Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood’s Little Country Church – Emblem of Bygone Days

Posted on July 15, 2019 by lmharnisch

Little Country Church_rotated

Note: This is an encore post from 2013

Throughout its history, the city of Hollywood has seen much come and go in the name of “progress.” Instead of remodeling and reusing a historic structure, as is done in Europe or the East Coast, most builders simply tear down the old to make way for the “hip” and “modern.” Occasionally, acts of vandalism destroy grand old buildings. At some locations, however, both unfortunate actions occur.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY

The Magic Castle
Jerry Giesler, Miracle Man
‘I Lost My Girlish Laughter’
Charles Butterworth, Professional Silly Ass

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Black Dahlia: ‘Suspect’ Jacob Edward Fisk — Wikipedia Prank Takes on a Life of Its Own

Posted on July 9, 2019 by lmharnisch

Wikipedia Black Dahlia Suspects

Let’s see what happens when Wikipedia vandalism takes on a life of its own. That would be Black Dahlia “suspect” Jacob Edward Fisk. Never a suspect. It was all just a prank.

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Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD, Wikipedia | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hermoyne Apartments, Regal Dowager on Rossmore Avenue

Posted on July 8, 2019 by lmharnisch

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The Hermoyne Apartments, 569 N. Rossmore Ave., directly across from the Ravenswood Apartments, via Google Street View.

Still as gorgeous and stately as when it opened in 1929, the Hermoyne Apartments at 569 N.Rossmore Ave. demonstrates the best in high-class apartment hotels built around Los Angeles in the late 1920s. Offering a touch of class in amenities as well as looks, the residence seems as luxurious as any movie pied a terre, located on a graceful curve of Rossmore Avenue.

H. B. (Herbert) Squires, owner of his self-named company, which served as one of the largest purveyors of electric equipment to the motion picture and other large industries in the 1920s, looked for a safe investment to grow his wealth. Beginning as a town assessor in 1907, by the early 1920s Squires ran a large company in San Francisco. Within a few years, he opened branches in Seattle and in Los Angeles at 229 Boyd St.

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

 

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 8, 2019 by lmharnisch

July 13, 2019, Crime Doctor's Diary.

This week’s mystery movie was the 1949 Columbia picture “The Crime Doctor’s Diary,” with Warner Baxter, Stephen Dunne, Lois Maxwell, Adele Jergens, Robert Armstrong, Don Beddoe and Whit Bissell.

Screenplay by Edward Anhalt, story by David Dressler and Edward Anhalt, based on the radio program “Crime Doctor” by Max Marcin. Photography by Vincent Farrar, art direction by Harold MacArthur, editing by Jerome Thoms, set decoration by George Montgomery, musical direction by Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Produced by Rudolph C. Flothow,  directed by Seymour Friedman.

“The Crime Doctor’s Diary” is available on DVD on the gray market.

Here is 30 seconds of “My Little Brass French Horn.” Can you stand it?

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Remembering Herbert Berghof

Posted on July 7, 2019 by lmharnisch

2019_0706_mystery_photo_02

Gary writes of Herbert Berghof, as seen in “5 Fingers.”

In the mid late 1970’s I took some acting classes at HB Studios near my apartment in the West Village. For the most part we studied the Uta Hagen text and did her method and exercises. HB himself was always a presence in the hallways, etc. But I never understood what his function was there. I think he was the administrator of the school…little more. He was an unwell old man in those days. I would not have recognized him from the photos from 5 Fingers that you posted. Be that as it may … it is nice to have my memories stirred back into life.

Berghof died in 1990 at the age of 81.

Posted in 1950, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Stage | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Posted on July 4, 2019 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.

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L.A. Celebrates the Fourth of July 1889 – 1960

Posted on July 4, 2019 by lmharnisch

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July 4, 1944: Uncle Sam in a cartoon by Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale for the Los Angeles Examiner and republished in the Milwaukee Sentinel.

 

Note: This is an encore post from 2014.

Here’s a look at how Los Angeles has celebrated Independence Day over the years.

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Posted in 1863, 1907, 1910, 1947, 1957, 1960 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Jacques Kapralik, Reading Between the Lines

Posted on July 1, 2019 by lmharnisch

Kapralik Hepburn Taylor MP Herald

While most people don’t recognize the name Jacques Kapralik, they recognize his wonderful art. One of the premiere key art illustrators at Hollywood’s motion picture studios in the 1940s and 1950s, Kapralik could do more with line and paper than an architect with a ruler and a pen.

While little is know of the celebrated artist prior to his arrival in the United States, Kapralik was born October 29, 1906 in Bucharest, Romania. Newspaper sources list him as a painter before he immigrated to the United States to possibly escape Nazi persecution in Romania. Kapralik landed in upstate New York on August 1, 1936, at which date he petitioned to become a naturalized citizen of the country.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons From America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

 

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 1, 2019 by lmharnisch

July 6, 2019, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie was the 1952 Twentieth Century-Fox picture “5 Fingers” (often rendered “Five Fingers”) with James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie, Walter Hampden, Oscar Karlweis, Herbert Berghof, John Wengraf, A. Ben Astar and Roger Plowden. Screenplay by Michael Wilson, from the book by L.C. Moyzisch, music by Bernard Herrmann, photography by Norbert Brodine, art direction by Lyle Wheeler and George W. Davis, set decoration by Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott, editing by James B. Clark, wardrobe by Charles Le Maire, makeup by Ben Nye, photographic effects by Ray Kellogg, sound by W.D. Flick and Roger Heman. Produced by Otto Lang. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

“5 Fingers” is available on DVD from TCM.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘Underworld Story,’ Part 4

Posted on June 26, 2019 by lmharnisch

Underworld Story

Here’s another sequence from “The Underworld Story,” an especially interesting one that features the Globe Lobby in the old Los Angeles Times Building. Leading man Dan Duryea walks through the lobby. That’s the bust of Harry Chandler in a space that was later occupied by a bust of Otis Chandler.

As I pointed out previously, the Times Eagle wasn’t installed in the niche next to the pay phones when the movie was filmed in 1950. The Eagle was on the roof until it was taken down because of smog damage.

Downtown Los Angeles in “The Underworld Story” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’ Part 3

Posted on June 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

'Underworld Story'

Here’s another sequence from “The Underworld Story” filmed in downtown Los Angeles. The camera is across Spring Street, opposite City Hall.

Downtown L.A. in ‘Underworld Story’ Part 1 | Part 2

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Posted in Architecture, City Hall, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Location Sleuth | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

June 29, 2019, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie was the 1946 (copyright 1945) Monogram Pictures film “Fear,” with Peter Cookson, Warren William, Anne Gwynne, Francis Pierlot, Nestor Paiva, James Cardwell, Almira Sessions, William Moss, Harry Clay, Johnny Strong, Ernie Adams and Charles Calvert.

Original screenplay by Dennis Cooper and Alfred Zeisler, photography by Jackson Rose, edited by Ace Herman, production manager Glenn Cook, unit manager Clarence Bricker, art direction by F. Paul Sylos, technical direction by Dave Milton, chief set electrician John M. Lee, set decorations by Charles Thompson and Vin Taylor, wardrobe by Tom Lambert and musical director Edward J. Kay. Produced by Lindsley Parsons.  Directed by Alfred Zeisler.

“Fear” is available on DVD from TCM.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: There Is a Lake in Toluca Lake

Posted on June 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

J. Blair Toluca Lake
Photo: Janet Blair sits on the little platform off the banks of the Lakeside Golf Club. Courtesy of Mary Mallory

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Surrounded by homes and the Lakeside Golf Club, Toluca Lake is all but obscured from view by the public. Like the movie stars that soon flocked to it, the attractive little lake helped sell the community that grew up around it.

This area of the San Fernando Valley originally fell under the auspices of the San Fernando Mission before being broken into segments and sold off in chunks to Southern California businessmen like Isaac Van Nuys and J. B.Lankershim, among others.  Gen. Charles Forman bought up ranchland just north of the Cahuenga Pass, growing Bartlett pears, walnuts, citrus and other fruit. He suggested the name Toluca for the post office erected in 1893 across from the Chandler railroad depot in North Hollywood, also known as Lankershim.

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Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’ Part 2

Posted on June 19, 2019 by lmharnisch

Underworld Story

Here’s another frame from the opening of “The Underworld Story,” last week’s mystery movie. This appears to be one of the Hill Street tunnels, which were demolished in 1955.

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Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’

Posted on June 18, 2019 by lmharnisch

'Underworld Story'

“The Underworld Story,” last week’s mystery movie, had quite a few interesting shots of downtown Los Angeles from about 1950.

Here’s one from the opening titles. It shows the Fashion League Building, which was at Hill and 2nd streets. Notice the overhead wires and tracks for the streetcars.

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Black Dahlia: Why Dr. George Hodel Didn’t Kill His Secretary

Posted on June 17, 2019 by lmharnisch

Ruth Spaulding Death Certificate

Here’s the May 9, 1945, death certificate of Ruth Frances Spaulding. Notice that the Los Angeles County coroner determined that Spaulding committed suicide at the age of 27.

If you have listened to Steve Hodel at all, you will have heard him say that Dr. George Hodel was a “suspect in the death of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding.”

Like so many things Steve Hodel says, this is a lie.

George Hodel wasn’t a suspect in the death of his secretary because nobody thought she was killed and therefore nobody was a suspect. Not George Hodel nor anyone else.

So how did she die?

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Posted in 1945, 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 17, 2019 by lmharnisch

June 22, 2019, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 MGM picture “The Law and the Lady,” with Greer Garson, Michael Wilding, Fernando Lamas, Marjorie Main, Hayden Rorke, Margalo Gillmore, Ralph Dumke, Rhys Williams and Natalie Schafer.

Screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass and Karl Tunberg, based on the play “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney” by Frederick Lonsdale.  Photography by George J. Folsey, art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Daniel B. Cathcard, editing by James E. Newcom and William Gulick, music by Carmen Dragon, recording by Douglas Shearer, set decoration by Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore, special effects by Warren Newcombe, women’s costumes by Walter Plunkett, men’s costumes by Gile Steele, hairstyles by Sydney Guilaroff and makeup by William Tuttle. Produced and directed by Edwin H. Knopf.

“The Law and the Lady” is available on DVD from Warner Archive.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Norman Kerry, Preservationist

Posted on June 16, 2019 by lmharnisch

Norman Kerry Truth About the Movies 1924
Norman Kerry in 1924.

Long before billionaire investor Ron Burkle purchased and restored such historic architectural properties as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis-Brown House, Harold Lloyd’s Greenacres, and Bob Hope’s Palm Springs and Toluca Lake houses, silent film star Norman Kerry became one of the first Los Angeles-area preservation angels by rescuing a doomed Greene and Greene Brothers Craftsman home in the Wilshire Boulevard district. The 109-year-old landmark still stands near the Beverly Hills Hotel, the only Greene and Greene home in that city.

Multi-talented Earle C. Anthony originally constructed the graceful home after becoming one of the West Coast’s most successful Packard dealers. An automotive pioneer, Anthony designed Los Angeles’ first electric car at the age of 17 before founding the Western Motor Car Company with his father in 1904. Diversifying his portfolio around transportation, Anthony created an intercity bus line and constructed a chain of gasoline stations which he sold to Standard Oil Company in 1913.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons From America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

 

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 10, 2019 by lmharnisch

June 15, 2019, Mystery Movie
This week’s particularly fun (for me, anyway) mystery movie was the 1950 United Artists release “The Underworld Story,” with Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva, Michael O’Shea, Mary Anderson, Gar Moore, Melville Cooper, Frieda Inescort, Art Baker, Harry Shannon, Alan Hale Jr., Stephen Dunne, Roland Winters, Sue England, Lewis L. Russell and Frances Chaney.

Screenplay by Henry Blankfort, adaptation by Cyril Endfield from a story by Craig Rice. Associate producer Bernard W. Burton, photography by Stanley Cortez, production manager Allen K. Wood, assistant director William Calihan, art director Gordon Wiles, film editor Richard Heermance, set decorations by Ray Boltz, dialogue director G. Joseph Dell, technical advisor Ben F. Melzer, sound by Tom Lambert, set continuity by Bobbie Sierks, hairstylist Stephanie Garland, makeup by Tom Tuttle, wardrobe by Esther Krebs and Leonard Harris, set supervisor Dave Milton, musical director Irving Friedman, music by David Rose. Produced by Hal E. Chester. Directed by Cyril Endfield. Presented by Jack Dietz.

“The Underworld Story” is available on DVD from Warner Archive.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Julian Eltinge Says ‘I’m at Your Service, Girls’

Posted on June 10, 2019 by lmharnisch

I'm at Your Service Eltinge

Note: This is an encore post from 2016.

 

One of the most famous female impersonators of all time, but now also one of the most forgotten, Julian Eltinge stood as one of the most successful headliners of the early 1900s, setting attendance records at vaudeville and theatre box offices. He entertained audiences as one of the best dressed and most hilarious women on stage for decades, with many shows written around his unique talents. For his 1915-1916 theatre musical, “Cousin Lucy,” he saw to it that a song was created that summed up his career, his audience, and his life.

Eltinge began performing on stage in the mid-1890s per historian Tony Slide in his book, “New York City Vaudeville.” The New York Tribune February 2, 1902, states that Eltinge is “well known to Boston, New York, and Newport society as a female impersonator of talent and stunning costumes.”

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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