Above, the initial Jackie Robinson story, May 9, 1958. Below, the next day, when Robinson modified his remarks... Unfortunately, the Urban League's award to the Dodgers apparently wasn't considered newsworthy, so The Times didn't cover it and we don't know precisely what was said.
Above, a little mishap on the city's sainted streetcar system is blamed on "man failure." I think they might have done well to come up with another term. The motorman on the westbound "J" car on Jefferson Boulevard ran a stoplight because he was "overcome by nausea" and broadsided the "U" car heading north on McClintock Avenue, The Times says.
Below, a police official refuses to give a written statement in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing ... Meet the other Adolf Hitler, a Jewish watchmaker in Dzeidzice, Poland, whose shop was shop was vandalized.
Above, I'll leave it to someone else to comment on women's concepts of body image in the early 20th century. Below, interesting coverage of the Laporte, Ind., "death farm." The Times reported yesterday that Belle Gunness had been captured. Today's story speculates on whether she died in a fire at the farm. Meanwhile, a separate story explains that police arrested the wrong woman. Oops.
A century later, the church is still standing, as shown in Google's street view feature. The building was designed by Franklin P. Burnham. The article notes that a speaker can be easily heard anywhere in the auditorium (recall that this was before microphones) because of the carefully designed acoustics.
Above, a mother who claimed she strangled her 2-year-old son when he actually died of pneumonia drives up to Mulholland and kills herself ... Below, a Peruvian mob blocks Vice President Nixon as he tries to enter the gates of San Marcos University. Students spit on Nixon and pelted him with rocks, The Times said. Nixon didn't lose his temper until he learned that students tore an American flag from a wreath he left at the statue of San Martin, the paper says. The vice president also visited a Catholic university where he found students more receptive but also encountered further protests charging that America supported Latin American dictatorships.
Opponents of the deal to build the Dodgers a baseball stadium in Chavez Ravine apparently tried to paint the proposal in a 1950s shade of red.
According to a story in The Times, a group called the Committee for Public Morality distributed literature claiming the contract was "a plan for collectivizing city and nation" and that "we are at war at our very doorsteps with a totalitarian clique."
The story quoted E. Talbot Callister, vice chairman of the Taxpayers Committee for Yes on Baseball, as denouncing the literature as "the all-time low" in the campaign. Los Angeles voters would have their say on the city's contract with the Dodgers on June 3. The story listed Robert M. Angier as chairman of the public morality committee but didn't provide much else about the opponents. Readers didn't learn where the literature was circulating or anything about the group. Angier wasn't quoted in the story and it wasn't clear if there had been any attempt to reach him.
Callister did get a few swings in, however. He noted all the money the Dodgers planned to spend as part of the deal and said if Angier thinks that's communism, "He hasn't read the baseball contract or the communist manifesto."
Above, a bottle of Pepsi costs a nickel (71 cents USD 2007) and is worth a dime ($1.43 USD 2007) ... Below, unemployed actor and author Charles E. Royal finds another career telling tourists about City Hall in staggering detail. Royal, City Hall information clerk from 1936 to 1951, wrote more than 2,300 songs, The Times said. His wife, the former Olga Shuey, was a "child adagio dancer" ... Geraldine "Gerry" Humason is chosen as a "typical outdoor coed" at UCLA ... And the government is encouraging foreign-born World War I veterans who served with U.S. forces or left the country to serve with the Allies to apply for citizenship.
Above, a banjo recital that makes everyone feel like getting up and dancing ... Below, Belle Gunness is captured as investigators uncover more bodies on the Laporte, Ind., "death farm" ... Problems at a convention for the unemployed: "Gas House" Kelley is elected to go to Washington to lobby for public works programs that would provide jobs, receiving 86 votes. Alas, only 56 eligible voters were present, prompting charges of fraud and a call for another election.
Above, an arresting and perhaps inflammatory title for a book that's fairly obscure today. It appears to have been written by a Swedish Christian who advocated assimilation ... The book also appears to have evoked a response from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Below, police chemist Ray Pinker--who figured in the 1947 Black Dahlia case--is under police guard because of his testimony in the Earle Kynette trial ... The warden of the Nebraska penitentiary gives $5 to inmates serving 10 years or longer so they can send flowers for Mother's Day--plus paper and a stamped envelope so the inmates can write letters to their moms.
Quote of the Day: "I am certain that for Rome as well as Germany there will result a future that will be glorious as well as prosperous." --Adolf Hitler, sealing Germany's alliance with Italy during a visit to Rome
Here's an image of Harvard Military School, which covered 10 acres at Western Avenue and 16th Street, an area then known as Pico Heights.
The original postcard is for sale on EBay.
At first I thought this story was left over from April Fool's Day. Then again, maybe not. Anybody else notice a key question that hasn't been addressed? Below, meet hard-drinking Police Officer Clarence E. Logie, a colorful character in early 20th century law enforcement.
Quote of the Day: "It took three policemen to put Logie in the [patrol] wagon and he fought all the way to the station." --The Times, on the exploits of Officer Clarence E. Logie, who was drinking on duty and spending time with a lady
Above, in Louisiana, even the boxing ring is segregated ... Below, problems for Bing Crosby's son Dennis. A "tall, willowy, Hollywood brunette" says he's the father of her 5 1/2-month-old daughter Denise--and there are allegations that the man who performed Dennis' Las Vegas wedding to Pat Sheehan is no longer accredited by his church ... An Illinois firm wins the contract to build the county's Hall of Administration ... And Julie Andrews marries her childhood sweetheart, Tony Walton.
Above, theater manager Boris Posner is accused of "misconduct" while measuring young women for a beauty contest. Charges were eventually dismissed and he vanished from the pages of The Times ... In Cleveland, welfare recipients overwhelm relief stations, chanting "We want food." Up to a third of the county's residents are on some form of public aid, The Times says ... Defense attorneys in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette and two police officers imply that evidence was planted at the scene of the Harry Raymond bombing ... Parents of Helaine Judith Colan, who was born with a tumor on one of her eyes, refuse surgery that would leave her blind but might spare her life ... Note the article on William G. Bonelli and the state Board of Equalization. You may recall that Bonelli is the author of the 1954 self-published book "Billion Dollar Blackjack," about The Times. And don't believe the stories about The Times buying up every copy--that's just hype from bookdealers charging a fortune for the book. I picked up a first edition (with dust jacket in Brodart) for $4.95 a few years ago.
Above, John W. "Jack" Parsons poses with his replica of the pipe bomb used in an attempt to kill Harry Raymond. Parsons, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is an enigmatic figure who became the subject of much speculation surrounding a "mystery cult" after he died in a 1952 explosion. The blast destroyed his home laboratory on the former Busch estate in Pasadena and his grief-stricken mother committed suicide when she learned he had died.
Above, an influential article by Harris Dickson appears in the Saturday Evening Post ... Below, the term "soul kiss" is 100 years old? Imagine that. What's this? The term "soul kiss" is attributed to Mary Pepper, a medium who is the pastor of the First Spiritual Church of Brooklyn, N.Y. Who knew? ... The Wright brothers fly 1,000 feet in their new aeroplane ... Sixteen bodies are found in Laporte, Ind. ... Click here for the Associated Press' update on the Gunness "death farm."
Above, former President Hoover speaks to people at Union Station in Kansas City (yes, the headline says "Oklahomans") ... Italian troops and police quiet an angry crowd in Naples that had been waiting six hours to see Hitler and Mussolini. The crowd cheers when Hitler appears on the balcony of royal palace with King Victor Emmanuel and Crown Prince Humberto ... More arrests are expected in the Harry Raymond bombing ... On the jump, treasure hunter John Craig plans a dive in hopes of retrieving the crown jewels of the Empress Carlotta that were lost when a ship carrying refugees of the Mexican revolution sank 55 miles off Virginia.
Above, Walter Alson has faith in Don Drysdale ... Below, Vice President Nixon says it's too early to declare whether he will run for president in 1960 ... Southern California prepares for a simulated atomic blast ... And Dennis Crosby is astonished to discover that his Las Vegas wedding to Pat Sheehan was performed by a Protestant minister and not a justice of the peace. Pat Crosby was granted a divorce in 1964 after testifying that Dennis drank heavily and disappeared for long periods of time ... Dennis committed suicide in 1991 at the age of 56.
My post correcting the recent obituary on a former Pasadena firefighter who falsely claimed that he rescued Kathy Fiscus brought this response from Clyde Harp, one of the five men who helped dig her out in 1949:
Thank for clearing up the record.
I was there as one of the rescuers digging through dirt, quicksand, and water 94' down the rescue shaft and took turns with Bill Yancey, "Whitey" Blickensderfer, A. O. Kelly, and Herb Herpel and a few others. I was the youngest at age 25.
On my third trip down I crawled through the small, short tunnel we'd dug over to the well, I made the first cut into the well and found Kathy Fiscus' body. Water gushed out so I had to be hauled up quick. The doctor went down after the water was pumped out and then Bill Yancey retrieved her. That memory is as fresh 59 years later as it was those nearly 3 days and nights.
Germany plans to move thousands of Austrian Jews, and The Times buries the story with a one-column hed on Page 8. Below, how does Margaret Bourke-White get those terrific pictures? Why she smokes Camels!
Above, an update in the divorce case of Henry Lord ... The judge doesn't even bother to hear all the testimony before dissolving the marriage. What became of Augustine Emanuel Lord and coachman Harry Cameron? Alas, The Times is no help. It would be interesting to know the rest of the story. Below, nothing quite says "read me" like the headline "Gruesome Mystery" ... Unexplained disappearances, lots of bodies buried in the backyard and other strange events make for an early 20th century "death farm" in Laporte, Ind. In a few days, special excursion trains brought more than 15,000 curiosity seekers to the Gunness place.
Ricardo Montalban and Johnny Indrisano? (Alexa Foreman) Absolutely right! The photo, dated Feb. 13, 1950, shows Montalban working with Indrisano for the film "Right Cross." Indrisano, a veteran prizefighter, died in 1968 at the age of 62.
Above, the earliest reference I can find to Cinco de Mayo in The Times: A celebration in Tucson featuring the Philharmonic Band, otherwise known as the Club Filarmonico Tucsonense, led by Federico "Fred" Ronstadt. And, yes, that's the same family as Linda Ronstadt.
Below, the earliest reference I can find to a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Los Angeles.
Above, migration of Los Angeles Jews to the Westside and the San Fernando Valley is reflected in the sale of the Eastside Jewish Community Center, 2317 Michigan. Below, Los Angeles begins Cinco de Mayo celebrations with a Sunday picnic, with more events to follow ... Valley clubwomen are being asked to return stolen cages of parakeets that were lent as table decorations for a charity ball ... The Times runs a historic picture of Mission La Purisima from 1885 by Adam Clark Vroman and a 1958 photo showing the mission's restoration ... Edward Teller and Clark Kerr are among the dignitaries addressing UC alumni at the Disneyland Hotel. Teller says that by 1973, it will be possible for one nation to control the world's weather.
Above, Thelma Todd's famous (or notorious) Inn ... Below, George Sakalis says he was offered $3,000 to keep his mouth shut in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing ... Jackie Coogan says he brought a lawsuit against his mother and stepfather over his earnings as a childhood actor because his stepfather was going to cash a $100,000 life insurance policy for $7,500 ... Mussolini reportedly tells Hitler, during the Fuehrer's visit to Rome, that he has nothing to gain from a military pact with Germany. On the jump, George Farley goes on trial on charges of killing Deputy City Marshals Leon W. Romer and T. Dwight Crittenden when they tried to serve an eviction notice. Farly, 54, an African American, has entered dual pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Above, an update in the Brownsville incident ... Below, arson destroys a "spite house" next to 1712 W. Adams ... Ministers of the First Christian Church help raise money toward a legal test case on the Bible in public schools ... Population of the city of Los Angeles, as determined in a school census, is 305,000, The Times says. There are 65,000 children in the city younger than 17.
It’s a familiar story when a sports team trades in its home for a bigger, brighter facility with more luxury suites and a higher price tag.
I remember when Anaheim Stadium underwent a face lift to lure the Rams out of Los Angeles.I started going to Angels games in 1967 and for the most part the teams were awful and the crowds small. But the stadium was comfortable and convenient with its own special touches.
There were no seats in the outfield and you could watch freeway traffic beyond the fences during a game. Cars stopped on the freeway shoulder to watch the game and eventually a police car would arrive to clear out the cars. That was the highlight some nights.
Then the powers-that-be decided to enclose the stadium to add seats for the Rams, ruining the place for pure baseball fans. There was money involved, of course, but back then, multipurpose stadiums were popular. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego all had stadiums that were shared by the football and baseball teams. Not pretty places, but functional.
Now we’re in a retro phase that started when Camden Yards was built in Baltimore. It’s the fashion to find a downtown area that needs freshening up and put in a ballpark with good views, close seats and a feel for the city and its history. And only baseball is played on these fields.
The latest version of Anaheim Stadium, or whatever it’s called these days, is closer to its original design. Much of the touches added when the Rams moved in are no longer part of the ballpark (it’s probably the best thing Disney did as the team’s owner). The seating capacity is smaller and the bad seats for baseball are for the most part gone.
The Dodgers’ plans to build around Dodger Stadium can be lumped in this group, because part of the stated idea is finding a way to keep the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium.
Back in 1958, baseball was undergoing one of those generational shifts caused in large part by the Dodgers and Giants moving to California. A story published in This Week magazine, which was distributed in The Times, offered a sense of desperation and inspiration from the game’s leading official.
Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick suggested a new kind of ballpark that he said could solve the game’s problems. The stadium could be used all year, in any weather, for everything from baseball to curling matches. He called it a sports palace.
What kind of features would be part of this palace? The story includes an artist’s conception of the super stadium with a movable or translucent roof, multi-level parking, air conditioning, restaurant, movie theater, race track and subway station. Frick called the concept an ultra-modern community center. Oh, yeah, there would be a field for baseball too.
"Sure, it would cost a fortune," Frick told writer Al Hirshberg. "But so does a one-sport park. Why spend something like $10 million for a park you can’t use in winter or bad weather when, for a few million more, you can build the kind of plant I have in mind? It would pay for itself in a few years."
Some of the commissioner’s comments about financing such a venture seem, well, refreshing.
"As a baseball man, you’d go to a city and offer to pay your share. You can’t say, 'If you don’t build a sports palace I’ll take my ballclub somewhere else.' "
Frick served as baseball commissioner from 1951 to 1965. The closest thing to a sports palace built during Frick’s era probably was the Houston Astrodome, which opened in 1965 and was home to baseball’s Astros and football’s Oilers.
The Dodgers’ contract with the city of Los Angeles heated up as a political issue in the spring of 1958. Proposition B was on the June 3 ballot and stories started appearing with some regularity in The Times about various groups or politicians weighing in on either side of the issue.
Television would not be left out of the discussion.
Dinah Shore (at right in a 1942 photo by Bruno of Hollywood) was one of the top names in TV in 1958. She had graduated from a 15-minute show to an hour program on Sunday nights. Cecil Smith, The Times’ entertainment editor, profiled her as busy and happy — but worried about the Dodgers.
Shore recounted seeing the Dodgers lose, 15-2, at the Coliseum and an exchange with team owner Walter O’Malley:
“I kept telling Mr. O’Malley how sorry I was. But some man called up to him, 'Don’t worry, Walter, we’ll get 'em next time,' and Mr. O’Malley said: 'Such wonderful people; in Brooklyn, they’d have thrown a pop bottle at me.’ ”
Then came the politics:
“But if he loses Chavez Ravine, what’ll he do? That’s what worries me, what’ll he do?”
Above, Myrna Loy, co-star of "Test Pilot." Below, vegetable peddler George Sakalis tells of police intimidation in the trial of Capt. Earle Kynette ... In Rome, throngs of Italians cheer a smiling Adolf Hitler, yelling "Viva!" and "Heil!" ... The National Confectioners' Assn. brings a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox over a scene in Shirley Temple's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" that implies candy bars are unhealthy. On the jump, Domino cigarettes are mild on your throat and your pocketbook.
Quote of the Day:
"Uncle Henry bought me a candy bar."
"A candy bar! Take the child to the kitchen and give her something decent to eat!"
Above, the Lincoln Day Club meets. Below, fighting in the Khyber Pass ... A fire at the New Avelina Hotel kills at least 10 in Fort Wayne, Ind. ... San Francisco prepares to welcome the Great White Fleet, which is hit by a gale at Monterey ... Wedding bells ring for Prince Wilhelm of Sweden and Russia's Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna.
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.
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.