Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Master of Electric Lights Had Hollywoodland Sign Beaming

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Unknown today, Paul D. Howse was a pioneer in early entertainment and ballyhoo promotional methods. Thanks to his company’s domination of the electrical sign market and his prowess with promotion, Howse would help electrify the Hollywoodland Sign in 1923, helping turn it into a potent advertising weapon on its way to being a world-famous icon.

Born February 2, 1874, in Champaign, Illinois, Howse sought out opportunity and attention at a young age. As a student, Howse enjoyed entertainment and performing. While in high school, he sang Italian arias in concerts and recitals, getting the taste for the limelight and learning what attracted audiences. Understanding and selling amusement would remain in his blood the rest of his life.

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Black Dahlia: Larry Harnisch–Ask Me Anything!

Here’s my first Ask Me Anything. Also on my YouTube channel! (YouTube.com/LMHarnisch)

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Main Title: Lettering over trees.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 MGM picture Strange Interlude, with Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Alexander Kirkland, Ralph Morgan, Robert Young, May Robson, Maureen O’Sullivan, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden and Tad Alexander.
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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Rose McClendon, First Lady of Black Theater

Rose McClendon, standing next to her reflection in a mirror
Rose McClendon, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, via the New York Public Library.


The first lady of the early Black stage, largely forgotten today, Rose McClendon set a blazing example of how talent could offer opportunity, even in difficult, discriminatory times. Her outstanding work made even white theater critics take notice. She brought dignity and grace to every performance, a forerunner of Sidney Poitier.

Born as Rosalie Virginia Scott in Greenville, South Carolina, August 27, 1884, McClendon began performing in and directing church plays as a teenager after the family moved to New York City, where her parents worked as domestics. At the age of 20, she married Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a chiropractor who worked as a Pullman porter. After winning a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Art, she became a professional actress in her thirties. McClendon made her stage debut in Justice in 1919. She gained strength and determination during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main Title. White block letters on a black background.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1957 film Time Limit, with Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart, Carl Benton Reid, Martin Balsam, Rip Torn, Yale Wexler, Alan Dexter, Kaie Deei, Manning Ross and Joe Di Rida. Continue reading

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Black Dahlia: Steve Hodel vs. His Mom – Dorothy Hodel Interview Exposes Son’s Lies

I, in the persona of NOT Dr. Alan Campbell with “Boxy,” posted a brief video on Dorothy Hodel’s statement to Dist. Atty’s Lt. Frank Jemison. For those who aren’t up for my dramatic reading, here are a few key points and the actual interview:

  • Dorothy Hodel says that Dr. George Hodel never practiced surgery. His specialty was VD and administrative medicine.

  • Dorothy Hodel says that she and George Hodel obtained an interlocutory divorce in 1944 (when Steve Hodel was about age 3) and final divorce decree in 1945 (when Steve Hodel was about 4).

  • Dorothy Hodel says that she was living with her brother – not at the Franklin House — when Elizabeth Short was killed.

  • Dorothy Hodel says that George Hodel was never interested in earning money, only in medicine.

  • Dorothy Hodel says she is a housewife, not a writer; that she has worked as a writer but not at the present time (1950).

  • Dorothy Hodel says that Lillian Lenorak was a “mental case.” Lenorak was the woman who said George Hodel “dated” Elizabeth Short and was the only person to say so. Everyone else Jemison interviewed said there was no connection between George Hodel and Elizabeth Short.

If you have been paying attention, Steve Hodel has been claiming the opposite of all this: That his father was a prominent surgeon (sorry, no); he and his brothers were “princes” in the Sowden House; that they were living there in 1947, when Elizabeth Short was killed – though conveniently away that time;  that George Hodel was rich and powerful; that his mother was a screenwriter; and that Lillian Lenorak (though never identified by name) clinches that George Hodel “dated” Elizabeth Short. Continue reading

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)


This week’s mystery movie was the 1933 Universal picture Secret of the Blue Room, with Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, Edward Arnold, Onslow Stevens, William Janney, Robert Barrat, Muriel Kirkland, Russell Hopton and Elizabeth Patterson.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Crazylegs’ Salutes Elroy Hirsch and the Los Angeles Rams

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An image of Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, scanned from a negative listed on EBay at $24.99.


Note: This is an encore post from 2016.

Los Angeles is currently experiencing the second coming of its professional football team, the Los Angeles Rams, who first arrived in town in 1946 and also played at Memorial Coliseum. The team achieved some special firsts: such as being the first to be televised as well as the first to play themselves onscreen in the 1953 film “Crazylegs,” based on the life of its talented receiver/running back, Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch.

From 1949-1957, Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch excelled as one of the team’s top offensive players, earning All-Pro status in the National Football League for his top receiving/running skills. A potent ground gaining weapon, Hirsch’s odd twisted running style gained him his nickname. Hirsch’s remarkable background led writer/director Hall Bartlett to create a film about him, one that featured the team as well as its historic playing field, the Coliseum, a longtime film location.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Gustavo Dudamel: Tinseltown’s Gift to New York

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Headline in The New York Times.


I am celebrating the announced departure of Gustavo Dudamel (though not until 2026) – without the jubilation of New Yorkers, but certainly not in mourning as Los Angeles may be. If I were more versed in baseball, I would compare Dudamel’s move to the New York Philharmonic as a popular but lackluster coach being hired away to another team.

To New Yorkers: Congratulations on your new acquisition. To Los Angeles: You’ll get along without him just fine. Continue reading

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: May Whitney Emerson, Founded Women’s Film Company

May Whitney Emerson. She looks in 3/4 profile toward the camera, a scarf partially covering her head. A feminist ahead of her time, author May Whitney Emerson advocated equal opportunities and rights for women in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Brash, fearless, and determined, she blazed a trail through the arts and journalism as she traveled the world. Sometimes embroidering her own life story to make it as colorful and exciting as any novel, Emerson advanced the strength and determination of women in her writing, and in 1916, formed the American Woman Film Company to make films by and about women.

While she listed her birth as1865 in post-1900 census records, she probably was born almost 20 years earlier as May Whitney in Eagle Harbor, New York, per a researcher of her letters to Cora Bush. Exposed to the arts at a young age, she displayed great skill for writing, drawing, composing music, and painting, often illustrating her own stories. In a biographical sketch in the 1900 issue of West Coast magazine, she stated her first poem, “The Outcast,” was published in the Independent magazine when she was nine. Continue reading

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main Title. Lettering in the style of old type over a covered wagon.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 Twentieth Century-Fox picture Brigham Young, by Louis Bromfield. With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Mary Astor, Vincent Price, Jean Rogers, Ann Todd and Dean Jagger as Brigham Young.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main Title over MGM lion
This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 MGM picture The Earl of Chicago, with Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen, Edmund Gwenn, E.E. Clive, Ronald Sinclair, Norma Varden, Halliwell Hobbes, Ian Wulf, Peter Godfrey and Billy Bevan.
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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Magic Castle

June 10, 1948, 7001 Franklin Ave. June 10, 1948, 7001 Franklin Ave.

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Sitting gracefully below Yamashiro restaurant just above Franklin Avenue, the Magic Castle stands as a glorious reminder of the beauty and elegance of old Hollywood.  Almost like magic it appeared on the Hollywood horizon, and miraculously it still survives.

The builders Rollin B. Lane and Katherine Lane possessed an interesting back story before constructing the house in 1909.  Lane met and wooed his wife while traveling in Milwaukee in 1896.  Their marriage was probably one of the first that was rushed in order to vote in an upcoming election.   The Oct. 29, 1896, Los Angeles Times reports from an Associated Press wire that Lane, a Redlands resident, rushed the wedding to return to California to vote for Republican Major McKinley.  As the article stated, Lane “is one of those who believe in patriotism as well as matrimony, and made the one wait on the other.”  He married Kate A. Glynn, a teacher in the sixteenth district school, No. 2, as well as the author of “The Girl From Oshkosh,” and she agreed to a quick marriage in order to travel back to California before the election date.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main Title: Electric lights over silhouettes of couples dancing.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1931 Columbia picture Ten Cents a Dance, with Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley, Sally Blane, Blanche Friderici, Martha Sleeper, David Newell, Victor Potel and Sidney Bracey. Continue reading

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights — ‘The Film Parade’

Aug. 1, 1935, J. Stuart Blackton

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Beginning his career as a journalist in the late 1880s, J. Stuart Blackton is today recognized as one of the American film industry’s first pioneers.   He founded Vitagraph in 1896 along with Albert E. Smith and W. T. Rock, one of the first early production companies.

Using simple props, they concocted films with fake footage as Spanish American War propaganda films in 1898, such as “The Battle of Manila Bay,” shot for $3 using miniature ships and cigars.  They would go on to produce short films featuring comedy, animation, and drama through the mid-teens, when they began producing features as well.

In 1906, Blackton gave birth to film animation when he drew caricatures for the Vitagraph short “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces,” shooting one frame of film at a time.  Vitagraph would claim many firsts over the years, including creating the first newsreel, first full-length feature film, the first fan magazine, and the first complete color film.

By the early 1930s, Blackton would produce the first true film documentary on the history of the medium as well, “The Film Parade.”  Though Smith and Blackton sold the name Vitagraph in the mid-1920s, Blackton retained ownership of their films and other film footage.  He would employ this footage in the documentary, detailing the birth of moving pictures and their evolution, tinkering with it for years.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main Title. Just lettering
This week’s mystery movie was the 1926 film Up in Mabel’s Room, with Marie Prevost, Harrison Ford, Phyllis Haver, Harry Myers, Sylvia Breamer, Paul Nicholson, Maude Truax, Carl Gerard, William Orlamond and Arthur Hoyt.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Marion Davies, an Actress With a Heart to Help Children

Marion Davies and a photo of the front of her clinic, in Spanish revival style
Hollywood Heritage will celebrate Marion Davies’ birthday with a celebration Sunday, Jan. 22., at 2 p.m.  featuring Lara Gabrielle, author of
Marion Davies: Captain of Her Soul, and a showing of Zander the Great. Tickets are $10 for members, $20 for non-members.

Long considered one of silent film’s top comediennes as well as actresses, Marion Davies also ranked as one of Hollywood’s most generous philanthropists. Though never a mother herself, she loved children, be they relatives or those of others, often mothering those in need. After discovering the lack of health resources for destitute families, Davies took it upon herself to establish a clinic to provide medical care for children in Los Angeles.

Born January 3, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York, young Marion Douras charmed everyone she met with her endearing mixture of mischief, humor, and gentleness. After her family experienced downward pressures with the death of her older brother, her father’s alcoholism, and growing financial pressures, the three sisters eventually became showgirls. Marion, the youngest, would find the greatest success, moving on to stardom in motion pictures and establishing a long-term romantic relationship with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Smart in many ways, Marion invested well, and employed her savings in benevolent causes that warmed her heart, especially those dealing with children.

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Black Dahlia: How to Read a Story on the Murder of Elizabeth Short, and the Traps That Await Unwary Writers

Oxygen posted a story for the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s murder, so I thought I would go through it and point out the sorts of errors that writers usually make.

Christina Coulter falls into many of the traps that await writers who assume that published articles, even from reputable sources, are accurate.  And if you want to honor the memory of Elizabeth Short on the anniversary of her murder – trim your roses.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

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This week’s mystery movie was the 1957 Twentieth Century-Fox picture The Deerslayer, with Lex Barker, Rita Moreno, Forrest Tucker, Cathy O’Donnell, Jay C. Flippen and Carlos Rivas. (The original credits have been replaced in the German release I used for the film).
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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clock Tower Enters Its Second Century

Gray sky. Beige building with clock tower. All windows painted over.
A landmark both as one of the first buildings in the original Cahuenga Valley area known as Colegrove and for its dramatic appearance looming over the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Cahuenga Avenue, what is now the L.A. Security Storage Building still serves as one of Hollywood’s major storage facilities 100 years after construction. The building stands over what was once Buster Keaton’s studio and a prominent entertainment district, demonstrating the durability of Hollywood and its connection to film and other popular entertainment.

The site occupies what was originally part of Rancho La Brea, 4444 acres given by Mexican governor Jose Maria de Echeandia in 1828 to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemesio Dominguez. Forced to defend and file claims to the land, Jose Jorge Rocha deeded the rancho land to Henry Hancock, the family’s surveyor and defender, in 1860. Hancock and family later subdivided and sold the property, with former Republican Sen. Cornelius Cole purchasing 500 acres in 1880 and establishing what would become known as Colegrove. Continue reading

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