Tag Archives: 1957

The saga of Long Sam

Posted on August 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 4-12, 1957Mooresville, N.C. A reporter and a photographer from a small North Carolina weekly were hacking their way through the woods along the Catawba River for a story about a hydroelectric project when they came to a clearing and … Continue reading →

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Four-time loser

Posted on August 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 12, 1957Los Angeles John Gordon Fawcett, 42, had enough. His last three marriages had ended with his wives getting boyfriends and so when he found his fourth wife in the bedroom with another man…. “This happens every time,” he … Continue reading →

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Inklings of Camelot

Posted on August 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 11, 1957 Princeton, N.J. I’ve intentionally avoided politics so far, but hindsight is a wonderful way to judge 50-year-old attempts to forecast the future, in this case, the 1960 presidential election. Let’s see how George Gallup did with the … Continue reading →

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The Nielsens–add 1

Posted on August 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

What was "Gunsmoke?" Oh don’t do this to me. OK, kids. "Gunsmoke" was an incredibly popular TV show that went off the air in . . . 1975. (What? Could this be right?  Surely it wasn’t that long ago). It … Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Television | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 10-15, 1957 Los Angeles In testimony that was at times as colorful as its red and yellow covers, the Confidential magazine trial continued with an appearance by its former editor in proceedings that were all the more interesting because … Continue reading →

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The Nielsens

Posted on August 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 9, 1957 Los Angeles Top shows for the first two weeks of July 1957: "Gunsmoke" "The Ed Sullivan Show" "The $64,000 Question" "I’ve Got a Secret" "Playhouse 90" "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (reruns) "The Lineup" (reruns) "20th Century-Fox Hour" "What’s … Continue reading →

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Immigration and labor notes

Posted on August 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 9, 1957 Los Angeles The Times ran a series of brief stories in 1957 on the braceros, workers brought from Mexico to the U.S. In January, it noted that 460,000 to 470,000 braceros would be working in the U.S. … Continue reading →

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Fashion notes

Posted on August 8, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 8, 1957Los Angeles Los Angeles men: You’re slobs, surpassed only by your male counterparts in Houston and Fort Worth. You should let your wives pick out your clothes, or so says Francis DeWitt Pratt of the American Institute of … Continue reading →

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Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 8, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 8, 1957 Los Angeles Prosecutors opened the case against Confidential and Whisper by charging that the magazines used prostitutes to lure movies stars into compromising situations and published the incidents in scandalous articles. The magazines, Publishers Distributing Corp. … Continue reading →

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Oliver Hardy dies

Posted on August 7, 2007 by lmharnisch

The world mourns one of film’s greatest comedians, Oliver Hardy, who died in North Hollywood on Aug. 7, 1957. He was 65. Part 1 Part 2 The Mirror, Page 1 (Note the price of gas, 23.9 cents a gallon, is … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Watts

Posted on August 6, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 5, 1957 Los Angeles In eight years (the headline above is from The Times, Aug. 12, 1965), Los Angeles will explode in the Watts riots and many people will wonder how it happened. Here’s part of the answer. … Continue reading →

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Hiroshima 12 years later

Posted on August 6, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 6, 1957New York I wish I could find the story that went with this picture, but I haven’t been successful so far. I’ll keep digging. There’s a wiki entry on Hubert Schiffer.  Email me

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Songs of the week

Posted on August 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

The picks from KWFB-AM (980), Aug. 3, 1957. I actually recognize most of these tunes; "Old Cape Cod" and "Gold Mine in the Sky" are new to me, but at least I’ve heard of Patti Page and  Pat Boone.  Alas … Continue reading →

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Discord in Alhambra

Posted on August 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 5, 1957 Alhambra Robert D. Smallfield and his former wife, Wilma, have a novel arrangement. Divorced after 17 years of marriage, Robert rents a room from Wilma at their former home, 1222 S. Marengo, Alhambra, so that he … Continue reading →

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Mickey Cohen–author

Posted on August 4, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 4, 1957 Oceanside Box 7, Folders 216-229 of the Ben Hecht archives at the Newberry Library in Chicago appear to contain whatever was produced during the time Hecht worked with gangster Mickey Cohen on the story of the mobster’s … Continue reading →

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Never returned

Posted on August 4, 2007 by lmharnisch

I found this in the archives. Poor thing, only 19. She never got to see her daughter grow up. Judith Ann Dull June 23, 1938-Aug. 1, 1957    

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Photo shoot

Posted on August 3, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 3, 1957Los Angeles In June 1957, about the time she turned 19, Judy, at right, met Betty at a Hollywood photographer’s studio. They were both young and hoping for modeling careers, so Betty, 19, asked Judy to move into … Continue reading →

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‘I Hate Cops!’

Posted on August 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 2, 1957Los Angeles It was St. Patrick’s Day, 1957, and a few customers got rowdy in a bar at Pico Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Police Officer Leo Wise separated a couple of men who were fighting and ordered them … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Watts

Posted on August 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1-7, 1957Los Angeles A search through The Times for early August reveals several stories about Chief William H. Parker being honored for 30 years service with the Los Angeles Police Department. In a luncheon at the Biltmore Bowl hosted … Continue reading →

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Spanish blood

Posted on August 1, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1, 1957Los Angeles Maybe it’s heat, maybe it’s the smog (what would be a Stage 3 alert today), but The Times is full of odd crime news. A rabid 2-year-old fox terrier mix went on a rampage starting at … Continue reading →

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