Tag Archives: photography

September 30, 1886: ‘An Orgie Such as Even the Most Salacious Pen of Ancient Rome Never Dared Describe’

Posted on September 30, 2026 by lmharnisch

Sept. 30, 1886: The Times describes an all-night “orgie” in the apartments over Eckert’s saloon involving Walter S. Moore, running for secretary of state, three other men and “four common prostitutes.” By morning, Moore was trying to rouse the waiter to get a photographer ‘for an obscene purpose.’ Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, March 27, 1944

Posted on March 27, 2026 by lmharnisch

Life Magazine, March 27, 1944: A landing craft transports troops to an Italian beach while an LCI lands troops in New Guinea and New Britain in a profile by John Hersey. Also: lessons on posing a glamour shot and a feature on Alfred Eisenstaedt. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Ethel B. Higgins, Photographer and Botanist

Posted on January 19, 2026 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory profiles Ethel B. Higgins, an early Hollywood photographer who became a leading botanist in her later years. Continue reading →

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October 27, 1927: Follies Theater’s ‘Hot Mamma’ Show Led Court to Overturn Law on ‘Indecent Shows’

Posted on October 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

On Oct. 27, 1927, a campaign to “sweep Main Street clear of questionable shows” resulted in the arrest of 27 women of the “Hot Mamma” show. Police also arrested “12 chorus men, four tattooed women wearing their working clothes and last, but not least, Ill Ill, an untamed tree-climbing South African pygmy” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, September 25, 1944

Posted on September 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 25, 1944: Claire Poe of Miami Beach, Fla., appears on the cover of Life’s special issue “A Letter to GIs,” because she is the kind of good-looking American girl that a lot of GIs know and would like to hear from. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, September 4, 1944

Posted on September 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 4, 1944: Life magazine’s cover story is on Secretary of State Cordell Hull in a portrait by Karsh. Alfred Eisenstaedt celebrates 15 years as a photojournalist, and a photographer snaps photos at Hollywood and Vine. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, August 21, 1944

Posted on August 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 21, 1944: Life magazine has Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo essay on European immigrants arriving in America. Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Elaborate Fake Pinup Found on EBay

Posted on August 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

A rather elaborate fraud, purportedly a pinup of Elizabeth Short (no, it’s not), was listed on EBay. The item has been withdrawn, but in case it ever surfaces again — it’s a fake. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, Aug. 7, 1944

Posted on August 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 7, 1944: Geraldine Fitzgerald is the cover photo as Life features the rarely seen movie “Wilson.” Life also reports on the unsuccessful bomb plot to kill Hitler. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Stills Photographers Get the Perfect Shot

Posted on May 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory looks at the history of stills photographers in Hollywood. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Women Behind the Scenes in Early Film Photography

Posted on March 10, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory takes a look at women in the early days of Hollywood still photography. And she has a book coming out March 25 “First Women of Hollywood.” Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Peter P. Jones, Pioneering Black Photographer

Posted on February 10, 2025 by lmharnisch

In an encore post, Mary Mallory looks at the career of Black photographer Peter P. Jones, who shot production stills for Selznick Pictures. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Donald Biddle Keyes, Cameraman

Posted on May 27, 2024 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2013. Most motion picture still photographers picked up cameras at young ages, intrigued at how they could paint with light. Many yearned to do more than just snap shots in a portrait studio … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Peter P. Jones, Pioneering Black Photographer

Posted on February 20, 2024 by lmharnisch

Booker T. Washington, photographed by Peter P. Jones, Chicago, about 1910, from the Library of Congress. During the early decades of the 1900s, few African Americans participated or worked for major moving picture studios in leading positions in front or … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Fred Archer, Master of Artistic Photography

Posted on November 13, 2023 by lmharnisch

Joan Bennett photographed by Fred Archer, Modern Screen Magazine. Note: This is an encore post from 2015 As stillsmen Elmer Fryer and Fred Archer wrote in the 1928 article for “Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers,” “In the … Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 25, 2023 by lmharnisch

I picked a mystery movie for this week, but upon previewing the film I decided that the print wasn’t good enough to use, and that there were other issues that sent it back to the vault. While I’m picking a … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Two Pioneering Women Photographers

Posted on September 18, 2023 by lmharnisch

Just a few years after Susan B. Anthony and others organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848, women began working as photographers in the United States. While many took over their father’s or husband’s photography … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Bert Longworth and ‘Hold Still, Hollywood’

Posted on June 26, 2023 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2012. In the last forty years, movie collectors and photography connoisseurs have recognized the art and value of Hollywood still photography, most particularly in the gloriously lit and composed portraits of glamorous stars. … Continue reading →

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Remembering Newsman Tony Valdez | 1945-2023

Posted on May 11, 2023 by lmharnisch

We’re remembering veteran Fox 11 newsman Tony Valdez, who died last week at 78. Tony loved Los Angeles and he loved Los Angeles history; for Tony, the city was a profession and an avocation. When he wasn’t reporting on Los … Continue reading →

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Eve Golden: The Amazing Life of Allan Gould

Posted on April 14, 2023 by lmharnisch

Ruth Tester and Allan Gould perform Manhattan in the 1929 Paramount short Makers of Melody. Longtime readers may recall that way back in 2013, Larry and I pondered the career of Allan Gould, whom I had seen in a 1929 … Continue reading →

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