Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 4, 2019 by lmharnisch

Feb. 9, 2019, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 RKO film “Hell’s Highway,” with Richard Dix, Tom Brown, Rochelle Hudson, C. Henry Gordon, Oscar Apfel, Stanley Fields, John Arledge, Warner Richmond, Chas. Middleton, Louise Carter, Sandy Roth, Clarence Muse and Fuzzy  Knight. Screenplay by Samuel Ornitz, Robert Tasker and Rowland Brown. Directed by Rowland Brown. Photography by Edward Cronjager, art direction by Carroll Clark, music direction by Max Steiner, recorded by John Tribby, edited by William Hamilton, executive producer was David O. Selznick.

“Hell’s Highway” is available from Warner Archive in Volume 9 of “Forbidden Hollywood,” with “Big City Blues,” “The Cabin in the Cotton,” “When Ladies Meet” and “I Sell Anything.”

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 35 Comments

February 1959: Burbank Installs Time Capsule

Posted on February 4, 2019 by lmharnisch

Feb. 1, 2009, Burbank Time Capsule

Note: This post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

Feb. 1, 1959: Burbank installs a time capsule in the “new” Magnolia Boulevard Bridge. It was scheduled to be opened Feb. 5, 2009.

This is one of my favorite posts from going through 1959. So noble. So ambitious and, ultimately, so wrong.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: United Artists Incorporated February 1919

Posted on February 4, 2019 by lmharnisch

Library of Congress
From left, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, image via the Library of Congress.

The entertainment industry as we know it irrevocably changed on February 5, 1919, when superstars Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith signed the final documents outlining the organization of United Artists. For the first time, motion picture artists would control all aspects of their films’ production and distribution, putting themselves on an equal footing with studios and moguls. While each of these individuals had earned huge salaries producing films for major corporations like Famous Players-Lasky, First National, and Triangle, they would sink or fail on the success of films they financed on their own.

Business skirmishes and skullduggery influenced the founding of the corporation. In January 1919, the First National Exhibitors’ Circuit held their national convention in Los Angeles, headquartered at the luxurious Alexandria Hotel. While most convention attendees came to celebrate the circuit and hear plans for the next year, its leading executives were plotting takeover strategies for their fledgling circuit only one and half years old.

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

 

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Your Move, Chess Fans: Scaccomatto Puzzle Chess Set for $6,500

Posted on February 2, 2019 by lmharnisch

Scaccomatto chess set

I have been intrigued with the Scaccomatto chess set since I stumbled across an ad going through old newspapers. They almost never come on the market and when they do they are terribly expensive.

A set was offered in 2016 for $13,000. A set was previously offered in 2010 for $1,600.

In the design by Franco Rocco, the pieces fit together into two metal cubes.

chess set

The chess set is listed as “Buy It Now” for $6,500.

As with anything sold on EBay, a prospective buyer should investigate an item and vendor thoroughly before submitting a bid.

Posted in 1977, Found on EBay | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Your Move, Chess Fans: Scaccomatto Puzzle Chess Set for $6,500

Black Dahlia: Jay Singletary (Chris Pine) Star Reporter of ‘I Am the Night’

Posted on January 31, 2019 by lmharnisch

Jay Singletary -- Reporter?

I already posted this on Twitter, but here it is for the Daily Mirror readers.

Sam Sheridan’s portrayal of hotshot/disgraced reporter Jay Singletary (a tousled Chris Pine, who loses his shirt a lot) is utter b.s. Here’s why:

Jay’s backstory is that he was supposedly hired by the Los Angeles Times at the age of 18. Evidently Sheridan has never read a news story by an 18-year-old reporter. Shakespeare, it ain’t.

In this sequence of “I Am the Night,” Jay puts on a white coat (which he keeps in the trunk of his car, like all good reporters would do) to sneak into the morgue. In real life, any reporter who did this would be fired because its unethical and anything you obtained would be unusable. Plus in the 1960s, reporters had much more access than they do today. They wouldn’t need to sneak into the morgue.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Black Dahlia: George Hodel, Steve Hodel and Public Records

Posted on January 31, 2019 by lmharnisch

steve_hodel_passport_rant_airplane_final
I have already shared this on Twitter but I thought I would post it here as well.

This is an example of Steve Hodel’s amazing detective work on his father, Dr. George Hodel. Steve evidently cannot tell when he is looking at records for a ship or an airplane..

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Genealogy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Wikipedia, George Hodel and ‘I Am the Night’

Posted on January 31, 2019 by lmharnisch

wikipedia_george_hodel_uh_oh

If you’re watching “I Am the Night”  on TNT, you may be tempted to read the Wikipedia entry on “evil” Dr. George Hodel.

Here are a few warnings:

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Gypsy Rose Lee and ‘The G-String Murders’

Posted on January 28, 2019 by lmharnisch

Lady of Burlesque
Photo: Barbara Stanwyck in “Lady of Burlesque.”

This is an encore post from 2012. See note below for correction.

While being tops in your field can be exciting, an ambitious or intellectually curious person always looks for new ways to grow. This was particularly true for stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. A national star for years for her creative striptease act, Lee hoped to spread her wings into more respectable and challenging fields.

Born January 9, 1911, in Seattle to parents John Olaf and Rose Hovick, Ellen June Hovick saw her name changed to Rose Louise when her younger sister Ellen June was born. After her parents divorced, mama Rose and the girls took to the vaudeville stage. June was the star of the family, supported by her older sister, until Louise ran away and got married at the age of 15. Louise gained her first success when a shoulder strap broke on a dress as she performed on stage, and the crowd went wild. She quickly became a headliner, engaging in witty, classy, and creative strip teases, with the act as much about teasing, imagination, and the possibility of more. Louise changed her name to Gypsy Rose Lee, and began starring in shows at Minsky’s and other burlesque houses.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 28, 2019 by lmharnisch

Feb. 2, 2019, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 MGM film “Du Barry Was a Lady,” with Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Virginia O’Brien, “Rags” Ragland, Zero Mostel, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Donald Meek, Douglass Dumbrille, George Givot and Louise Beavers. Produced by Arthur Freed. Directed by Roy Del Ruth.

Screenplay by Irving Brecher, adaptation by Nancy Hamilton, additional dialogue by Wilkie Mahoney, based on the play produced by B.G. DeSylva and written by Herbert Fields and B.G. DeSylva with music and lyrics by Cole Porter,  words and music by Cole Porter, additional songs by Lew Brown, Ralph Freed, Burton Lane, Roger Edens, E.Y. Harburg, musical adaptation by Roger Edens, musical direction by Georgie Stoll, orchestration by George Bassman, Leo Arnaud, Alec Stordahl and Sy Oliver, musical presentation by Merrill Pye, dance direction by Charles Walters. Photographed in Technicolor, director of photography Karl Freund, Technicolor color director Natalie Kalmus, associate Henri Jaffa,  recording director Douglas Shearer, art director Cedric Gibbons, set decorations by Edwin B. Willis, associate Henry Grace, costume supervision by Irene, associate Shoup, men’s costumes by Gile Steele, makeup by Jack Dawn, special effects by Warren Newcombe, film editor Blanche Sewell,

“Du Barry Was a Lady” is available on DVD from Amazon.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 67 Comments

Jan. 25, 1959: Boys Admit Burning Baby to Death on Stove

Posted on January 25, 2019 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1959

Jan. 25, 1959: Do remind me that the past was “a kinder, simpler time.” I think not. Absolutely horrific..

The entire post originally appeared on latimes.com and is available via Archive.org.

Posted in 1959, Homicide | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Jan. 24, 1959: Matt Weinstock ‘The Business of Sex’

Posted on January 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

Jan. 24, 1959, Matt Weinstock

Jan. 24, 1959: Matt Weinstock has an item on an Edward R. Murrow broadcast “The Business of Sex.” Murrow said that “For Los Angeles, even though the arrest figure was 212 for the year 1957, the estimates varied from 3,000 to 6,000 operating in Los Angeles City.”.

Also poetry, gags, funny stories and the usual bullet items.

Weinstock’s column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Matt Weinstock, Radio | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 24, 1959: Matt Weinstock ‘The Business of Sex’

Jan. 24, 1959: Law Delays ‘Alfalfa’ Burial

Posted on January 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

image

Jan. 24, 1959: One of the best parts of doing the blog at latimes.com was having UCLA and Cal State Northridge interns who, among other tasks, transcribed the Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock columns. Sometimes I transcribed them myself (this in addition to my full-time job at The Times). Still other times, I just ran a scan of the columns in the belief that the news value outweighed the funky presentation.

And in this case, it is. Coates has a followup on the shooting of Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, who was killed in a fight over a $50 reward for a lost dog. The dispute was between Switzer’s parents, who wanted to claim the body, and Switzer’s ex-wife, Dian, who had the rights to Switzer’s body under California law.

This column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.

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Jan. 24, 1969: Ghosts of Wrigley Field

Posted on January 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

Oct. 4, 1944, Wrigley Field

Keith Thursby says: John Hall wrote a couple of columns bidding farewell to Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field.

“It was another time, another place. It was Wrigley Field, 1925-1969, may it rest in peace. The demolition crews are at work and the creaky old place at 42nd and Avalon will soon be nothing but a vacant lot, ” Hall wrote..

The post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

Posted in 1969, Baseball, Keith Thursby, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Jan. 23, 1959: Matt Weinstock ‘Money Well Spent’

Posted on January 23, 2019 by lmharnisch

image

Jan. 23, 1959: Matt Weinstock covers a speech by Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Ernest K. Lindley. “Foreign aid is the best money we spend to hold off communism,” Lindley said.

The best way to get from Westwood to Burbank by bus? “Buy a car.”

Also: Toe-walking may mean schizophrenia and by Paul Popenoe “Why Does Married Male Enjoy Burlesque Show?” Popenoe was active in the Human Betterment Foundation, a eugenicist organization in Pasadena that inspired the Nazis. No, really. That was a thing.

Weinstock’s column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was reposted on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.

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Jan. 23, 1959: Paul Coates — A Plethora of Ceremonial Plaques

Posted on January 23, 2019 by lmharnisch

Jan. 23, 1959, Paul Coates
Jan. 23, 1959: Paul Coates is all (or mostly) in favor of ceremonial honors. On the jump, Bobbie Long is found strangled with a nylon stocking a few feet off a dirt road that runs off Don Julian Road between Seventh and Eighth Avenues southwest of the City of Industry. The Mirror News notes the similarity to the killing of Geneva Ellroy in June 1959.

Coates’ column appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Cold Cases, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Paul Coates | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 23, 1959: Paul Coates — A Plethora of Ceremonial Plaques

January 1959: The LAPD’s Pandora Files

Posted on January 23, 2019 by lmharnisch

Police Commission File, 1959

This was a fun post on Pandora’s (later Pandora’s Box), 8118 Sunset Blvd., that I completely forgot. The material is in the agenda packets of the Police Commission.

The club was under the jurisdiction of the LAPD’s Hollywood Division Vice Squad and reflects the mind-set of 1959. Sample: “The Pandora area has less ‘homos’ than other areas in the Hollywood Division, but there are ‘homos’ in this area.

For further digging, the entire file is at the Los Angeles City Archives. On the jump, the arrest of a sex worker identified as Shirley Paulos/Shirley Richards. I didn’t get into the later history of the club because so many stories and only one Larry Harnisch.

The post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

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Posted in 1959, Food and Drink, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Jan. 22, 1959: Paul Coates on Another Claim to ‘The Brave One’

Posted on January 22, 2019 by lmharnisch

Paul Coates, L.A. Mirror, 1959

Jan. 22, 1959: Dalton Trumo (blacklisted and using the name Robert Rich) wrote the script for “The Brave One,” but there was a claim by the widow of Juan Duval. The previous entry is here.

Coates’ column was published in 1959 in the L.A. Mirror and reposted in 2009 on latimes.com. It is available via Archive.org.

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Black Dahlia: Common Myths About the Black Dahlia and Their Origins

Posted on January 22, 2019 by lmharnisch

image
The FBI file perpetuates the error that Elizabeth Short’s middle name was “Ann.” She had no middle name.


Note: This item was originally posted on lmharnisch.com in 2005.

Here’s a quick guide to the most frequent errors made in writing about the murder of Elizabeth Short:

Myth: Her name was Elizabeth Ann Short.

Fact: Her mother testified at the inquest that she had no middle name.

Origin: A Los Angeles Times story in the 1970s erroneously added a middle name, which now appears in seemingly reputable sources on Los Angeles history. To add the semblance of authenticity, the middle name has even made its way into her FBI file. Whenever you hear someone call her Elizabeth Ann (like “Black Dahlia Avenger”) you can be sure they don’t know what they are talking about. A headline with the same story erroneously said there were hundreds of confessors. As the story says, there were hundreds of suspects.

Myth: The newspapers nicknamed the case.

Fact: Elizabeth Short got the “Black Dahlia” nickname in a Long Beach drugstore. The Los Angeles Herald-Express tried to nickname the case the “Werewolf Murder,” but dropped it after several days.

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Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Jan. 22, 1969: Lee Meyers Hoping for a Comeback With the Royals

Posted on January 22, 2019 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1969

Keith Thursby has the story of baseball player Lee Meyers, who was was making a comeback, hoping to get a job with the first-year Kansas City Royals. Meyers was married to Mamie Van Doren (1966-1969)..

Note: This post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

Posted in 1969, Baseball, Keith Thursby | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Jan. 22, 1969: Musial and Campanella Elected to Hall of Fame

Posted on January 22, 2019 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1969

Jan. 22, 1969: Stan Musial and Roy Campanella are voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Campanella became only the second black player in the Hall of Fame, after Jackie Robinson.

This post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

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