Feb. 6, 1959: Paul Coates writes a happy ending to the Lewis “Butch” Harris saga. This comes after the Sentinel reported a different outcome.
Coates’ column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
And Butch/Lewis, if you’re reading this, Drop us a line
Feb. 3, 1939: Nuestro Pueblo, by Joe Seewerker with illustrations by Charles Owens, was one of my favorite discoveries in The Times. The columns were collected and published in a book that is also one of my favorites. It’s a bit hard to find but worth the search..
This column originally appeared in the L.A. Times in 1939 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
March 5 1902: Apparently lying with a cinder block on the stomach is a “cure” for the “emaciated” woman.
“The bony woman is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the typical creature we know at a glance and summarize as ‘all nerves.’ ”
This story originally appeared in 1902 and was reposted in 2009 on latimes.com. It is available via Archive.org.
So here we have a passing mention of piano prodigy George Hodel, age 9, meeting Sergei Rachmaninoff “accompanied by the Russian minister of culture.”
I’m particularly interested in this line because Rachmaninoff (Kristof Konrad) shows up in “I Am the Night” while Man Ray (Exhibit B in the George “Evil Genius” Hodel franchise) doesn’t appear. Possibly the Man Ray Trust frowned on the depiction of him as a maniacal killer.
Do you love research? Of course you do or you wouldn’t be reading the Daily Mirror.
But do you love research about the Hodel family? Possibly not.
Feb. 4, 1959: Anecdotes, a poem and some amusing stories. Another light column to finish the day at the L.A. Mirror, courtesy of Matt Weinstock.
The column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was published on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 4, 1959: Paul Coates does more reporting on the case of Americans being held in Tijuana after a raid on a gambling casino in Rosarito Beach.
The story originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished in 2009 on latimes.com. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 4, 1959: Plane crashes were much more common 60 years ago. The late Eric Malnic, who specialized in covering them for the L.A. Times, once noted that “we haven’t had a big plane crash in years.”
In sports, Wally Moon, Gil Hodges, Carl Erskine, Jim Gilliam and Larry and Norm Sherry sign contracts and Keith Thursby has the story.
The post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 3, 1959: Matt Weinstock on difference between looking good on a dinky bar-sized pool table and a regulation table.
This post originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 3, 1959: Paul Coates could dig into real reporting and in this column he is looking at the case of 20 Americans seized in a raid on a casino and held in an unheated city jail in Tijuana — and I think you know where this story is going.
The column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.
I’m a day late but trying to catch up. Here’s the Mirror’s front page from 1959.
This post originally ran on latimes.com and is available via Archive.org.
Feb. 1, 1959: Art Aragon was suspected of winning a fight too easily, and Keith Thursby has the story..
This post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.
Note: This post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.
February 1959: Speaking of the future, RCA’s David Sarnoff describes an astounding “television recorder!”
“Westinghouse’s Gwilym Price expects [recorded] tapes to reproduce shows in three dimensions and color on screens as shallow as a picture.”
“Another pushbutton development will be projection of microfilm books on the ceiling or wall in large type. To increase their impact on students, an electronic voice may accompany the visual passages.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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:
ladailymirror.com 