The
Last Mile.’ Please do not play these or any other similar records
without first discussing it with me personally."

Now, hold on a minute, boys. I’ve heard this ballad about Barbara
Graham. But the only controversy I can work up with myself is whether
it’s music.

But that’s something I could question about a lot of the stuff passed off as "hit" material.

The Graham piece- if you’ll excuse my close scrutiny- has a melody
which sounds suspiciously like the tune I used to sing "Sweet Rosy O’Grady" to, years ago.

I quote, in B-flat:

1959_0130_runover
"Poor Bar-bar-a Gra-ham was wild and couldn’t be tied.

"But could she com-mit mur-der? And should she real-ly have died!"

That’s about as controversial as the lyrics get. And the only question
they seem to bring up, somewhat belatedly, is whether Mrs. Graham was
guilty.

And now, it’s my turn to raise an issue.

Who let Tom Dooley in? According to his defense attorneys, the Kingston
Trio, the poor boy is going to be strung up tomorrow at dawn for a
crime of passion. Any decent criminal attorney in the land could almost
guarantee to get him off on second-degree murder, at the worst.

It’s clearly and issue involving capital punishment.

Vocalist Avoids Arguments

Out of idle curiosity, I telephoned the vocalist and co-writer of
the Barbara Graham ballad last night to find out what kind of a fanatic
this town’s disc jockeys were barring from the turntables.

The young man’s name was Val Norman, and he admitted that the idea for the song came to him after he’d seen the movie.

"It had commercial possibilities," he told me.

"Do you have any views on capital punishment?" I asked.

1959_0129_plane
He
hesitated, then answered, "Well, I have some personal opinions. But I’d
rather not get involved. Religion, subjects like that- I just don’t get
into arguments."

Still, I’m bothered. Not so much for Mr. Norman.

But because of what looks like the beginning of a trend.

It
just so happens that Chuy Reyes and I have been collaborating in our
spare time on a jumpy little tune called "The Cahan Decision Cha-Cha."

But I guess we better forget the whole thing. Some disc jockey is bound to call it too controversial.  

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 30, 1959

Voices — Christine Collins, August 16, 1932

Posted on January 30, 2009 by lmharnisch
1932_0816_death_certificate_01
Posted in #courts, Changeling, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | 5 Comments

Movie Star Mystery Photo

Posted on January 30, 2009 by lmharnisch

January 26, 2009, Cecil B. De Mille and Mary PickfordUpdate: This is a Los Angeles Times photo of Mary Pickford and Cecil B. De Mille after he received an Oscar and an Irving Thalberg Award at the 1953 Academy Awards.

Update: Many Daily Mirror readers have correctly identified the people in the photo (or at least one of them). Congratulations! If I haven’t posted your answer, you’re right. (I’m delaying the correct answers to give other people a chance). Check back tomorrow for more pictures! Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | 114 Comments

Man Kills Dentist Over Picture, 1936

Posted on January 30, 2009 by lmharnisch
1936_0426_voiss_crop
I said in a previous post that the fate of Peter Voiss' burros was unrecorded. Unrecorded in The Times, that is. Regular Daily Mirror reader Dick Morris sent along some information about Voiss and his beloved animals, Trixie, Jimmie and another whose name is illegible in an old story from the Hayward (Calif.) Review.

In his later years, Voiss worried about what would become of his burros, and he prepared a will in which he bequeathed the burros to a beneficiary. In fact, any time someone lent him money, he left them a will in which he bequeathed them the burros.

"He scattered 'wills' along the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle like Johnny Appleseed," the Hayward paper said.

Of course, this came to light only when he was on his deathbed and there were competing claims for the animals.   

According to census records, Voiss was born in Germany about 1867. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1886. He apparently was a brewer before becoming a gold miner.

Thanks to Dick Morris for the info!

Posted in #courts, Animals, Homicide | Comments Off on Man Kills Dentist Over Picture, 1936

Marilyn Monroe Mystery

Posted on January 30, 2009 by lmharnisch
Chamales_naked Chamales_intro

Until I came across the news stories about him threatening his wife with a butcher knife, I’d never heard of Thomas T. Chamales. I picked up a copy of "Never So Few" because The Times’ Robert Kirsch called it "Easily one of the best novels to come out of World War II." I also got a copy of "Go Naked in the World," at left. Check out the acknowledgment, above. Marilyn Monroe and Tom Chamales? That’s a new one on me. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking…. 

Posted in books, Film, Hollywood | 2 Comments

Matt Weinstock — January 29, 1959

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch




Samaritan on Trial

Matt_weinstockd
Alvin Thomas is deeply distressed.

Health inspectors came into his apartment on N Van Ness Avenue a few weeks ago and cited him for violating a city ordinance, harboring pigeons, nine of them.

He told them he was merely taking care of injured and sick birds and
that when they were well he turned them loose. He pointed out that he
carefully sprayed every bird and took every health precaution.

Out of his love and understanding of pigeons, he decided to fight the
case. He felt he had done no wrong, that his rights had been invaded.
He pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial.

1959_0129_burlesque
When he appeared in court a few days ago the judge took him aside and
questioned him, then gave him until Feb. 19 to remedy the situation.
This means disposing of the pigeons.

THOMAS HASN’T decided what to do. All but two of the birds
probably will be all right by that date, but these two need constant
attention. To turn them loose, he said, would mean certain death for
them. "After a while they lose their wild instincts," he explained.

Although he feels that he has been harassed, Thomas is not angry at the
health inspectors. He found them friendly and considers them merely
doing their duty. But helping needy pigeons comes first with him. He is
very proud of his work.

"Sometime when you’re around Sunset and Gower take a look at the
pigeon that stands on the neon sign that reads ‘Cut Rate Drugs,’ " he
said. "He keeps his feet warm on the sign. He’s there every night. He’s
one of mine, No. 27. I put a band on them when I turn them loose, you
know. I found him in the alley on 11th Street between Broadway and Hill. He was in bad shape."

1959_0129_studebaker
Thomas, who served on Guadalcanal and New Guinea in WW 2, added, "I know what it is to lie in a field, wounded."

* *

SOMETIMES the best thing is to walk away and pretend you didn’t
hear what someone said. As in the case of a young lady at a party. The
host asked what she’d like to drink. She frowned thoughtfully, then
replied, "I’m driving, I guess I’ll have a Martini."

* *

THE WAY Eloise Lomas tells it, a sports fan enthusiastically
addicted to photography became fascinated by the graceful postures of
basketball players in action and concentrated on taking pictures at
games.

He kept improving his technique, and at the recent UCLA-SC games
captured a shot that was poetry in motion. A friend couldn’t believe it
was read and said it looked like a posed studio shot.

"Naw," was the reply, "it was just a flash in the Pan."

* *

1959_0129_million

THE PHONE RANG at the home of Nancy, 6, while her mother was next door and the caller said, "Please have her call me at Capitol 3-2210."

There was a long silence so the caller asked, "Are you sure you have the number?"

 
"Oh yes," Nancy replied, "only I’m not sure how to make a capital 3."

* *

1959_0129_page02PAGE 1 ANY DAY
Seems a fellow went to prison
‘Cause he took what wasn’t his’n.
–HERB PRUITT

* *

AT RANDOM — Believe it or not, there is such a thing as
National Break a Cold Month and, according to a communique from a N.Y.
public relations firm, this is it . . . Inquiry by Nate Fischer: Is it
true that Emile Zola’s mother was calledMaZola? No, Lalapazola . . .
What difference a comma can make. An apartment house in Hollywood has
this sign: "Apt for rent all electrical fixtures patio swimming pool
fully carpeted" . . . Redundancy note J. OrlandoNorthcutt heard a TV
announcer mention programs "in the future weeks to come" . . . Simile:
As conspicuous as a bandage on a girl’s ankle.  
Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock — January 29, 1959

Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 29, 1959

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch




CONFIDENTIAL FILE

Here’s Volunteer for Outer Space

Paul_coates
NEW YORK, Jan. 28– T. Keith Glennan, U.S. space chief, announced last night that the selection of America’s first human space traveler is under way.

According to Glennan, the new Federal Space Agency has picked 110
rugged young Americans as candidates for the first manned satellite to
orbit the earth.

The man finally selected will have to meet the following
qualifications: He must be a graduate of an Air Force or Navy
test-pilot training school with at least 1,500 flying hours. He must
have a university degree in engineering. He must be in superb physical
condition, with the physical and psychological attributes suited for
space flight as determined byaero-medical scientists. And he must be younger than 40, no taller than 5 ft. 11 in.

* *

1959_0129_house
I’d like to lay it right on the line to T. Keith Glennan. Why hasn’t he considered me for this assignment?

It’s
understandable that it might never have occurred to him I’d like to go.
But it wouldn’t kill him to ask. I mean, I’m not going to bite his head
off.

The fact is that under certain, reasonable conditions I am quite willing to be the first human who will soar into space.

My qualification are, I think, impressive.

Admittedly,
I don’t have a university degree in engineering, and I’m not a graduate
of an Air Force training school with at least 1,500 flying hours.

But we can skip that nonsense. All we have to do is send me up and guide me back again by radar.

1959_0129_mirror_red_streak
Physically,
I’m not the greatest specimen you’ll ever meet. But I’m not the worst,
I’ve got a touch of bursitis in my left shoulder, I have an allergy
that makes me break out when I drink hot chocolate. I’m missing a few
molars. And my adenoids act up in damp weather.

My medical case history is blemished only by the fact that I had German measles right in the middle of World War II.

The
important thing, however, is that psychologically I’ve got it all over
these 110 rugged young Americans our space agency is considering.

We must assume that every blessed one of them is a normal, well-adjusted youngster. And that’s the rub.

It doesn’t take a normal, well-adjusted person to volunteer for a trip into space. It takes a nut.

1959_0129_murder_ro
Space,
if you’ll permit me an observation, is a lonely place. The man who goes
out there will need the unique emotional talent of being able to enjoy
his own company. Putting it bluntly, he’ll have to be a guy who talks
to himself.

And I, Mr. Glennan, am that guy.

It seems to me that I’m the obvious man for the trip into the silence of space. My requirements are quite simple.

In
the first place, I must insist on a guarantee of adequate publicity.
Let’s be quite frank with each other. I’m a businessman. I’m not doing
this thing for laughs. If I’m going into orbit, I’d like my public to
know about it.

Therefore, I want them to hire a gasser of a press agent like Russell Birdwell or Arthur Wenzel who can get me a little coverage in the papers.

Secondly,
I want a guarantee that I will retain merchandising rights on any space
product ideas that might be promoted when I come home.

And thirdly, I want a guarantee that I will come home.  
Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates, Science, Transportation, UFOs | Comments Off on Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 29, 1959

Found on EBay — Player Ejected During Dodger Game, 1958

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch
1958_0604_sports

1958_0604_runover

 Ump_eject_ebay

Here’s an interesting little item. Umpire Bill Jackowski’s report on why he ejected Don Hoak. Bidding starts at $49.95.

The Times’ story doesn’t mention Hoak getting thrown out, but the box score revealed there were only three umpires. Maybe that’s why Hoak thought they missed the call.

It also happened to be election night in Los Angeles, with voters deciding on the contract between the city and the ballclub to build a stadium in Chavez Ravine.

Posted in Dodgers, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Player Ejected During Dodger Game, 1958

Voices — Christine Collins, August 16, 1932

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch
1932_0816_warden_01
Posted in #courts, Changeling, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Comments Off on Voices — Christine Collins, August 16, 1932

Woman Loses Children Over Nude Photos; Angels Earn Most of Cubs’ Income, January 29, 1949

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch
1949_0129_pirates

A panel from "Terry and the Pirates," by George Wunder.

1949_0129_comics At left, The Times’ comics page from 1949. Moon Mullins … Li’l Abner …  Brenda Starr … Dick Tracy … Orphan Annie … but also Ella Cinders … Napoleon … Harold Teen … Abby an’ Slats … And Nancy. Always Nancy.

Below left, Jeanne Shapiro pleads on her knees as a court awards custody of her children to her estranged husband, Arthur, a musician, after he introduces as evidence a picture of her in bed with another musician, Thomas Mace. "Mrs. Shapiro … protested that she was a good mother and cited her work with children’s groups," The Times said.

1949_0129_police

A woman sues General Hospital, accusing a doctor of brutality.

1949_0129_theater

MGM denies rumors that it plans to make "Brigadoon" with Gene Kelly.

 

1949_0129_sports There was nothing minor about the money made by Los Angeles Angels in 1949.

The Angels’ profit was big enough to help the other team playing in a ballpark called Wrigley Field–the Chicago Cubs. A story in The Times from the Cubs’ board of directors meeting tried to put the money in some perspective. Perhaps the paper was already starting to promote the idea of the major leagues should look toward California–or at least that the Pacific Coast League deserved major league status.

The Cubs earned $141,000, but $109,890 came from the Angels, who played in Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field. Much of the Angels’ profit had been spent to retire part of the corporation’s stock, which left the minor leaguers $39,890 to work with in the coming season.

So permit a little bit of math here. According to the story, if you subtract the Angels’ profit from the Cubs’ overall profit, the big club had $39,110 for working capital. So the major league team and the minor league team ended up with about the same money? Granted the Cubs were dreadful in 1948. But the Angels obviously were a major help to Chicago’s bottom line.

Or as The Times’ story concluded, "There’s your argument, fellas. Is the Angel team big league or minor?"

Wonder if Walter O’Malley was already taking notes.

–Keith Thursby
Posted in #courts, #Jazz, @news, art and artists, classical music, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Sports | 3 Comments

Jewish Home for the Aged — Ida Mayer Cummings

Posted on January 29, 2009 by lmharnisch




Ida_mayer_cummings_1957_1215

Photograph by Ken Dare / Los Angeles Times

Ida Mayer Cummings, Dec. 15, 1957.
Alicia Mayer Beverley writes from Australia:

I ran across your blog entry on the 1957 Women of the Year. My great-grandmother Ida Mayer Cummings is one of them (she’s to the left of the "Women of the Year" banner). While I’m sure you won’t be heading into this territory again, I thought I might clarify her background as she was in no way obscure.

Ida Mayer Cummings was the older sister and closest confidante of her brother Louis B Mayer. She was also the mother of famed producer Jack Cummings who produced many MGM favorites, such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and most of the Elvis films. Both of her sons-in-laws were also very active producers.

Ida_mayer_cummings_1951_0219_crop

Los Angeles Times file photograph

From left, Ida Mayer Cummings, Mrs. Adolph Weinberg, George Murphy, Adolph Weinberg and Louis B. Mayer with a portrait of Ida Mayer Cummings presented to the Jewish Home for the Aged, Feb. 19, 1951.

But on her own account, she was one of the best known philanthropists of her time and was known by famous actors and Hollywood types as well as politicians and even world leaders through her fundraising activity. She wrote hundreds of letters to some of the world’s most powerful people, encouraging them to give generously to the Jewish Home for the Aged, and in fact, they all seemed to write in return as I have seen folders and folders of letters to and fro. Today, her legacy carries on through the same organization which was renamed some years ago to Associates IMC (Ida Mayer Cummings). They still hold several annual events (a ball and a luncheon), all of which span back 80 years or more to when she started them.

Bob Hope once said of Ida that she was "the only woman I know who can reach through the telephone and grab a man by the lapels!" While her generation has mainly all gone, there are still a handful of very old women who tell you that "everbody knew Ida". She evidently was the female, philanthropic version of her little brother Louis B Mayer, and in fact, they are interred together, along with their brothers Gerald and Ruben Mayer.

So there’s a little bit more insight into a woman I am very proud of. In fact, exactly 50 years after she was named a 1957 Woman of the Year, I was given the International Women’s Day Most Inspiring Leader award here in Australia where I have lived for 20 years.

Thank you for your time Larry and thank you so much for covering that piece. It brought tears to my eyes.

Best,

Alicia Mayer Beverley


Posted in Downtown, health, Religion, San Fernando Valley | Comments Off on Jewish Home for the Aged — Ida Mayer Cummings

Found on EBay — Batchelder Tile

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch

Here’s a matched pair of Batchelder tile….

Batchelder_01_ebay

This tile is listed here >>>

 Batchelder_02_ebay

This tile is listed here >>>

Posted in Architecture, art and artists, books, Real Estate | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Batchelder Tile

Matt Weinstock — January 28, 1959

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch




Murder Can Be Fun

Matt_weinstockd
The
science-fiction magazine If for February has a story by George H. Smith
titled "The Last Days of L.A.," and if you frighten easily this will do
it. The subcaption will give you the idea: "Murder on a small scale can be the most exhilarating thing tin the world!"

The
story is presented as a rambling, blood-curdling dream sequence having
to do with enemy bombs wiping out our city. The narrator, who drinks
continually, is the only one who realizes the jig is up, but no one
will believe him.

The tale is fortified with a sexy lady evangelist and some nasty, if slightly true, cracks at our local perversities and civilization generally.

The
only complication to the reader is that the narrator has difficulty
separating his drunken dreams from reality. Doubtless this was
intended.

1959_0128_olvera
You have to keep in mind the science-fiction boys
have been far ahead of the rest of us. For them, the space age we are
now entering is old stuff.

THE LEAD STORY in the same issue is a little number by Fritz Leiber titled "Pipe Dream," and as one who admires provocative, compelling opening sentences, I submit that here we have a classic.

Leiber’s
story starts: "It wasn’t until the mermaid turned up in his bathtub
that Simon Grue seriously began to wonder what the Russians were doing
on the roof next door."

There’s a sentence that has everything.

* *

AMPLY WATERED
Whether it’s a human or a faucet,
Will you take this tip?
There is nothing more monotonous
Than the noise made by a drip.
– AULYN E. KANSTON

* *

HIGH SCHOOL
seniors know what their grades will be and they’re coasting in.
Attending classes is a mere formality. Their minds are on the big
event, graduation for which they’re rehearsing.

In this prevailing mood, a certain teacher was surprised to come upon Billy Jarman, a senior, reading Tressler’s
"English in Action, Book No. 1." Billy is a fine boy, good-humored,
eager to help, but he is not distinguished for scholarship, especially
unnecessary application.

Curious, she tiptoed behind him and
saw that his attention was riveted to a short section near the back of
the book titled, "Getting to Know Your Teacher."

1959_0128_desotoInasmuch as
Billy hadn’t bothered much about this phase of education, she considers
it one of the nicest things that has happened to her all semester.

* *

ALTHOUGH the plethora of TV westerns is generally deplored, the horses keep galloping across the living room.

During a discussion of this phenomenon at a party a guest said, "I think ‘Maverick’ is the best of them."

John J. Anthony, the problem solver and a man who draws fine distinctions, replied. "Yes, but it’s a cowardly western."

* *

MISCELLANY — A Hill St. tavern has a sign, "Come in and be yourself." Which a patron interprets thusly:
Two drinks and you become yourself. Two more and you’re Superman. After
that, anonymity . . . Inflation note. Beverly Hills business license
fee last year was $5, this $25. As a result there are cries, "You can’t
do this to me." But they’re doing it . . . A recent bride named Sandy
was telling her mother her husband will never have to take cold
sandwiches in his lunch. "I’ll make hot chili and things that he can
put in his thermostat," she malapropped . . . Les McMurray’s sporting goods store on Ventura
Boulevard has a sign, "Have Gone, Will Return" . . . The Madison Avenue
boys are moving into Cuba, an NBC newscaster reported. This can mean
only one thing- they’re going to get Fidel Castro and his bearded
friends to make some razor and shaving cream commercials.


Posted in books, Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock — January 28, 1959

Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 28, 1959

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch




CONFIDENTIAL FILE

They Lost — They Were Lucky

Paul_coates
The Baumans, mother and daughter, had dinner at 9 o’clock last
Sunday — not an unreasonable hour when you’re relaxing in a pleasant
coastal resort likeBaja California’s Rosarito Beach.

But now, looking back, they’re more than a bit sorry that they didn’t
skip the meal, head back for the U.S. border, and turn in early.

Miss Lorraine Bauman, 34, and her widowed mother, Mrs. Katherine Bauman, 63, both of Santa Rosa, were among the unfortunate many seized by Mexican federal police in the resort’s gambling casino that night.

But they had their good fortune, too. So far they’re the only Americans who have been released following the raid.

"We’ve been released outright, I guess," she told me by telephone from Chula Vista last night. "Right now, we’re busy trying to contact relatives of some of the people who are still being held."

1959_0128_mirror_cover
I asked Miss Bauman, who is owner of a gift shop, how she and her mother happened to be caught in the raid.

"After we finished dinner," she replied, "we were told that we could go
into the gaming rooms if we just filled out a card. Why not, we decided.

"After we filled them out, we were directed into a room where there
were a bunch of blackjack tables. I was going to leave right then."

"Why was that?" I asked.

"I only like to shoot craps," she answered. "Then a man told us there was another room with crap tables. I’ve played before at Las Vegas, so after going in and watching a while, we each bought $20 worth of chips.

"Do you know," Miss Bauman told me, "that when those men came charging in, I’d built my bankroll up to $110, and that Mother had hers up to $80 or $90.

"When those men broke in with shotguns and machine guns, I thought they
were bandits. It was about 15 minutes before I saw a man in uniform and
knew what was happening."

"How were you treated?" I asked.

1959_0128_page
"For the first two hours they wouldn’t let us women go to the rest
room," she said. "The men had to wait longer. About four hours. It’s
already been in the papers about not getting anything but toast and
coffee to eat and about how they took our possessions.

"But, on the whole, after the initial shock, they treated us very well, I’d say."

Doctor Was Helpful

Then she continued: "Especially, my mother and I. One of the other
prisoners was a doctor from Tijuana, and he was extremely helpful in
convincing the soldiers that my mother, who’s a diabetic, should have
her nerve pills back and get her insulin shot."

U.S. Vice-Consul Joseph Cicala also was helpful, she added. "It was because of my mother’s health that we were released, I’m sure."

"Did you get all of your possessions back?" I asked.

"When
we were let go, they told us to pick out what was ours from a pile on a
big table," she said. "But when we checked the wallets we had in our
purses, they’d been cleaned out. More than $800 between us, we had.

"When I asked the young interpreter about our money," she explained, "he just smiled.

"He said, ‘Aren’t you glad you’re being released?’"

Miss Bauman sighed heavily.

"I suppose I’ll never see it

"And to think," she added wistfully, "I almost came home a winner for the first time in my life."  

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates, travel | Comments Off on Paul Coates — Confidential File, January 28, 1959

Voices — Christine Collins, August 13, 1932

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch




1932_0813_christine_collins_01
Posted in #courts, Changeling, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Comments Off on Voices — Christine Collins, August 13, 1932

Man Kills Dentist Over Picture, 1936

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch

1939_0128_miner

A reader asked if I would do more stories from 1939. Here’s what I found. I guess you can never have too many stories about cantankerous old coots with shotguns.

Update: Several people have asked what became of Sylvester Warner. The Times didn’t follow up on the story, but he was executed Feb. 10, 1939.
1936_0425_voiss

Peter Voiss charged 50 cents ($7.41 USD 2007) for a picture.

1936_0426_voiss

Never mind that he killed a man. How are the burros?

1936_0704_voiss
1946_0914_voiss
 So ends the story of Peter Voiss. Of course, with Google, we can track down information on the Internet of unknown reliability.

He was supposedly born in Germany, where his father ran an inn and brewery. Are relatives on the trail of our reclusive prospector? Could be. 

The fate of Voiss’ beloved burros is unrecorded.

Posted in #courts, Homicide, Transportation | 3 Comments

Black students seek to halt minstrel show, 1929

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch




1929_0528_minstrel

May 28, 1929.
Posted in Countdown to Watts, Music, Stage | Comments Off on Black students seek to halt minstrel show, 1929

Missing Boy Found Dead, L.A. Hockey, January 28, 1959

Posted on January 28, 2009 by lmharnisch
1959_0128_cover
1959_0128_beatniks_2 Bad news for beatniks. Above, the supermarket strike-lockout appears to be over … The Soviet Union promises world domination (remember Nikita Khrushchev is coming to visit Los Angeles later in the year) … Vice President Richard Nixon supports foreign aid to hinder the spread of Communism … and the tragic story of Harold Hinnies (Hennies) Jr., a Rialto 12-year-old who was found hanging from a tree. The Times later reported that the death was an accident.
1959_0128_copyeds

"Throwback Thursby" and I enjoy trading old-fashioned headline terms from sports like "harriers," "cagers," "keglers," "matmen," "mermen" and "thinclads."

1959_0128_sports Los Angeles’ nearly ready sports arena was making the city prime target for sports gossip. When would a basketball or hockey team follow the Dodgers?

Times Sports Editor Paul Zimmerman reported that the NBA wanted to know what 1959 dates were open for the L.A. Sports Arena and the Cow Palace in San Francisco. "Obviously [league president Maurice Podoloff] wants to be prepared with a schedule for franchises coming west next fall," Zimmerman wrote.

The Times’ Jeane Hoffman wrote on Jan. 30 that NHL officials were looking over the Cow Palace even though the arena "has no hockey floor at present." The Sports Arena "will have all facilities," Hoffman added, just in case the NHL people were curious.

Then the story got weird, strongly suggesting that the Rams were interested in owning a hockey team too.

Sports arena official Bill Nicholas told Hoffman about a 1955 letter from the Rams’ Tex Schramm to NHL president Clarence Campbell asking to be considered if a franchise was awarded to L.A.

The Rams on Ice?

"Bert Rose, current Ram publicist, confirmed that ‘there is interest among Ram owners in both a hockey and basketball franchise but we feel basketball is much more imminent,’ " Hoffman wrote.

One other note–Nicholas said the Sports Arena will "never settle for second-rate hockey." There’s a Kings’ joke there somewhere.

–Keith Thursby
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Found on EBay — Bullock’s Wilshire

Posted on January 27, 2009 by lmharnisch

Bullocks_wilshire_blouse_ebay
 Bullocks_wilshire_blouse_label_ebay

This blouse from Bullock’s Wilshire has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $9.99.

   
   
   

Posted in Fashion | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock –January 27, 1959

Posted on January 27, 2009 by lmharnisch




A Sunny Gomorrah?

Matt_weinstockd
Writers are still talking about Rod Serling’s biting drama, "The Velvet Alley," on Playhouse 90 last week. It was about a humble, hard-working New York writer, admirably played by Art Carney, who sells a TV script, comes to Hollywood and is corrupted by the big money, the intrigue and the phony success exemplified by a home with a swimming pool.

Some fellows I know who write for a living resent the implication. They greatly admire Rod Serling as a writer and Playhouse 90 for not softening the tragic ending, but they consider the story’s premise outrageous nonsense.

They don’t think it’s true that New York has a monopoly on integrity and that Hollywood is just a sunbaked Sodom and Gomorrah. They reject the notion that the Broadway theater is art, and movies and TV are merely commercial.

"Velvet Alley"

Here’s the work of one of America’s great writers, Rod Serling, before "Twilight Zone."

A WRITER who has written books, plays, short stories and TV scripts said, "Take the case of a humble, hard-working Los Angeles writer who sells a play to the New York stage. He is hustled back to the big city for conferences and gets caught up in the pressure whirl. What does he find? That a one-bedroom apartment there costs as much as a home with a swimming pool here. He finds the Beverly Hills atmosphere duplicated by Westport and Fairfield, Conn. Even the restaurants are about the same. And likely as not he finds that the producer who will do his play has one foot in the real estate business, which controls many theaters."

Unanimous conclusion: "Hollywood doesn’t corrupt a good writer. He destroys himself."

* *

NOMINATION of Hugo Friedhofer’s music for "The Young Lions" for an Academy Award recalled an incident months ago in the Fox studio cafe. Over lunch, he and conductor Lionel Newman were deep in a discussion of the score when a spectacular young lady ambled by. Glancing up briefly. Hugo remarked, "A little over-orchestrated, wouldn’t you say?"

* *

CLASSIC COMMENT
He prefers to listen to Bach
often and less to Oflenbach.
– JOSEPH P. KRENGEL

* *

IT’S THE jet age, of course, and Sunday while American Airlines’ new jet transport whisked 112 passengers to New York in 4 hours and 3 minutes, I was doing a little pioneering myself.

My brother Chuck wanted to put some mileage on his new car, and we headed up the Ridge Route, Highway 99, always a pleasurable ride to those who remember the nightmare it used to be. A few miles north of Gorman we turned left to Frazier Park, a place I’d never been, thence up to Mt. Pinos, 8,826 ft.

There was some white stuff all over the place, and we stopped to check it. It was snow. We made a few snowballs and threw them and took a few searing inhalations of the crisp, cold air, which I understand has been there all the time. Felt like a battery recharge.

* *

ANYONE WHO drives in outlying areas can’t help wondering about the abandoned highway settlements he passes. There, obviously, people confidently started a new life and dreamed nice dreams, but now all that remains is a cluster of weather-beaten, window-broken shacks. In some of them there’s one sure indication when hope was lost- when a For Sale sign was put on the real estate office.

* *

AT RANDOM — Dig, the teen-ager’s magazine, prints "Stupid Stickers," suitable for clipping and putting on windshields. This month’s output: "Made in Jail by Tom Dooley" and "Help Stamp Out Homework" . . . Georgia Harns, a Hollywood secretary, asks, "If a human goes to the moon in a rocket that is manned, does a rodent go to the moon in a rocket that is moused?" . . . Martin Ragaway thinks he knows what’s wrong with some playboys- they keep putting women up on a footstool . . . Two judges, who would rather not be mentioned, were talking about Gov. Brown’s appointment of Delbert Wong to the municipal bench, and one said, "No matter what he does, he’s still Wong" . . . The phase "must sac." in classified ads always prompts Paul Mundel to ask why they don’t get some sleep.
Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock, Television | Comments Off on Matt Weinstock –January 27, 1959