Second Takes -- Samuel Goldwyn



June 17, 1959, Samuel Goldwyn

June 17, 1959: Jack Smith's series on Samuel Goldwyn continues.

June 17, 1959, Samuel Goldwyn

"[Robert] Sherwood and I were watching the first cut of the picture," Goldwyn says of "The Best Years of Our Lives." "It was very rough. Sherwood turned to me and sad, 'You know, this moves me.' I said, 'It moves me, too.' But we didn't know it was going to be the great picture it was."



Above, one of the great scenes in "Best Years," which tells the story primarily through Gregg Toland's photography and Hugh Friedhofer's music in long stretches without dialogue. One of my favorite lines: "You're the junk man. You get everything sooner or later."

 

Second Takes -- Samuel Goldwyn



June 16, 1959, Goldwyn

Part 3 of Jack Smith's series on Samuel Goldwyn.
June 16, 1959, Goldwyn

Goldwyn describes discovering Vilma Banky -- and making her into a star of silent films. He also spent a fortune on her marriage to Rod La Rocque.

 

Second Takes -- Samuel Goldwyn



June 15, 1959, Goldwyn

The Times' Jack Smith continues his series on Samuel Goldwyn.
June 15, 1959, Goldwyn

"When I arrived in New York I was absolutely alone, with no friend or relative to greet me," Goldwyn says.

 

Nixon Urges Whittier Grads to Avoid Prejudice -- and He Likes the Dodgers

June 14, 1959, Gordo

Gus Arriola is one of my favorite comic strip artists. His drawings are so clean and he's a marvelous draftsman.

June 14, 1959, Nixon

June 14, 1959, Nixon


June 14, 1959, Nison
Vice President Richard Nixon and his family visit Disneyland and stay at the Disneyland Hotel. He also says he shaves three times a day when he appears in public.

 
June 14, 1959, Hangings

An 1865 photo of a hanging that went awry at Temple and New High streets.

June 14, 1959, Goldwyn


June 14, 1959, Goldwyn  
At left, Jack Smith begins a five-part series on Samuel Goldwyn, "the only true mogul in the business."

"I guess I am not an angel," Goldwyn says. " I'm not always too sweet. I admit I have a temper. I can get angry sometimes. I'm not too sweet when I get mad. But I know what I want, and I fight for it."

"People don't give a damn, frankly, how much money you have spent. They either like a film or they don't. You can spend $90 million and if the picture bores them they don't care."
June 14, 1959, Darby O'Gill

"Darby O'Gill and the Little People," starring Sean Connery.
June 14, 1959, Nixon Dodgers June 14, 1959, Nixon Family

Richard Nixon was no ordinary baseball fan. The vice president said he was a Dodger fan ... and a Giant fan ... and a Senators fan? Talk about being politically correct.

"You have to be a fan if you're for the Senators," Nixon said. adding it was "real tough" to root for the Giants or Dodgers when the teams played each other.

"If Hodges and Snider can hold up I think the Dodgers have a good chance of winning the National League pennant," he said. 

Was that the Dodger fan or the Senators fan speaking? It sure wasn't the Giants fan.

--Keith Thursby



 

Top Comedian Goes Crazy in San Francisco! May 14, 1959


May 14, 1959, Jonathan Winters

Winters later used his hospitalization in some of his routines.

May 14, 1959, Cover
The Arechiga family, featured in the news because members were forcibly removed from two homes in Chavez Ravine, own 11 homes, The Times says.

Mayor Norris Poulson angrily says: "The family is not destitute. It owns more property than most residents of Los Angeles.

One daughter, Victoria Angustain, replies: "What's all the fuss about? We're not trying to hide anything. We never denied owning property. Nobody asked us. All the children are sticking together to help ourparents fight for their rights here."

Fifty years later, I have to agree with her. 

May 14, 1959, Jack Smith

Please notice: It was a Ford.

May 14, 1959, Arechigas

Poulson told someone else evicted from Chavez Ravine that they couldn't repurchase their home after voters decided not to build public housing ...
May 14, 1959, Arechigas

... "since no portion of the land acquired for a public purpose can be resold for a private purpose." Like Dodger Stadium, perhaps? 



May 14, 1959, Art Buchwald


Art Buchwald's letter from Paris

May 14, 1959, House on Haunted Hill

"The only shocking thing about this film is its utter ineptness."

May 14, 1959, Li'l Abner

All this time I've assumed Al Capp's drawings of Moonbeam McSwine were extraneous to the plot. I guess not!

Left-hander Warren Spahn throws another win for Milwaukee, which moves into first place ahead of the Dodgers. 
My 14, 1959, Sports


 

North Korea Shoots Down Navy Plane; Dodgers Beat Padres, 14-0, April 16, 1969




April 16, 1969, Jack Smith and Mr. Gomez

Jack Smith on God and Mr. Gomez.
April 16, 1969, North Korea Shoots Down Navy Plane

N. Korea a test for President Nixon. 

April 16, 1969, Art Seidenbaum, Talk Radio

Art Seidenbaum on talk radio. 

April 16, 1969, Theater, Twisted Nerve

Kevin Thomas on "Twisted Nerve."

April 16, 1969, Comics

1960s art influences the comics.

April 16, 1969, Sports The Dodgers moved home plate 10 feet closer to center field during the winter and the maneuver immediately paid off.

The Dodgers clobbered the San Diego Padres, 14-0, in their home opener with Andy Kosco hitting a grand slam and Tom Haller a three-run home run. The small change in the field's dimensions made a big difference.

"Neither would have been a home run a year ago. In fact, I think both of them would have been caught--mine for sure," Haller told The Times' John Wiebusch. "Andy's might have been off the fence but then the more I think about it the more I think that 10 feet might have just turned it into a big fat 0-for-1."

Kosco's home run landed in the first row of the left-field bleachers and Haller's reached the first row in right field. The Dodgers had hit only 25 home runs at Dodger Stadium in 1968.

--Keith Thursby


 

Trouble Was His Business -- Raymond Chandler



 
1973_0430_chandler

 

Yma Sumac, April 24, 1957




1957_0424_sumac

Former Los Angeles Police Detective Fred Otash gets some rough treatment during a brawl at Yma Sumac's home in 1957.
By Jack Smith

Singer Yma Sumac's home yesterday was the scene of the champion brawl in Hollywood's history--featuring the Peruvian beauty herself, her estranged husband, two hot-blooded Inca dancers, three private detectives, a male Peruvian harpist and a collie dog named Prince.

The head-thumping, hair-pulling Donnybrook took place in the entry hall of the Cheviot Hills home as the tension in the Sumac household finally snapped into a shrieking extravaganza with sound effects in two languages, not to mention the barking of the dog.

Read more >>>

 

Jack Smith, October 21, 1958




1958_october_21_jack_smith
 

May 20, 1958


Amestoy_bldg_1958_0130_ed_gamer
Photograph by Ed Gamer / Los Angeles Times


1958_0520_jack_smith
1945_map_detail Times columnist Jack Smith pays a farewell visit to the Amestoy Building at the northeast*   corner of  Market and Main (shown in 1945 map) across from City Hall.

Built in 1887 by Domingo Amestoy, the structure was Los Angeles' first brick office building and the first to have an elevator.

1892_0112_amestoy

Amestoy died Jan. 11, 1892, at the age of 60.

Note that the photo also shows a lounge  called the Stake Out. This was a favorite hangout for police officers as it was across from headquarters, which was then located in City Hall.

* Shoutout to Nathan Marsak for pointing out my error on saying the Amestoy Building was the northwest corner ... Thanks, crime buddy.

Email me


 



Our Bloggers
Larry Harnisch

Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."

Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.

The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.


Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.








Recent Comments

Margaret Lindsay?...
comment by Joan Y. Compagno

I feel so bad for her. She was a true woman w...
comment by Michelle

Phyllis Thaxter?...
comment by Meredith Wright

Charlita...
comment by Rosalyn

Jean Arthur...
comment by Bart

The stenographic pool... Pity. Nobody left ...

Blogs


Blog-O-Rama