Found on EBay -- J.W. Robinson's

This vintage hat from J.W. Robinson's has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $9.99.

Matt Weinstock, June 20, 1959

Summer Sadness Yesterday was the last day of school and the big thing with the youngsters normally would have been report cards and autographs in the school annual and parties and gay farewells to teachers and friends. It wasn't. It was the despairing outlook at the beaches for the summer. Those who had looked forward to swimming and surfing and skin diving have changed their plans, or had them changed by their parents. The incidents at LaJolla and elsewhere have instilled in everyone's consciousness a violent fear of sharks. The youngsters will still go to the beaches but they won't go too near the water. Looks like a big summer for lounging in the sand and listening to portable radios. But it won't be quite the same. :: A VETERAN ACTOR got a call for an interview for a role in a TV drama and at the appointed time appeared in a Hollywood office and was introduced to two young men, Madison Ave. types. Right off one of them, barely 25, threw the insulting question at him, "And what have you done lately?" The actor glared at him and retorted, "I've been counting my residuals. Who are you and what have you done lately?" He didn't get the job, only a little satisfaction. he says, "It's bad enough to take guff from people you work for but you don't have to take it from some jerk you might work for." These are the conditions which prevail in TV. :: TO FATHER We love the way you gaily laugh Dear Dad, each time you pay the bills. So once again our gift will be A jar of tranquilizing pills. --PEARL ROWE :: THE WAY Walt Hackett tells it, a certain college had on its football team a pair of famous halfbacks. One was from a wealthy family and had no problems. The other was a poor orphan who lived in a shabby section of town. To keep up his morale the coach occasionally visited him. One day college authorities summoned the coach and demanded that he explain his visits to Skid Row. He said, "I just wanted to see how the other half lives." :: WHEN NEWS OF the Miami tornado came over the wire the city desk put in a call for Nelson Tiffany, attending the press photographers convention there, for possible eyewitness material, but couldn't get him. Turned out he'd been attending a theater a few miles from the disaster scene and didn't even know it had been raining. :: ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD -- A man went into a restaurant alone. It was dark in there but it was still obvious that he was alone. Nevertheless the maitre d', a slave to a formula, greeted him with, "How do you do. One in your party?" :: AROUND TOWN -- You know the billboards showing several men with a batch of freshly caught fish and some cans of beer? The one in the 8000 block on West 3rd Street, JohnnyEccleston reports, now states, "It's Lucky when you live in California -- unless you're a fish"... Speaking of which, Melissa Caron overheard a man say, "The trouble with her is that she went from beer to champagne without stepping up to Schlitz" ... The Highland Meat Packing Co. in Vernon advertises, "We would like to meat you." :: FOOTNOTES -- The newsreels have a sequence in which Robert McCarthy, explaining the DMV crackdown on careless motorists, says, "It's better to lose licenses than lives" ... Morse bakery on San Vicente Blvd. had a cake on display with "Happy Father's Day" in icing on one side, a miniature bottle of whisky on the other ... KatyGraydon became so enthusiastic about the Disneyland TV show that she could hardly wait to take the submarine ride and see all the sea "servants" ... Mrs. G.O.M., who hasn't had a citation in 25 years of driving, thought she'd had it when aCHP officer stopped her on Atlantic Blvd. and said she thought she'd made it on the yellow. No ticket, just a friendly warning, so she's still 100%.

John Wayne in 'Horse Soldiers'

June 20, 1959: John Wayne as interpreted by Al Hirschfeld. Pretty great, no?

Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, June 20, 1959

Confidential File Mash Notes and Comments (Press Release) "Although 40 foreign nations and 46 states in the Union will send candidates to the 1959 Miss Universe Beauty Pageant, to be held in Long Beach, Cal, July 16 to 26, lovelies from the Philippines, Ireland, Spain and Portugal will be absent. "In the Philippines, a college coed already had won the national crown but was forced to withdraw from the international competition in Long Beach. her university and church pressured her, revealed Oscar Meinhardt, executive producer of the pageant. "The objection: her wearing a bathing suit... "Meinhardt said that similar incidents had arisen in the past history of the pageant, and admitted that even this year he hadn't been too certain at first that Miss Indonesia would show up. "Seems that the London Times, Indonesia's leading newspaper, decided to blast the selection of a native beauty for Miss Universe competition. "Said the Times editorially: "'The very idea of a beauty being manhandled and ogled at should be taboo to us ... How can we glibly talk about sending an Indonesian girl to be stared at and measured in tight-fitting trunks before thousands of onlookers?" (signed) Sparky Saldana & Hank Levy, Publicity Directors, Miss Universe Pageant. --All right. All right. If she doesn't want to wear just trunks, she can wear a whole bathing suit. :: "Dear Sir: "This is a form letter, because my secretary is pregnant!..." (signed: J.A. Small, Publisher, Western Publications, P.O. Box 5008, Austin, Tex. --Big mouth! :: "Dear Mr. Coates, "Dropping by the post office, I found a postcard from Parkey Arnold Sharkey, in which he gave me a message to pass along to you. He no longer wishes to contact you directly. "I read the message he desires me to give you. "He has got a tax refund through aid of Gov. Brown and again owns his automobile such as the thing is with need of repairs. "He is no longer interested in the taxi business and now works as a custodian in a Menlo Park bar, and he brags about having eight brands of beer for guzzling when he has a hang-over. "Well, I've given you the message, but if you both would behave as grown adults, he shouldn't have to use the devious method of writing to me to contact you. "He should write to you directly again, "Sir, why don't you patch up your differences with Parkey?" (signed) Memphis Harry Lee Ward, P.O. Box 1963, Hollywood. --I've tried, Memphis. God knows I've tried. :: (Press Release) "Philadelphia plans to embark on an advertising campaign to promote the sale of one of nature's finest ingredients -- water -- reveals Engineering Record, McGraw-Hill publication. "The city's water supply is in such good shape that residents will probably be asked to take more baths." (signed) Publicity Dept., McGraw-Hill Publications, New York City. --Don't ask 'em. Tell 'em!

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept: Your Faith

June 20, 1960: At a crusade in Washington, D.C., Billy Graham says that Americans are letting their souls "go to seed."

GOP Unbeatable, Nixon Says!

June 20, 1959: This Isn't Any Laughing Matter, Ted."

The newspapers of the 1950s are full of stories about callous police officers (usually the LAPD, sometimes Beverly Hills) handing out traffic tickets. It must have been quite a phenomenon. Richard Nixon says the GOP will be unbeatable in 1960. Oregon blackberry ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Our favorite Pasadena gun shop has a special on a do-it-yourself .30-06. The Dodgers win against Cincinnati, 6-2.

The Times follows the Mirror story on the resignation of Police Commissioner Herbert Greenwood. A Lutheran leader says the purported upsurge of religion in America is a myth and that membership isn't keeping pace with population growth. "We are living in a post-Christian era," another official says.

An update on the Hollywood Legion Stadium and boxing promoter Jackie Leonard.

Drunks and Small Boys in Trouble!

Officer Rescues Girl From Streetcar Tracks!

Siegel the Hatter at 1st and Spring.

June 20, 1889: Police Officer Church saves a life.

Found on EBay -- Great White Fleet

A vendor has listed what appears to be an original photo of the Kentucky taken when the Great White Fleet visited Los Angeles. Bidding starts at $5.50.

Matt Weinstock, June 19, 1959

Los dos Refritos When I read the AP story stating people who eat a lot of tortillas apparently absorb less strontium 90 from nuclear explosions than other persons, I knew right off here was a matter crying out for immediate attention. After all, Los Angeleans possibly consume as many tortillas in one form or another as Mexico City, where Dr. Carlos Graef Fernandez, nuclear scientist, made the statement. Fortunately, I happen to have friends behind the tortilla curtain. I checked Alberto Diaz, self-appointed mayor of Belvedere, who has been campaigning vigorously for a National Tortilla Week. "I have suspected all along that what Dr. Fernandez said was true," he said. "The only fallout we get in Belvedere is when the chili colorado drips out of our tacos." After a reminicent moment he added irrelevantly, ""And after all, what is an enchilada but a bloodshot blintz?" NEXT I alerted Paul Fierro, fresh from a role in "Never So Few" with Sinatra and Lollobridida. Paul, known as El Bandido because he has played so many gad guys in TV westerns, was an Indian Indian in this one: that is, a Hindu with turban. He is also a connoisseur of Mexican cookery and was not surprised at Senor Fernandez's statement either. Recognizing the need for action we jumped into his Volkswagen and made a run for the Nayarit restaurant on North Spring Street, barely ahead of a lynch mob. There we prevailed upon the waitress to hustle us a double order of tortillas, along with somelengua en mole, our favorite, and refritos con queso. Not only was our concern over radioactivity gone but when we got outside we noticed that even the smog had disappeared. Of course, it could have been the beer. :: AT ONE TIME or another, coincidence catches up with all of us. Thus, as LaVonne Wood slowed because of an accident at Rosemead and Beverly Blvds., she noticed that one of the damaged cars had inscribed on its rear fender, as is the fad among young drivers, the succinct phrase, "I've Had It." :: HIGH NEIGHBOR They picked out the man to send to the moon, Then wined him and dined him as one honored alone Till he took on the shape of a banquet balloon And floated up to the moon on his own. --MATTIE RAE :: THE WAY Bill Larkin tells it a parent became concerned about his young son, an undersize problem child, and when the boy failed to gain any stature for about a year, a series of stretching treatments was recommended. The boy was stretched out on a table and his arms and legs pulled. Some weeks later a friend inquired if the treatments were doing any good. "He hasn't grown any," the father said sadly, "but he has confessed to more than 100 crimes." :: A HOLLYWOOD hillside couple named George and Marian left yesterday for a tour of Europe, particularly Italy. In anticipation they took a course in Italian at UCLA. At departure time, however, it was a moot question whether they could deal with the natives. What Marian and even the prof don't know is that George, a sneaky one, has been taking intense  private instruction and can speak fluently. At departure time he could hardly wait to get to Rome to confound his wife with hissavoir faire. :: AT RANDOM -- Between innings at the Dodger game the other night a girl of about 10, sitting with her father, did her school homework ... The VanNuys egg ranch with the driveway signs "Entrance and "Eggsit" missed a bet, argues Tom Cameron. Why not. "Hentrance" ... The credit card frenzy has reached the point that when Martin Ragaway tried to pay cash for a purchase the other day the man wouldn't take it until he identified himself. Martin is a comedy writer ... From AdamTruty: "Horse players at least don't die in the gutter like drunkards -- they die clean."