June 17, 1959: Jack Smith's series on Samuel Goldwyn continues.
"[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."
Gus Arriola is one of my favorite comic strip artists. His drawings are so clean and he's a marvelous draftsman.
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.
An 1865 photo of a hanging that went awry at Temple and New High streets.
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."
"Darby O'Gill and the Little People," starring Sean Connery.
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.
Winters later used his hospitalization in some of his routines.
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.
Please notice: It was a Ford.
Poulson told someone else evicted from Chavez Ravine that they couldn't repurchase their home after voters decided not to build public housing ...
... "since no portion of the land acquired for a public purpose can be resold for a private purpose." Like Dodger Stadium, perhaps?
Art Buchwald's letter from Paris
"The only shocking thing about this film is its utter ineptness."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.