Twenty years after it was built in 1909, the Wonderland Theater, 315 S.
Main, was repeatedly in trouble with the law for showing indecent
movies. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell exactly what was on the
bill because the theater never advertised in The Times.
According to a 1909 story, the theater was a one-story brick building,
32 feet by 120 feet with a stamped metal front, marble lobby, tile
floor and concrete floor in the auditorium, designed by A.C. Martin.
In 1928, theater manager Jamie A. Titus was fined $100 ($1,124.36 USD
2006) "for displaying pictures of indecent acts in front of his
theater." The photos featured "partly clad women," according to The
Times.
The next year, Frank L. Titus pleaded not guilty to charges that he
showed the indecent movie "Bare Legs," a three-reeler that authorities
said was "unfit for public gaze" and that he showed indecent photos in
the Wonderland lobby.
On May 16, 1929, jurors deadlocked on indecency charges after a private
showing of "Bare Legs." The prosecutor said he would seek a new trial,
but The Times never reported further on the case. And no, there's nothing in imdb about "Bare Legs."
Photography wasn't allowed in certain spots on the L.A. Conservancy's Mainly Main tour, so I didn't take many pictures. A crew was setting up for a private party in St. Vibiana's where all photography was banned, and the penthouse at the Pacific Electric Lofts was dressed for a shoot (I think it was "24") so no pictures were permitted. We also went into Edison, but the light levels were so low that I would never get decent pictures in there with my camera.
All that remained of the 42-ton aircraft fit into 14 cardboard cartons
and two wooden crates that the sailors of the aircraft carrier
Philippine Sea hauled ashore in Long Beach after the debris was plucked
from the Pacific.
The broken bodies of 19 people were reverently
removed from a refrigerated locker on the carrier, taken past an honor
guard of six Marines and transported to Mottell's & Peek Mortuary
for examination.
Pan American's "Romance of the Skies" Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, a
military Stratofreighter modified for civilian use, had vanished Nov.
8, 1957, carrying 36 passengers and a crew of eight on a flight from
San Francisco to Honolulu. The aircraft had passed the "point of no
return" and last reported its position at 29 degrees, 29 minutes north,
141 degrees, 35 minutes west about 5:04 p.m. Pacific Standard Time,
according to The Times. There was no further radio contact and no
message of distress.
Coast Guard Cmdr. William E. Chapline noted that the crew should have
been able to broadcast a distress message during the 20 minutes it
would have taken the aircraft to descend from cruising altitude to the
ocean. But there was nothing. The four-engine plane simply never
arrived.
The Philippine Sea left Long Beach on Nov. 9, carrying Deke Houlgate,
who filed stories for The Times. At first, Houlgate and AP
photographer Harold Filan intended to record a rescue mission, but
lingering hope slowly faded as days of searching failed to find any
trace of the aircraft.
Airline officials refused to speculate on what became of their missing
plane. "You will hear rumors of an explosion or sabotage or whatever,
but the plain fact is: We have no idea what might have occurred," a
spokesman told The Times.
Chapline said the Stratocruiser was a well-built aircraft that
would have been able to float after being ditched. (In fact a Pan Am
Stratocruiser on the same flight path had gone into the ocean Oct. 16,
1956, after losing the No. 1 and No. 4 engines, but the plane landed
near a Coast Guard weather ship and everyone was rescued).
Unidentified civilian and military air authorities theorized that the
plane might have crashed without sending a distress signal because of
an explosion caused by broken fuel connection at a carburetor that
sprayed gas on a manifold; an inboard engine threw a propeller through
the flight engineer's position, cutting all power instantly; a time
bomb exploded; an electrical fire knocked out the radio and forced the
plane into the sea.
The debris was finally located Nov. 14, 1957, in a 30-square-mile area 955 miles northeast of Honolulu.
A search plane reported: "Highly probable wreckage... Six bodies in the
water... One still strapped in the seat... No rafts or life jackets
visible... Three more bodies spotted... One appears to be in a life
jacket."
The pilot later reported: "Tenth body sighted... Debris appears to be
brown and yellow objects, possible seat covers and one life raft cover."
Sailors reported shark attacks in their area and The Times said that
one shark had to be shot before a body could be recovered.
Houlgate wrote: "The bodies floating on the surface... made at best a
poor target on radar and were nearly invisible from the air. If it were
not for the systematic search plan executed by this carrier the bodies
might never have been found and the question of what happened to the
airliner never answered." He reported that two victims' watches were stopped at 7:25 and another
was stopped at 5:25, apparently set to coincide with Honolulu time.
"The first body recovered earlier today from the sea was that of a man
wearing dark clothing and a yellow life jacket," Houlgate wrote. "The
body was without shoes as were many of the others recovered later.
"All the bodies had external injuries and multiple fractures. Cause of
death was considered to be from extensive injuries rather than exposure
or drowning."
Coast Guard Capt. Donald B. MacDairmid, a search-and-rescue expert,
told The Times that "the description of the wreckage and condition of
the passengers indicate that the plane 'definitely went into the water
in a bad or uncontrolled ditching' with the passengers warned of a
state of emergency."
Houlgate cataloged the recovered debris, which was laid out in 50-foot square on the carrier's hangar deck under Marine guard:
A piece of yellow sheet metal reading "944 FW-R-SIDE COCKPIT" in grease pencil.
A wide seat "ravaged by flames " that was "blackened and grooved."
A ladies washroom door with printing in English and some Oriental language.
An emergency exit sign and light fixture, probably from the cabin.
Pillows, some with white covers.
Several gas tank floats.
The snapshot of a man.
A cabinet that could have been used to hold glasses or paper cups.
A woman's wool suit.
A paper sack marked "Rubber Gloves."
A white toy dog made of fabric with a ribbon around its neck.
Three cases for 35-millimeter slides.
An orange squeezer.
A gray and black checked wool suit.
Three oil-splotched serving trays.
Half of a blue suitcase and one side of another.
Two leather, fur-lined gloves.
A woman's white purse and a green one, both smudged with oil.
Several pieces of a cigarette flip box.
A Christmas card reading "Greetings from our house to your house" with the picture of a baby.
A notebook charred on the edges, with Oriental writing in pencil.
Another story says packets of letters were discovered, presumably air mail that the plane was carrying.
Air crash investigators flew out to the carrier to begin examining the
debris before the ship landed in Long Beach, but they refused to
discuss their findings.
The recovered victims, The Times said, were:
Robert Alexander, Pan Am co-pilot on vacation
Margaret Alexander, his wife
Judy Alexander, their 9-year-old daughter
Yvonne Alexander, flight attendant
Mrs. Tomiko Boyd, wife of Master Sgt. Robert Boyd, stationed in Korea.
Capt. Gordon H. Brown, the pilot.
Mrs. Anna Clack
Scott Clack, her son, 6
Lt. Cmdr. Gordon Cole.
Eugene Crosthwaite, the plane's purser.
William Deck, en route to marry a Japanese woman in Tokyo
Edward Ellis, Hillsborough, Calif.
Robert Halliday/Holliday of New South Wales, Australia
Dr. William Hagan, Louisville, Ky.
Nicole Madeline La Maison (or Lamaison), wife of Renault executive Robert La Maison, who was also on the plane
Thomas McGrail, Department of State, cultural attache in Burma
Phillip Sullivan, Department of State, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs
Toyoe Tanaka
Casiana Soehartijah van der Byl, a history teacher in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Subsequent investigation revealed carbon monoxide in the victims' body tissue. According to a report on the crash, "the board has insufficient tangible evidence at this time to determine the cause of the accident."
A San Francisco Chronicle story
features Ken Fortenberry, whose father was navigator on the plane, and
Gregg Herken, whose favorite elementary school teacher, Marie McGrath,
was a flight attendant on the plane.
Speaking of "-30-," (see previous post) here's a still of Jack Webb and William Conrad that I dug out of the archives.
I'm especially fond of this picture. For many years, there was a huge enlargement of it by the Metro news desk.
For comparison, here's an undated photo of the Herald Examiner staff I borrowed from somebody's desk at The Times. Newspaper lore held that "-30-" was filmed in the Examiner Building. Like many wonderful myths, it wasn't true. Research revealed that Webb built a duplicate of the newsroom on a sound stage.
Front row, from left: Paige Owens, Mary Braswell, Joe Eckdahl, Darce Infante, Dave Barton, unknown. Back row, from left: 1-3 unknown, Les Dunseith, unknown, Jeanne Pedersen, Mike Castelvecchi, Cees Kendall, Warren Wolfswinkel, Tim Lynch and Arnold Paradise.
I had an opportunity to tour the Regent, 448 S. Main St. (yes, it's still standing) during the Los Angeles Conservancy's recent Mainly Main tour. The theater, built in 1914, was never a movie palace, so there's nothing opulent about it. The seats have been removed and the floor, though raked, is poured concrete. The ceiling appears to be mostly intact, as is the proscenium. There's no stage to speak of and no orchestra pit. This theater was strictly intended for showing movies.
Nov. 7, 1957 Los Angeles
Here's a story that white Los Angeles will never see: An NAACP boycott
against Anheuser-Busch because it refused to hire African American
truck drivers, plant workers and office staff.
According to the California Eagle, a weekly serving the local African
American community, the NAACP was calling on 350,000 blacks in Los
Angeles to stop drinking Budweiser until the company ended its biased
hiring practices. African American owners of liquor stores and bars
were also urged to stop serving the beer.
The story noted that although blacks constituted 8.5% of the local
population, they accounted for 18% of the beer sold in Los Angeles. The
businesses taking part in the boycott represented about 2,000 cases of
Budweiser a month, the Eagle said.
The boycott was called after the Urban League failed to attain equality
in hiring despite years of efforts, the story said. The NAACP's labor
and industry committee had tried to confer with a West Coast
representative of the brewer, but was also unsuccessful.
According to William Pollard of the labor and industry committee, "It
is ridiculous that in their entire Los Angeles operations only two
Negroes are employed by Budweiser," the Eagle said.
Here's our mystery guest with a couple of fine looking collies. The photographer (this is a handout shot) went for an arty look that left her hair buried in deep shadows, so the picture couldn't be used in the paper without lots of retouching by the art department. Our mystery guest was an actress and appeared on stage and in films.
Here's another picture of our mystery guest, taken in 1948. Her life has been discussed in several books about Los Angeles. You have most definitely heard of this actress.
Photograph by Bruce Cox / Los Angeles Times
Yes, this is Jean Spangler, the actress who mysteriously vanished in
1949. Her purse, with a cryptic note, was found in Griffith Park.
Here's another photo of her, a still from "Wabash Avenue," 1949.
And, as a special bonus for Daily Mirror readers, here is The Times' photo of Spangler's purse and the note (which was retouched, by the way, so it would be readable in the photograph) found in Griffith Park. Nobody can say the Daily Mirror doesn't deliver goodies.
A dissolute, self-centered millionaire playboy with two marriages under
his belt meets a gorgeous starlet on the rebound from her second
marriage and the outcome should be obvious to everyone. But it wasn't.
Frederick "Ted" Tillinghast III does not sound like great husband
material. His first marriage, to Iris Flores, the granddaughter of
former Costa Rican President Rafael Yglesias Castro, ended in divorce.
His second marriage to Sharon "Reform School Girl" Lee (who later divorced singers David Street and Budd Albright) also ended in the courts.
In filing for divorce, Lee said Ted was "quarrelsome and moody and
morose and would sulk for hours." For fish who are seeking bicycles,
this would be a no-brainer. (See previous posts on "How to Get and Keep a Husband.")
Ted apparently met Nancy Valentine at a party given by Mrs. Leslie
Snyder. Nancy's first marriage is a little mysterious but might have
been to Omar Dejany, identified in The Times as "representative to the
United Nations for Abdullah, King of Transjordan."
Her next marriage was far more publicized. She met Sri Jaggaddipandra Bhup Bahandar Narayan, the maharajah of Cooch Behar,
while he was in the U.S. buying shoes for his subjects, according to a
1956 gossip column. The couple were apparently married in 1949, but she
returned to her family in California in 1951 after the Indian
government refused to recognize the marriage and her status as the
maharani.
She joined the Self-Realization Fellowship
and spent the next three years at the group's Mt. Washington compound,
resuming her acting career in 1956 with an appearance in "Jane Wyman's
Fireside Theater," according to The Times.
And then things went terribly wrong. Nancy became ill, leaving a crowd
of wedding guests at the shrine. Days later, Ted made headlines when
it was revealed that he had stayed out most of the night with Lee, his
ex-wife, who canceled a date to see him, according to news accounts.
There was a reconciliation and they were married in a small ceremony at the Pacific Palisades shrine.
Shortly after their first anniversary, Nancy filed for divorce,
charging mental cruelty and alleging that he had been unfaithful.
"He said I was a nobody-peasant and that he was Frederick Tillinghast
III," Nancy testified. She was granted $1 a month alimony, a car,
furniture, stocks and bonds, and $100 a month child support for their
daughter, Darin Elizabeth.
Ted went on to at least one more divorce and at least one more arrest for drunk driving before disappearing from The Times.
And why am I spending so much time on the implosion of yet another Hollywood marriage?
Because Nancy played reporter Jan Price in Jack Webb's "Thirty" (or "-30-") and the Daily Mirror loves that movie.
Nancy Valentine as Jan Price, just your average newspaperwoman. (I mean, have you ever seen a picture of Aggie Underwood or Florabel Muir?)
Alas, I could find no further information in The Times about what became of her.
No, I'm not making this up. And what became of the first dog in space? Dog lovers around the world were furious and volunteered to take the animal's place. The Soviets hinted that there was no way to get it down, insisting that despite how things looked, Soviets were dog lovers, too. Really. The National Canine Defense League asked for a daily minute of silence for Curly (Kudryavka) the space pooch until it was brought down--safely. By then, Curly had already gone to the big kennel in the sky.
A hamburger with caviar and Russian dressing? I don't think I'll be whipping up one of these babies in the Daily Mirror test kitchen anytime soon.
Update: The 1947p's/LAPL's own Mary McCoy delves into ProQuest and turns up some ready answers, noting: "Gotta leave some for the rest of the kids to answer - no one likes a
ProQuest-it-all!"
Update II: I'm going to start filling in some of the answers--but very slowly just to give people one more chance to show off their expertise in Presleyana.
Update III: OK, here are the rest of the answers. Hope you had fun with that--I sure did.
And in case you're wondering, as I was, The Times apparently never shot Elvis in the 1950s. All we have are handout pictures. I would love to know the reason behind that.
1. In 1957, columnist Hedda Hopper listed Elvis Presley among the worst-dressed male personalities of the previous year. Who else was on the
list?
Marlon Brando? (David Andrews) Bingo! He was one of them.
James Dean? No. He died in 1955.
Tab Hunter, at right. I should dig up some of the 1957 profiles of Hunter to show what he was trying to contend with. He told Hopper: "I'm a product of Hollywood publicity." Fairly astute for a young man of 24.
Dennis Hopper (Gee, ya think?)
Spencer Tracy.
Paul Newman (What?)
Maxie Rosenbloom
Pa Kettle (Oh don't pick on poor Pa Kettle. That's as bad as saying Tugboat Annie is a slob. Oh wait, she says Tubgoat Annie is a slob).
Hedda Hopper's fashion tips for gals: "Some of them prefer slacks and turtle-neck sweaters, which are all right in their place, but not walking down Wilshire Boulevard, Fifth Avenue or Bond Street." That's it, ladies, no slacks and sweaters on Wilshire!
2. On what campus was Presley performing when someone threw eggs at him from the balcony?
University of Alabama? No. But an interesting guess.
Villanova University? (Mary McCoy). Bingo! Juniors William Quinn, William B. Oates, James Stark and John Edit denied egging Presley.
3. What was the name of the neighborhood where Presley bought Graceland in 1957?
Graceland was near Whitehaven, a suburb south of downtown. (Mary McCoy). Exactly right. According to The Times, Graceland was in Whitehaven.
4. What polite, modest, young TV personality emerged in 1957 who was described as a wholesome alternative to Presley?
Pat Boone? No. Boone was offered as a wholesome alternative, but this man was described as representing a wholesome, literate, intellectual alternative to Presley.
Charles Van Doren? (David Andrews) Incredible but true. "It's a long time--if ever--since the public has been so impressed by an intelligent, courteous, modest young man such as Van Doren." Charles Mercer, Associated Press.
5.
What future movie star was kicked off the university track team for refusing to trim his Elvis-like sideburns?
Michael Landon? No, but that's a great guess!
Bruce Dern? (Mary McCoy) Bingo! Bruce Dern, star of Penn's two-mile relay team, quit rather than shave his sideburns. (At right, tragedy at the Dern home, 1962).
6. Bootleg Presley recordings were selling for 50 rubles ($12.50 USD 1957)
in the Soviet Union in 1957. These bootlegs were not vinyl but on
another medium. What was it?
Acetate? No.
Wire recording? No.
Reel-to-reel magnetic tape? No. The Soviets used a nontraditional recording medium.
Shellac? No. The Soviets were using an improvised medium never intended for recording.
Used X-ray film? (Mary McCoy). Absolutely. This was known as "music on bones."
7. What folk music expert said: Elvis Presley is "a crime against society.
Rock 'n' roll is going to die. In fact the process has already started."
Pete Seeger? Interesting guess. No, but I wonder what Seeger thought of Presley.
Alan Lomax? Excellent guess. But no.
Burl Ives? Excellent guess! But no.
Woody Guthrie? Excellent guess. But no.
Dorothea Dix Lawrence? (Mary McCoy). Absolutely right. Lawrence cataloged 378 verses of "Frankie and Johnnie" (a.k.a. "Frankie and Albert").
8. Two young women making a promotional tour of the country ran into
Presley as he was parking his Cadillac at the Beverly Wilshire. What
were they promoting and what scary prop did they have with them?
National Mothproofing Month? (Mary McCoy) Bingo! Mary Hall and Cherry Gordon (at right, behold the fearsome terror of proto-Mothra) were carrying a 35-pound giant prop moth nicknamed "Max the Monster." Elvis said: "What's that?" They replied: "Pat Boone."
9. What famous Presley movie was briefly given the working title "Treat Me Nice?"
10. What rumor about Presley was hotly denied in a 1957 magazine article? (Note: There may be many rumors, I'm thinking of a specific rumor listed in The Times).
That he was married? No.
That he had left the building: "One rumor even had it that he was dead," The Times said May 2, 1957. "You may think he's out of this world or down the tube but you'll have to agree he's far from dead!
11. What actress wasn't allowed to visit Presley while he was filming in 1957?
Natalie Wood? No, another actress was specifically banned from visiting him, according to The Times.
Debra Paget? No. Interesting guess, but no.
Mae West? Interesting guess. But no.
Tura Satana? Well that's different. No, but interesting guess.
Vampira? Oh very interesting guess. But no.
Jayne Mansfield? No. Unless you are a total Elvis freak you have never heard of this woman.
Yvonne Lime. "Another studio spokesman said Miss Lime was refused admittance this week to the set where Presley is working." (Don't tell me you've never heard of her! She appeared in "High School Hellcats" and "Dragstrip Riot," and was Policewoman Gloria Harbor in "Dragnet 1967").
12. What was the name of the manager at radio station KEX who fired disc
jockey Al Priddy after he played Presley's recording of "White
Christmas?" What was the reason?
Nobody even tried this one. How sad. KEX manager Mel Bailey said Al Priddy was fired because he played Presley's recording of "White Christmas." The record was banned at the Portland, Ore., station because "it is not in the good taste we ascribe to Christmas music. Presley gives it a rhythm and blues interpretation. It doesn't seem to me to be in keeping with the intent of the song," Bailey said.
Bobby Gene Gray was stopped at a light in South Gate when Harris
(Harrison) C. Foster, 26, and his ex-wife Carolyn (Caroline) Foster
Alcala, 20, forced their way into his car with a gun.
"I just shot a man," Foster said again. "But it was self-defense."
Earlier that night, in a cafe at 9716 S. Broadway, Foster killed a man identified in The Times as Ronald Dermony, 26, who was most likely Paul Joseph Dermody, 20.*
Alcala got in the front seat while Foster sat in back and told Gray to
start driving to Needles, Calif. They stopped for food in Daggett then
kept driving. About 2 a.m., Foster forced Gray to get into the trunk,
then drove into Needles and parked the car.
While Gray struggled to free himself from the locked trunk, Foster and
Alcala bought bus tickets to the tiny town of Ash Fork, Ariz. (2000
population was 550).
The couple got off the bus in Kingman and ambushed Jack Warren, an oil
company agent, as he was coming out of a store. They forced him to
drive toward Flagstaff, but about 18 miles east of town, taped his arms
and legs and pushed him out of the car.
As the couple continued driving, a motorist picked up Warren and took
him to Winona, where he reported the kidnapping to police.
Coconino County sheriff's deputies stopped the car at a roadblock on Route 66 outside Flagstaff and arrested the couple.
After injuring a bailiff during an escape attempt, Foster was sentenced
to life in prison with a consecutive term of five years to life in
prison. Alcala was sentenced to life in prison.
No further information can be located on either of them.
*California death records do not list anyone named Dermony, but show
that Paul Joseph, Dermody, 20, died on Nov. 3, 1957. The Times failed to
report the original slaying.
Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."
Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.
The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.
Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.
Twenty years after it was built in 1909, the Wonderland Theater, 315 S.
Main, was repeatedly in trouble with the law for showing indecent
movies. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell exactly what was on the
bill because the theater never advertised in The Times. 
Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."
Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.
The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.
Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.