I looked through hundreds of Joe Louis' pictures today before I finally found two from the Main Street Gym. Of course, since these are from 1939, this is the old Main Street Gym.
Photograph by Maurice Terrell / Los Angeles Times Here's Louis on March 28, 1939, with a local fighter named Ernest
"Dynamite" Jackson, a Pacific Coast heavyweight champion who later
became the first African American to get a referee's license.
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times This is Louis sparring with Paul Williams at the Main Street Gym in a photo published April 16, 1939, shortly before Louis' bout with Jack Roper on April 17, 1939, at Wrigley Field. Roper lasted 2 minutes, 20 seconds with Louis.
The statements in this ad may all sound remarkably familiar. In case you young people are wondering what's going on in this picture: Once upon a time there were service station attendants who pumped the gas (fill 'er up!) and handed you a charge slip. They even cleaned your windows and checked your oil. I know this is almost impossible to believe, but it is true. Really.
Sometimes you have to wonder where newspapers get their facts--at least I do.
Here's another take on the story of Zenobia Maddox.
A few things haven't changed. James Bedford Burton is just as dead as
before, shot five times and beaten with three different lamps during a
home invasion robbery. But many other details are different.
The Mirror interviewed Zenobia--here's the picture of her, with her
daughter Toni, and three very smashed lamps.
She said Burton and his partner bound
them with adhesive tape (The Times says they were tied up but alludes
cryptically to "binding tape"). Burton sent his partner outside to
wait for Zenobia's husband, saying: "If he gives you any trouble, kill
him."
But here, the stories diverge. The Times said that Burton put his gun
down so he could light a cigarette. The Mirror says that Burton put the
gun on a bed and began going through dresser drawers. While he was
trying to adjust a watch on his wrist, Zenobia got free and grabbed the
gun, the Mirror said. (Adjusting "a" watch? Was he stealing it? The
Mirror doesn't say).
"That won't do you any good. It's not loaded," Burton told Zenobia.
"I don't know anything about guns and am scared to death of them," she
said. "But I didn't believe him. I pointed the gun at the wall behind
him and pulled the trigger. When it fired I pulled the trigger again
and again, only I aimed right at him."
Zenobia continued: "I didn't think he was dead, so I broke three lamps
over his head. They were brand new ceramic lamps. They even had the
price tags still on them."
She heard a car outside grinding its gears, the Mirror said. "I
guess the other man thought discretion was the better part of valor. I
locked the door to keep him out but he didn't try to get in," she said.
If she hadn't died in 2002, I would send Zenobia Maddox some money for a couple of new lamps. She's awesome.
The suite from "Robin Hood" is playing at the Daily Mirror HQ as I post The Times obituary on Korngold, one of the great film composers of his generation. And he lived in the Valley!
My goodness. Well, this is too good not to share.
A few months before Korngold's death, Times Hollywood writer Philip K. Scheuer responded to recent articles in Variety and the New York Times puzzling over the popularity of soundtrack albums (please trust me, this actually happened). According an article by Fred Hift in Variety, film producers and distributors were stunned that the soundtrack album for "Around the World in 80 Days" had sold nearly 1 million copies. (And yes, as soundtrack collectors know, that thing is in every Salvation Army record bin in America).
But why on earth are soundtrack albums popular, Hift asks. "Music in these pictures was penned to help to create and underscore a mood set by the film. Heard by itself, some of that music doesn't sound like much. Some trade people speculate that the glamour illustration and screen names appearing on the album fronts do the trick. Others point out that in today's crazy inflation, Americans are buy-happy."
Scheuer ticks off a list of current, popular soundtrack albums:
"The Man With the Golden Arm," "Saint Joan," "A Face in the Crowd," "The Pride and the Passion," "Picnic," "The Ten Commandments," "The Rainmaker," "The Sweet Smell of Success," "War and Peace," "Baby Doll," "An Affair to Remember," Band of Angels," "Trapeze," "Men in War" and the Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Eddy Duchin stories.
All of which were dismissed by legendary New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg.
"Take away the film and let the music stand on its own. Then what? The chances overwhelmingly are that the product suddenly becomes synthetic, a collection of musical banalities and inanities. What may work in a film does not necessarily work elsewhere," he wrote.
For example, Schonberg wrote, " 'Saint Joan' has a medieval setting. Thus (Mischa) Spoliansky has inserted into his score many sections of a quasi-modal character, even resorting to a basse dance at one point. The scoring, however, pays the usual debt to Rachmaninoff. One organ interlude could be by Franck. A big Hollywood musical sunburst ends the score.
" 'The Pride and the Passion' has a Spanish locale and (George) Antheil throws in the works--Albeniz-sounding Iberianisms, flamenco, nightclub-like heel and toe suggestions, and sections that nod fraternally to Ravel's 'Bolero.' What a hodgepodge!"
Scheuer concludes that although some composers (like Korngold) write good music, they are the exceptions that prove the rule. "These scores just do not stand up as hi-fi listening."
A trip to the archives clears up the mystery about what became of the Hippodrome. As I suspected, the back of the theater was demolished, but the facade was saved.
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Notice that the Main Street Gym doesn't seem to have set up business yet (the sign over the door reads "Here Television," although a 1984 article says that the gym moved to 318 1/2 S. Main in 1951 after its old building across the street burned down). There's a cafe at 318 S. Main, which was replaced with Mexico Luggage and a barbershop by 1984.
Notice that the building was also called the Adolphus Theatre. This is another mystery. According to The Times, the Adolphus opened on Main Street "across from the Belasco" (335 S. Main St). on Nov. 27, 1911. It vanished from the clips after July 14, 1912. The Hippodrome opened Aug. 31, 1913. A one-year gap would allow for construction of another theater (the Hippodrome seated 3,000 while the Adolphus seated 1,450), but I can't find anything in the clips. Stay tuned...
Photograph by Jack Carrick / Los Angeles Times And here's the demolition of the Hippodrome's proscenium, Oct. 26, 1952.
Brian Hanrahan, one of my friends at the website, asks if there are any historic pictures of the Coliseum at the Daily Mirror HQ.
The answer is "of course." In fact, here's a photo showing Los Angeles police officers at the Coliseum.
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Here are Mayor Porter (in the white suit) and Police Chief Steckel inspecting LAPD officers on May 23, 1933.
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles County Supervisor Beaty and Sheriff's Capt. Cannon inspect new Harley-Davidson motorcycles (with an amazing innovation: front-wheel brakes) at the Coliseum, Jan. 12, 1928.
And here are some images of the Coliseum from the Olympics. No, not the 1984 Olympics, the 1932 Olympics! These photos are from a large series of pictures published in Germany in the 1930s.
And another view
And here's a mystery photo. Who is this distinguished-looking gent in the VIP box?
Avery Brundage? Interesting guess. But no.
Gov. James "Sunny Jim" Rolph Jr.? Very interesting guess. (But no).
But the Hippodrome was supposedly torn down in 1952 for a parking lot. I started wondering if the facade was saved for offices.
Then I noticed this about the interior of the Main Street Gym in another 1976 photo:
Photograph by Marilynn K. Yee / Los Angeles Times
What's in the background? It looks like a small proscenium.
Here's a detail.
Look at the light sockets in the archway.
I wonder if the Main Street Gym was in some upstairs dance hall at what used to be the Hippodrome. If anyone can shed light on this little mystery, let me know...
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.
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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.