L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

Buster Keaton a Filmmaker's Life

This is an unusual suggestion (especially a “retro” suggestion) for the holidays: Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life by James Curtis won’t be available until February. But you can pre-order it, which is what I’ve done.

Yes, there is another Keaton book (a “genre-defying work of cultural history”) coming out in January, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century by Dana Stevens, film critic at Slate and podcast co-host, in her first book. But I’m looking forward to James Curtis’ take on Keaton.  James has a long list of acclaimed biographies (W.C. Fields, Preston Sturges, Spencer Tracy, William Cameron Menzies and Mort Sahl, for example) and I’m eager to read his life of Keaton.

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Update: A previous version of this post referred to Dana Stevens’ book (“wildly uneven” according to Kirkus Reviews) as a biography. It is apparently not a biography, at least in the usual conception of the term.
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Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life publishes Feb. 15, 2022, and is available for pre-order in Los Angeles at:

Book Soup
Skylight Books
Vroman’s Bookstore

You might also check with Larry Edmunds Bookshop.

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Coming Events: Hollywood Heritage Afternoon With the Authors

Posted on December 1, 2021 by lmharnisch

Hollywood_Heritage_Authors_02
On Saturday (Dec. 4), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Hollywood Heritage will host its annual Afternoon With the Authors. Writers scheduled to attend include Leonard Maltin, James Curtis, Allen Ellenberger, Cari Beauchamp, Marc Wanamaker and Mary Mallory. Hollywood Heritage is at 2100 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028

The event is free. More information is available at this link.

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Charles Ray

Posted on November 29, 2021 by lmharnisch

Charles Ray
A Witzel photo of Charles Ray, listed on EBay at $9.95.

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Boyish actor Charles Ray ranked as one of the most popular juvenile stars of the mid 1910s, playing rural teens, schoolboys, and Civil War soldiers in films for producer Thomas Ince.  Born in Illinois, Ray began studying and acting early age.  He began haunting the Thomas Ince studios in December 1912 after a bad season stage acting. The 20-year-old Ray often gained extra work.  Gradually the size and scope of Ray’s roles increased, until he was starring in Ince productions.  1915’s “The Coward” really introduced him to audiences, as Photoplay magazine proclaimed him “Tom Ince’s New Wonder Boy.”  The actor would continue playing similar roles at Ince for the next several years.

Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 29, 2021 by lmharnisch

Main Title, Warren William in the Mind Reader, Directed by Roy Del Ruth
This week’s mystery movie was the 1933 Warner Bros. picture The Mind Reader, with Warren William, Constance Cummings, Allen Jenkins, Natalie Moorhead, Mayo Methot, Clarence Muse and Earle Foxe. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 39 Comments

L.A. Celebrates a Wartime Thanksgiving, 1943

Posted on November 25, 2021 by lmharnisch

Nv. 26, 1943, Thanksgiving
Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

A wartime Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, with many service personnel welcomed into people’s homes for a holiday meal.

The Times published cooking tips for war workers, advising cooks who were otherwise engaged “for the duration” to use prepared mixes, packaged pie crust and canned pumpkin to cut preparation time.

Continue reading →

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An 1890s Thanksgiving in the Kitchen

Posted on November 25, 2021 by lmharnisch

Everyday Cook-Book

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

Here’s a traditional roast turkey recipe from the “Every-Day Cook-Book and Family Compendium,” written about 1890 by Miss E. Neill. Be sure your fire is bright and clear and watch out for the gall-bag.
Continue reading →

Posted in 1890, Food and Drink, From the Stacks | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Lillian St. Cyr, ‘Indian Princess’ of Early Films

Posted on November 23, 2021 by lmharnisch

Redwing_movingpicturewor12newy_0950
Lillian St. Cyr, who took the name Princess Red Wing (frequently rendered as Redwing), Moving Picture World, 1912.

Throughout much of her life, Lillian Margaret St. Cyr felt caught between two worlds as she tried to bridge Native American and white cultures, often feeling out of place in both groups. The daughter of a Native American mother and a father of mixed ancestry, she attended Indian schools that attempted to drain Native American beliefs, spirituality, and attitudes from their students rather than honoring and respecting their culture, leaving the young people feeling disrespected, lost, never fully succeeding in either culture.

Though St. Cyr was light-skinned, most whites considered her a Native American, while many indigenous peoples found her too white in her attitudes, dress, and way of talking. Not long after moving into the entertainment field, St. Cyr adopted the new persona and name Princess Red Wing to more easily “pass” and be cast in better, larger roles where she could provide positive role models of Native Americans to general culture. Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 22, 2021 by lmharnisch

Main Title Brides Are Like That

This week’s mystery movie was the 1936 Warner Bros. picture Brides Are Like That, with Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Joseph Cawthorn, Kathleen Lockhart, Gene Lockhart, Richard Purcell, Mary Treen, Joseph Crehan, Frank Darien, Robert Emmett Keane and Kay Hughes. Continue reading →

Posted in 1936, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 15, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_1120_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1947 MGM picture The Arnelo Affair, with John Hodiak, George Murphy, Frances Gifford, Dean Stockwell, Eve Arden, Warner Anderson, Lowell Gilmore, Michael Branden, Ruth Brady, Ruby Dandridge and Joan Woodbury.

Screenplay by Arch Oboler, based on a story by Jane Burr.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 35 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Filming in Studio City

Posted on November 15, 2021 by lmharnisch

June 26, 1927, Mac Sennett June 26, 1927, Studio City
Photo: Mack Sennett and John A. Waldron with plans for new project. Credit: Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1927

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

North Hollywood really began growing in the mid-1920s, when farmers and ranchers began subdividing property. Syndicates were formed to buy land and then develop it for residential use. One syndicate made the bold move of acquiring 503 acres from Ventura Boulevard to Tujunga Avenue, running north from Pacoima Avenue (now Laurel Canyon Boulevard) to Chandler Way, to create a film capital, employing the moniker Central Motion Picture District. Their aim was to turn this swath of North Hollywood land into a picture district known as Studio City, the new film capital of the world. The company hoped to lure independent film companies as well as studios to the area, much like in Hollywood. Not only would this neighborhood create steady and lucrative business and jobs, but it would draw new residents to the homes built on the rest of the property.

Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 8, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_1113_main_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1929 First National picture Weary River, with Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, William Holden, Louis Natheaux, George Stone, Raymond Turner and Gladden James.

Story by Courtney Riley Cooper. Screen version by Bradley King. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 48 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood Bridge

Posted on November 8, 2021 by lmharnisch

HollywoodBridge
Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Though card games had been around for centuries, auction bridge was developed in 1904 as an alternative to whist. In 1925, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt developed rules, particularly for scoring, creating contract bridge. Contract bridge involves four people sitting at the four sides of the table, corresponding to the directions, North, South, East, West, paired into two teams. Each person in a team sees their hand and bids as to what they think they can score with face cards. Each side then plays off with the highest card in a suit taking the hand. The lead team has one member that plays while the other watches. The team with the highest number of points after a certain number of games wins the rubber. Continue reading →

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A Reminder From Pier Angeli and Friend

Posted on November 7, 2021 by lmharnisch

Nov. 3, 2016, Pier Angeli

Pier Angeli and her little friend remind Daily Mirror readers to turn back their clocks this Sunday.

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George Hodel: ‘Wings of Evil’

Posted on November 4, 2021 by lmharnisch

George Hodel: Wings of Evil, Amelia Earhart Case SOLVED!

I’m told that Steve Hodel has published the last two volumes in his life’s work of accusing his father, George Hodel, of every unsolved killing between 1907 and 1999. The Black Dahlia Avenger has gone through countless revisions and updates in which the Black Dahlia Avenger was meeting Billy the Kid Jr. and battling Mothra. Then there’s the Zodiac book. And even a play in which George Hodel poisons his secretary, Ruth Spaulding. (Reality check: She committed suicide). In hailing Steve’s final efforts, here’s a title that he may have overlooked. Or not, since I haven’t read the books and don’t plan to. You won’t find this on Goodreads anytime soon.

Posted in Black Dahlia, books | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Ferragamo’s Hollywood Days

Posted on November 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

ferragamo-italy-in-hollywood
Long before becoming synonymous as one of the world’s top designers of haute couture footwear, Salvatore Ferragamo gained fame as shoe designer to Hollywood stars. Creating gorgeous and unique designs that also comfortably fit the wearer’s foot, Ferragamo put Hollywood on the map as a design capital for couture in the 1920s.

Born June 5, 1898, in the tiny town of Bonito, Italy as the eleventh of fourteen children to a poor farming family, young Ferragamo left school at 9 to begin working to help support them. Though he worked for short times for a tailor, barber, and carpenter, the inquisitive, observant youngster found himself drawn to shoemaking, realizing immediately that he “was born to be a shoemaker.” When his sister needed a pair of white shoes for confirmation, the 9-year-old purchased materials, secretly stayed up all night, and created an elegant pair that impressed everyone. Continue reading →

Posted in Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 1, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_1106_main_title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 Twentieth Century-Fox picture Take Care of My Little Girl, with Jeanne Crain, Dale Robertson, Mitzi Gaynor, Jean Peters, Jeffrey Hunter, Betty Lynn, Helen Westcott, Lenka Peterson, Carol Brannon, Natalie Schafer, Beverly Dennis, Kathleen Hughes and Peggy O’Connor.

Screenplay by Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein. Based on the novel by Peggy Goodin.
Continue reading →

Posted in 1951, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 47 Comments

Black Dahlia: Steve Hodel’s Lies, Some Old, Some New

Posted on October 26, 2021 by lmharnisch

 

To the Oct. 26, 2021, audience at the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Public Library who attended Duffy Hudson’s performance delivering the words of Steve Hodel: You should know that virtually everything you heard was a lie.

The fault is not necessarily with Hudson, except for his lack of skepticism. He transformed himself into a human tape recorder and delivered what appeared to be a flawless repetition of what Steve Hodel told him. The responsibility is with Steve Hodel and his rather incredible gift for making up new lies and embellishing his old ones.

Hudson spoke for 90 minutes, including a question-and-answer period, and it would be humanly impossible to catalog all of the fiction. But here’s a few tidbits:

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 25, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_1030_hoffmann_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger production of Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, with Moira Shearer, by permission of the Covent Garden Opera Trust, Ludmilla Tcherina, Ann Ayars, Pamela Brown, Leonide Massine, Robert Helpmann, Frederick Ashton, Mogens Wieth and Robert Rounseville with Lionel Harris, Philip Leaver, Meinhart Maur and Edmond Audran.

English libretto by Dennis Arundell from the French text by Jules Barbier.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1951, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Einar Petersen, Forgotten Artist

Posted on October 25, 2021 by lmharnisch

Rosslyn_Lobby
Image: Lobby of the New Rosslyn Hotel, showing murals by Einar Petersen.

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

Fame is an odd thing. An artist might be successful and popular in his lifetime and forgotten with the decades, while other artists receive little or no recognition in their lifetimes, only to become household names later. For example, painter Vincent Van Gogh was virtually unknown during his life and sold only one painting during his career, but within decades of his death, was recognized as one of the world’s greatest painters.

Muralist Einar Petersen, on the other hand, was a well-respected and successful artist during his life. He created many elegant and beautiful murals in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the 1910s and 1920s, only to drop into obscurity within a few decades. Not only was he forgotten, but most of his work was also destroyed.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1915, Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Food and Drink, Hollywood Heights, Interior Design, Mary Mallory, Obituaries, Photography, San Francisco | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Einar Petersen, Forgotten Artist

Movieland Mystery Crossword Puzzle

Posted on October 19, 2021 by lmharnisch

Movie_crossword_puzzle

If you’re missing the mystery movie, here’s something to occupy your time. It’s a movie crossword puzzle. From 1933! If the clues are too small, here’s a link to the original. Good solving to you!

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