On the Frontiers of Medicine, June 13, 1960

June 13, 1960: The gist of Bruce Russell’s cartoon seems to be that speeding is bad. Either that or driving through a huge skull is dangerous. On the jump, bone marrow injections offer hope for cancer patients, and TV viewers request a rerun of a "The Margaret Bourke-White Story" starring Teresa Wright with Eli Wallach as Alfred Eisenstaedt.

LAPD Captain Accused of Corruption

June 10, 1910: An AMA convention in St. Louis finds out what a Nautsch dancer is. On the jump, the complicated case of Police Capt. Charles E. Dixon and Hampshire Hotel operator William D. Gage. Dixon, the head of the department’s “purity squad,” summoned Gage for questioning and accused him of “practices  of degeneracy,” The Times said. Unfortunately, despite all the coverage of the case, none of the stories alludes even obliquely to what sort of “degeneracy” was involved. I would assume Gage was accused of being gay, but that’s only a guess. Whatever the accusation, Gage reacted furiously.  I’m posting quite a few stories about this incident because it reflects the nature of graft in this era. Gage was apparently falsely accused, complained to the Police Commission and was pressured to withdraw his accusations. When Gage refused to yield, he received threatening phone calls and his hotel on South Broadway was apparently targeted by a large number of unsavory guests, a technique that will appear in the 1930s harassment of Clifton’s Cafeterias and Clifford Clinton. (See also the Harry Raymond bombing.)  Dixon was eventually fired and became a rancher in Orange County. In 1911, he testified before a grand jury about misconduct in the "Good Government” (Goo-Goo) administration. Buried way down in one of the stories is a line that Sgt. Charles E. Sebastian, the future police chief and mayor, has been promoted to lieutenant.

On the Frontiers of Medicine, 1910

Anne Blanche in “Freckles” at the Los Angeles Theater.

June 6, 1910: Exhibit 1 in the argument that the past was not a kinder, simpler time is Abraham Flexner’s book “Medical Education in the United States and Canada.” The Times reports on Flexner’s shocking and brutally honest study about the dismal quality of many medical schools in the United States. Please notice that in California at this time, medical students weren’t even required to have a high school diploma.

Cupid’s Sorrowful Tale

Happy foot!

May 13, 1910: Mrs. Mallory gets 90 days in jail for running a disorderly house on Spring Street and a $50 fine for violating liquor laws … and the sorrowful story of a young woman who met a sailor on leave in San Diego.

White House Proposes Healthcare Plan

May 5, 1960: The Republican administration of President Eisenhower announces plans for federal and state funding of medical insurance for people over 65 in the Medicare Program for the Aged. The Democrats opposed the plan in favor of healthcare benefits under Social Security, and “encouraged predictions that the proposal would be rejected as impractical and financially unsound,” The Times says.  On the jump, the Dodgers bench Gil Hodges.

On the Frontiers of Medicine, 1910

May 1, 1910: Although Harry Ellington Brook was a popular and respected institution at The Times from 1886 to 1912 and 1917 to 1924, I had never encountered  him before, and his proclamations on health can only be described as staggering. Consider “tuberculosis is not contagious” from Feb. 17, 1924, or the possibility that no babies will be born in the U.S. in 2000, from Dec. 30, 1923. His obituary, on the jump, doesn’t indicate that “Dr. Brook” had any medical training whatsoever. In fact, he seems to have been nothing more than a typical itinerant journeyman newspaperman of the 19th and early 20th centuries with a strong interest in health. He received an honorary degree from the American School of Naturopathy in 1921. Brook was the author of “The City and County of Los Angeles in Southern California,” published by the Chamber of Commerce in 1907. On the jump, what really causes malaria ... and throw out your wool underwear!

Emergency Medical Training for Police, Firefighters

April 11, 1910: Dr. Charles Zerfing, the police surgeon, wants police officers and firefighters to be trained in “first aid to the injured.” Zerfing also wants an automobile ambulance equipped with emergency supplies, The Times says. Zerfing’s actions come after delays hindered the response to treating plainclothes Officer David Brooks, who was shot to death by robbers at 30th Street and Grand Avenue. The killing was evidently never solved.

Two U.S. Hostages Go On Iranian TV as ‘Confessed Spies’

April 10, 1980: One of two unidentified hostages shown on Iranian TV gives a tour of a warehouse apparently used for intelligence by the NSA and CIA. On the jump, do doctors spend more time with male or female patients?

Men Support Women’s Right to Vote

April 6, 1910: Men establish the Political Equality League of Southern California to promote women’s right to vote. "I can see no reason why you should go on making laws for the government of my mother, my wife and my sister without their consent," organizer J.C. (or J.H.)  Braly says.

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, March 31, 1960

Major Family Tragedy of Our Atomic Times       There's sadness in the face of Jackson McVey.  Lined into his forehead and around his mouth, it never completely disappears, even when he smiles.       It's a sadness not without reason.       There's the fact that although he's still a young man, very soon he may die.       There's the fact that he can't work.  He's physically incapable of supporting his family.       But most depressing to him is the knowledge that after the man-made plague which may claim his life attached to his body, he took it home and spread it to his wife and two of his three children.       The date it happened was March 13, 1957.  That's when he became a casualty of the atomic age.       He was working as a laboratory technician in Houston, Tex.  He left home that morning without a trouble in the world.

Kennedy Pulls Even With Nixon in Poll

March 4, 1960: Nancy Sinatra greets Elvis!

March 4, 1960: Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) pulls even with Vice President Richard Nixon – even though Kennedy is Catholic! (More on the jump).

'A Certain Infection' in 'Borax King' Divorce Trial

“Ain’t It a Grand and Glorious Feelin’?” by Clare Briggs.

Feb. 10, 1920: More revelations in the divorce trial of “Borax King” Thomas Thorkildsen. Notice how daintily The Times treats this issue: "…the woman was the donor and the man the recipient of a certain infection. Mrs. Thorkildsen claims the reverse is true, that the man was the donor."