December 31, 1907: Old Watchman, Beaten by Robbers, Revealed as Cocaine Addict



Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 31, 1907
Los Angeles

His name was W.H. Reynolds and the old watchman for E.H. Howard Contracting had laid out all night after being beaten up and thrown in the weeds by two robbers who said they were garbage men looking for the closest dump.

A woman who saw the assault contacted the University Station and police searched all night in the area around Alameda Street and Washington Boulevard, where Reynolds lived in a small, ragged tent. It wasn’t until daylight that two patrolmen found him lying face down and he was taken to the Receiving Hospital.

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December 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Year-End Recess

Matt WeinstockAgain this year there’s an unmistakable though unorganized trend toward calling everything off between Christmas and New Year’s Day and letting the week drift itself out, which it does anyway.

Nobody feels up to anything, especially answering the phone or paying attention to the stern, year’s end admonitions by savants and politicians.

They’re recovering from the Dec. 25 overindulgence and bracing themselves for the Jan. 1 bacchanalian revel.

Actually all they’re interested in, besides having a little fun, is getting through the week alive or at least not spending a night in the drunk tank.  Everyone is frightened by the traffic statistics. Continue reading

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide – The Queens Cocktail

image
Note: This is an encore post from 2017.

Joe Vogel asks if there was a Queens Cocktail. The answer is yes.

According to the Jamaica Long Island Daily Press, Jan. 24, 1935, the Queens Cocktail debuted at the Hotel Commodore in a toast to President Roosevelt. Via Fultonhistory.com.

(No word yet on the Staten Island Cocktail — and boy that sounds like a straight line).

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December 30, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 30, 1959: Mirror cover

Pappy Coates Cases Learning With Kids

Paul Coates, in coat and tieFeeling good all over, today.  In this age of neurotic juveniles and delinquent parents, I, at least, have met my responsibility as a father.

Maybe you don’t know “Where Are Your Children, Tonight,” but I know where mine were, last night.

They were with me, getting a firm foundation in their religious training.

While other youngsters were out carousing in poolrooms, dancing in dance halls and lounging in front of pizza parlors whistling at girls, mine were in the balcony of Fox Wilshire Theater.

I took them there to see “Solomon and Sheba,” a wall-to-wall, silver-screen, religious epic about two nice kids in love.  In living color. Continue reading

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December 30, 1941: L.A. Women Are Slackers in Fighting the Axis!

Dec. 30, 1941, Manila Bay Fortress Bombed

Dec. 30, 1941, Comics
December 30, 1941: It seems that local women didn’t get the memo about the being the “Greatest Generation.” They’re a bunch of slackers in the war against the Axis and don’t want to work as air-raid wardens.

“Los Angeles women have been challenged and they are not meeting the challenge,” says Mrs. John Stearns Thayer, head of the California Federation of Women’s Clubs.

“Even in the small towns of the San Joaquin Valley I found registration for all services 100%. Los Angeles women are lagging with an indifference and a selfishness that is most disturbing. They are asking other women to work overtime to protect them — and that is terribly unfair.”

It seems that women lose interest once they discover that there’s no uniform (gasp!) and there’s no pay (ahem).

“They Died With Their Boots On” starts tomorrow at the Warners Hollywood and Downtown. (Added feature, “Rhapsody in Rivets.”)

Tom Treanor writes that wartime sacrifices will be good for Americans, who have gotten soft and lazy. “More walking won’t do many people harm. For the long haul, there are streetcars and buses? Remember them?”

Jimmie Fidler says: Mary Astor, who turned over her husband (Manuel del Campo) to the Canadian R.A.F. months ago, has now turned over her private plan to Uncle Sam.

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Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on December 30, 1941: L.A. Women Are Slackers in Fighting the Axis!

December 30, 1907: Old Soldiers of the Civil War, Held as Drunks, Get Free Run of Jail


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 30, 1907
Los Angeles

James Sullivan, 64, was a prisoner of the Confederates held at Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville, where he and war correspondent Albert D. Richardson escaped by tunneling for three months with a spoon.

Henry Russell, formerly of the 4th Cavalry, was held at Andersonville and Benjamin L. Gorsuch of the 1st Maryland Infantry was captured and sent to Belle Isle. James Sherwood was with the 10th New Jersey. John Ryan, 77, was with 7th New York Heavy Artillery.

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Bronx Cocktail

Dec. 20, 1934, Holiday Cocktails

Dec. 20 1934, Holiday Drinks

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

December 20, 1934: In case you doubted me (but you wouldn’t, would you?), here’s a recipe for the Bronx Cocktail, from the Amsterdam Evening Recorder, courtesy of FultonHistory.com.

In case you plan to mix one up, a Bronx Cocktail is one part Italian vermouth, three parts brandy and a dash of orange bitters. Shake well!

Notice that there are also three variations of the Manhattan.

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December 3, 1957: Girl kidnapped

December 5, 1957: 20 FBI Agents Hunt Child

Dec. 3, 1957-April 26, 1958
Sycamore, Ill

December 6, 1957: Maria Ridulph.

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jack McCullough was convicted in 2012 of killing Maria Ridolph. He was released from prison in 2016 and charges were dropped.

Maria E. Ridulph* was a 7-year-old girl from Sycamore, Ill., who was kidnapped Dec. 3, 1957, and whose decomposed body was found April 26, 1958, near Woodbine, a tiny, unincorporated settlement in rural Jo Daviess County, about 98 miles northwest of her home.

Many details of the case are murky because the only witness was 8-year-old Cathie Sigman, who was playing with Maria in the frontyard of a neighbor’s home at the time of the abduction and gave different versions of the incident as the investigation unfolded. Like Maria, Cathie lived on Archie Place, five houses west of the Ridulph home on the south side of the street.

Maria was the youngest of four children born to Michael and Frances Ridulph, who lived in a white frame house with blue shutters at 616 Archie Place ** in Sycamore, a rural town of 7,000 people 68 miles west of Chicago. The Ridulphs had two older daughters, Patricia 16, and Kay, 15, and a son, Charles, 11. Although many people lived or worked on farms, Michael had a job at one of the few factories in town. Continue reading

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Mack Sennett’s Rose Parade Gag

Sleuths at the Floral Parade
Photo: “The Sleuths at the Floral Parade.” Credit: Mary Mallory, the Collections of the Margaret Herrick Library.


Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

The Tournament of Roses Parade is going on its 122th year, and grows more elaborate and beautiful every year.  Bands, floats, cars, horses, and even celebrities take part in this festive annual event.  This year, Paramount Pictures is even entering a float celebrating its 100th anniversary, honoring “Titanic” and “Wings,” the first feature film awarded the Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927/1928.

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December 29, 1938: Bookie shot to death in Hollywood

December 29, 1938: People stand around the car where suspected bookmaker Weldon Irvin was found shot to death
December 29, 1938: Slain bookmaker Weldon IrvinBy the end of 1938, Weldon sensed that he was a marked man and that death was not far off. He could have stayed out of Los Angeles and maybe he would have lived–at least for a while. But he evidently decided to face whoever it was that killed him in what The Times called the “perfect murder case” — a case that was never solved.

Earlier that year, Weldon divided his extensive Los Angeles gambling operations with his four partners and used his share of the money to invest in Inland Empire real estate and buy the Morongo Valley Lodge near Palm Springs.

The IRS soon brought a tax lien on his earnings for 1936 and by that summer, he resumed bookmaking operations. On Aug. 10, 1938, he and three other men were arrested at 7404 Santa Monica Blvd. Under extensive questioning by the district attorney’s office, Weldon freely discussed illicit gambling in Southern California, The Times said. Continue reading

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main title: Lettering over artwork of clouds. Or something. Top Secret is stenciled and Affair is cursive.

This week’s mystery movie was the 1957 Warner Bros. film Top Secret Affair, with  Susan Hayward, Kirk Douglas, Paul Stewart, Jim Backus, John Cromwell, Roland Winters, A.E. Gould-Porter, Michael Fox, Frank Gerstle and Charles Lane. Continue reading

Posted in 1957, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Brooklyn Cocktail

March 5, 1937, Brooklyn Cocktail

March 7, 1937, Brooklyn Cocktail

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Yes, the Manhattan cocktail once had competition from drinks named for the other boroughs. Here’s a recipe for the Brooklyn Cocktail, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 7, 1937. The Brooklyn Cocktail as made by Brad Dewey consisted of

Two parts Jamaica rum
One part lime juice
Dash of grenadine

We won’t be toasting the new year with the Brooklyn Cocktail (we’re working) but if someone is brave enough to try one, let us know how it is.

And in case you are wondering, research shows that there was also a Bronx Cocktail. Evidently it, too, has fallen out of favor.

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December 28, 1958: Movie stars to watch in the new year, tribute to Archie Moore

December 28, 1958: Seventh Voyage of Sinbad ad

Hedda Hopper’s predictions for the next crop of movie stars somehow bypasses the cast of “7th Voyage of Sinbad.” (Listen to the orchestration in Bernard Herrmann’s score for the sword fight with the skeleton: tuba, xylophone and something rattley, like castanets).  Sounds a bit like “On Dangerous Ground,” doesn’t it?

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: The Harvey Wallbanger

Harvey Wallbagner

A vintage 1972 iron-on transfer of Harvey Wallbanger himself, on EBay for $12.


Note: This is a repost from 2013.

We have been looking at some historic drinks for this holiday season. To the millennials in the audience: This is what mom and dad used to drink (along with the Tequila Sunrise) when they went out in the 1970s.

Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear:

1 ounce of vodka
4 ounces of orange juice
half an ounce of Galliano.

Poured over ice in a highball glass.

Cue Grand Funk Railroad’s “Gimme Shelter” or Carole King’s “It’s Too Late.”

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December 27, 1947: Youth Questioned in Georgette Bauerdorf Killing

L.A. Times, 1947

imageNote: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

The last words her neighbors heard were “Stop, stop, you’re killing me!” as she fought hard for her life. The housekeeper found the body in the bathtub the next day, when she heard water dripping in the upstairs bathroom.

Because the apartment at 8493 Fountain Ave. is in West Hollywood, rather than the city of Los Angeles, the murder was handled by the Sheriff’s Department rather than the LAPD.

The victim was Georgette Bauerdorf, a Hollywood Canteen hostess who normally shared the apartment with her older sister, Connie, who was in New York, along with their father, George, and stepmother. Two days before she was killed, she wrote in her diary: “Call to Jerry [Pvt. Jerry Brown, a boyfriend] at 6:30 a.m. came thru—Jerry’s a lamb. Letter from Dud and Jerry—wrote Jerry.” Continue reading

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December 27, 1907: Oklahoma Lynching — A Grim Record for New State


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 27, 1907
Henryetta, Okla., by the Associated Press

A little more than a month after Oklahoma achieved statehood, James Garden became a wretched statistic: the first black to be lynched there.

On Dec. 24, Garden went to see liveryman Albert Bates about renting a rig. When Bates refused, Garden accused him of racism, went across the street to get a gun, returned and shot Bates to death.

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: A Brief History of the Tom and Jerry

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A recipe for the Tom and Jerry from the San Francisco Call, June 30, 1912.


Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Over on Facebook, Christopher McPherson asked whether the Tom and Jerry was named for the MGM cartoon characters. I said I suspected the opposite was true, rather like Disney’s Chip ‘n’ Dale being named for Chippendale furniture.

All the old newspaper stories give credit for the drink to bartender Jerry Thomas, who according to one account was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1825 (or Watertown, N.Y., in 1830).

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December 26, 1947: No Sympathy for Alcoholics!

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

On Christmas Eve 1947, the LAPD arrested 35 adults for drunk driving, 2 juveniles for drunk driving, and 19 for being drunk in an automobile. Of the 188 other arrests involving drunkenness, one was for speeding, one was for manslaughter and one was for hit-and-run.

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December 26, 1907: Minister Rejects New ‘Godless’ U.S. Coins


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 26, 1907
Pittsburgh, by direct wire to The Times

As Christmas celebrations concluded at Knoxville Presbyterian Church, the congregation presented the Rev. W.A. Jones with $100 ($2,052.36 USD 2005). A banker who was among the worshipers made a point of getting freshly minted gold pieces to present to the pastor.

But the $20 Double Eagles, newly redesigned by sculptor Augustus St.-Gaudens at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, had a terrible flaw, in Jones’ view.

“This is Godless money, I cannot take it,” Jones said of the coins, example at right. “My mother taught me to look for the motto ‘In God We Trust’ on the coins of our country and when the president announced his new order effacing the inscription from the coins, I swore I would take no money that did not bear the old motto.” Continue reading

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December 25, 1947: The Times Christmas Poem

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

The Times’ front-page Christmas and Easter poems are as forgotten today as their author, James M. Warnack. I’ll leave it to my theological betters to parse the significance of a Christmas poem that’s mostly about the crucifixion, but Warnack was just as contradictory as his work.

He called himself the Foothill Philosopher and was nicknamed around the office as “the Bishop” because of his angular features and long, white hair. An actor in his early life, he appeared in D.W. Griffith’s silent movies, portrayed a priest in the “Mission Play” and Judas in the first “Pilgrimage Play.”

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