This week’s mystery movie was the 1916 New York Motion Picture Co./Triangle Film Corp. production “Hell’s Hinges,” with W.S. Hart, Clara Williams, Jack Standing, Alfred Hollingsworth, Robert McKim, J. Frank Burke and Louise Glaum.
It can be streamed for free at the National Film Preservation Foundation website. (The preserved version lacks an opening title card).
Note: This is an encore post from 2013.
Los Angeles in 1923 was a bustling, growing, optimistic place. The town recognized all sorts of interesting people and topics, saluting them with their own days. There were Raisin Day, Prune Day, Father-and-Son Day, Fireless Cooker Day, and many others that year. Dec. 3, 1923 was Mary Pickford Day, which unfortunately coincided with Golden Rule Day. Per the Dec. 4, 1923, Los Angeles Times, only a few Golden Rule observations occurred.
“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.
Recognized for playing Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and Latinos in “King Kong,” “The Mummy,” “The Ten Commandments” and many others throughout his long film career, African American Noble Johnson achieved greater renown for establishing Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1916, the first company making and releasing films strictly for African American audiences. Almost forgotten today, Johnson strove to make what were called “race” films emphasizing the intelligence, talents and success of black Americans as a counterpoint to the often racist and off-putting portrayals of African Americans in contemporary films.
Born 1881 in Missouri, Johnson moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colo., where he worked with animals before he began appearing in silent films in 1914, including Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Squaw Man.” His athletic, tall frame and dramatic features helped land him many acting jobs at major studios, and his talent for performing gained him good notices in almost everything he portrayed, even in small roles. Not only did he act, but he also wrote scripts.
Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,” is now on sale.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Warner Bros. film “Lawyer Man” with William Powell, Joan Blondell, David Landau, Helen Vinson, Claire Dodd, Alan Dinehart and Allen Jenkins. Screenplay by Rian James and James Seymour, based on the novel “Lawyer Man” by Max Trell, edited by Thomas Pratt, art direction by Esdras Hartley, photography by Robert Kurrle, gowns by Orry-Kelly, associate director Stanley Logan, Vitaphone Orchestra directed by Leo F. Forbstein.
Directed by William Dieterle.
“Lawyer Man” is available from Warner Archive in the “Forbidden Hollywood Collection” Volume 4.
Continuing its long tradition, UCLA presented its popular Festival of Preservation condensed into a mini film festival over one weekend, unlike those in the past spread out over a month. The selection covered the gamut of entertainment, from film noir to silents to animation to television kinescopes. While I was only able to attend one day, the films I watched looked great and offered moving and hilarious entertainment.
I attended Saturday, February 16, to see restored silent shorts and eclectic TV productions. The day kicked off with a screening of “Playhouse 90,” preceded by a rare, fascinating kinescope of a closed-circuit press conference filled with elaborate production work, cutting back and forth between stars, sets, and the TV stage. Opening with a shot of CBS Television City off Fairfax Avenue, the kinescope featured appearances from a wild blend of behind-the-scenes executives and major stars.
Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,” is now on sale.
So I just caught Steve Hodel inserting a nice, fat lie in his dad’s Wikipedia page. Oh this is so much fun!
This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 20th Century-Fox film “Night Train to Munich,” with Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul von Henried (Henreid), Basil Radford, Maunton Wayne, James Harcourt, Felix Aylmer, Wyndham Goldie, Roland Culver, Eliot Makeham, Raymond Huntley, Austen Trevor, Keneth Kent, C.V. France, Fritz Valk, Morland Graham.
Based on an original story by Gordon Wellesley. Screenplay by Sydney Gillat and Frank Launder. Directed by Carol Reed. Photography by Otto Kanturek, art direction by Vetchinsky, editing by R.E. Dearing, sound supervision by B.C. Sewell, cutting by Michael Gordon, recording by S. Wiles, musical direction by Louis Levy. Produced by Edward Black.
Made at Gaumont British Studios, Shepherds Bush, London, Maurice Ostrer in charge of production.
“Night Train to Munich” is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection.
“A close second as the Best Production Still Out-of-Doors, is this beautifully composed and lighted scene from “Song of Bernadette,” 20th-Century-Fox production, by Stax Graves,” Courtesy of Mary Mallory.
Note: This is an encore of a post from 2014.
Over its 87-year-old history, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recognized outstanding work by individuals involved in the filmmaking process. Above-the line-talent like actors and directors have been recognized, along with behind-the-scenes contributors like editors, composers, and production and costume designers. Science and technology experts are also receive awards for their contributions in improving equipment and technology for the filmmaking process.
For four years during the 1940s, AMPAS also presented awards to motion picture studio stills photographers, recognizing their work in producing creative and beautiful visual representations selling motion pictures to consumers. Although the winning stillsmen did not receive Oscar statuettes or gain wide publicity for their awards, this competition was the very first important public acknowledgment of the importance still photographers played in promoting films to the movie-going public.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Jan. 5, 1959: Chief William Parker suspends Officer Charles Wolf serial No. 4115 for 15 days for … oh dear. Banging “a known prostitute and dissolute person” and letting her get possession of his firearm.
This material is from the city archives and was published on latimes.com in 2009 from research by then-UCLA intern Catriona Lavery. The original post is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 14, 1959: Matt Weinstock ends his week with an assortment of amusing stories, a poem and a bit of literature. Weinstock had an impressive number and variety of people feeding items to him. He made it look easy.
Weinstock’s column originally ran in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. The entire column is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 14, 1959: It’s Saturday in 1959, and Paul Coates ends the week with some letters, a typical ploy in the days when columnists published six times a week, a punishing schedule. And there is a Parkey Sharkey alert! Also Mickey Cohen.
Coates’ column appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished in 2009 on latimes.com. The entire column is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 14, 1882: Love and practical jokes flourish by the wagon load in Los Angeles. “More hearts are made sad by the villainous characters and miserable doggerel sent out broadcast, than can be cured before the next valentine day comes around. The American people are a nation of jokers and never lose a chance to play a practical joke and this chance cannot be lost, however much pain may be given.
This item appeared in the L.A. Times in 1882 and was republished in 2009 on latimes.com. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 13, 1959: Matt Weinstock ends the day with a few thoughts about Valentine’s Day. Plus the usual assortment of short poems and amusing stories.
The Mirror’s copy desk must have had some wags. I was about to say that they must have had more down time in the days of hot metal and typewriters, but of course with multiple editions, they kept pretty busy.
Weinstock’s column ran in 1959 in the L.A. Mirror and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 13, 1959: Paul Coates takes another look at Americans held in jail in Tijuana. Those who were arrested in a raid on a Rosarito Beach casino were the elite. A man who was being held for running a red light was not so fortunate.
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.
It’s a worthwhile experience to put down whatever you’re doing for half an hour today and read something about one of the world’s great men. It doesn’t matter which of the books about him you read. His wisdom and humor and particularly his compassion come through in all of them, even in the vignettes in Reader’s Digest.
I’ve been reading Mark Van Doren’s recently published play, “The Last Days of Lincoln,” which covers the last few weeks before his death.
The end of the war was imminent and the big issue was whether the terms of surrender should be harsh or generous. Some hotheads were for hanging the generals and destroying the South. Lincoln patiently tried to convey to them his feeling that such rash action would only add to the tragedy of a divided, stricken nation.
Feb. 12, 1959: Matt Weinstock closes the day with his usual light touch. And yes, the Civil War.
This column appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 12, 1959: After World War II, many Americans assumed that penicillin had eliminated venereal disease (STDs to you youngsters). And, no, it was still around.
This column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It’s available via Archive.org.
We have Edwin Mims, long-forgotten teacher, author and head of the English Department at Vanderbilt University, to thank for what may be the most famous quip about Los Angeles.
Mims, who died in 1959 at the age of 87, was a frequent summer lecturer at USC and about the summer of 1938, he apparently gave birth to one of the most frequently repeated lines about Los Angeles, calling it “12 suburbs in search of a city.”
I mention Mims and his bon mot because of David Kipen’s book “Dear Los Angeles,” an anthology of observations in diaries and letters about the city from 1542 to 2018.
If I have learned anything in studying Los Angeles for several decades, it’s to control my expectations about books on L.A. From the earliest reviews, “Dear Los Angeles” never seemed like a book I would ever buy, but it also seemed like a book I should at least examine. “Dear Los Angeles” was so popular among patrons of the Los Angeles Public Library that I waited a fair amount of time in the queue before a copy arrived a my local branch.
Note: This is an encore post from 2013.
Hollywood has always been creative in promoting its films and personalities to the public. Employing posters, lobby cards, window cards and photographs, silent film production companies hyped upcoming films. With the success of these forms of advertisements and publicity, companies began selling or giving away photographs, buttons, pillow tops, plates and pennants featuring likenesses of popular moving picture stars as souvenirs and collectibles to eager fans.
The film industry was usually not the first to conceive of ideas; instead, it built on successful practices and gimmicks of other fields. One such popular practice the silent film industry quickly copied was the manufacture and distribution of small felt pennants promoting either producing companies or the film stars of such organizations.
Now on Amazon: “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” by Mary Mallory
This week’s mystery movie was the 1942 MGM film “Eyes in the Night,” with Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Horace McNally, Katherine Emery, Allen Jenkins, Stanley C. Ridges, Reginald Denny, John Emery, Rosemary de Camp, Erik Rolf, Barry Nelson, Reginald Sheffield, Steve Geray, Mantan Moreland and Friday.
Produced by Jack Chertok, screenplay by Guy Trosper and Howard Emmett Rogers, from a book by Baynard Kendrick. Photography by Robert Planck and Charles Lawton, music by Lennie Hayton, recording by Douglas Shearer, art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Stan Rogers, set decorations by Edwin B. Willis and Edward J. Boyle, gowns by Kalloch, editing by Ralph Winters. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. “Eyes in the Night” was Anne Harding’s first picture since 1937 (“Love From a Stranger”).
“Eyes in the Night” is available on DVD from TCM.
Dear friends and members of the Brain Trust. We lost a charter member with the death of Ed Fuentes, who apparently suffered a fatal heart attack, according to Facebook.
Ed was the subject of my first column at The Times and I was so pleased to let latimes.com readers know about him. A huge loss.
(You see some of Ed’s work whenever you read the Daily Mirror because he designed the nameplate. It took him all of 20 minutes. He asked me later if I wanted to freshen it and I said no, it was perfect just as he had done it. And bless him, he did it out of friendship.)
In every sense, Fuentes is larger than life. He’s not exactly tall and not exactly slender, often a bit rumpled, with a few days of stubble and a full head of hair like coarse steel wool. He’s always equipped with at least one camera and a broad sense of humor. In fact, when he said we could meet at the Pie Hole, a restaurant on Traction Avenue, I thought he was joking.
It is his passion for downtown L.A. that has set him apart, chronicling its renaissance and emerging arts community over the last half a dozen years in a series of blogs that give a sense of the area’s history as much as its beauty, including his own View From a Loft and, most recently, Departures for KCET.
He may be little-known to large segments of the city he loves, but in downtown, his voice has endured.
ladailymirror.com 