Tag Archives: medicine

November 12, 1947: Pasadena Girl Recovers From Mystery Illness

Posted on November 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 12, 1947: Andrea Brodine, 6, for whose life many have prayed since she was stricken by a deadly paralysis two weeks ago, walked again at the Huntington Memorial Hospital yesterday—supported by a mechanical carrier device but strongly on the road to full recovery. Continue reading →

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October 26, 1907: Women Clean Clothes With Gasoline, Die After Explosion and Fire

Posted on October 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 26, 1907: Two women in the West Adams District were badly burned and expected to die after a bowl of gasoline they were using to clean a soiled dress exploded, engulfing their apartment at 42 St. James Park in flames. Continue reading →

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October 24, 1907: Sanitarium Doctor Tells Patients to ‘Live on Love’ and Forget About Food

Posted on October 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 24, 1907: Upon the suicide of Dr. H. Russell Burner, advocate of the “radium milk” cure, his sanitarium was taken over by Dr. F.S. Kurpiers, who is now in trouble with the Health Department. Kurpiers didn’t have a medical license, so he obtained the certificate of Dr. C.H. King, a dying physician who wept as he told authorities that the only way he could support a few relatives was to rent out his license. Continue reading →

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October 21, 1947: Firefighter Sits Through Movie With Dead Friend to Avoid Audience Panic

Posted on October 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 21, 1947: Walter Saul and his wife had just settled in for a movie with his friend Aloysius Bollin when he felt Bollin’s head on his shoulder. Saul, a firefighter, realized that Bollin had no pulse. He was dead. But rather than created a disturbance, he waited until the double feature was over. Then told Bollin’s son Joseph to go get his mother because his father was sick. Continue reading →

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October 21, 1907: L.A. Doctor Wants to Exterminate Cats Over Their Diet of Diseased Rats

Posted on October 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 21, 1907: Dr. E.O. Sawyer wants to kill all the cats in town because cats feast on diseased rodents and then come home to be babied by families laboring under the misguided notion that they somehow “own” the cats.
Continue reading →

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Sept. 13, 1907: Girl’s Foot Amputated After Being Crushed by Streetcar

Posted on September 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 13, 1907: A girl’s foot is amputated after she was hit by a streetcar. Continue reading →

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September 7, 1907: Typhoid, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Tuberculosis

Posted on September 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 7,1907: No measles or smallpox cases for August, and diphtheria, scarlet fever and tuberculosis are down. Typhoid cases, however, are increasing. Continue reading →

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August 25, 1947: Police Investigate Death of Doctor’s Wife

Posted on August 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 25, 1947: Susanne Castillo is found dead in a bathtub and her husband, Dr. Manuel de J. Castillo, is suspected. Continue reading →

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Aug. 22, 1947: 5 L.A. Women Doctors Honored at Medical Convention

Posted on August 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 22, 1947: Girls aspiring to careers should follow women physicians’ example—many have both satisfactory home and professional lives, Dr. E. Mae McCarroll says. Continue reading →

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Aug. 2, 1907: Dr. Lucy Hall-Brown Dies

Posted on August 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 2, 1907: A brief look at the life of Dr. Lucy Hall-Brown, a prominent woman physician. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Story of Dr. Jenner’ Promotes Vaccination

Posted on January 18, 2021 by lmharnisch

Matthew Boulton as the physician who develops a cure for smallpox in MGM’s 1939 “The Story of Dr. Jenner.” For centuries, smallpox infestations caused massive deaths and disfigurings to civilizations. First appearing in agricultural communities around 10,000 BC, the disease … Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 5, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 film “False Faces,” with Lowell Sherman, Peggy Shannon, Lila Lee, Berton Churchill, David Landau, Harold Waldrige, Geneva Mitchell, Oscar Apfel, Miriam Seegar, Joyce Compton, Nancy O’Neil, Edward Martindel and Purnell Pratt. Screenplay by … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Deja Vu All Over Again With COVID-19

Posted on April 27, 2020 by lmharnisch

For more than a month, most of the world has lived in a state of suspended animation as we all deal with the effects of COVID-19. Many are not following guidelines or procedures, griping about the situation, etc., seeming to … Continue reading →

Posted in 1918, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 30, 2019 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1939 Warner Bros. film “A Child Is Born” (working title “Give Me a Child,”) with Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George, Gale Page, Spring Byington, Johnnie Davis, Henry O’Neill and John Litel. Screenplay by … Continue reading →

Posted in 1939, Film, Hollywood, Medicine, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Feb. 12, 1959: Paul Coates – When VD Was ‘Cured’

Posted on February 12, 2019 by lmharnisch

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 … Continue reading →

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March 1902: A ‘Cure’ for Anorexia

Posted on February 7, 2019 by lmharnisch

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 … Continue reading →

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Dec. 31, 1907: Old Watchman, Beaten by Robbers, Revealed as Cocaine Addict

Posted on December 31, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Dec. 31, 1907 Los Angeles His name was W.H. Reynolds and the old watchman for E.H. Howard Contracting had laid out all night after being beaten up and thrown in the weeds … Continue reading →

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Dec. 20, 1907: Miracle Doctor Fer-Don Cures Man of 90-Foot Tape Worm!

Posted on December 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Dec. 20,1907 Los Angeles Mr. C.D. Roberts of 1900 E. Main was feeling a bit unwell. He had bad headaches, an irregular appetite, saw dark spots before his eyes and felt as … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1908, 1909, LAPD, Medicine, Pasadena, Streetcars | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

An Early Christmas for Children With Terminal Illnesses

Posted on December 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. One of the tragic staples in The Times is stories of young cancer patients who received their presents early because they weren’t expected to live until … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Medicine | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Nov. 12, 1947: Pasadena Girl Recovers From Mystery Illness

Posted on November 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.. Andrea Brodine, 6, for whose life many have prayed since she was stricken by a deadly paralysis two weeks ago, walked again at the Huntington Memorial … Continue reading →

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