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Jealous husband rams movie star's car, Reds win over Dodgers, August 25, 1958


Bad traffic on the Hollywood Freeway, 1958
Some folks may find this hard to believe, but drivers were complaining about bad traffic in Los Angeles 50 years ago. I can't say it often enough: History shows that congested streets have been a problem in Los Angeles for at least a century.



Tony Curtis in car accident, 1958Donald Robert Seddon of 824 17th St., Santa Monica, was apparently a rather jealous individual. While cruising the streets of Los Angeles one night, he thought he saw his wife riding in a car with another man. At Warner Drive and Wilshire, he rammed his car into the other vehicle, then spun into a third car.

Seddon, in fact, rammed the car of total strangers, David R. North and his wife, Patricia, both 22, of 1541 S. St. Andrews Place.

As it turned out, the third car was carrying some prominent people: Tony Curtis and his wife, Janet Leigh; Dean Martin and his wife, Jean; and songwriter Sammy Cahn and his wife, Gloria Delson. They were headed home after a party at Peter Lawford's house. Fortunately, Frank Sinatra was right behind them and contacted police with the radiotelephone in his car.

No one was seriously injured in the accident, The Times said, but Dean Martin brought a $90,000 lawsuit against Seddon.

The Times never reported on the outcome of the lawsuit and Seddon's name never again appears in the paper. Because Janet Leigh was pregnant at the time of the accident, she was taken to UCLA for an exam to make sure neither she nor the baby was injured. In November, she gave birth to Jamie Lee Curtis.


Reds beat Dodgers in Coliseum, 1958 At left, Frank Robinson hits his first home run over the Coliseum screen,  scoring Johnny Temple and giving Cincinnati a 6-5 victory over the Dodgers. "The win went to 22-year-old  Orlando Pena, a skinny Cuban right-hander who throws bullets," The Times' Frank Finch wrote.

Tonight's game will be a battle of the lefties: Johnny Podres and Harvey Haddix. Here's a shout-out to Keith "Throwback Jersey" Thursby: "The L.A. lefty virtually is unbeatable in the Coliseum," Finch says of Podres. 

And Mr. Henry Aaron of the Braves hits his 28th home run of the season against the Giants' Al Worthington.

Comments

I see the always lovely Raquel Tejada makes another appearance this time as one of the Maidens of California all of whom aspire to the Queen of the State Fair in Sacramento(sixth from the left). One Million Years B.C. is still eight years in her future.

Hey pallies, thinks for sharin' this piece of Dinohistory..so glads that our Dino sought some justice in this matter...

State Fair pic at the bottom of the Seddon page: the future Raquel Welch makes her second Daily Mirror appearance this month. :)

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Our Bloggers
Larry Harnisch

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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