Found on EBay -- Enrico Caruso

Caruso in "I Pagliacci."

What appears to be a collection of ephemera given by Enrico Caruso to Rosa Ponselle has been listed on EBay. There is no strong tie to Los Angeles, although both of them performed here. For example, Caruso appeared in a Met production of "Lucia di Lammermoor" in 1905 at Hazard's Pavilion and Ponselle was at the Hollywood Bowl in 1923. I'm noting these items because there may be a few Caruso or Ponselle fans among the Daily Mirror readers who would enjoy knowing about them. Bidding starts at $429.99.

Matt Weinstock, July 11, 1959

Dear Friend It's too hot for indignation but maybe, with a cool drink, we can muster a little pique. I refer to a certain type of unsolicited direct mail pitch. A large envelope shows up in the mailbox. How the outfit got your name and address you don't know. Inside is a mimeographed letter addressed to "Dear Friend," stating you have been recommended for membership in a "new, exciting and convenient way of shopping." Superimposed in large type is the admonition, "Send no money." TO GET IN ON THIS excitement you will want the catalog and to get the catalog all you have to do is fill out the enclosed application and return it in the reply envelope. This is where the pique comes in. The application wants to know your name, address, age, whether single, married, separated or divorced, the name of your employer and how long you've worked there. So far, routine. But then it wants to know, "What are your present earnings?" And the name of the bank where you have an account. Remember, you didn't send for anything, you don't want anything -- only to be left alone. I say it's an impertinence and an invasion of privacy. :: A MAN NAMED EDDIE asked his wife to go deep-sea fishing with him over the week end and got this evasive and somewhat double-edged reply: "No, I don't think I will. I'm afraid I'd get seasick. Besides, there've been a lot of boat accidents and I don't want to get dumped in the water with all those sharks around. You go, though, but leave your wrist watch home." :: SAFETY FIRST To drink and drive is     treacherous For accidents are grim So he who drinks just     like a fish Should park his car and     swim.     -- PEARL ROWE :: DEATH OF retired Adm. Harry E. Yarnell in Newport, R.I., this week brought a grateful eulogy from George Krain of the SC photo department. Krain, a White Russian, was a newsreel cameraman in the Far East when the Japanese bombed the gunboat Panay in the Yangtze River in 1937. Because he photographed the pillage of Nanking he became a fugitive from the Japanese. Five of his countrymen were executed. He appealed for help and Adm. Yarnell, commander of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, got visas for him and his wife to enter this country. "He saved our lives," Krain said. "We will never forget him." :: THE HEAT is getting to people. A man entering Spring St. building stopped, muttered something, then reached down and pulled a blue tie out of one pants leg. . . . And a painting publicist, returning from lunch, gasped to his companion, "I'll race you to the air conditioning!" :: EDWARD L. LASH, 3751 Bagley Ave., L.A., survivor of the Norway hotel fire in which 17 were killed, writes Nellie Byrne of the Byrne Travel Service from Edinburgh, "I think the 22nd of June was our lucky day. We arrived at the Stalheim Hotel and for the first time on our trip were given a room on the first floor. The fire broke out on the second floor and spread upwards. Three in our group were burned to death. Others were killed jumping from windows." :: FOOTNOTES -- A photog on another paper always puts his glasses and keys on a desk when he returns from an assignment and heads for his darkroom. If he wonders why his key ring has gotten so heavy lately, his colleagues have been adding a key a day. . . . Regarding supposedly unused watch pockets in men's trousers, R.R. Auerbach of La Jolla Sportswear says, "We don't try to figure out the whys -- all we know is people want them in, used or not". . . .A lady Mike Molony knows malapropped to her dog, "If you don't behave I'll pick you up by the scum of the neck and throw you out of the house!"

Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, July 11, 1959

Confidential File Smog Blinds His Objectivity Traveling newspaper correspondents -- for want of something better to report -- get their kicks by diagnosing the ills of each city on their itinerary. And usually, because of deadlines and harassment by their editors, they have to do it fast. Like, say, 20 minutes after they check into their downtown hotel, they've got to unlock their typewriter and begin recording their impressions. This gives them time to glance at the headlines of the local press, talk to two bellboys, a cab driver and one waitress and overhear an argument between a middle-aged matron and a room clerk. The results generally are similar to the following, a recent summation of the city of Los Angeles by a correspondent of London's Daily Express: "This is America's smog city. The filthy, swirling muck is as much a menace here to health and happiness as it is in London and Manchester... "Whereas New York goes to ridiculous lengths upwards, Los Angeles goes to ridiculous lengths sideways. "It is in area the world's largest city -- as all its taxi drivers never fail to point out proudly during their 20-mile, $5 drives. "The result is appalling for city living. "Two million, five hundred thousand people are smeared thinly over a 450-square mile area of perpetual suburb. "Your neighbor is a half-hour drive away, your supermarket a healthy trek, your local pub a plane trip. "A novelty shop on Hollywood Blvd. claims to sell 'real stardust -- gathered electromagnetically from outer space, with the aid of the latest scientific techniques.' "Yet all the star-dusted creatures are supposed to live within a few blocks." Taking this man's comments as a whole, I've got to admit that he encountered some pretty observant bellboys, waitresses, and cab drivers. But there's one point where I take exception -- that crack about it being a plane trip to your local pub. That's not true. And it's just this kind of propaganda that gives us a bad name all over the world. :: While on the subject of plentiful pubs, I'm sorry to report that through some clever lobbying, the proponents of Senate Bill 1093 maneuvered their pet through the House and Senate in Sacramento, and onto the desk of Gov. Brown for signature. Booze Sale Near Schools The legislation opens up to retail liquor establishments and bars some previously protected territory around certain schools, institutions and hospitals where it would be dangerous, or at least ill advised, to peddle booze at the premises' gates. It's pure special interest legislation. It's going to make a few people rich. (Or richer, as the case may be.) And that's a rotten reason for permitting it to become law. If you're interested in stopping it, drop a card to Gov. Brown. His veto can kill it. :: As proof that the public can have the final say in government if it's willing to speak up, an ordinance outlawing pinball machines went into effect this week in El Monte. The profitable pinball pay-off games -- for years well protected by selfish interests in the community -- were finally put to a vote a couple of weeks ago after some intensive petition passing by concerned parents in the area. The citizens effected the ban by a 535-to-334 vote.

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

July 11, 1934:Confirmation that celebrities' deaths always come in threes.

Architectural Rambling -- Ray Watt

Oct. 10, 1963: The Times' real estate section features an 80-acre tract on Sepulveda Boulevard in Torrance being developed by Ray Watt, who died July 7. View Larger Map

The condo development was called New Horizons--South Bay and was praised by Times Real Estate Editor Tom Cameron for a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse and recreation building, a nine-hole golf course, putting green and swimming pool. Cameron also noted that the project had underground utilities and a wall around the perimeter that eliminated "interior streets, which makes the community completely pedestrian-oriented." But it wasn't for everybody: "Residence is limited to families in which one spouse must be 35 years old or more or to single persons that age or above. No children under 18 years of age may be permanent residents."

Traffic Officer Killed Near Hollywood Bowl

April 18, 1971: Marie Stansell is honored for 25 years as a school crossing guard.

The Times never reported the outcome of charges against Frederick Krupp in the death of Officer Ferris E. Stansell.   At left, on July 11, 1941, Officer Ferris E. Stansell is killed while directing traffic near the Hollywood Bowl. His widow, Marie, takes a job as a school crossing guard. I can imagine some reporters groaning about an assignment like this: 25 years escorting kids across the street. But Donna Scheibe turns it into an interesting story.

Clerk Refuses to Marry Chinese Man to White Girl

July 11, 1899: A Chinese man accused of raping a white 16-year-old girl wants to marry her. The girl and her mother consented, but intermarriage of whites and Asians was illegal at the time.

Police Commission Studies Regulation of Prostitution

July 11, 1889: One of the best things about the 1880s newspapers is that The Times wrote about everything. One of the more controversial issues before the Police Commission is what to do with all the prostitutes in Los Angeles. Accusations of false arrest ... appointment of a police matron ... selling off the department's old horses ... it's all here.

Found on EBay -- Charles Mulford Robinson

A plan for Honolulu, 1907

In the early 20th century, Charles Mulford Robinson wrote a series of books on beautifying cities and developed specific plans for such places as Detroit and Los Angeles. Robinson proposed that Los Angeles build a Union Station, straighten Spring Street and plant jacarandas. He also advocated a scenic drive from downtown to Pasadena and a large library on 5th Street. Sound familiar? A copy of his plan for Honolulu has been listed on EBay. It's priced at $85, a bit expensive for an ex-library book, but it's hard to find. Luckily, many of Robinson's books are available at archive.org. But not the plan for Los Angeles.

Matt Weinstock, July 10, 1959

Unfriendly Frisco My San Francisco spy has smuggled through the mail a clipping of a sports column by Prescott Sullivan in the S.F. Examiner as follows: "Ingemar Johansson demonstrated that he is the possessor of a devastating right-hand punch when he upended Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight championship of the world. Last week the handsome, affable Swede demonstrated that he is also the possessor of an orderly, analytical mind. "In Goteborg, his home town, Johansson said it looked like Los Angeles would be the scene of his first defense of the title and that would be fine and dandy with him. 'I like Los Angeles because I've never been there,' he declared. "THINK IT over and you'll agree that never having been there is the best possible reason for anyone liking Los Angeles. What other reason is there for liking it? Can L.A. be liked for its smog, its monstrous freeway traffic jams or Charlie Park, the scorekeeper who did Sad Sam Jones out of a no-hit game? Is it to be venerated for its oppressive heat, its crackpots, the Dodgers or Braven Dyer? "For years we have been trying to puzzle things out. Now a young Swede, to whom the English language is strange and difficult, shames us by making it all look so easy. Ingemar Johansson likes Los Angeles because he has never been there and no one could sum it up more succinctly than that." My, my, such bitterness. They must really hate us up there. And we always say such nice things about S.F. Only thing to do is smile and whip out the population figures. :: "OH MEMORY, thou fond deceiver!" wrote Oliver Goldsmith. It certainly is. The boys on the copy desk were discussing the new sales tax on cigarettes, which make them 30 cents a pack in the office vending machine, and a 2nd World War veteran reminisced, "Gosh, remember how cheap they were in the Army PBX?" That's what he said -- PBX. :: JULY 4 has disappeared into limbo for most people but not quite for writer Alvin Sapinsley. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were having supper in the patio of their Sherman Oaks home around 8:30 p.m. when something hit with a sharp, cracking sound on the roof not too many inches away from his head and bounced onto the driveway. It was the nose cone of a .45-caliber bullet -- copper-colored and warm. Another panel you will never see in the sitcom legacy version of "Peanuts." The current legacy strip: "It's a Laugh Track, Charlie Brown." He went up on the roof and found a deep dent it had made. By fitting the slug into the hole he determined it apparently had been fired from somewhere around Mulholland Dr. and Beverly Glen Blvd. He called the police and an officer was sympathetic and made a report but said there wasn't much he could and actually there wasn't. The disturbing thing is that five minutes before the bullet struck, his wife had wondered if they could see the fireworks from the back yard. He'd said he didn't think so and suggested, he recalls with a shudder, they go up on the roof for a better view. :: BATHERS BEWARE Hark, hark, the shark -- All bite, no bark.     --LEN DRESSER :: A LADY NAMED Julia made the final payment on her car and remarked that she should soon be receiving the pink slip in the mail. At a question by Donna, 5 1/2, she explained the pink slip meant ownership of the car. Donna said she wanted to be there when the box came. "What box?" Julia asked. Turned out Donna somehow had gotten the idea that the pink slip was a ruffled pink seat cover. Breaking the news was like telling her there was no Santa Claus. Ah, those wonderful childhood misconceptions. :: PUBLIC AT LARGE -- Picture postcard from Terracina, Italy, from publicist Al Hix has the message, "This is just like Zuma Beach -- with pizzas." . . . Tom Cracraft can't understand why the missile people don't send gophers and moles up in rockets. "Out in Studio City," he says, "we're hardly ever bothered by monkeys."

Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, July 10, 1959

Confidential File Mash Notes and Comments "Dear Paul, "Have you taken a close look in the mirror recently? "Well, we here at the Encino Summer Playhouse have. And do you know what we saw? "YOU -- as an actor! "Now we are prepared to offer you a deal. We'd like you to take part in our play, 'Laura,' which opens July 24 for two weeks. "How would you like to have your name up in lights in front of our theater? That's a pretty exciting thought, isn't it? Just think of the comment it would cause among your close circle of friends. "Your first reaction is probably something like this: " 'Aw, go on. I'm too busy writing a column and doing a TV program every day.' "Sure, you're busy! We're all busy! "But a true artist never thinks of that. All he can think of is the excitement of opening night -- "The blaring overture...A quick once-over of the script to make sure you know your lines...The butterflies in your stomach doing the minute-waltz incha-cha-cha time...The last minute touches to your makeup...Then, the creak of the curtain going up in all its faded glory...And there you are -- in the flesh -- for all the world to see!" (signed) Bill Dodge,Encino Summer Playhouse, 4935 Balboa Ave., Encino.     -- I'm not going on like that unless the rest of the cast does. :: "Dear Sir: "A compulsion drives many imperfectly educated men, like the writer, to put words on paper expounding theories and opinions that spring from the bottomless well of their imagination; an imagination that is renewed by contact with the works of literary giants and is similar to the method used by Antaeus to renew his strength. "A representative example of this compulsion follows: "Parkey Sharkey exists as the California counterpart of the British 'man who never was,' although neither run much danger of being tagged with a Social Security number. "There is one significant difference between these two illusions: the 'man who never was' played a vital role in a desperate war, while Parkey Sharkey is the embodiment of his creator's frustration, tinged with revulsion, which is the natural result when an imaginative writer like you is forced into contact with the helpless, the downtrodden and the foolish. "In short, a sensitive person must resort to such allegorical devices if he is to remain at all objective on the job in the face of the ceaseless waves of human misery beating against his desk... "That's it. Or rather, it's only it until the next time the trigger is pulled by a remembrance, an article, a word. What do you think?" (signed) Harold Parrow, P.O. Box 42507, L.A. 42.     -- What should I think? You've just told me that my best friend in the whole world is only a hallucination. :: "to Paul, "I have two jobs now, when I get through cleaning up the Oasis bar, I deliver Chinese dinners for a Chinese resterant. "The other night I asked the Chinese cook, what you got for supper??? "He ran off a list of Chinese dinners which I had never heard of before. I had never had a Chinese dinner before, Paul, so I said Chow Mein, without the chopsticks. I can't eat with them. "Paul, my wife is driving me nuts. "The other day she walked a 82-year-old man home from a bar. He was drunk. They were crossing the street at a signal when his pants fell off him, and my wife had to pull his pants up for him in the middle of the street." (signed) Parkey Sharkey, c/o Oasis Bar, Menlo Park.     -- Lies! Lies! Lies!

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept: Your Movies

July 10, 1933: Ginger Rogers appears at Grauman's Chinese Theater for a showing of "The Gold Diggers of 1933."