Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 13, 2020 by lmharnisch

2020_0718_title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1964 picture “The Last Man on Earth,” with Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Umberto Rau, Christi Courtland, Tony Corevi and Hector Ribotta.

Photographed by Franco Delli Colli, edited by Gene Ruggiero, production manager Vico Vaccaro, assistant director Carlo Grandone, assistant production manager Lionello Meucci, art direction by Giorgio Giovanni, makeup by Piero Mecacci. Music composed by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, orchestration by Alfonso d’Artega, music editor Norman Schwartz.

Screenplay by Logan Swanson and William F. Leicester from the novel “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. Produced by Robert L. Lippert, associate producer Harold E. Knox. Directed by Sidney Salkow.

Associated Producers Inc. in conjunction with Produzioni La Regina.

“The Last Man on Earth” is available on DVD from TCM.

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Book Review: ‘Cary Grant – A Brilliant Disguise’

Posted on July 8, 2020 by lmharnisch

Cary Grant Cover

Executive summary: “Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise,” the latest in Scott Eyman’s long series of Class-A Hollywood biographies, opens strong with the last day of the acclaimed actor’s life and quickly declines to a tedious slog in a book more like a catalog than a life story. Only for the most ardent Cary Grant fans, and even they will end up skipping sections and just thumbing through it to see what Eyman says about Grant being gay. Forthcoming from Simon and Schuster on Oct. 20, 2020; 576 pages, $35 for hardcover, $16.99 for Kindle.

::

Young Archie Leach, born in Bristol, England, in 1904, has a nightmarish childhood with terrible parents, finds refuge in the theater, comes to America, makes some lousy films that are mostly forgotten, and then goes on to fame and fortune in his carefully invented and nurtured persona of the always elegant and charming Cary Grant. He is tight with a dollar, painfully insecure, obsessed with his career and meticulous about his clothes. In later life, he becomes a father during his brief marriage to Dyan Cannon, takes LSD (lots of LSD) and in retirement watches TV game shows and gets his home remodeled.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 6, 2020 by lmharnisch

Other Men's Women
This week’s mystery movie was the 1931 Warner Bros. picture “Other Men’s Women,” with Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney, Fred Kohler, J. Farrell MacDonald, Joan Blondell, Lillian Worth and Walter Long.

By Maude Fulton, dialogue by William K. Wells.

Photography by Barney McGill, edited by Edward M. McDermott,  musical direction by Erno Rapee, wardrobe by Earl Luick, Vitaphone Orchestra conducted by Louis Silvers.

Directed by William A. Wellman.

“Other Men’s Women” is available on DVD from Warner Archive in Volume 3 of “Forbidden Hollywood.”

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

Posted on July 6, 2020 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, 2020 by lmharnisch

image

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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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – The Tale of the Alden Besse

Posted on June 29, 2020 by lmharnisch

Alden Besse
Alden Besse, photographed by Asahel Curtis, Wikipedia Commons.

Surviving tempests, fires, illness, auctions, lawsuits, and salvages, the old whaling ship Alden Besse saw many an exciting adventure over more than 59 years. A magnet for disaster, accidents, and adventure, the ship even served as a set for many an early Hollywood silent film. The history of the Alden Besse seems as exciting as any adventure story or film.

Built in Bath, Maine, out of stout oak by the company Goss and Sawyer in 1871, the 840-ton, narrow-hulled, slender clipper Alden Besse was named after sea captain Alden Besse of Wareham, Massachusetts. Upon completion, the ship hit the high seas, sailing around the Horn of Africa to California, to the Orient, and every place in between. Besides serving the whale trade, the Alden Besse carried all manner of cargo, including lumber, rice, scrap iron, bricks, coal, sugar, beer and coffee.

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 29, 2020 by lmharnisch

July 4, 2020, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie was the 1957 film “The Black Scorpion,” with Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, Mario Navarro, Carlos Muzquiz, Pascual Pena, Fanny Schiller, Pedro Galvan and Arturo Martinez. Screenplay by David Duncan and Robert Blees from a story by Paul Yawitz. Photography by Lionel Lindon, edited by Richard L. Van Enger, art direction by Edward Fitzgerald, sound by Rafael L. Esparza, orchestrations by Bert Shefter, electronic music by Jack Cookerly. Special effects supervised by Willis O’Brien, animation by Peter Peterson, assistant directors Ray Heinze and Jaime Contreras, sound effects by Mandine Rogne. Music composed and conducted by Paul Sawtell.

Produced by Frank Melford and Jack Dietz. Directed by Edward Ludwig.

“The Black Scorpion” is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Warner Archive.

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Posted in 1957, Animals, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 48 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Posted on June 22, 2020 by lmharnisch

June 27, 2020, I Take This Woman

This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 MGM film “I Take This Woman,” with Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Verree Teasdale, Kent Taylor, Laraine Day, Mona Barrie, Jack Carson, Paul Cavanagh, Louis Calhern, Frances Drake, Marjorie Main, George E. Stone, Willie Best, Don Castle, Dalies Frantz and Reed Hadley.

Screenplay by James Kevin McGuinness from a story by Charles MacArthur.

Musical score by Bronislau Kaper and Arthur Guttmann, recording by Douglas Shearer, art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse, set decorations by Edwin B. Willis, gowns by Adrian, photography by Harold Rosson, edited by George Boemler.

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke II

“I Take This Woman” is available on DVD from Warner Archive.

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Posted in 1940, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 62 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Josef von Sternberg’s ‘Salvation Hunters’

Posted on June 22, 2020 by lmharnisch

image
Georgia Hale is The Girl in “The Salvation Hunters.”

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

From the very beginning of his career, director Josef von Sternberg possessed an extraordinary vision for the art, look, and feel of his films. They were as much or more about design and and art than about story or character. Nowhere is this more true than in his very first film, “The Salvation Hunters.” Shot on a shoestring budget, the motion picture revealed the discriminating pictorial eye and talent of this young man.

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Perry Mason and The Case of the Flawed Fedora

Posted on June 20, 2020 by lmharnisch

'Perry Mason'

Oh dear. HBO Max’s Perry Mason origin story is set in 1932 Los Angeles, which you would never know by looking at this photo of Shea Whigham and Matthew Rhys. IMDB lists a huge number of costumers, so I can’t be sure who is the hat wrangler, but please. This is not how anybody wore a hat in 1932. This may surpass “Boardwalk Empire” in ridiculous costuming, which is an achievement.

Perry Mason
Good grief. Shea Wigham’s costume and newsboy cap look horrible. Nobody dressed like this in the 1930s. No one. That jacket looks like a horse blanket.

Why do films and TV shows set in the 1930s and 1940s have to be so wretched when it comes to costumes? (For reference on good period costuming, see “Chinatown” and “L.A. Confidential.”)

For reference: Proper men’s outfits from 1931-32.

Little_Caesar

Edward G. Robinson, “Little Caesar” (1931). Note the angle of the brim. Note the height of the crown. Note the width of the hatband. Note the lapels on the jacket, with matching vest. The hat isn’t stuck on Robinson’s head like a baseball cap. It’s meant to convey style and class.

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Posted in 1932, Fashion, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

‘The Lid Off Los Angeles’ – Liberty Magazine Examines Corruption in the LAPD and at City Hall

Posted on June 18, 2020 by lmharnisch

The Lid Off Los Angeles

On Nov. 11, 1939, Liberty magazine began a six-part series by Dwight F. McKinney and Fred Allhoff on the Harry Raymond bombing and the reform movement of Clifford E. Clinton. Liberty also published a response by Dist. Atty. Buron Fitts. The series made an enormous impact in its day, but Liberty is only available on microfilm. So here’s the entire series, uploaded from my files to Archive.org.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: M.E. Firman, Lady Detective

Posted on June 15, 2020 by lmharnisch

Marie Firman, L.A. Times, July 17, 1917
In the early 1900s, most women in the United States lacked the right to vote. Groups such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association organized to actively campaign for enfranchisement. Winning the vote would lead to other reforms regarding child rearing, property ownership, fiduciary matters, and most importantly, independence. Women could gain control of their lives and bodies, following their own dreams and career paths, moving beyond roles of mother, wife, teacher, shop clerk or secretary.

Motion pictures aided their mission, making films about the suffrage movement before producing films featuring strong and independent women, particularly in such serials as “Perils of Pauline,” “The Exploits of Elaine,” and “The Adventures of Kathlyn.” Heroines in these films confronted dastardly villains, wild animals, and dangerous adventures, investigating and solving crimes and mysteries.

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 15, 2020 by lmharnisch

Lonely Are the Brave

This week’s mystery movie was the 1962 Universal release of the Joel Productions picture “Lonely Are the Brave,” with Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, Michael Kane, Carroll O’Connor, William Schallert, George Kennedy, Karl Swenson, Bill Mims, Martin Garralaga and Lalo Rios.

Photography by Philip Lathrop, filmed in Panavision.

Art direction by Alexander Golitzen and Robert Smith, set decoration by George Milo, sound by Waldron O. Watson and Frank H. Wilkinson. Edited by Leon Barsha, makeup by Bud Westmore and Dave Grayson, hairstyles by Larry Germain, assistant directors Tom Shaw and David Silver.

Music by Jerry Goldsmith, musical supervision by Joseph Gershenson.

Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, based on the novel “Brave Cowboy” by Edward Abbey.

Produced by Edward Lewis.

Directed by David Miller.

“Lonely Are the Brave” is available on Blu-ray from TCM.

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

Black Dahlia: ‘The Murder Squad’ Botches the Black Dahlia Case

Posted on June 12, 2020 by lmharnisch

murder_Squad

I have a longstanding aversion to podcasts, especially “true crime” podcasts and particularly when it comes to “true crime” podcasts about the Black Dahlia. “The Murder Squad,” with Billy Jensen and retired Detective Paul Holes, released an episode earlier this week on the Black Dahlia and I thought that Holes, given his outstanding work on the Golden State Killer, might have some worthwhile insight on the case. I won’t make that mistake again.

Executive summary: Lots of bad information from Billy Jensen scraped off the Internet. Paul Holes scans the incomplete medical report included in the inquest,  looks over some morgue shots from the Internet and comes up with the wild claim that Elizabeth Short’s mouth was slashed so she could perform oral sex on the killer and that she asphyxiated while performing oral copulation. Don’t waste your time on this or risk your head exploding .

Caveat: I got through the ad for hair dye, but quit listening at the 46-minute mark when Holes got into the “asphyxiated while performing oral copulation” stuff. I am also not linking to the podcast because I don’t want to spread its misinformation any further.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Posted on June 8, 2020 by lmharnisch

June 13, 2020, Macomber Affair
This week’s mystery movie was the 1947 United Artists release of Benedict Bogeaus’ “The Macomber Affair,” with Gregory Peck, Joan Bennett, Robert Preston, Reginald Denny, Jean Gillie, Carl Harbord, Earl Smith, Frederic Worlock and Vernon Downing.

Screenplay by Casey Robinson and Seymour Bennett from an adaptation by Seymour Bennett and Frank Arnold. Adapted from “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” by Ernest Hemingway, a Cosmopolitan magazine story.

Production associate Arthur M. Landau, photography by Karl Struss, production manager Ken Walters, art direction by Erno Metzner, set decorations by Fred Widdowwson, edited by George Feld and Jack Wheeler, sound by William Lynch, women’s wardrobe by Greta, men’s wardrobe by Jerry Bos, makeup by Otis Malcolm, Miss Bennett’s hairdresser Meryl Reeves, assistant director Joseph Depew.

African photography by O.H. Borraldaile, John Wilcox and Fred Francis, through the courtesy of the Kenya Game Department.

Music by Miklos Rozsa.

Assistant to producer Carley Harriman. Produced by Benedict Bogeaus and Casey Robinson. Directed by Zoltan Korda.

“The Macomber Affair” has never been commercially released in the U.S. There is a Spanish version on a Region 2 DVD. It last aired on TCM in 2016, according to an online database, however, TV logs show that it also aired on TCM in 2017.

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Posted in 1947, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Douglass Dumbrille, Suave Slickster

Posted on June 8, 2020 by lmharnisch

Douglass Dumbrille
Douglass Dumbrille, photo courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Note: This is an encore post from 2014

Classic Hollywood studio films employed actors with striking faces and mannerisms as recognizable character types from the 1930s to the 1960s, giving a shorthand to understanding the story as well as a way to add color and spice to films. One of Hollywood’s most outstanding conniving villains during this period was Canadian Douglass Rupert Dumbrille, an often unctuous, forceful presence. Whether attempting to manipulate politics, business deals or romantic relationships, Dumbrille was plotting his rise at the expense of others, usually earning his comeuppance in the end.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 13, 1889, Dumbrille married his wife, Jessie, on Jan. 21, 1911, and worked in a bank, dreaming of a life on the stage. The family entered the United States in 1913, with his younger son Douglas born in Cleveland in 1914. Dumbrille worked in a variety of stock companies and theatrical productions supporting himself and his family.

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

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ALLIES INVADE FRANCE! JUNE 6, 1944; Complete Radio Coverage

Posted on June 6, 2020 by lmharnisch

June 7, 1944, D-day

June 7, 1944, D-Day Map

The headline and map by Charles Owens from The Times.

Note: This is an encore post from 2014. Reposting to fix some broken links.

June 6, 1944: Complete radio coverage of the D-Day Invasion. This was pool coverage using correspondents from various news organizations. By 10 a.m., CBS had resumed regular programming with news bulletins, so I’ll only post up to noon. The full day is at archive.org.

It’s worth noting that German radio was the source for most of the information in the early hours of the invasion. The eyewitness accounts are vivid and it’s worth listening to Quentin Reynolds’ analysis on how the Allies learned from disastrous surprise invasion at Dieppe in 1942.

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Posted in 1944, Radio, World War II | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Posted on June 1, 2020 by lmharnisch

2020_0606_title

This week’s mystery movie was the 1918 film “Mickey,” with Mabel Normand, George O. Nicholls, Laura La Varnie, Lewis J. Cody, Minta Durfee, Wheeler Oakman and Tom Kennedy.

Written by J.G. Hawks, production manager Hampton Del Ruth, photographed by Frank D. Williams, Hugh C. McClung and Fred Jackman, edited by John O’Donnell.

Directed by F. Richard Jones and James Young.

“Mickey” is available on DVD from TCM. It is also on YouTube, though the quality is questionable. The Cinemuseum planned to released “Mickey” in Volume 2 of its Mack Sennett box set, originally planned for the spring of 2020, but evidently not available yet.

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Posted in 1918, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 960 Vine, Hollywood Market

Posted on June 1, 2020 by lmharnisch

960 S. Vine
El Rancho Super Mercado Carniceria, 960 Vine St., via Google Street View.

Los Angeles has led the way in the evolution of shopping and markets, thanks to its fascination and acquisition of vehicles. Originally simple stores in the heart of a community allowing either easy pedestrian access or location adjacent to streetcar routes, popularity of automobiles transformed the very concept of markets. 960 Vine St., a grocery/market for virtually all of its 93 years, reveals how businessmen chased car owners to sell their wares.

For several decades in the early 1900s, acreage south of Fountain Avenue along what is now Vine Street remained mostly agricultural with small farms gradually giving way to small bungalows or the occasional apartment building. As Hollywood’s main arteries like Cahuenga and Vine grew more commercial and automobile ownership increased, the area gained larger, more diverse businesses catering to these people. Grocery stores evolved as well.

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

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May 31, 1947: Los Angeles Marks First Memorial Day Without a Civil War Veteran at Ceremony

Posted on May 25, 2020 by lmharnisch

May 31, 1947, L.A. Times

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

Memorial Day, 1947, was a spectacle marked with a parade from Westwood to the veterans cemetery, services for Spanish-American veterans in Pershing Square and even a tribute at Hollywood Memorial Park to 21 Times employees killed in the 1910 bombing, as well as those who died in World War II (Tommy Treanor, RIP).

The largest gathering was at the Coliseum, where the multitudes sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” recited the Pledge of Allegiance and listened to Ronald Reagan read the Gettysburg Address.

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