Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 7, March 14, 1957
Alpine Street between Figueroa and Bunker Hill, about 1952.
Back row, from left: Dickie V., Richie Trevino
Front row, from left: Gilbert Ortiz, Eddie Ortiz, Rachel Razo.
Photo courtesy of Gilbert Ortiz.
May 10, 1957
At the rate landmarks are disappearing, a person could easily make a
career of chasing down outmoded civic scenery under some such title as
"What Happened to (Insert Name Here)?"
I don’t know what happened to Insert Name Here, but Jan Meadoff of Bakerfield inquires:
"Can you tell me where Magnetic Hill used to be in Hollywood? I remember coasting up the hill in an automobile as a child."
Yes, "coasting up." Others may remember it too.
With the help of Norm Stanley of the Chamber of Commerce, I can explain
what happened to Magnetic Hill. It was "demagnetized" in 1928.
Prior to 1928, Magnetic Hill was a short street named Villa Drive,
located up the hill from Sunset Boulevard, just west of Doheny Drive.
Driving along it, motorists got the astounding sensation that they were
coasting uphill while they were actually descending it–or vice versa.
It was an optical illusion created by the odd terrain.
In 1928, the property was regraded and, as they saying goes,
"improved," wiping out both the hill and the illusion. The street is
now named St. Ives Drive. [Note: St. Ives is east of Doheny. The mystery continues–lrh].
It used to be quite the thing to direct an innocent newcomer to Magnetic Hill and let him experience the incredible sensation.
Now everything’s Disneyland, Marineland and tours of movie stars’ homes.
Speaking of things that used to be, Bob King is enchanted by a sign
exposed a few days ago by wreckers demolishing a building formerly
occupied by a pawnshop on Main Street near 6th Street. The faded sign,
on the south side of the Burbank Theater, states:
"Morosco’s Burbank Theater. The Best Players and the Best Plays in America for the Money."
Thomas A. Farrell, Sun Valley, is fond of the anachronistic sign on the
former entrance to the long since removed Pacific Electric tunnel at
Sunset Boulevard and Hill Street stating:
"Above All See Mt. Lowe. Round Trip $1.50. Trains Leave at Convenient Hours From Main Street Station."
Been a long time since one did.
May 10, 1957
Malibu
Four years after his father was killed by a madman, USC premed student
Patrick Quinn died during what had been a playful gunfight with the
younger brother of his girlfriend when they went to shoot tin cans in
hills above Malibu.
Police said that Barbara Joyce, 18, had pleaded with Quinn, 19, and her
brother William P. Joyce, 13, not to play with the guns, but they
laughed at her and told her to get out of the way. The two youths stood
behind trees 30 feet apart and shot at each other, but Quinn looked
around the tree to see why the shooting had stopped and was struck in
the head.
"I didn’t mean to kill him," William Joyce said. "He was my friend."
On May 10, 1957, a coroner’s jury ruled that the April 13, 1957,
killing was excusable homicide. Quinn, of 424 Landfair, was interred at
Holy Cross Cemetery. He was survived by his mother; brother Michael;
and sisters Mrs. Mary Jane Gibson and Mrs. Elizabeth Stalder.
It was the second gun tragedy for the family. On Nov. 7, 1952, Dr. Joseph Vincent Quinn was killed while stopped for
a light at Wilshire and Harvard boulevards. World War II
veteran Richard D. Holbrook, who said he was being continually shot in
the stomach with imaginary machine gun rounds, explained: "I don’t
like expensive automobiles."
There is no further word in The Times about William, who lived at 218
N. Elm Drive in Beverly Hills. California death records list a William
Peter Joyce, who died in Orange County in 1986, at the age of 42. It’s
unclear if this is the same man.
Fans of fictional teenage detective Nancy Drew will gather (presumably in blue convertibles) in Los Angeles for their annual convention, June 15-16.
Scheduled speakers include Penny Warner, author of "The Official Nancy
Drew Handbook," and Jennifer Fisher, author of "Clues for Real Life:
The Wit and Wisdom of Nancy Drew."
I just hope someone’s there on behalf of the River Heights Bugle, perhaps Ned Nickerson himself!
May 10, 1957
Norwalk
First comes love, then comes marriage, then come two children and lots
and lots of diapers for Nancy Joyce Stoner, 20, and her husband,
Eugene, 31.
Married at 16 after graduating from La Puente High School and a mother
at 18, Nancy was living at 12702 Crossdale in Norwalk, when she
snapped. "I don’t know–I’ve been so upset since the baby was born–I
just had to do something–it was diapers, diapers, diapers all the
time," she said.
"Also, the baby hasn’t been well–she has to be fed intravenously two
or three times a week. I’m so worried about her and the bills for her,"
she said.
She and Eugene had separated after their first child, Deborah (or
Debra) was born two years earlier. She enjoyed working in a cafeteria,
she said, but relatives got her and Eugene back together. Then DiAnna
(or Deanna) was born.
"My husband provides a good home," Nancy said, "but he comes home and
has a can of beer, has supper and watches TV until he goes to bed.
That’s all–no appreciation when he gets home. And I do diapers all day
before he gets home."
So one morning before heading to see an Anaheim doctor who was treating
her for her nerves, Nancy piled seven loads of diapers and dirty
clothes in the living room and set them on fire, causing $3,000 damage
($21,495.85 USD 2006).
"The doctor told me I needed a vacation," Nancy said. "But I couldn’t afford it."
"I just got tired of the monotony of my life," she said. "Nothing but dishes and diapers… I just got desperate."
Shortly after the fire, the Stoner family moved to Pomona, where The
Times photographed Nancy hanging up laundry. She pleaded guilty to
attempted arson and was to be sentenced July 30, 1957, but The Times
apparently never covered the hearing.
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 6, March 13, 1957
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 5, March 12, 1957
May 9, 1957
Austin, Texas
Texas State Rep. Joe Chapman is no opera lover, especially when the
cast includes an African American in the lead. He wants soprano Barbara
Louise Smith out of the university production of Henry Purcell’s "Dido
and Aeneas" immediately and has threatened to cut campus funds if
officials don’t comply.
According to Smith, Dean E.W. Doty said University President Logan Wilson decided to
ask her to step down "to ensure my well-being… and… there was a
possibility my appearance would precipitate a cut in the university’s
appropriation by the Legislature."
Although stunned by the action, Smith said: "I began to realize that
the ultimate success of integration at the university was more
important than my appearance at the opera."
Campus officials generously said they would allow Smith to attend the performance even if she couldn’t be in it.
The university’s action provoked immediate protests from the Student
Council, the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans. And showing
that hate doesn’t discriminate, Chapman, Smith and State Rep. Jerry
Sadler were all hung in effigy in the state Capitol, the Mirror said.
More important, eight Texas legislators signed a letter of apology and
Henry Belafonte called Smith to express support, not only from
himself but from Sidney Poitier and Mahalia Jackson.
Smith ultimately adopted the stage name of Barbara Conrad and her singing career included appearances at the Metropolitan Opera.
Read an interview of her here.
And read about the incident here.
This is the city of Austin’s website on the incident.
As for Texas Rep. Joe Chapman of Sulphur Springs, Texas? He apparently vanished into the mists of history.
"Dear Margo, they finally released me from the hospital. And now I’m home again. But in a way I almost wished I had died in there…. I’ve had my last date."
May 8, 1957
Los Angeles
Promising nothing less than the destruction of Confidential magazine, Liberace filed a $20-million libel suit over an article in the July issue titled “Why Liberace’s Theme Song Should be ‘Mad About the Boy.’ ”
The article under the byline of Horton Streete, reprinted below, deals with an anonymous public relations man who claimed that Liberace mauled him on several occasions. It is a shocking story today, mostly because it’s apparently based on a single, anonymous source (although nothing in the story is attributed to anyone) and there’s no attempt to check with Liberace for comment.
In other words, this article was a ticket to the courtroom.
Liberace told KTTV’s George Putnam: “George, this story is a damn lie and I’m damned mad. If it takes every nickel I’ve got I’ll guarantee it will never happen to anyone else as long as I live.
“All of us take a certain amount of kidding about ourselves and our work, but when they come out in print and tell such lies, I’m going to move. It’s real heartbreak to see your life’s work destroyed so viciously by a magazine in an article of this kind. It’s a lie. It’s trash.”
To be continued…
May 7, 1957
Tijuana
Dear parents of Los Angeles,
Some of you will be hearing
from your sons today. It seems that there was a get-together of young
men at a watering hole between Tijuana and Ensenada called the Halfway
House (or Half-Way House).
The Mexican authorities took rather a dim view of what
the Mirror called: "a wild party at which many allegedly were attired in
women’s clothing." The Times noted: "Photographs of many of the male
celebrants attired in women’s dresses and wearing cosmetics were
reportedly were taken by Mexican police."
According to three
youths, more than 100 people were arrested. "They refused to tell us
what the charge was and just muttered something about ‘a big raid’
nearby," one of them said.
Tijuana police and the State Judicial Police of Baja
California said they arrested 41 people, using ambulances to take them
to Tijuana, where they were booked on morals charges. Those who could
afford it posted $24 bail ($171.97 USD 2006) while the rest called
their parents.
About 150 others fled during the raid and escaped in their cars, The Times says.
According to one youth who was arrested, everybody was celebrating Cinco de Mayo.
Read about a 1920 raid on a party at the home of former Los Angeles Mayor Arthur C. Harper.
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 4, March 11, 1957
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 3, March 8, 1957
May 6, 1957
Los Angeles
SUBJECT’S NAME: Sandra Brandner
SUBJECT’S DESCRIPTION: Age 16. Height, 5 feet, 5 inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Light brown hair. Brown eyes.
The subject was last seen in El Segundo in July 1954. Any person with
information concerning her whereabouts should contact Capt. l.W.
Maxwell of the El Segundo Police Department.
There is a mist of gaiety and glamor which hangs low over the grounds of circuses and carnivals.
For many adults it fades in a clouded, vague memory.
But for youngsters it’s something real and vibrant. And it can, with little effort, cast a spell.
In July of 1954, the carnival came to El Segundo.
And Sandra Brander went to see it.
She was a mature girl for her 14 years.
She was also a lonely girl, to a certain extent. Her parents were
separated and her mother was unable to devote to her daughter the time
that a mother should.
At the carnival, Sandra met a man. Police say his name was Ben Allan Benson. He was 31 years old.
Two weeks after they met, Benson, an electrical technician, quit the carnival and Sandra reportedly disappeared with him.
For Sandra’s mother and her grandmother, the last three years have not been easy ones.
They’ve received a couple of letters and a couple of phone calls, but
now, after a year and eight months of silence, they’re beginning to get
strange feelings.
I talked recently with Sandra’s grandmother, to probe out possible clues to the girl’s whereabouts.
Here’s what I learned:
Sandra was separated from her mother for two moths before she
disappeared. She was living with a friend of the family in El Segundo
and had just graduated from junior high school.
Only days before the girl left Mrs. Brandner had promised her daughter that they would soon be able to be together, permanently.
But then the carnival came to town and Sandra went.
There followed five months of silence and search, broken finally three days before Christmas, 1954, by a greeting card.
It was in a man’s writing and signed: "Ben and Sandra."
Then a few weeks later Sandra called her grandmother.
She promised to visit her family but never did.
Next, this time a few months later, came a letter from Sandra.
I’m fine and very happy," she wrote, "and we’ve got a home now."
It was postmarked "Los Angeles."
Final contact came that September. A man called Sandra’s grandmother with the following message:
Ben and Sandra were parents of a 1-week-old daughter named Sharon Ann.
They were living in the East and Sandra was very happy. She had two
television sets and all the comforts.
"But," the man continued, "she’d like to see her family again. Except
that she’s afraid she might not be welcome after running away like she
did."
The girl’s grandmother assured the caller that Sandra was not only welcome but needed by her mother, who was quite ill.
"Just a visit would help," the grandmother explained.
The man promised to do what he could.
But there were no more calls or letters. And Sandra Brandner hasn’t been heard from since then.
Speaking of Santa Monica, here’s an ad for Tony Cornero’s gambling ship, the Rex. Only 25 cents by water taxi.
May 6, 1957
Los Angeles
Saundra died Jan. 11, 1978, 40 years after she dazzled concert-goers as
a child prodigy on the violin, like her mother, Frances. In her lifetime, she performed at the Hollywood Bowl with
Leopold Stokowski and had roles in "Captain Tugboat Annie" and "An Old Fashioned Girl."
In 1938, when she was 5, Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Otto
Klemperer said: "Unbelievable! Simply amazing! I have never heard a
child play that way!" She made her New York debut at the age of 7, and
continued studying and performing, and was a member of the Girl Scouts
the Junior Red Cross.
Reviewing her performance of the Wiewiawski Violin Concerto No. 2, The
Times said of the 11-year-old: "The child will go far. She plays with a
remarkable maturity and she has developed a personal magnetism that
will do much to make her a success. The test will come when she
broadens her repertoire to include the deeper and less showy music,
classical and contemporary."
The concerts continued into the early 1950s. And then something
happened. The stories about concerts disappear. Instead, The Times
reports Saundra’s arrest in a drug raid. And to make research a
challenge, the paper mangled her last name. Sometimes it refers to her
as Mzaelle and other times as Mazelle. Only once or twice does The
Times get her name right: Maazel. And yes, she was the cousin of New
York Philharmonic conductor Lorin Maazel. In fact, they shared the
concert stage when they were young, in that performance at the
Hollywood Bowl with Leopold Stokowski.
Saundra was arrested May 5, 1957, at 1345 N. Hayworth
in Hollywood, one of more than 100 people picked up in a series of drug
raids. One of Saundra’s companions, Tyra Leal, told police: "I’ve been
smoking marijuana for 23 years and you finally caught up with me."
After the charges against her were dismissed, Saundra, who was then 27,
said she planned to get back to performing on the violin. Apparently
she never did. Public records give her last name as Macaulay, so she
was evidently married. The Times, which once wrote of her tremendous
promise, did not note her passing.
Frances Berkova Maazel died Oct. 9, 1982. Pianist Marvin Maazel died Jan. 16, 1989.
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann
on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his
return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 2, March 7, 1957
Note: The murders of three little Inglewood girls was one of Los Angeles’ most notorious case of the 1930s. Madeline
Everett, 7, her sister Melba, 9, and their playmate, Jeanette Stephens, 8, were lured to the Baldwin Hills by Albert Dyer, a WPA crossing guard, who
raped and strangled the girls one at a time on June 26, 1937. Dyer was hanged at San Quentin on Sept. 16, 1938. The girls are buried in unmarked graves at Inglewood
Park Cemetery.
Recently, Theresa Pinamonti Zeigler recalled:
My sister Josephine and I
had walked to Centinela Park, which was over a mile from our
home. We were used to that long walk because we walked every day to St.
John’s school, which was approximately a mile from where we lived on
Prairie Avenue.
Later in the day, we heard the news of the kidnapping of the three
little girls and then later, finding their bodies in Baldwin Hills which was a few miles from Centinela Park. [Note: The girls were found June 28, 1937].
I do recall all the excitement in the neighborhood and all the grownups gathering
out in the alleys behind their homes, and some standing around on
the sidewalks talking about the missing children. This bachelor was
suspected of the kidnapping because he used to give his niece
and a couple of us little girls, who played with her, rides in the
back of his pickup truck.
I do remember the rides since that was as much
fun as riding in the rumble seat of a Ford. The
bachelor was eventually cleared. I know that it was a
scary time and I remember hearing the adults saying that some men wanted to
lynch the man while he was in jail.
Note: In early 1957, The Times sent UCLA professor Robert G. Neumann on a six-week tour of the Middle East. Neumann, who was later the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and Morocco, wrote these stories upon his return. His son, Ronald, is U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Part 1, March 6, 1957
