Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 8, 2019 by lmharnisch

April 13, 2019, Iceman Cometh
This week’s mystery movie was the 1973 American Film Theatre production of “The Iceman Cometh,” with Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan, Jeff Bridges, Bradford Dillman, Sorrell Booke, Hildy Brooks, Nancy Juno Dawson,  Evans Evans, Martyn Green, Moses Gunn, Clifton James, John McLiam, Stephen Pearlman, Tom Pedi, George Voskovec, Don McGovern and Bart Burns. Photographed by Ralph Woolsey,  production design by Jack Martin Smith, costume consultant Dorothy Jeakins, edited by Harold F. Kress, production supervisor Irving Temaner. For the American Film Theatre, Henry T. Weinstein, executive producer Edward Lewis, producer Ely Landau, directed by John Frankenheimer.

A special thanks to B.J. Merholz, who mentioned this film in a conversation several years ago.

“The Iceman Cometh” is available on DVD from Kino Lorber, and on streaming via Kanopy.

More about the American Film Theatre here.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1973, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Stage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

April 3, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on April 3, 2019 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times 2006

And here’s what the Daily Mirror looked like when debuted at the latimes in 2007.

Matt Weinstock’s complete column is here.

Posted in 1957, 2007, Columnists, Downtown, Matt Weinstock | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on April 3, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 1, 2019 by lmharnisch

2019_0406_big_city_blues_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Warner Bros. film “Big City Blues” with Joan Blondell, Eric Linden, Jobyna Howland, Ned Sparks, Guy Kibbee, Grant Mitchell, Walter Catlett, Inez Courtney and Thomas Jackson, based on a play by Ward Morehouse, screenplay by Ward Morehouse and Lillie Hayward, edited by Ray Curtiss, art direction by Anton Grot, photography by James Van Trees, Vitaphone orchestra conducted by Leo F. Forbstein. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

“Big City Blues” is available on DVD from Warner Archive in “Forbidden Hollywood,” Volume 9, which also has previous mystery movie “Hell’s Highway.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 52 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Open Secret’ a Timely Tale of Tolerance

Posted on April 1, 2019 by lmharnisch

Open Secret
TCM tackles a vital subject with its screening of the motion picture “Open Secret” during the upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival April 11-14. 2019. As timely now as when it was first released in 1948,“Open Secret” promotes religious and racial tolerance to a country fighting to accept the very principles upon which it was created. Produced on a much smaller budget than studio films “Crossfire” and “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” “Open Secret” takes a no-nonsense look at growing racial intolerance and anti-Semitism in the late 1940s, fighting back against these loathsome tendencies.

Two years after the United States and its allies crushed the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan to win World War II and restore dramatic principles of equality and tolerance, fear and hatred of foreigners and “others” was growing among the disenchanted in America. The July 17, 1946, Los Angeles Times reported that the Jewish Labor Committee was beginning a campaign to “eliminate racial discrimination and bigotry among workers.” “It takes a concerted campaign against the conditions which tempt ordinary people to grasp at the dangerous belief that it is the Jews, or the Negroes, or the foreigners who are taking away their economic bread and butter or cultural opportunities. Most antagonism arises from economic insecurity which pits man against his fellow man for jobs, better living standards and social advancement.” The Committee hoped to show that it was economic and political practices which were causing these cuts in wages, not the people.

The TCM Classic Film Festival begins April 11.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Open Secret’ a Timely Tale of Tolerance

Black Dahlia: Steve Hodel’s Lies on ‘Dr. Phil’; A Case Study

Posted on March 28, 2019 by lmharnisch

March 26, 2019,. Steve Hodel, Dr. Phil

Would you like to see how Steve Hodel lies about things that can be easily checked? Of course you would. This is a graphic that appeared during Steve Hodel’s appearance on “Dr. Phil.”

It’s helpful, at least for me, for Steve to give the date of this supposed excerpt from the LAPD bug at the Sowden House. Because I have all the transcripts and they are (spoiler alert) Bo-RING! Steve also merges the quotes from March 25, 1950, and March 26, 1950. This guy was a detective with the LAPD? This guy?

Continue reading →

Posted in 1950, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 7

Posted on March 27, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 Same-Sex Wedding

In case you just tuned in, I’m slowly going through a set of photos of the wedding of two men in Philadelphia in 1957. The film was left at a shop to be developed and the store manager refused to return the prints because he found them objectionable. Rather than destroying them, however, he allowed a shop employee to keep them and they were eventually sold on EBay with copies given to the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, which is trying to identify the men in the pictures.

Previously:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Photography | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 7

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 10th TCM Classic Film Festival Celebrates Love and Romance

Posted on March 27, 2019 by lmharnisch

image
The TCM Classic Film Festival celebrates not only the glories of film but also the joys of romance in its 10th annual festival April 11-14, 2019 in Hollywood. Highlighting the history of cinema from silents to Cinerama to serials to musicals, the event offers a little something for every filmgoer to love, including enjoying features on the big screen in such movie palaces as the TCL Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre, the way movies were meant to be seen.

This year, beloved film historian Kevin Brownlow receives the second annual Robert B. Osborne Award saluting preservationists and their impact on film. Brownlow will be honored before a screening of his 1964 film “It Happened Here” at the Egyptian Theatre on Saturday evening. Critic Leonard Maltin will interview him before a Sunday night screening of Clarence Brown’s romancer “A Woman of Affairs” (1928) featuring a print restored by Brownlow’s own Photoplay Productions and with the renowned Carl Davis conducting the accompanying orchestra.

TCM Classic Film Festival website

Continue reading →

Posted in 2019, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 10th TCM Classic Film Festival Celebrates Love and Romance

Hollywood Photography at Auction: George Hurrell and Cecil Beaton

Posted on March 26, 2019 by lmharnisch

M39551-2 001

Gary Martin of the Brain Trust passes along word of several lots of photos being auctioned by Swann Auction Galleries. The auction is April 18.

He notes Lot 91, a set of 10 signed photographs by George Hurrell, including Anna May Wong, above, plus John Barrymore, Charles Boyer, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Jascha Heifetz, Veronica Lake, Gilbert Roland, Ann Sheridan and Gene Tierney. The lot also includes an introduction by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and a certificate of authenticity, printed in 1980.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on March 25, 2019 by lmharnisch

Last Angry Man
This week’s mystery movie was the 1959 film “The Last Angry Man,” with Paul Muni, David Wayne, Betsy Palmer, Luther Adler, Claudia McNeil, Joby Baker, Joanna Moore, Nancy R. Pollock, Billy Dee Williams, Robert F. Simon and Dan Tobin. Screenplay by Gerald Green and Richard Murphy from a novel by Gerald Green. Photographed by James Wong Howe, edited by Charles Nelson, art direction by Carl Anderson, set decoration by William Kiernan, costume design by Jean Louis, music by George Duning. Produced by Fred Kohlmar and directed by Daniel Mann.

“The Last Angry Man” was released on VHS, but is not commercially available on DVD. A 16 millimeter print is for sale on EBay.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 21st Film Noir Festival Highlights Tension-Filled 1950s

Posted on March 25, 2019 by lmharnisch

Film Noir in the 1950s

Take a walk back in time to the tension-filled, conspiracy-driven world of the 1950s during the 2019 Annual Film Noir Festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Kicking off Friday, March 29, the 21st annual festival examines the down and dirty, double-crossing, and dark despair of characters running out of both time and chances. “Czar of Noir” Eddie Muller and Alan Rode of the Film Noir Foundation will introduce films spanning the decade, showing the rise and fall of the studio system and the turbulent decade.

Opening night features the newly restored 1949 film “Trapped,” starring a young Lloyd Bridges in a tale of Secret Service agents on the prowl through the streets of Los Angeles searching for a counterfeiting ring and ending in the Red Car barn. Tempestuous Barbara Payton plays Bridge’s love interest. Barbara Stanwyck headlines the 1950 noir “The File on Thelma Jordan,” the tale of a duplicitous femme fatale leading Assistant D.A. Wendell Corey astray. A special reception takes place during intermission of the double feature.

Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Attractions, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 21st Film Noir Festival Highlights Tension-Filled 1950s

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 6

Posted on March 19, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 Gay Wedding, Philadelphia

If you just tuned in, I’m digging into the 1957 photos of a wedding of two men in Philadelphia. The film was left at a photo shop and the manager refused to return the pictures, which were saved by a store employee and later sold on EBay. Copies of the images were given to the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, which is trying to identify the men in the photos.

Previously:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Photography | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 5

Posted on March 18, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 gay wedding

This is the last interior shot accompanying the photos of the 1957 wedding of two men in Philadelphia. Let’s see if we can detect anything that may shed some light on our mystery guests.

Previously:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Architecture, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Philadelphia, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Posted on March 18, 2019 by lmharnisch

Dulcy
Last week’s mystery movie was the 1940 MGM picture “Dulcy,” with Ann Sothern, Ian Hunter, Roland Young, Reginald Gardiner, Billie Burke, Lynne Carver and Dan Dailey Jr.

Screenplay by Albert Mannheimer, Jerome Chodorov and Joseph A Fields, based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, photography by Charles Lawton, music by Bronislau Kaper, recording by Douglas Shearer, art direction by Cedric Gibbons, with associate Howard Campbell, set decorations by Edwin B. Willis, gowns by Adrian, hairstyles for Miss Sothern by Sydney Guilaroff and editing by Frank E. Hull

Produced by Edgar Selwyn, directed by S. Sylvan Simon.

“Dulcy” has apparently never been commercially released on DVD or VHS.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 41 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — “ ‘Nice People’ Wear Mallory Hats”

Posted on March 18, 2019 by lmharnisch

Mallory Hats Window
Mallory hats, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Note: This is an encore post from 2014.

Not many companies in the United States can claim over 100 years in business, especially clothing manufacturers, who must deal with so many unique variables, and in particular, constantly changing styles. Two purveyors of classic, quality clothing, Brooks Brothers and Levi’s, have been operating more than 100 years. One, Mallory Hats, constructed quality, classic men’s and women’s hats for more than 142 years before ending production in 1965. Here is their story.

The brochure/book, “A Century of Hats and the Hats of the Century,” published in 1923, relays the history of the industry surrounding the manufacturing of hats by the Mallory family in Danbury, Conn. The text claims the first hat manufactured in the United States came out of Danbury in 1684. Ezra Mallory established his own hat manufacturing concern in 1823 to construct beaver “stovepipe” hats. Mallory supervised the making of hats, and ventured to neighboring towns and stores to sell his wares, and by 1825, took steamboats to New York promoting his stock. His company slowly grew in number and reputation, adding new styles to their output. They produced roughly twelve hats a week.

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

Continue reading →

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

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 4

Posted on March 14, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 Philadelphia Gay Wedding

Here is another interior shot from the film showing the wedding of two men in 1957. This image, alas, doesn’t seem to have as much information. Let’s take a closer look.

Previously:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Philadelphia, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Black Dahlia: Did George Hodel Kill His Secretary? Another Steve Hodel Lie

Posted on March 13, 2019 by lmharnisch

1945 Ruth Spaulding Suicide

Steve Hodel claims repeatedly in his “Black Dahlia Avenger” franchise that his father,
George Hodel, killed his secretary, Ruth Spaulding. It’s even in Wikipedia.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1945, 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Suicide | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 3

Posted on March 13, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 Gay Wedding Interior

In case you just tuned in, I’m exploring a series of photos taken in 1957 of a wedding between two men. The photo shop refused to return the photos, which were saved by a store employee and sold on EBay many years later. The ONE Archives also received copies of the images and is trying to identify the men in the pictures. Before looking at the gents and the ceremony, I thought it would be helpful to examine the decor of the home where the event took place.

Previously:

Part 1 | Part 2

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Philadelphia, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years, Part 2

Posted on March 12, 2019 by lmharnisch

1957 same-sex wedding Philadelphia
Yesterday, I posted a few photos from 1957 showing a wedding between two unidentified men.

Before we get to the event, let’s look at some of the decor to see if we can find any clues. Whoever snapped these pictures filled out the roll with some shots of a home.

Previously on the L.A. Daily Mirror:

Gentlemen, Your Wedding Photos Are Ready After 62 Years.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Art & Artists, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clarence Brown Provides Quick Shave to King Gillette Ranch

Posted on March 11, 2019 by lmharnisch

King Gillette, New York Times, 1932
King Camp Gillette dies at the age of 77 in 1932. He gave architect Wallace Neff free rein to built an expansive ranch in Calabasas, but only lived there for a few years before his death.

Tennessean Clarence Brown reigned as one of MGM’s top directors in the early 1930s, directing everything from Greta Garbo star vehicles to Joan Crawford Pre-Codes to Clark Gable romantic comedies. Looking for a ranch at which he could spread his wings, literally and figuratively, Brown purchased the lush King Gillette Ranch out in Calabasas, fit for any pasha. Brown enjoyed his little slice of paradise, helping preserve its unique character.

A bucolic wonderland in the 1920s, far from the city, Calabasas and the surrounding area of the Santa Monica Mountains lured the elite westward for rural rest and relaxation. Razor king King C. Gillette fell under the area’s spell in 1928, purchasing 640 acres on which to erect a grand hacienda by the popular architect Wallace Neff.

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

Continue reading →

Posted in 1928, 1932, Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on March 11, 2019 by lmharnisch

March16, 2019, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 Ealing Studios film “The Man in the White Suit,” with Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Vida Hope, Howard Marion Crawford, Miles Malleson, Henry Mollison, Patric Doonan and Duncan Lamont.

Based on the play by Roger MacDougall, screenplay by Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick,  production supervisor Hal Mason, photography by Douglas Slocombe, edited by Bernard Gribble, unit production manager L.C. Rudkin, sound supervisor Stephen Dalby, camera operator Jeff Seaholme, assistant director David Peers, recordist Arthur Bradburn, continuity Felicia Manheim, costume designer Anthony Mendeleson, special processes Geoffrey Dickinson, special effects by Sydney Pearson, makeup by Ernest Taylor and Harry Frampton, hairstyles by Barbara Banard, scientific adviser Geoffrey Myers, additional photography by Lionel Banes, art director Jim Morahan, associate producer Sidney Cole, music by Benjamin Frankel, played by the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Irving. Produced by Michael Balcon, directed by Alexander Mackendrick.

“The Man in the White Suit” is available on DVD from Amazon.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1951, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , | 34 Comments