Found on EBay -- Quiet Birdmen

This Quiet Birdmen belt buckle has been listed on EBay. Not much has been written about the QBs, a select group of test pilots, astronauts and other elite aviators, because they were quiet. In addition to this belt buckle, the vendor is also selling a deck of World War II-era playing cards, each signed by a member of this pilot's unit. Bidding starts at $9.99.

Matt Weinstock, July 31, 1959

Responsibility Law Every motorist has heard of the financial responsibility law. Today a man named Tom furnishes a horrible example of how it can work. On May 20 he stopped in the left lane at Sepulveda Blvd. and Vose St., Van Nuys, behind a car which was signaling a left turn. As he waited, a third car, driven by a woman, crashed with terrific impact into his rear, jamming his car into the car ahead. The skid marks measured 60 ft. before the crash, according to the police report. Tom suffered a serious whiplash of the neck and lower spine. He has been under treatment since the accident. Curiously enough, he was the only person injured. He has lost 10 weeks' work and his car, although partially repaired, is still a mess. IT ALSO TURNED OUT that Tom was the only driver of the three who had no insurance, and rather astonishing things have been happening since. For one thing, he has been getting what he considers pressure from the woman driver's insurance company to settle the claim on what he considers inadequate terms. After all, he keeps pointing out, he was the injured, although innocent, person. Then the other day he received a notice from the DMV stating he must put up a bond of $760 by Aug. 12 or his driver's license and plates will be suspended. He has been forced to hire an attorney, and apparently will have to take legal action to have his license restored and his claim settled more equitably. Tom can't help feeling that the financial responsibility law gives the insurance companies the best of it. It's no wonder that most motorists wouldn't think of getting behind the wheel of their cars without the knowledge that their insurance is paid up and in force. :: THIS IS THE season for letters to parents from their children visiting distant relatives and attending summer camps. Marjorie Mills prizes this one from her daughter Janet, 13: "When are you coming here, Soon I hope. I don't need you, grandma does." :: ENTANGLEMENTS Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we try to knit a sleeve.     -- TERRI McDANIEL :: IN QUEST of information, aviation editor Don Dwiggins phoned a Mr. Sawyer at a big missile-manufacturing plant. He was out but his secretary called back a few minutes later and said, "Hello, Mr. Wiggins?" "Dwiggins," Don corrected. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "This is, this is, oh dear, I forgot who I am. Oh yes, I'm Mr. Sawyer's secretary. It slipped my mind for the moment." It isn't the heat, it's the insanity. :: A MOVIE producer who returned from Rome told writer Harry Essex of a crazy thing that happened at a recent big event there. Seeing a familiar face looking about in bewilderment, the producer went to the head man and said, "That's Tennessee Williams -- can't you find him his seat?" The head man consulted his guest list and said he was sorry, he didn't find the name. The producer persisted and he looked again. Finally he found it -- "Mr. Williams of Tennessee." :: THE LAST WORD obviously has not been heard in the controversy over Goodwin Knight's $3,500 portrait, but some other words have. Goodie, you'll remember, said, "That picture will never hang in Sacramento. I have no desire to be portrayed as a 35-year-old Nelson Eddy." Eddy, appearing in Chicago, commented wistfully, "I would like to be a 35-year-old Nelson Eddy again." Then he recalled the time a woman stopped him in a hotel lobby and asked, "Weren't you Nelson Eddy?" :: QUOTE & UNQUOTE -- One broken-down actor to another in a Santa Monica Blvd. saloon: "You know, pal, your conversation's getting pretty sour lately. Why don't you coin yourself a couple of new cliches?" . . . Tyrone Lopez in the Belvedere Citizen: "Cuba missed a bet in the Miss Universe contest. Miss Cuba should have been a bearded lady."

Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, July 31, 1959

Confidential File 'Stop the Press,' Cries Flash Reporter Joe To you, the Laurel Canyon fire may be old news. But I just heard about it. And I've got to admit that it's a matter of special embarrassment to me, because I should have been the first to know. I happen to be the only newspaper columnist in the world with a bona fide personal news correspondent in Laurel Canyon. His name is Joe Oliveira. His age is, roughly, 12. His loyalty, however, is divided between me and a mimeographed weekly neighborhood sheet which he publishes himself, called The Little Press. Ordinarily, Joe keeps me up-to-the-minute on Canyon activities, ranging from stray cats and broken windows to juvenile plots to extort fudge bars from Sam, the Ice Cream Man. However, on the big fire, he saved all of the exclusives for himself. He waited until The Little Press had hit the streets before sending me his dispatches. Belatedly, I offer you the true story of the Laurel Canyon fire, as written under the double by-line of Joe Oliveira and Scott Harrison, Joe's city editor: "Before the fire your editor Joe Oliveira was watering his garden while at the same time your editor-in-staff Scott Harrison was swimming at the Larson's pool on the corner of Jovenita and Laurel Canyon Blvd. "At about 3:30 p.m. smoke came over the hill. "My sister screamed, 'Look at the sun,' which was covered by black, thick smoke which had risen from over the hill. "Meanwhile, your editor Joe Oliveira Jr. was putting the garden hose away. He saw black smoke rising over the hill. "Joe hopped on his bike and flew down the street. Meanwhile, back at the pool, we are all in the car waiting to get home. "Finally, I get home and jump up on the roof and water it down. Then I jump up on the hill and start to water it down. Then Joe came up to help. "After the fire Joe and I went around putting out hot spots. "One spot where we put the fire out the man said thanks, now get out of the way and then they didn't give us enough time and he sprays us and knocks us over with the spray. "A small fire broke out again when everything was OK when the firemen were settled down for a delicious-looking lunch." In a nutshell, that's the story of the Laurel Canyon fire. And, as Joe expresses it so well in his weekly editorial: "We would like to thank all the firemen who helped us with this fire." :: In the same batch of mail with Joe's dispatch, I received my copy of the Border Sentinel -- a periodical put out by the inmates of the Federal Correctional Institution at La Tuna, Tex. The inmates, obviously well-versed in matters of law, spell it out on Page 2 of their publication: "The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the administration, nor do the editors assume responsibility for any plagiarized material." :: MIDNIGHT MEMOS: It's a sad fact that, lately, cafe entertainment for the most part has been reduced to an occasional mandolin player in a coffee house. But things are looking up again. At least they are at the Cocoanut Grove, where Miss Pearl Bailey has brought up in an entourage reminiscent of what nightclub shows used to be. In addition to her own enormous contribution, Pearly Mae presents a talented company of singers, dancers and musicians. Especially noteworthy is the drum solo work of her husband, Lou Bellson.

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

July 31, 1953: "Ride Vaquero!" has a giant, full-stage screen. And it's not on Netflix.

Movie Star Mystery Photo

 

Los Angeles Times file photo July 6, 1960: Barry Atwater in "Alcoa Presents: The Day the World Wept -- the Lincoln Story." Update: As many people guessed, this is Barry Atwater, who died in 1978. Just a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and reveal the answer on Friday ... or on Saturday if I have a hard time picking only five pictures -- sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day. I have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately, that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again.) If you're right, you will have to wait until Friday. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only prize is bragging rights.  The answer to last week's mystery star: Grace Bradley! Los Angeles Times file photo Update: Barry Atwater in "The Reach of a Giant" on "Medic," Oct. 1, 1956. Here's another photo of our mystery guest, without his Abe Lincoln makeup--just the usual "white goop" treatment from The Times' art department. Please congratulate Carmen, Nick and Don Danard for identifying him! Los Angeles Times file photo Barry Atwater, Nov. 2, 1961. And another photo of our mystery guest--slathered with goop by The Times' art department. Please congratulate Annie Frye, Michael Ryerson, Lisa Mateas, Margie and Dewey Webb for identifying him. Los Angeles Times file photo Barry Atwater in the play "Uncle Marston," May 5, 1963. Here's another photo of our mystery guest. Please congratulate Thom, Lee and Megan, Ted Mark, "Laura" fan Waldo Lydecker, Greg Clancey, Barbara Klein, Roget-L.A. and Mike Hawks for identifying him. Los Angeles Times file photo Update: A badly wrinkled picture of Barry Atwater promoting his appearance in a production of "A Man for All Seasons," 1965. Please congratulate Mary Mallory and Cynthia K. for identifying him!

Pilgrimage Play Opens

May 31, 1920: Preparations are underway in El Camino Real Canyon for "The National Pilgrimage Play."   Aug. 26, 1938: Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens visit what was then Pilgrimage Play Theater for Nuestro Pueblo. The play wasn't presented in 1938 because the theater was being used for a production of "Faust." July 31, 1939: Jesus cures a leper in a scene from "The Pilgrimage Play."

Until the early 1960s, when a legal ruling ended its government funding, "The Pilgrimage Play" was one of the more enduring fixtures in The Times' drama pages, along with "The Mission Play" and "The Drunkard." Originally called "The National Pilgrimage Play" in hopes that people from across the U.S. would come to Los Angeles to see the annual production, the play was "transcribed from the Scriptures by Mrs. W. Yorke Stevenson, with assistance from Brander Matthews, Clayton Hamilton, Sheldon Cheney and Prof. Baker of Harvard," The Times said in 1920.  The script consisted of 14 scenes, divided into a prologue, two acts and an epilogue. The original production was directed by Stevenson and H. Ellis Reed. The play was presented every summer until a fire destroyed the original structure in 1929. After a two-year gap for construction what is now known as the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in honor of the former county supervisor, production resumed, with another gap during World War II. In 1943, the property was deeded to Los Angeles County. Construction of the Hollywood Freeway once again interrupted productions, which resumed in 1955 under John Arnold Ford, the son of John Anson Ford.  In 1961, Atty. Gen. Stanley Mosk ruled that the play could not receive city or county funding on the principle of the separation of church and state. A privately funded production was given in 1964 and John Arnold Ford presented some scenes in 1978. Nov. 4, 1978: John Arnold Ford presents scenes from "The Pilgrimage Play." A movie version, partially shot at the amphitheater with some segments filmed on  leftover sets from "Joan of Arc," was released in 1949.

Nuestro Pueblo -- San Pedro

July 31, 1939: Nuestro Pueblo visits San Pedro and encounters an irascible lighthouse keeper, Irving Conklin. "Some idiot will write a story with a lighthouse in it," Conklin says of filmmakers. "It doesn't matter if the lighthouse is in the Mediterranean or in Siberia. Down they will come and shoot ours."

For Men Only

July 31, 1899: Dr. Talcott for whatever ails men. Private entrance.

Small Boys in Trouble!

July 31, 1889: This looks like a dull, gray page. But read some of the stories: A saloon fight ... a feud between neighbors over dirt thrown down a well ... a man writes an insulting letter to a woman ... and a smart-aleck young boy in the Brooklyn Tract makes a nuisance of himself.

Drinking With the Junior League -- 1952

Special Daiquiri Cocktail: "This cocktail hits like a sap to the back of the head."

Brady Potts takes over in this week's Cooking With the Junior League and examines mixology from Memphis, 1952: "Oh my. "This…this is a tasty, tasty cocktail. Were I the proprietor of a trendy bistro I would put it on the menu in place of the mojito, as a more elegant take on that South American standby that requires no muddling and looks smashing in a cocktail glass adorned with mint leaves. It is light, delicious, pretty, and requires very little in the way of mixology: mint, rum, sugar, and lime juice. What could be more simple?" Read more>>>