Hollywood confidential

Posted on September 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 20, 1957
Los Angeles

This doesn’t look good.

1957_0920_confidential

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In praise of comix

Posted on September 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 20, 1957
Los Angeles

Hey moms and dads, comic books don’t rot your children’s minds or turn your kids into hoodlums. No, really! Comics are  good, wholesome entertainment that will ensure your offspring become lifelong lovers of fine literature. Mad magazine, like all EC comics, is especially valuable for young, easily influenced minds, as are any publications with "Weird," "Terror" or "Horror" in the title. 

If you don’t give your children comic books, every library in the nation will close down in 20 years! You don’t want that, do you?

And be sure to put them in tightly sealed plastic bags!

ps. You can keep all those issues of "Richie Rich." Those comics will destroy your sense of humor forever.

1957_0920_comix

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Dodger deal could unravel

Posted on September 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 20, 1957

Los Angeles

Not so fast there, potential Dodger fans. It seems the Los Angeles
Unified School District owns 2 1/2 acres in the middle of Chavez
Ravine and officials are leery of selling. (Check out the deal on maple wagon wheel bunk beds on the jump. Perfect for those little buckaroos to hit the hay, moms and dads!)

1957_0920_dodgers01

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Fall fashions

Posted on September 20, 2007 by lmharnisch
Sept. 20, 1957
Los Angeles

A classic look, from a Bullock’s ad:

 

1957_0920_hats

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Hollywood confidential

Posted on September 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 1957
Los Angeles

Uh-oh….

1957_0919_confidential

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Snooze alarm

Posted on September 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

 

1957_0918_drugs

Sept. 16-19, 1957

Los Angeles

"State Senate committee hearing" is one of the most boring phrases in
the English language and the thick dust of half a century only adds
layers of tedium.

But let’s stand in the back of the hearing room at the State
Building,* temporarily resurrected on the long-vacant northeast corner
at 1st and Broadway, and watch the witnesses struggle to deal with the question of drug addiction.

The police are going to say what they always say: Drugs are becoming
more of a problem, the courts are too lenient and law enforcement is
hampered by rulings supporting suspects’ rights. The answer: Tougher,
mandatory sentences and compulsory classes for youngsters on the
dangers of drugs.

The therapists have their own boilerplate: Long prison terms don’t work
and it’s difficult to rehabilitate addicts. Their answer:
Hospitalization.

Are you yawning yet?

 

1957_0918_drug_ucla

Let’s take a moment to listen to a father talk about his daughter, who
is in her early 20s. If she can’t get drugs, she’ll use alcohol.
"Daddy, I’ve got to have it," she says.

She’s one of eight children, he says. The other seven are fine: "All
are married and have families and make good livings. We have a good
family."

Even the addicted daughter is "lovable, polite, sympathetic and one of the kindest persons I know," he says.

It all started when she was 16, he says. There was a party and she
wanted to go. He was reluctant but met the host’s mother, who assured
him that she would be a chaperon.  Then the call from the police: "We
have your daughter." The kids were smoking marijuana.

He and his wife put the girl in a school back East. She ran away.

They brought her back to Los Angeles and put her in another school. She started using heroin "just for fun."

Then an interracial marriage (please recall that we’re talking about 1957), a child, divorce and brief trips back
home when she wasn’t in jail, Camarillo or Patton State Hospital.

1957_0917_dope
How does she pay for the heroin? She’s a prostitute, the father says.

When she has nowhere else, she comes home for a few days, then
vanishes. "She never gets a phone call at our home," the father says.
"We don’t know how she contacts them."

He finally got her admitted to a federal hospital in Kentucky for
treatment. "I helped her pack her things and got her promise that she
would faithfully make the trip, and I bought her ticket and gave her
some money and put her on the bus," he said.

If you know anything about addicts, you know what she did next.

At the moment she’s in jail, he says. Arrested yet again for narcotics.

He said: "I am her father and I love her. But I’d rather see her in her casket than the way she is today."

Fifty years later, you can hear the same story at any A.A. meeting in Los Angeles.

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*Not to be confused with the recently demolished "new" state building,
an ugly and utterly artless L-shaped box that was torn down without
generating a single complaint from preservationists. This building was
constructed on the site of the old Central Jail on 1st Street and Mason
Opera House on Broadway.

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If you build it, they will come

Posted on September 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 1957
Los Angeles

1957_0919

Note that the artist working in 1957 envisioned parking for 24,000 cars. Actual number of parking spaces in 2007? 16,000. Do you think this might cause problems?

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College fashions, VII

Posted on September 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s Part 7 of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he visits Stanford and chats with an earnest history major named Philip Taubman, now an associate editor at the New York Times. The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here.

Page 1

1969_0622_seidenbaum01_2

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on September 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 18, 1957

Paul_coates
There are times when justice gets in its own way.

By trying to hustle along a little too fast, it trips over its own ethical skirts.

And a living example of what can happen when it does came into town
last night. He was tall and gaunt and rather ugly, and his prison
pallor contradicted the jaunty cut of his gray flannel suit.

His name–if you’re not aware by now–is Caryl Chessman.

His residence for the last nine years has been San Quentin’s Death Row.

Half a dozen times, dates for his extermination have been set.

But so far, because justice was in an apparent hurry to deal him the
worst, he has outlived some 70 fellow death row inmates, plus the
warden with whom he was in constant strife.

Chessman is here with a claim against justice.

It was, recently, a good enough claim to cause the U.S. Supreme Court
to overrule our state and district courts’ rejections of his latest
appeal for a new trial.

1957_0918_ads
Since his confinement, Chessman–a warped but plainly brilliant
man–has managed to dig up some startling charges about events which
followed his trial and conviction.

The court reporter who took the transcript died during the trial.

His notes, according to later testimony, were considered illegible by
five other court reporters asked to turn them into final transcript.

But then there appeared a man who said he could transcribe them.

His name was Stanley Fraser.

He was given the job and eventually he produced a final transcript.

This, naturally, was important to Chessman. He needed it as a basis for appeals.

But on reading it, he felt that it was inaccurate.

From death row, he began an astonishing investigation.

First, he found, Stanley Fraser was a relative of J. Miller Leavy, prosecutor in the case. He was Leavy’s wife’s uncle.

Then he alleges that he dug up a police record on Fraser which included drunk arrests stringing from July 1948 to February 1951.

Attorney George Davis, representing Chessman, called trial Judge
Charles W. Fricke to the stand at a Marin County hearing last year.

Fricke stated that he had no knowledge of any relationship between Leavy, the prosecutor, and Fraser.

In his latest book, "The Face of Justice" (to be released this week), Chessman makes further charges.

He alleges that Fraser and Leavy held several meetings on the
transcript. He charges that the pair visited two of the prosecution’s
top witnesses for other conferences.

He says that Fraser received three times the normal fee for his work.

If it’s all true, it doesn’t add up to a very fair shake for a man who is doomed without a complete and accurate transcript.

Caryl Chessman is possibly the most widely detested criminal in California history.

He’s not only hated for the horrible nature of his crimes, but for the
smug, self-assured unrepentant attitude he has maintained over the last
nine years.

That same attitude was apparent when I saw him at County Jail yesterday.

He suffers from a chronic sneer aimed at all of society.

Chessman is a weird paradox–a literate, intelligent man, capable of vicious criminal acts.

However, no matter what his attitudes or his crimes, any man is entitled to due process of law.

If he hasn’t been getting it, and the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that to be true, he should.

Posted in #courts, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Homicide, Paul Coates | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Strangler strikes

Posted on September 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

 

1957_0921_mitchell_folo_2

Sept. 18-26, 1957

Los Angeles

1927_0828_mitchell02
Let’s go talk about the Ginger Mitchell case. We’re in Wilshire Division so how about Canter’s Deli, up on Fairfax?

While we’re driving, I’ll tell you the rest of the story. Officially,
this killing is solved. They caught the guy and he confessed. The
detectives actually got commendations for their work. But I don’t like
it. And the more I think about it, the less I like it.

The first thing that bothers me is that The Times didn’t write anything
about a trial. Not a word. I know, maybe he pleaded guilty, but the
paper didn’t cover the sentencing either. All spring and summer there’s
been a series of stranglings: Ruth Goldsmith, Marjorie Hipperson and Esther Greenwald. Finally the police get a guy and he confesses and The Times doesn’t write a word about it. Why not?

OK, here’s Canter’s. Let’s find a booth. No, thanks, we don’t need
menus. I’m just getting coffee. I can never eat after visiting a murder
scene.

Here’s what else I know about the case, which isn’t much: Remember I
said our victim had been filling in as an apartment manager? At first,
police thought that all but $13.89 was accounted for. Later,
investigators audited her books and found $151* was missing.

At 9 a.m. Monday, hours before before her body was discovered, the
switchboard operator at Menlo Realty, which owns the apartment
building, got a call from an unidentified man asking for partner in the
firm. He left a message saying that "Miss Mitchell is dead."

1957_0926_detectives
The medical examiner, Dr. Gerald K. Ridge, says the killer choked her
with his hands before strangling her with the sash from her dressing
gown.

Before we look at the suspect, let’s talk about the detectives. Thad
Brown, chief of detectives, took over the case before giving it to
Detective Lt. Herman Zander of the Homicide Division.

Zander had a reputation as a first-class investigator and worked
several famous killings of the 1950s, including the L. Ewing Scott
case, so I think he’s pretty solid. I don’t know much about the other
men on the case: Lt. Erwin W. Smith, head of Wilshire detectives, and
Sgt. Eugene Danforth.** But you may recognize the name of Danforth’s
partner: Sgt. Elmer V. Jackson. Sound familiar? He’s the guy who was
supposedly taking payoffs in the Brenda Allen case. Of course, Jackson
was cleared in that.

Can I get a refill? Thanks.

OK, our suspect. He’s Sonnie Hartford Jr., 36, 1819 W. 36th St.
Hartford is a parolee and spent eight months in jail last year for
robbery. He’s supposedly a houseboy at a neighboring apartment
building, which I imagine means he’s some sort of handyman.

I have no idea how he became a suspect, but he was booked after a
six-hour polygraph test. He denied the killing, but said he had gotten
a $30 loan from Ginger on Saturday morning because his paycheck hadn’t
arrived. He was supposed to pay her back on Monday. His story was that
he spent Sunday playing poker, but police had trouble finding anybody
else who was in the game.

After being questioned for 24 hours straight, and two more polygraph tests, Hartford told police he killed Ginger.

Supposedly he went to repay her the $30 loan. Supposedly he said
something that he meant as a compliment, but she got offended  and
ordered him to leave. Supposedly he grabbed her by the neck and choked
her. Supposedly she fell limp so he dragged her into the dressing room
and strangled her with the sash from the dressing gown–so tightly that
you couldn’t even see the knot.

1957_0917_hartford
You’ll love this part. I know I do. Why did he do it? He doesn’t know.
Days of questioning, three polygraph tests and the guy can’t say why he
killed her. Our guy hits the victim in the eye, chokes her with his
hands, drags her to another room, then strangles her with a sash. And
he doesn’t know why.

He says: "She has always been nice to me."

Oh, I forgot to mention that’s he African American. Here’s a black guy
with a police record for robbery, being grilled for killing a white
woman. On the polygraph for six hours at a time. You think he might be
a little nervous? You think it might be hard to get a good reading?

Maybe I’m just too suspicious. Maybe everything is exactly as they say.
But how come the papers didn’t write a word about it? And what became
of Sonnie Hartford Jr.? No idea. What about the missing money? I just
don’t like it. I just do not like it.

Well, we’ve been here a long time, we better leave a good tip. Let’s go.

Ginger’s services are Sept. 20 at Armstrong Family Mortuary. We should pay our respects.

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*$1,081.96 USD 2006.

**or Danford.

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College fashions, VI

Posted on September 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s Part 6 of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he describes a campus strike that shuts down San Francisco State and chats with S.I. Hayakawa.The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here.

1969_0608_seidenbaum01

Read the rest of the story by clicking below

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Strangler strikes

Posted on September 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

 

1957_0917_mitchell_hed

Sept. 17, 1957

Los Angeles

1957_0917_mitchell_pix_2
We’re parked outside 3477 S. La Brea Ave.,
a two-story apartment house with about 18 units in the Wilshire
Division. It’s one in a row of apartment buildings along the west side
of the street.

It’s early on a Monday morning. Our victim is Rhea "Ginger" Mitchell and she’s 63.

Ginger was a star in silent films, but hadn’t been in movies for years.
She started out as a stage actress and got into films about 1914. Bunch
of westerns, a couple of society pictures. She even headed her own
company for a while, Paralta, 40 years ago. She wrote screenplays and
stories in the 1920s. Yeah, I know. I never heard of her, either.
Here’s the kicker: On the stage, she once had the lead in a hardboiled detective
drama: "Going Crooked."

Eventually, Ginger got into managing apartment buildings and for the
last month, she had been filling in for the man across the hall in Unit
102, Mike Blume, who has been too busy for the job because his wife is
sick.

Ready? OK, keep your hands in your pockets and don’t move anything.

Notice the door is locked. In fact all the doors and windows are locked
tight. Ginger was an extremely cautious woman: On Saturday afternoon, a
tenant who was moving out turned in his key and she only opened the
door enough to put out her hand. He went back about noon Sunday because
he forgot to take his razor and again, she only opened the door enough
to hand him the key. Same thing when he gave it back. "I had the
feeling she was sort of hiding something," he says.

Let’s go into the dressing room. That’s her. She’s lying on her back,
strangled with the sash from her blue silk dressing gown. It’s knotted
under her chin. She’s wearing a half slip, panties, bra and high heels
with no stockings. Notice that she didn’t get the buttons straight on
her dressing gown; the police will figure that she put it on in a
hurry. There’s a big bruise around her left eye and maybe another one
on her throat. The autopsy surgeon will say there’s no evidence of
rape.

Nope, nobody heard anything. At some point, Ginger left a note on her
door saying that while she was out of town for the weekend, people should contact
Dorothy Burwell, the manager of the next apartment building.

We better get going. The houseboy has been wondering why Ginger isn’t
back yet and he and the Blumes are about to come in and check in her.

To be continued….

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Dodgers!

Posted on September 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

Footnotes to history:
The three council members voting against the resolution to offer a deal to the Dodgers were Earle Baker, Patrick McGee and Edward R. Roybal. Councilman John Holland originally opposed the resolution but changed his vote in hopes of reopening the issue.

Notice Mayor Norris Poulson’s comments comparing the vote on the Dodgers to the votes on Owens Valley, dredging the Los Angeles Harbor and the Colorado Aqueduct. "This, too, is a deal in which we are going to do something for this great city of ours."

Click here for Walter O’Malley’s official website.

1957_0917_dodgers

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Literary diversions

Posted on September 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

Jim Tully, Aug. 13, 1922.

Tully was a self-taught writer who specialized in stories about boxers, the circus, hobos and similar themes. He’s fairly obscure today but was once quite well-known. He was the author of "Beggars of Life," "Blood on the Moon" and "Shanty Irish," among many other books.   

Note: If you are offended by the word "chink," you will not enjoy this story.

Part 1

1922_0813_tully01


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College fashions, V

Posted on September 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s Part 5 of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he visits USC, where "The A student in political science goes into law, the B student goes to teach and the C student goes into politics." Put on your
wire-rim glasses and burn your draft cards. The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here.

1969_0525_seidenbaum01

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Requiem

Posted on September 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

 

1957_0916_storer

Sept. 16, 1957

Los Angeles

1957_0916_grito
Franklyn West Storer, 50, woke up on a Saturday morning to discover
that his beloved 16-year-old daughter, Mary Alice, had taken a fatal
overdose of sleeping pills. In despair, he also took a fatal overdose.

Mary
had lived with her father since her parents’ divorce and in her brief
life, developed a love of classical music, so Franklyn bought records
for her, about $1,000 worth, which police found scattered around the
home. Before he killed himself, Franklyn placed a few autographed
pictures of Mary’s favorite classical composer around her body, The
Times said.

His sister, Lucille Miller of National City, found the bodies in the Storer home at 5750 Camerford Ave.
after becoming alarmed by two letters from Franklyn saying that he was
afraid Mary would kill herself and that if she did, "there would not be
anything for me to live for."

Beyond that brief, tragic story,
The Times offers no explanation of what happened. Was Mary a performer?
An aspiring composer? We simply don’t know. But a further search
reveals at least a few details.

California death records say that Franklyn was born in Ohio and reveal that his wife’s maiden name was Bettencourt.

He doesn’t appear in the 1929, 1936 or 1938 online Los Angeles city directories, but is listed in 1939 as living at 511 S. Wilton Place, apparently an apartment house.

Franklyn took out a legal notice in The Times on Nov. 14, 1940, saying
that he would only be responsible for his own debts and the vital
records for March 13, 1942, list a divorce action by Franklyn W. Storer
vs. Victoria B. Storer.

According to the 1942 Los Angeles city
directory, Franklin W. Storer was an assistant electrical tester at the
Department of Water and Power and was living at 5722 Waring Ave.,
precisely one block from the death scene. Eliza C. McElwain, widow of
J.W. McElwain, was also living at that address. Because it was during
World War II, she could have been a landlady.

The 1956 street directory only lists Franklyn as living at 5750 Camerford.

The
Social Security Death Index has nothing on Franklyn, but lists a
Victoria B. Storer, born Aug. 30, 1913, died Jan. 14, 2002, in Turlock,
Calif.

Unfortunately, none of these fragmentary details explain the tragedy. We can only speculate.

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College fashions, IV

Posted on September 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s Part 4 of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he visits UC San Diego, where "It’s pretty difficult to cure 18 years of mind screw." Put on your
wire-rim glasses and burn your draft cards. The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here.

1969_0511_seidenbaum01

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Political prayers

Posted on September 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 10-30, 1957

Los Angeles

I have only touched in passing on Arkansas Gov. Orville Faubus’ fight to prevent the integration of Central High School in Little Rock.
(Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to block federally
ordered integration. In response to a request by Little Rock Mayor
Woodrow Mann, President Eisenhower sent 1,000 troops from the 101st
Airborne Division to maintain order).

But it is worth noting that the events in Little Rock weighed heavily
on the congregations of Los Angeles, as reflected in this prayer, which
was quoted in The Times:

Heavenly Father, we invoke
thy blessing upon these beloved United States in an hour of grave
domestic crisis. We pray divine guidance for the president, his
counselors and advisers and for the governors and other officials of
the several states. 

We pray that thou wilt implant
racial harmony in the hearts of man, that no man may hate his brother
in his heart or in his school, and that all men shall know that they
are brothers, the children of one God. 

We pray for the speedy and just
settlement of issues which assume the false doctrine of racial
inequality. We pray that this just and loving resolution shall come
with peace and not violence, with love and not force, and that right
shall be established without recrimination or revenge.
 
This we pray, O Lord, for thou hast
taught us since ancient days that in thy common fatherhood there can be
no man-made distinctions introduced. May all men in these United States
without regard to color or geographical distribution, repent before
thee at this holy season the hatreds of the heart and make affirmation
of the desire and the intent to work for a good future for all
citizens of this land and of the world. 

 

And with that prayer, Rabbis
Max Nussbaum and William Kramer of Hollywood’s Temple Israel began the
observance of Rosh Hashana, ushering in the year 5718.

1957_0926_rosh

Current events also figured in the prayer of Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin of Wilshire Boulevard Temple:

May it be a year of peace
and not of war–not even a cold war. Somehow or other, by dint of
intelligence or by some miracle coming from God Almighty, may the
nations of the earth develop a greater spirit of cooperation. 

Let it be a year in which the trying
problem of integration may resolve itself without bloodshed, strife,
bitter words and the acid of hatred. 

May juvenile crime decrease and our
youth appreciate the privilege of living in this great and beautiful
country and avail themselves of its blessings. May the young be filled
with loyalty to our country and devotion to the highest ideals. 

May religion spread its beneficent
influence over our land and over the entire world. Let it come down
like a bright and radiant beam of light into the hearts of men, women
and children everywhere.

Magnin also presided over ceremonies at Home of Peace Memorial Park, 4334 Whittier Blvd., honoring the memories of those who had died in the past year.

 

1957_0930_magnin

He noted that Home of
Peace was "the oldest Jewish burial ground in the city of Los Angeles,
the resting place of the pioneer Jews of this great community. 

"Those who led in the creation of all things we as Jews enjoy today have been interred here. 

"Their memory lingers with us as a
perpetual bequest. Every time we practice justice, every time we do
what is good, we do it in the name and spirit of the great giver of the
Ten Commandments. Thus Moses did not die, and cannot die, for his work
and memory go on. 

"There are many ways of mourning
one’s loved ones besides shedding a tear and the best way is to carry
out the ideals they believed in. Another is to share what we have with
people who need our help, and to support good causes such as the arts,
education and particularly religion. 

"Supporting a great religious
institution and upholding the hands of its leaders is a more tender
tribute than laying flowers on a grave."

Flashback: Yom Kippur as celebrated in 1947.

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College fashions, III

Posted on September 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s Part 3 of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he visits Pomona College, where "Due to a Lack of Interest, Tomorrow Has Been Canceled." Put on your
wire-rim glasses and burn your draft cards. The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here.

1969_0427_seidenbaum01

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Hat squad III

Posted on September 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

 

1957_0914_squire_hat1

Sept. 14, 1957

Los Angeles

Motorcycle Officer W.W. Wilhelm decided to put some teeth in fashion
law and cited motorist Louise Squire for wearing a plastic mesh basket
on her head. When stopped at Argyle and Franklin Avenues, Squire, of 8531 Wonderland Ave., insisted that whatever a woman has on her head is a hat.

Although it was unclear whether the basket interfered with Squire’s
vision, as Wilhelm said, it was apparently distracting other drivers
and therefore impeding traffic.

 

1957_0914_squire_hat2

Maybe I’ve lived in Los Angeles too long and become inured to the
Hollywood eccentrics but look at her picture. Is her hat really all
that terrible? A little unusual, perhaps, but the upturned brim makes
it a bit sporty–for a plastic basket. As all Angelenos know, real nuts
wrap their heads in tinfoil.

A search through the clips reveals that Squire had novel ideas about
millinery. She once appeared in court wearing a hat made from a
potholder and another time attended a hearing with her head bound in a
turban of belting fabric.

 

1957_0914_squire_hat3

Unfortunately, The Times failed to ask her about where she found the
inspiration for her finery. And after a few run-ins with the police,
she vanished from the public record.

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