Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Norvell, Astrologer to the Stars

Posted on August 16, 2021 by lmharnisch

screenland42unse_0064

Norvell and Hedy Lamarr in Screenland.

Note: This is an encore post from 2015.

 

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines astrology as “the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects.” For thousands of years, practitioners of this pseudo-science have attracted legions of followers hoping to divine their futures. Those that more accurately predicted events rose to positions of great power and influence, like the renowned Nostradamus.

Astrologers have always been popular in the film and entertainment industries, fields where luck and timing often influences who will become big stars or successes. Many are superstitious, because their careers depend so much upon chance and their futures can be problematical. Many insecure or questioning performers often turned to these fortune tellers hoping to make the right decisions in shaping their careers or finding love and romance.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Norvell, Astrologer to the Stars

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 9, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_0814_title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1952 MGM comedy Young Man With Ideas, with Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Denise Darcel, Nina Foch, Donna Corcoran, Ray Collins, Mary Wickes, Bobby Diamond, Sheldon Leonard, Dick Wessel, Carl Milletaire, Curtis Cooksey, Karl Davis, Faye Roope, John Call, Nadene Ashdown, Barry Rado/Norman Rado, Wilton Graff and Martha Wentworth.

Screenplay by Arthur Sheekman.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1952, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 68 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: How the Walk of Fame Was Born

Posted on August 9, 2021 by lmharnisch

Walk of Fame Groundbreaking

Gigi Perreau and Linda Darnell, center, at the groundbreaking for the Walk of Fame, with Francis X. Bushman and Charles Coburn, right, in an L.A. Times photo.

“Everyone needs a gimmick” goes a lyric in the musical “Gypsy,” and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce dreamed up a great one in the mid-1950s to attract business and tourists to the area. Tying in with the concept of Hollywood and fame, the group decided to fashion dream streets filled with flashy lights, colored sidewalks, and starry tributes to filmland celebrities, what we know now as the Walk of Fame. In August 1958, the first test stars were premiered to test the viability and look of the notion.

In the 1920s, Hollywood Boulevard stood as one of the most glamorous streets in the world, filled with upscale shops catering to celebrities and other cognoscenti. Posh restaurants and nightclubs lined the boulevard, which attracted thousands of people to watch the annual Santa Claus Lane parade. By the 1950s however, much shopping and retail had moved to suburbs and neighborhood centers, leaving Hollywood Boulevard a shell of its former success……

Continue reading →

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

‘Breakfast in Hollywood’ – Behind the Scenes

Posted on August 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

Breakfast in Hollywood

Mary Mallory sends along a promotional brochure from last week’s mystery movie Breakfast in Hollywood. Thanks, Mary!!

Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, Film, Hollywood, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

The Big Knife, Main Title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1955 film The Big Knife, with Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis, Bill Walker and Mike Winkelman. And Miss Shelley Winters as Dixie Evans.

Adapted for the screen by James Poe. From the stage play by Clifford Odets.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1955, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Stage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 55 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Brazil Touches Off Riot at 1932 L.A. Olympics

Posted on August 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

1932 Olympics

The Xth Olympiad hosted by Los Angeles from July 31 through August 14, 1932, overflowed with drama and intrigue in everything from finances to competition. None was as striking as the Brazilian team’s adventure in making it to California, using coffee as its payment. Although all countries suffered financial setbacks due to the Great Depression, none dreamed up as creative a scheme to fund their trip.

It was a miracle the Games even made it to Los Angeles, as many of Europe’s reigning sports elites viewed the city as a sleazy frontier outpost. Real estate man Billy Garland spent 12 years lobbying and winning the rights to the 1932 Olympics for Los Angeles, unsure of how to garner public support or financing for the Games in the city. Once the stock market bottomed out in 1929, global financial doldrums led to the possibility of few teams participating or sending fans while ticket sales plummeted.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Brazil Touches Off Riot at 1932 L.A. Olympics

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 26, 2021 by lmharnisch

July 31, 2021, Breakfast in Hollywood, Main Title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1946 film Breakfast in Hollywood, with Tom Breneman, Bonita Granville, Ray Walburn, Beulah Bondi, Billie Burke, Edward Ryan, Zasu Pitts, Hedda Hopper, Andy Russell,  Spike Jones and His City Slickers and the King Cole Trio.

Original story and screenplay by Earl Baldwin.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1945, 1946, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 53 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Hollywood Country Club

Posted on July 26, 2021 by lmharnisch

Feb. 6, 1921, Hollywood Country Club

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

With the name Hollywood Country Club, one would assume that a golfing club so named would be located in the actual city or hills of Hollywood, California. While a club by that name was twice attempted to be organized, it failed to materialize. In the late teens a group formed to build a new Hollywood Country Club, this time in the hills between Ventura Boulevard and what would become Mulholland Drive, in what is now Studio City, California.

Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Parks, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Saluting Marilyn Thomas — Miss Muscle Beach 1953

Posted on July 19, 2021 by lmharnisch

Marilyn Thomas
Marilyn Thomas in an undated photo on Muscle Beach.

In 2005, I did a blog post for the 1947project on Miss Muscle Beach of 1947. Back then, only the Los Angeles Times was online, so when I listed the winners, I couldn’t verify who took the title of Miss Muscle Beach 1953. I said: “Not recorded, possibly Marilyn Thomas.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Sports | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 19, 2021 by lmharnisch

July 24, 2021, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 RKO Picture Gildersleeve’s Bad Day, with Harold Peary, Jane Darwell, Nancy Gates, Charles Arnt, Freddie Mercer, Russell Wade, Lillian Randolph, Frank Jenks, Douglas Fowley, Alan Carney, Grant Withers and Richard LeGrand.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 65 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Sweets for the Jazz Age at Paulais

Posted on July 19, 2021 by lmharnisch

Paulais 1925
The exterior of Paulais at Hollywood Boulevard and Las Palmas, c. 1925. Courtesy of the University of Southern California Libraries and the California Historical Society.

The 1920s Jazz Age brought high-spirited verve, flamboyance and progressivism in reaction to the haunting death and destruction of World War I. Blending eclectic cultural elements, eye-catching colors, and lavish ornamentation, design of virtually every type reflected the more optimistic and exuberant period.

Dessert shops and cafes combined lavish decoration and sweet treats, appealing to all the senses. Why just buy treats when one could enjoy luxurious and upscale furnishings suggesting plentiful times for everyone? Henry G. Mosler and Saul Magnus’ Hollywood branch of their Paulais Cafe did just that, reflecting the jazz-mad time in its lush and stylish interiors. Two years before the opening of the Pig’N Whistle on Hollywood Boulevard, Paulais brought high-end elegance to dessert just east of the Egyptian Theatre.

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Food and Drink, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 12, 2021 by lmharnisch

The Leopard Man Main Title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 RKO picture The Leopard Man, with Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, James Bell, Margaret Landry, Abner Biberman, Tula Parma and Ben Bard.

Music by Roy Webb. Musical direction by C. Bakaleinikoff. Photography by Robert de Grasse. Art direction by Albert S. D’Agostino and Walter E. Keller. Set decorations by Darrell Silvera and Al Fields…

Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 47 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Saving a Historic Hollywood Home, Thanks to Alice Harrod

Posted on July 12, 2021 by lmharnisch

Mission Revival House at 6831 De Longpre Avenue
The home at 6831 De Longpre Ave., via Google Street View, as shown in 2014.

Historic buildings tell as much about people and their eras as they do about architecture and usage. Preserving the actual structure celebrates the past and honors those who inhabited or worked in the building. Historic preservation can entail restoring and preserving in place, maintaining its original use or adapting it for new purposes, or by moving a structure.  Alice A. Harrod preserved what is now 6831 De Longpre Ave. by moving it a few blocks from its original Highland Avenue address, keeping its story alive.

Born March 18, 1858, as Alice Dixon, Harrod grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, with her family, loyal to her church and community. In 1877, she married fellow Waterloo resident Shelton R. Harrod and gave birth to three daughters. Along the way she became a nurse, serving homebound patients. Shelton Harrod raised and purchased horses as well as property, serving one term as tax assessor for their city. He died of cancer in 1893 in Illinois.

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Saving a Historic Hollywood Home, Thanks to Alice Harrod

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 5, 2021 by lmharnisch

2021_0710_title_02

film_daily84wids_0018

This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 MGM short “Inflation,” with Edward Arnold, Horace (Stephen) McNally, Esther Williams and Vicky Lane.

Original story by E. Maurice Adler and Julian Harmon. Screenplay by Gene Piller and Michael Simmons.

Photography by Henry Sharp, musical score by Max Terr and David Raksin.

Art direction by Richard Duce, edited by Adrienne Fazan.

Directed by Cyril Endfield.

“Inflation” is not commercially available. It airs on TCM every so often.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 36 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Emma Lazarus’ ‘The New Colossus’ Calls to All Immigrants

Posted on July 5, 2021 by lmharnisch

Jan. 19, 1884, Harper's Weekly
Construction of the Statue of Liberty, artwork by John Durkin, Harper’s Weekly, Jan. 19, 1884.

Note: This is an encore post from 2018.

Written in 1883 to help raise money for building the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty would stand, Emma Lazarus’ 14-line poem “The New Colossus” would take on a life of its own: becoming enshrined on the statue as a memorial to the poet and as a statement of welcome to those seeking refuge in our country. As we approach Independence Day, the meaning behind its words rings even clearer today.

Born July 22, 1849, in New York City as the fourth of seven children to wealthy merchant Moses Lazarus, Emma received a strong private education, learning to speak at least four languages and becoming an excellent writer, especially in poetry. Ralph Waldo Emerson mentored her. She translated works of literature as well as setting down her own odes, many based on romantic literature and others on troubling historic events regarding her fellow Jews, receiving much praise upon their publication. She also worked to alleviate the suffering of women and the poor.

Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1884, Hollywood Heights, Immigration, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Emma Lazarus’ ‘The New Colossus’ Calls to All Immigrants

Black Dahlia: ‘Bosch’ Author Michael Connelly Says Dahlia Case Is Unsolved

Posted on July 1, 2021 by lmharnisch

Michael Connelly: Black Dahlia Still Unsolved

Former L.A. Times reporter and Valley Edition colleague Michael Connelly, author of the “Bosch” novels and TV series, among many other achievements, talks to Tai Freligh of the Wonderland Murders podcast. Mike ends with the kicker that he considers the Black Dahlia case unsolved. Which is remarkable since Steve Hodel likes to brag that Mike endorses his claims that his father, Dr. George Hodel, killed the Black Dahlia.

I wonder if Steve Hodel will have to recalibrate.

March 7, 2019, LAPD statement on allegations that George Hodel killed the Black Dahlia

Mike’s offhand remark follows the LAPD’s response to the “Today” show in 2019 about allegations in the TV series “I Am the Night” and podcast “Root of Evil” that Dr. George Hodel killed Elizabeth Short.

 

Posted in 1947, 2021, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: ‘Bosch’ Author Michael Connelly Says Dahlia Case Is Unsolved

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: John George, Small but Powerful Character Actor

Posted on June 28, 2021 by lmharnisch

Miami Herald, Sept. 28, 1922, John George
A publicity photo of John George in the Miami Herald, Sept. 28, 1922.

Unknown by most classic film fans, character actor John George achieved minor success in moving pictures through sheer determination. Immigrating to the United States in 1912, George spoke little to no English and suffered from a physical deformity. Always seizing an opportunity, he exhibited courage in fitting in, surviving, finding a career, and making a home for himself during a time when Americans denigrated and turned away from those who traveled from the very shores from which they and their families had themselves come.

Born January 20, 1898, in Aleppo, Syria, under either the name Tewfia Fathella or Tufei Fithela, George survived under the Ottoman Empire. Each area ruled itself, with religious enclaves breaking down the population still further. George struggled to fit in, suffering from a physical deformity that led to a hunched back and short height, a little person.

Continue reading →

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

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 28, 2021 by lmharnisch

July 3, 2021, Mystery Photo, Title against a background of clouds

This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 Warner Bros. film “ ’Til We Meet Again,” with Merle Oberon, George Brent, Pat O’Brien, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Binnie Barnes and Frank McHugh.

Screenplay by Warren Duff, from an original story by Robert Lord.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1940, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 59 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: How Hollywood’s Streets Got Their Names

Posted on June 22, 2021 by lmharnisch

H.H. Wilcox 1887 tract map of Hollywood
H.H. Wilcox’s 1887 map of Hollywood courtesy of USC digital collections.

Street names provide a telling story of an area’s development, growth, and history. Real estate promoters and developers give tract streets aspirational titles, monikers that salute subjects or places, or as is often the case, name them after themselves, their friends, and family. Early Hollywood pioneers looking to leave a powerful statement of their accomplishments and importance followed suit, giving the roads and streets through their burgeoning land tracts the names of their closest family members. In this way they provide a telling history of those who built a dusty little farming town into a flourishing entertainment and commercial district, one recognized and celebrated around the world.

The following list describes the history of the majority of streets in Hollywood’s original land tracts that surround major thoroughfares like Hollywood, Sunset, and Santa Monica Boulevards, some of which gained their names in late 1912 after the city of Los Angeles changed some of the street names around the metropolis.

Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Real Estate | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: How Hollywood’s Streets Got Their Names

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 21, 2021 by lmharnisch

June 26, 2021, In Old Chicago

This week’s mystery movie was the 1938 Twentieth Century-Fox film “In Old Chicago,” with Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Alice Brady, Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy, Phyllis Brooks, Tom Brown, Sidney Blackmer, Berton Churchill, June Storey and Paul Hurst.

Directed by Henry King.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1938, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 65 Comments