July 9, 1908

Posted on July 9, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Above, 3rd and Hill in 1908 and via Google maps’ street view, below.


Dropcap_p_pontiac age 1 is quite a curio of another era in political coverage. "Women Vie With Men in Maniacal Howls" is not a headline one sees terribly often these days. 

The Times’ Harry Carr wrote of the Democratic National Convention in Denver: "David Belasco could not have arranged a  more wonderful stage picture than today’s demonstration at its height. No one who saw it can ever forget.

"Picture a vast hall, seething and boiling with the abandoned splendor of a mob. Men are standing in chairs, whirling their coats about their heads, madly swinging their arms and yelling like hell broken loose. The noise seems to sweep back and forth like the mighty gusts of a tornado."

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Nuestro Pueblo

Posted on July 8, 2008 by lmharnisch




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Above, Orthopaedic Hospital, 2400 S. Flower St., and below, the area as shown in Google maps’ street view feature.


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July 8, 1908: Woman’s Body Rescued From USC Dissection Lab

Posted on July 8, 2008 by lmharnisch

July 8, 1907: Marion Jones. A woman with hair pulled back and a high-collared blouse.

Dropcap Marion Jones died with a secret–and a lot of medical bills ($2,308.64 for doctors’ visits in 2007 dollars). She died owing $29.45 ($647.52 USD 2007), so she was turned over to the medical school at USC to be dissected by the students. Her former employer said she was a well-educated and refined woman who concealed her identity so her family wouldn’t discover she was working as a housekeeper. When he learned that she had died, he recovered her body from the dissection lab, paid her hospital bill and had her buried at Grand View Cemetery in Glendale.

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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 7, 2008 by lmharnisch
 

Carole_landis_1937_0727_crop

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times

Carole Landis, July 27, 1937

Form 3.11

(Revised 10-3-47)

DEAD BODY REPORT
Type SUICIDE
 DR No. 486 592
Victim SCHMIDLAPP, Carole Landis (Mrs.) Residence Address 1465 Capri Dr., Pac Pal. Business Address Eagle Lyon Stud.
Date and time of death 7/4-5/48 9PM-3PM
 Place and Address 1465 Capri Dr. Pac Pal Radio Dist 84
Date and Time Death Reported 7/5/48 4:15 PM
 Div. Reporting West LA Clerk jlb
Location of Original Illness or Injury 1465 Capri Dr. Pac Palisades
 Date and time 7/4-5/48
Div. of Original Occurrence West L.A.
 Type of Original Report This report
Cause of Death (Poison, Heart Failure, Drowned, Traffic, Gunshot, etc.) App. sleeping tablets.




Motive or Reason (Revenge, Rape, Ill Health, etc.) App ill health
Time discovered 7/5/48 3PM
 Removed to Wilshire Funeral Parlor
Discovered by Mr. Rex Harrison
 Address 1928 Mandeville Canyon


Phone AR 98549
Reported by Mr. Rex Harrison
 Address 1928 Mandeville Canyon
 Phone AR 98549
Identified by Mr. Rex Harrison
 Address 1928 Mandeville Canyon
 Phone AR 98549


Sex Fe Race Cauc Age 27-28 Height 5-6 1/2 Weight 120
Build Small Hair Auburn Eyes Unk. Complexion Dark
Identifying marks None
Clothing White blouse, black & white plaid skirt, moccasin type sandals gold and wht in color. Occupation Actress Descent American
Relative’s name Dorothy Ross
 Address 1506 E. 64th St., Long Beach Phone LB 27131
Relationship Sister
 To be notified by Brittingham, West LA Det.
Witness Mrs. Wasson
 Address 856 S. Bundy Dr. WLA
 Phone AR 72630
Witness Dr. N.K. Forster, M.D.
 Address 1339 N. Capri Dr. Pac Pal
 Phone SM 57747
Witness Fannie Mae Bolden
 Address 155 E. 51st St., LA
 Phone CE 21747
Witness Rex Harrison
 Address 1928 Mandeville Cyn
 Phone AR 98549
Witness
Witness
Further details

Coroner’s Office noticied (cq) Deputy Gooch. Homicide notified.

A note written and left by the deceased; to wit:



"Dearest Mommie,



I’m really, really sorry to put you through this but there is no way to avoid it.



I love you, darling, you have been the most wonderful mom ever.



And that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly.



Everything goes to you. Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything.



Goodbye, my angel, pray for me.

SGD/Your baby."

Mr. Rex Harrison visited the deceased on 7/4/48 and left her residence at approx. 9PM. The following day, 7/5/48, Mr. Harrison telephoned twice and the second time the maid informed him she was unable to arouse the deceased. Mr. Harrison went to the house and arrived at approx. 3:00 PM. Accompanied by the maid, went to the deceased’s bedroom and found her lying in the bathroom on the floor. The maid went next door and called the police and notified Mrs. Wasson as to what they had found. At that time, Dr. N.K. Forster was called. At the time of our arrival at 3:55 PM, Mrs. Wasson and Mr. Harrison and the maid, Fannie Mae Bolden, were present. Dr. Forster came in shortly after our arrival. He immediately pronounced victim dead. Deceased was

CONTINUED ON CONTINUATION FORM 15.9
Signature H.W. Brittingham Serial No. 2724

Signature M.J. Layman Serial No. 2606

Approved by (illegible).


If Additional Space Is Required Use Continuation Report Form No. 15.9
The Daily Mirror would like to thank a reader for sharing a photo of the first page of original LAPD report, which was too murky to reproduce.



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Mando Ramos–RIP

Posted on July 7, 2008 by lmharnisch


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Circus fire kills 168

Posted on July 7, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Five Ringing Bros. officials and an employee were sentenced to prison in the Hartford, Conn., fire. Circus Vice President James A. Haley, who served eight months in prison, was eventually elected as a Democratic congressman from Florida. The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa is named in his honor.
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Above, Detective Lt. Thomas C. Barber visits the grave of Little Miss 1565, a curly-haired girl of about 6 who died in the 1944 fire. Barber said he sometimes found flowers left on the grave. After Barber died, a local florists’ association took over decorating her grave, according to a 1980 Times story.

The Connecticut State Library archives on the fire is located here. Note that the library gives the death toll as 167.

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July 7, 1938

Posted on July 7, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Above, 6th and Hill streets via Google maps’ street view feature.  "Prison Farm" … now there’s a title that leaves nothing to the imagination. According to imdb, Horace McCoy was an uncredited writer on the picture. Not on Netflix!
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Dropcap_r_380707_2 olling Fork, Miss., reports the most unusual story of African Americans joining a lynch mob. The violence inflicted on the victim was especially gruesome. Local Sheriff M.C. Ewing denied knowing anything whatsoever about the matter.

John N. Crane, 43, an oil well driller, kills his wife, Edith, and tries to commit suicide after leaving the offices of an attorney where they discussed a divorce … And an American company announces a deal to buy oil from Mexico, which nationalized U.S. and British oil production March 18, 1938.

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July 7, 1908

Posted on July 7, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Dropcap_w_whitehag e have a bounty of news today. Above, Mexican troops put down an insurrection in the state of Coahuila. And turmoil in the Mideast.

At left, Mayor Harper urges Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan to accept Capt. Eugene Merrick of Los Angeles as his running mate. Merrick says he is a war veteran, having fought with the Union Army at the age of 12. He is also a temperance supporter.

An inquest is scheduled in the crash of a wagon and a streetcar that killed six people … C.M. Pierre hopes to extend his Balloon Route trips …

Mrs. Marie Heider returns to her home at 1623 Court St. and bumps into the body of her husband, Herman, who had driven a spike into the casing above a door and hanged himself. His box factory had been failing and he had been drinking heavily, The Times says.  His suicide note is in German.

And perhaps the most interesting little item: a one-inch ad for the newly published book "The Bridal Night of Ronald and Thusnelda," by Hulda von Liebetraut.  I might need a copy of that.

Above left, safety tips on the streetcar system’s electric cables, which carry 500 or 1,000 volts. 

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Nuestro Pueblo

Posted on July 6, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Below, the 900 block of Yale Street via Google maps’ street view feature. Do you think they know there were oil wells there 70 years ago?
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Lakers trade for Wilt

Posted on July 6, 2008 by lmharnisch
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July 6, 1968

By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer

1968_0706_runover Dropcap_t_bonnieclyde he Lakers, always a team with a certain amount of star power, acquired one of the game’s biggest stars in Wilt Chamberlain.

Chamberlain would join Jerry West and Elgin Baylor and the Lakers hoped he would be the difference in turning a good team into an NBA champion. The Lakers were a premier franchise, playing in their new home the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, but had trouble getting past the Boston Celtics in the finals. Sound familiar?

The first story in The Times heavily credited an Associated Press report and even quoted AP writer Ralph Bernstein.

Chamberlain, reached in San Francisco, said: "There will be no announcement Monday or Tuesday concerning me unless it is the fact that I will be in New York on those days helping Mr. Nixon with his campaign." So the Lakers were getting not only a post player but a budding politician?

Chamberlain had long been one of the game’s top personalities. No other NBA player had on their resume a 100-point game, let alone time spent with the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Times confirmed the trade in a July 9 story. One part of the story that really shows how long ago this was: Chamberlain’s salary was estimated at $250,000, "but Wilt himself has claimed that even those estimates are low."

One of the players sent by the Lakers to the Philadelphia 76ers, center Darrall Imhoff, had some interesting comments about mixing Chamberlain in with the team’s established stars.

"I don’t know if you can have any happiness with three superstars on one team," Imhoff said. "One of the great things about our team is that we’ve had no dissension and have had great camaraderie on and off the court."

The Lakers continued to have disappointments in the finals but did win a title with Chamberlain, defeating the New York Knicks in 1972. By then, Baylor had retired. Chamberlain was the championship series’ most valuable player.

keith.thursby@latimes.com

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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 5, 2008 by lmharnisch
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I discovered something interesting in trying to enhance this photo.
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I was fiddling around with the contrast and brightness when the labels suddenly became readable — at least the larger type. Imagine my surprise. (No, I didn’t salvage this out of the photo above; someone sent me a scan.) The labels appear to say something like "Western Drug" or "Westwood Drug." Aha! Western Drug. Co., 5500 Hollywood Blvd., GLadstone-8192.

Update: According to an informal inquiry held in lieu of an inquest, the envelope shown with the pill bottles said (apparently in Landis’ handwriting):

"red–quick–2 hours

yellow about 5–can take 2"

Note that only one of these four bottles looks like the three found on the bureau, at left. That’s a total of six pill bottles at least. Maybe seven.

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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 5, 2008 by lmharnisch
Carole_landis_bathroom

Above, the photo of Carole Landis published in The Times.
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 Dropcap_s_vadisomeone was kind enough to send me a scan of this photo. Here are the items on the bathroom counter: a book of matches, a comb and several bottles. It’s a bit difficult to tell, but I think a pill bottle is visible behind the large bottle in the center of the photo. If so, we have found four pill bottles so far.
Carole_landis_lhand And we get a closeup of her left hand. I noticed right away there’s no wedding ring. She had filed for divorce, so that’s not terribly surprising — but worth noting. Also notice that the bathroom appears to be carpeted.

Update: Now this is interesting. According to news reports, Landis was holding a satin ribbon bearing the Lord’s Prayer in her left hand. But I don’t see any ribbon, just a shadow from the leg of the bathroom sink. Unfortunately, her right hand is obscured.

Carole_landis_bath_top_shelf

 Of course, we’re snooping, so we’re going to look into this locking cabinet. What’s in here? On the top shelf, we find a small box and what appears to be a small pouch or portfolio-type cover with a snap.
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This is the item that interests me the most. On the bottom shelf of this locking cabinet, closest to her head, we find some sort of typed or printed document. Unfortunately, I can’t get any more detail by enhancing the photo. But it’s clearly a document. Presumably this is not a will as there was confusion after her death about where it was located.

What seems evident, though, is that she was using the locking cabinet to store valuables.

In fact, someone sent me another photo of the scene in which the cabinet door isn’t blocked by Detective Jones. At left, there’s the lock.

Someone who has more time than I do might find it productive to get a copy of her probate records from Los Angeles County. Because there was a legal dispute over her estate, it’s fairly likely there’s a large file that should include a detailed inventory of everything she owned when she died.

Observations? Thoughts?

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Nuestro Pueblo

Posted on July 5, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Below, Spring and Alpine streets via Google maps’ street view feature.

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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 5, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Above, the Carole Landis crime scene photo as it was published in The Times, July 6, 1948.
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Dropcap_o_bonnieclyde nce again, here are our two detectives, John Laymen and Emmett Jones, looking at poor old Carole Landis on the bathroom floor. I have to admit I’m a little disappointed that nobody mentioned what I find to be the most interesting detail in this photo.

Dropcap_b_bonnieclyde elow, let’s get a closer look. Sure enough, there’s a set of keys hanging from the door of the cabinet where she’s lying. I can’t claim to be an expert on fancy Los Angeles homes of the 1940s (a shout-out to Nathan Marsak), but I have never encountered a bathroom that had a cabinet that locked with a key (perhaps I have led a sheltered life). I suppose there are several reasons for having one.

One possibility is that it was an early attempt at baby-proofing; Lord knows the old newspapers are full of stories about children poisoning themselves with ant paste or their parents’ medicine.

Dropcap_w_bonnieclyde_2hatever the reason, I’m beginning to suspect that Landis was using this locking cabinet as some sort of home safe. The inventory of her estate listed quite a bit of jewelry and the fact that she was found resting her head on a jewelry box makes much more sense if she kept her valuables in this cabinet.

Wouldn’t it be fun to look in the cabinet? Maybe we can.
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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 4, 2008 by lmharnisch


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Photograph by the Los Angeles Times


Here’s the overall shot again. So far nobody has mentioned the item almost in the center of the photograph.
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A piano bench and an old movie script. Voila!
At first I thought it was some sort of ledger. But on closer examination I decided it might be a script.

Below, here’s what a 1940s movie script looked like in its original binder. (This is the script for the MGM production "The Arnelo Affair," dated Nov. 5, 1946, purchased by me at the Salvation Army store in Pasadena for $4. The binders, by the way, came from The Loose Leaf House, 1240 S. Main St.)

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July 4, 1908

Posted on July 4, 2008 by lmharnisch

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Ken Reich–in memoriam

Posted on July 4, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Photograph by Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Former Times reporter and columnist Kenneth Reich, who died in his sleep Monday.
This is a recording of Ken’s memorial service, held July 3, 2008, at Mount Sinai, Hollywood Hills. This is a field recording and I’ve reduced it to monaural for streaming purposes, so it’s a lo-fi experience.  The speakers were Rabbi Sheldon Pennes, Ken’s longtime friend Anton Calleia, former Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre and Ken’s son, David.

And I couldn’t resist posting this sound clip from a 2006 gathering of the Old Farts of The Times on its 30th anniversary. The speakers are moderator Jerry Clark, Ken Reich, former Times National Editor Ed Guthman and Only in L.A. columnist Steve Harvey, discussing former President Nixon’s "Enemies List" and former Times political reporter Richard Bergholz, who had recently died.
 
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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 4, 2008 by lmharnisch


Carole_landis_bureau

Los Angeles Times file photo


Let’s break down the photograph by segments. First, we’ll  inventory everything on and around the bureau.
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 Starting from the left, here’s the camera. I’ll leave to the experts to determine the precise model. My first guess is that it belongs to the police crime scene photographer or to a news photographer.

Update: Howard Decker asks whether this might be some sort of "flash slave unit" with a large battery pack. I don’t know enough about 4×5 equipment to comment. I’m quite curious about how the photographer lit the bathroom.
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 Then there’s the flowers. Interestingly enough, the vase seems to be sitting on a metal tray–or perhaps it’s an ashtray. There’s also something that looks like a hankie to the left of the vase.
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 And her purse. Note that it’s reflected in the mirror.
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 And the three bottles that everyone has mentioned. Unfortunately, the labels are unreadable, but the bottles look like drugstore prescriptions to me.

At the moment I’m more interested in what’s behind the bottles. Is it a clipboard? A large envelope? I can’t quite tell.

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 Finally, we have what appears to be a trunk or suitcase to the left of the bureau. One of the men in the picture is obscuring the object so we can only see a corner of it.


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Above, the photo that turns up in so many crime books and on the Internet–usually not credited to The Times (ahem). Unfortunately, I cannot locate this print in The Times archives, so a clip from ProQuest will have to do.  It would be interesting to examine exactly what’s on the counter.
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 This is what we see in the mirror above the bureau. Of course, everything is reversed, so let’s flop it.
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 Notice that it’s daytime and one of the windows is open. There are heavy drapes and we can see out into the yard.
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 And here’s the fur coat that everyone has mentioned. Nathan is correct in saying that Los Angeles gets cool at night, even in July, and for a stylish movie star like Carole Landis, a fur coat in the summertime doesn’t strike me as being out of place. According to a story about the auction of her estate, Landis owned 11 fur coats, as well as stoles, capes, jackets, hats and muffs.
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 Isn’t this a wonderful hair dryer? Art Deco meets the Space Age. I’m sure there is someone, somewhere who collects antique hair dryers and can identify this for us.

And there’s a doorstop on the molding at the bottom of the picture. Presumably it’s for the door that’s behind heavy drapes to the right.

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 Notice that the label is visible. I flipped the image to make it right side up.
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 One reader commented on the door knob and the lock. Here’s a more detailed image.




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Carole Landis–RIP

Posted on July 3, 2008 by lmharnisch

Carole_landis_mystery_pix
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times

Detectives John M. Laymen, top, and Emmett Jones examine the body of actress Carole Landis in a bathroom (one of four) at her home at 1465 Capri Drive, July 5, 1948. Below, the approximate location via Google maps’ street view feature.

Carole_landis_photo_1940 Dropcap_t_pontiac_2he 60th anniversary of Carole Landis’ suicide is coming up, so I thought it would be interesting to post a Times photo of the crime scene. I noticed several unusual things right away, but just to make this a bit more interesting, take a look at this photo and tell me what you see. There is at least one detail that I find extremely odd. At left, Landis in a 1940 studio photo

(Note: Some Neanderthal at The Times cut this print into a bizarre shape, so I filled in the black background to make it a rectangle.) OK, mystery lovers… what do you see in the crime scene photo?
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July 3, 1938

Posted on July 3, 2008 by lmharnisch
1938_0703_rogers

Above, a panel from "Buck Rogers."
1938_0703_boom Dropcap_t_hamilton_2 he editors of the Daily Mirror have several sayings: "We cannot forget the past, but also we cannot live there," "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts," and my new favorite saying: "Don’t store fireworks in the oven."

Then again, when was the last time you lit your kitchen stove (apparently a wood-burning stove at that) with a match?

Presumably Mrs. Cote had decided that July was too warm for baking, so the oven was taking a little summer vacation.
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