This Week on the Daily Mirror

Photograph by Ken Dare / Los Angeles Times Frank Howard signs autographs during "Nuns' Day" at Dodger Stadium, 1963

"Throwback" Thursby pulled this picture for a post coming up later this week and it was too good not to share. Isn't it wonderful? Here's what we're working on: On Monday, Keith takes a look at old-school college basketball tactics before the shot clock was introduced. On Tuesday, he's got buglers playing "Charge" at Dodger games at the Coliseum and on Wednesday, he'll write about Frank Howard. As always, we have the Movie Star Mystery Photo on Monday morning and I've been going through historic photos of the Fire Department for something Wednesday. I'll also be taking a look at what was found in the Burbank time capsule. We're continuing our daily 10 a.m. posts on Raymond Chandler in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death, and our daily spin through The Times' old movie ads at noon, working forward from 1909. And we have Paul Coates at 2 p.m. and Matt Weinstock at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday to re-create the feel of an afternoon paper. (And you thought PM-ers were virtually extinct). Look for a Nuestro Pueblo and other surprises as the week unfolds! Jalopnik has launched a long discussion about some of our old tire ads. We just never know what people are going to find interesting! One other note: The Daily Mirror is getting ready to say farewell to Catriona Lavery, our UCLA intern for this quarter. Catriona did terrific work on the Norbo Grill and other research projects, as well as transcribing Coates and Weinstock. We will miss her and wish her well, but we are also looking for an intern--or two--for next quarter. If you're interested, drop me a note. The unpaid internship is for a grade, and involves lots of digging in microfilm and musty archives.

Coming Attractions -- City of Seekers

The Los Angeles Conservancy is sponsoring a self-driving tour of five landmarks in the spiritual history of L.A.: Angelus Temple, the Self-Realization Fellowship Mother Center, Chapel of the Jesus Ethic, the Philosophical Research Society and the Bonnie Brae House, home of the Pentecostal movement. The tour is March 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $10/$25/$20. I would have been tempted to add the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, 3950 W. 6th. Maybe next time.

            

Happy New Year, 1959!

The rest of the world may peer into a darkened crystal ball, but at the Daily Mirror, we know what the future has to bring. In 1959, Los Angeles won the series and we lost Errol Flynn and Raymond Chandler. Nikita Khrushchev paid us a call. Schoolchildren designed 50-star flags to welcome Hawaii and Alaska into the U.S. And a municipal judge named David Williams wonders why the LAPD mostly arrests African Americans for gambling; 5,210 blacks compared with 482 whites for 1958. It's going to be quite a year--stay tuned!    Flynn discusses his 1959 trip to Cuba. Raymond Chandler's obit runs on Page 4 of The Times. Baby Boomers rotted their minds with "Clutch Cargo." While their parents listened to Miles Davis--or Arthur Godfrey.  And Jack Kerouac turned up on Steve Allen's TV show.

Coming attractions -- Maltese Falcon

"The Maltese Falcon" will be shown at the Warner Grand in San Pedro at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008. Tickets are free for L.A. Conservancy members--while supplies last. If you're a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy, RSVP to Deandra Rosales or Debra Espinoza at 310.548.2493 by 5 pm on Friday, November 21, or bring your membership card to the box office on Saturday after 3 p.m. Tickets for non-L.A. Conservancy members are $5/$10 and can be purchased at www.warnergrand.org

Black Dahlia

Steve Hodel's "Black Dahlia Avenger," inscribed to James Ellroy, as listed on EBay for $19.99, in 2006.

Steve Hodel is bringing his "Black Dahlia Avenger" presentation to the South Pasadena Public Library at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, with a theory that is more battered and dismissed than ever. Since the hardback came out in 2003, it has taken some well-deserved lumps: James Ellroy, who wrote a laudatory introduction, abandoned the idea that George Hodel was the killer and his inscribed copies were sold on EBay; a character actress from the 1940s and '50s named Marya Marco has surfaced as one of the women whose photos (found in George Hodel's belongings after his death) were presented as being Elizabeth Short; and Short's family has announced that Hodel's photographs aren't of Elizabeth Short.    The latest blow comes from Gary Ingemunson, an attorney who works with the Los Angeles Police Protective League and represents LAPD officers. Ingemunson has taken on the complicated task of defending 1940s police officers, most of them dead, against "Dahlia Avenger's" accusations of a cover-up, just as if they had been charged with misconduct today. His presentation, or Skelly Response,  is thorough, elaborate and even exhaustive. I would recommend it to anyone who is deeply interested in the case or thinks there is any validity whatsoever to "Dahlia Avenger." Ingemunson also takes on some of the accusations in Charles Stoker's alleged LAPD expose "Thicker 'n' Thieves," the basis for "Avenger's" claims. Although it was rightly dismissed as a crackpot book when it came out, "Thieves" has gained some acceptance in the last few years and sells for far too much money if you can find a copy. Debunking it would be a life's work and I would invite anyone with several idle years to fact-check it. Here's Ingemunson's lengthy rebuttal to "Dahlia Avenger's" charges that the Gangster Squad tried to protect abortion rings in Los Angeles, based on "Thieves."

Coming attractions -- Archives Bazaar

Photograph courtesy of the Autry National Center

Just a reminder that the third annual Archives Bazaar is Saturday at USC Davidson Conference Center, 3415 S. Figueroa (at Jefferson Boulevard). Free. Parking at USC Parking Structure D is $8. Visitors can get free or discounted admissions to museums in Exposition Park. More information >>> And a brochure is here >>>

           

Movie revivals -- Island of Doomed Men

Coming soon to a theater near you...

Above, "Island of Doomed Men," 1940.

Oct. 18, 2008, 7:30 p.m. UCLA Hammer Museum Billy Wilder Theater. Tickets $10. Also showing: "Girls Under 21."

Coming attractions -- Greene and Greene

Reeve window    (Private collection. Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, New York) Reeve window watercolor, Pratt House     (Courtesy of Greene and Greene Archives, The Gamble House, University of Southern California) The Huntington Library in San Marino is opening what promises to be a fabulous exhibit on "Arts and Crafts legends" Greene and Greene. "A 'New and Native' Beauty"  opens Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, and will be on display through Jan. 26, 2009. Inspired by the centennial of the Gamble House in Pasadena, "New and Native" will tell a chronological story over nearly 90 years, featuring 140 items from the collections of the Huntington, the Gamble House, other institutions and private individuals. The objects include 15 pieces of furniture from the 1909 Robert R. Blacker House. The exhibit will also feature photos, drawings and descriptions of the Blacker House, the Gamble House and the Robinson, Tichenor and Culbertson homes. Read more about the Huntington "New and Native" exhibit here>>> The exhibit will travel to the Smithsonian and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The book accompanying the exhibit, by the way, is priced at $75.

 

Movie revivals -- Dangerous Blondes

Coming soon to a theater near you...

Above, "Dangerous Blondes," 1943.

Oct. 17, 2008, 7:30 p.m. UCLA Hammer Museum Billy Wilder Theater. Tickets $10. Also showing: "The Killer That Stalked New York."

 

Coming attractions -- free Philip Marlowe tour

Brian and Bonnie Olson, authors of "Tailing Philip Marlowe," write that they are giving a tour of downtown landmarks mentioned in the mysteries of Raymond Chandler. Sites include the Bradbury Building, the Oviatt Building and City Hall. The tour is Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, at 10 a.m. and begins at Caravan Books, 550 S. Grand Ave.  The tour is free. Copies of the book will be available for $10.