Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 14, 2022 by lmharnisch

Feb. 19, 2022, Main Title of Her Man, words inscribed in sand
This week’s mystery movie was the 1930 film Her Man, with Helen Twelvetrees, Phillips Holmes, Marjorie Rambeau, James Gleason, Ricardo Cortez, Harry Sweet, Slim Summerville, Thelma Todd, Franklin Pangborn, Stanley Fields, Mathew (often Matthew) Betz and Mike Donlin. (Yes, James Gleason, who is merely comedy relief, got billing over Ricardo Cortez. Go figure).
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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 57 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Hollywood’s Architect | The Paul R. Williams Story’ – A Moving Portrait of Renowned Black Leader

Posted on February 14, 2022 by lmharnisch

Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story

Courtesy of KCET/PBS SoCal.

Note: This is an encore post from 2020. The documentary is online here.

Long renowned for its excellent documentaries and intelligent programming, KCET PBS SoCal premieres another strong work with its moving portrait of pioneering African American architect Paul R. Williams in “Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story.” Co-producers/co-directors Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy McCampbell-Vance focus on Williams’ inspiring story with an insightful production as graceful and stylish as the man himself.

Born in Los Angeles in 1894 after his parents moved from Memphis looking for a healthier climate, Williams was orphaned at the age of 4, separated from his brother Chester Jr. and raised by a foster family. Scolded by a guidance counselor for considering a career in architecture, Williams transformed himself into one of Southern California’s premier designers of elegant, refined homes.

A trailer for “Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story” is here.

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Posted in African Americans, Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 7, 2022 by lmharnisch

Feb. 12, 2022, Main Title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1955 RKO Superscope production Underwater! with Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Richard Egan, Lori Nelson, Robert Keith, Joseph Calleia, Eugene Iglesias and Ric Roman.

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Posted in 1955, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – United Artists Theatre

Posted on February 7, 2022 by lmharnisch

March 6, 1927, United Artists Theatre

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Los Angeles and Hollywood have been the Mecca and Medina of movies, where their acolytes came to worship, work and learn in the teens and 1920s.  After making movies, reverent places of worship were required to view them in style. Broadway in downtown became Los Angeles’ Great White Way, containing elaborate and beautiful film and legitimate theaters that drew thousands.

Most of the major theatrical chains built flagship theatres in downtown Los Angeles, palaces to host film premieres as well as screen their released product.  One of the last to jump on the bandwagon was United Artists, founded in 1919 by Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and D. W. Griffith to own and control their films.  Originally releasing only films by its four founders, the studio required films by other major stars to bring in enough revenue to cover production costs.  Major stars such as Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Buster Keaton and Norma Talmadge joined the company, as well as producer Samuel Goldwyn, all creating quality film productions.

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Posted in 1926, 1927, Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Preservation, Religion, Theaters | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – United Artists Theatre

William Desmond Taylor Shot!

Posted on February 1, 2022 by lmharnisch

Feb. 3, 1922, William Desmond Taylor

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Mary Mallory points out that this is the 90th anniversary of William Desmond Taylor’s death. I did several posts when the Daily Mirror was at The Times:

William Desmond Taylor, Mystery Guest | Crime scene photos | William Desmond Taylor, on the Frontiers of Fashion

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Posted in 1922, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo – William Desmond Taylor Crime Scene Edition

Posted on February 1, 2022 by lmharnisch

William_Desmond_Taylor_Crime_Scene_01

Note: This is an encore post from 2010.

Well, this should be fun – for me, anyway. What’s the mystery? That’s for you to figure out. A typical room of a certain era, eh? Continue reading →

Posted in 1922, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo – William Desmond Taylor Edition

Posted on February 1, 2022 by lmharnisch

William_Desmond_Taylor_01

Note: This is an encore post from 2010.

[Updated Oct. 30, 8:58 a.m. Yes, these are more photos from the William Desmond Taylor photo file. Above, a photo of Taylor from “Iconoclast.”]

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

On the Frontiers of Fashion – William Desmond Taylor

Posted on February 1, 2022 by lmharnisch

William_Desmond_Taylor_Fashion_01

Photos Courtesy of Steven Bibb.

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

Daily Mirror reader Steven Bibb sent these photos from a recent tour of Paramount. Keep reading for more details….

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Posted in 1911, Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Photography | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on On the Frontiers of Fashion – William Desmond Taylor

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 31, 2022 by lmharnisch

The Search, Main Title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1948 MGM film The Search, with Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Jarmila Novotna, Wendell Corey, Ivan Jandl, Mary Patton, Ewart G. Morrison, William Rogers, Leopold Borkowski and Claude Gambier. Continue reading →

Posted in 1948, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: On the Frontiers of Businesses Run and Owned by Women

Posted on January 31, 2022 by lmharnisch

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At a time when women faced enormous hurdles and obstacles in the workplace, possessing fewer opportunities and earning lower wages than men, the progressive and woman-owned and operated Averill Morgan Co. recognized the strength of working women and immigrants by offering them respect and chances to advance. Ahead of its time in the 1920s and 1930s, the cleaning and dye company offered not only superior service but also a classy work environment in its 1141 N. Seward headquarters.

Averill Morgan’s executives gained years of experience working for City Dye Works, many starting in menial jobs and advancing into leadership positions. Founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1901, City Dye Works was run by President John J. Jenkins and was considered Los Angeles’ largest and best equipped cleaners, dyeing textiles and garments for trade businesses and the official cleaners for the theatrical circuit. As with many textile manufacturing companies at the time, women made up a majority of employees because they earned lower wages and worked in more hazardous conditions as they desperately needed the income.

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Posted in Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 24, 2022 by lmharnisch

Main title, Day-Time Wife, silhouette of dancing couple

This week’s mystery movie was the 1939 Twentieth Century-Fox film Day-Time Wife (sometimes Daytime Wife, watch the hyphen), with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Warren William, Binnie Barnes, Wendy Barrie and Joan Davis.

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Posted in 1939, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘Auction of Souls’

Posted on January 24, 2022 by lmharnisch

Jue 23, 1919, Auction of Souls
Photo: June 23, 1919, “Auction of Souls.” Credit: Los Angeles Times

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

Los Angeles has long been a haven for refugees and artists, particularly those fleeing political and militaristic struggles.  As early as 1915, Armenians began arriving in Southern California after fleeing from the massacres and pogroms inflicted on them by Kurds and Turks.  By December of that year, 1,500 Armenians lived here without knowing the whereabouts of many members of their families back home.

Many continued to come, as the papers warned of massacres, imprisonment, torture, and murder of innocent men, women, and children. Genocide.  An article’s headline in the September 27, 1915, Los Angeles Times read, “Massacre of Armenians at Height of Its Fury, … Report States that Five Hundred Thousand Men, Women, and Children Have Either Been Killed by the Turks or Driven to the Desert to Perish of Starvation – Extermination of Non-Moslems is Programme Decided Upon.”  850,000 were reported killed by late October, nearly three quarters of the population of the entire country.

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Black Dahlia: Elizabeth Short’s ‘Lost Week’ and the Latest Alleged ‘New Evidence’

Posted on January 20, 2022 by lmharnisch

Jan. 15, 2022, Alex BaberOh dear. A self-styled “expert” has “new evidence” in the Black Dahlia case. I’m not even linking to this tacticool fool.

On the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s murder, Chicagoland TV could apparently not resist some bizarre claims of “new evidence” in the Black Dahlia case, by a self-styled “expert.” Oh dear. Did they run their story past anyone who knows anything about the case? Well, this is Fox, so you can pretty much guess the answer is: “No, why would we do that?”

Note: If you are going to hang out your shingle as “solving” or “having new evidence” in the Black Dahlia killing, you better know the case forward and backward, upside down and right-side up, not just what’s been written about it in a couple of crackpot books, or what’s festering on the Web, ready to snare the unwary.
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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: A Dash Through Downtown L.A. in 1926 Film Backing Raises for Police, Firefighters

Posted on January 18, 2022 by lmharnisch

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A compelling form of advertising from its beginnings thanks to its emotional power and ability to manipulate, film has been employed to sell and brand products as well as educate audiences on social, cultural, and educational issues virtually since its inception. The medium’s ability to move audiences through the visceral impact of editing and dynamic action created a worldwide language while sometimes subtly advancing political movements. By the 1920s, many realized the medium’s potent ability to inflame viewers’ passions and issues and thus influence and sometimes subvert political campaigns.

Long before German Leni Riefenstahl produced the poetic though propagandist Olympia in 1938, another German would produce one of the first American political commercials with a two-reel film in Los Angeles. Though not as powerful or artistic as Riefenstahl’s opus, stuntman/actor Richard Talmadge’s action thriller Soldiers of Security advocated for pay raises for Los Angeles’ firefighters and policemen before the April 1926 local election.

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Posted in 1926, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, LAPD, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 17, 2022 by lmharnisch

Smart Woman, Main Title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1931 RKO picture Smart Woman, with Mary Astor, Robert Ames, John Halliday, Edward Everett Horton, Noel Francis, Ruth Weston, Gladys Gale, Alfred Cross and Lillian Harmer.

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Posted in 1931, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Black Dahlia: Trim Your Roses on Jan. 15 to Remember Elizabeth Short

Posted on January 15, 2022 by lmharnisch

Today is Jan. 15, the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death. As is the custom, the Daily Mirror will be dark.

Trim your roses in her memory.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 10, 2022 by lmharnisch

2022_0116_main_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1950 Twentieth Century-Fox Film No Way Out, with Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier, Mildred Joanne Smith, Harry Bellaver, Stanley Ridges and Dots Johnson. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 65 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Beverly Hills Waterworks

Posted on January 10, 2022 by lmharnisch

April 22, 1928, Beverly Hills Waterworks

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Southern California and Los Angeles have grown by leaps and bounds over the last 150 years, and the most urgent requirement during that time has been water.  Unable to provide enough water for its residents in 1910, Los Angeles acquired a water source and land in Owens Valley to provide a steady and reliable drinking source.  An aquifer was constructed by William Mulholland to deliver this manna to the masses.  Beverly Hills was no different in the 1920s, growing so much that it required a large and reliable water source for its growing population.

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Black Dahlia: When New York Times Reporters Rely on Faulty Memories

Posted on January 7, 2022 by lmharnisch

New York Times, Jill Abramson, Carl Bernstein, Jan. 7, 2022
Do reporters check the clips when writing for publication? Or do they rely on a faulty memory?

In the case of Jill Abramson, reviewing Carl Bernstein’s Chasing History for the New York Times, faulty memory wins out, along with a lack of fact-checking.

In a mere two lines of her review, Abramson packs in several errors that ought to be corrected.

–Will Fowler was a reporter for the Los Angeles Examiner. He never worked for the Los Angeles Times.

–Will Fowler claimed he was the first reporter at the Black Dahlia crime scene. He never said he found the body of Elizabeth Short.

–Will Fowler was also lying when he said he was the first reporter at the crime scene. He was one of the last to arrive. Will told many tall tales about his involvement in the Black Dahlia story; this was just one of them.

Reporters: Check the clips (or Google) rather than relying on your memory, which is apt to be faulty.

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Black Dahlia: My Annual Donation in Memory of Elizabeth Short

Posted on January 4, 2022 by lmharnisch

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Note: This is an encore post from 2021.

As longtime readers know, I always begin a new year with an annual donation in memory of Elizabeth Short to Heading Home, which works with the homeless in the Boston area. Partly because of my research on Elizabeth Short, I try to make the issue of homelessness a continuing theme of the Daily Mirror.

I donate to an agency in the Boston area because of Elizabeth Short’s connections there, but Los Angeles also has a severe, chronic problem with homelessness and there are many local agencies that welcome donations. I recently visited Hollywood and saw camps of homeless people along the exit ramp from the northbound 101 onto Hollywood Boulevard and along the Walk of Fame. Men pushing shopping carts. Women cowering in doorways of buildings that are boarded up or closed with roll-down shutters that are tagged.

I believe people will find helping the homeless more meaningful in the long term than, for example, leaving a bottle of liquor and some cigarettes at her grave, especially since Elizabeth Short didn’t smoke and rarely drank.

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