Stompanato inquest

April 11, 1958
Los Angeles

The Mirror published excerpts of the coroner's inquest in the death of Johnny Stompanato. Several crucial paragraphs about the stabbing are, unfortunately, illegible in my scan of the first runover page. I'll try to get a lighter image soon. It is evident that, just as Stompanto's brother, Carmine, alleged, there was some delay in contacting medical personnel and a further delay in dealing with the dispatcher. Lana Turner's account of her relationship with Stompanto makes him sound brutal and ugly.   

Aha! I found the account of the stabbing in another Mirror story:

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Matt Weinstock

April 12, 1958

 

Paul Coates

April 12, 1958

April 12, 1938

Above, Yiddish theater in Los Angeles! Below, the Harry Raymond bombing case is about to go to trial. Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty ... The bishop of Los Angeles has a Holy Week message on the front page of the B section ... Youngsters out of school for spring break head to the city's parks ... On the jump, a pair of coati mundis foil a burglar at the San Fernando Valley home of George Palmer Putnam ... And Joseph Grimes strangles himself rather than face charges of molesting a child in the Union Pacific railway yards.

Quote of the Day: "I wish the restaurants would give you one good cup of coffee instead of all what they call coffee you can drink. Oh 'All the Coffee You Can Drink,' what crimes have been committed in your name!" E.V. Durling

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April 12, 1908

Who do you suppose is lounging in this hammock? Certainly not the poor lady doing the housework, below. This article isn't terribly legible, but the housekeeping tips are worth the eyestrain. I'm not sure I'll be hanging my Kasmhiri Kashans and Taba Tabrizes over a pan of burning sulfur anytime soon, but it's nice to know that I could. And yes, the writer, Marion Harland, quotes her "colored mammy" in dialect.

Quote of the Day: "The fight with dust, like that we wage with inbred sin,  must be incessant and it will last until we lie down to be resolved for all time into what we hate and would destroy while we live." --Marion Harland

 

And here, by the way, is the article she mentions, John Tyndall's "Dust and Disease," published in 1871.

 

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Matt Weinstock

April 11, 1958

Paul Coates

April 11, 1958

Know your Dodgers

April 11, 1958

April 11, 1958

Gosh, I don't remember "Viking Women and the Sea Serpent" coming to my neighborhood theater when I was a kid. And no, it's not on Netflix! "The Astounding She Monster" is not a title that leaves much to the imagination, is it? Below, new revelations about Johnny Stompanato and guess who shows up? It's our old pal from the Confidential magazine case, the ubiquitous Fred Otash ... Stompanato's family says he was a quiet, pleasant boy who was deeply in love with Lana Turner, and Beverly Hills Police Chief Clinton Anderson calls him a gigolo who took a woman for $2,800 ($20,405.57 USD 2007) ... On the jump, medical examiner Dr. Frederick Newbarr (yes, the same surgeon who performed Elizabeth Short's autopsy) says Stompanato had a congenital health condition that would have killed him at an early age.

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April 11, 1938

Above, someone had the wisdom to write a profile of Col. Charles J.W. Saunders even though there was no "news peg." It would be interesting to know more about him. The Times also ran a story in 1924 about his 50th wedding anniversary and noted that he had been a bugler for Gen. Philip Sheridan in the Civil War. You may be wondering how a bugler attained the rank of colonel. So am I. According to the 1924 story, Saunders was a captain in the California Rangers. Below, defense attorneys for Police Capt. Earle Kynette go to San Diego to investigate bombing victim Harry Raymond's career as chief of the San Diego Police Department ... A terrific story about Charles Mackay, a struggling actor who found an Academy Award wrapped in a sweater in a closet at his hotel. The Oscar had been awarded to Pierre Collings, a previous hotel tenant who died in poverty, for the 1936 film "Louis Pasteur." Note the byline: James Bassett Jr., the author of "Harm's Way" and campaign aide to Richard Nixon who eventually retired as Times associate editor.

Quote of the Day: "Charles Mackay has given up the notion of becoming an actor. All he wants is a job. Because he won't write home to tell his dad he failed." --James E. Bassett Jr., on the story of Pierre Collings' Oscar*

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* Note: Imdb says that Collings won two Oscars for "Louis Pasteur," one for best screenplay and another for best original story. What became of the other one is another Hollywood mystery.

Matt Weinstock

April 10, 1958

Paul Coates

April 10, 1958

Well, this is fairly odd. We didn't write a word about this shooting and I can't imagine the reason. Let me take that back. I can think of one reason we wouldn't have written about it. I'd hate to be right and I'd hate even more to be wrong, so I'll keep it to myself for now. 

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