Thanksgiving Fireworks

Fireworks for Thanksgiving – in Venice.

Nov. 25, 1919: Officer O.P. Torres arrests E.F. Keele after fighting on a hotel fire escape about 100 feet above the sidewalk at 4th Street and Main.

L.A. Disc Jockeys Turn Down Payola

Nov. 24, 1959: KMPC’s Dick Whittinghill turned down $25, but says “I can’t sit in front of the chimney on Christmas Eve with a shotgun.” Bachelor Johnny Grant says he was offered “favorable attention from a young woman.”

Robert Lee Ramsey – Born to Lose. Two officers from the Van Nuys Division save the life of traffic accident victim Phyllis  Burrows.

“Angry Red Planet”  “Jarringly amateurish!” “Cheap, clearly unreal backdrops!” “Unbelievably stilted.” “Many in the audience finished the final 10 minutes of gripping drama in near-hysterics!” IMDB gives it nearly 5 stars!

Cinemagic!

Don Meredith of SMU is drafted by Dallas, Billy Cannon of Louisiana State is drafted by Houston.   and Bob Jeter of Iowa is drafted by the Chargers. Jeter turned down the Chargers to play Canadian football for two seasons, then joined the Packers.

Found on EBay – Ann Toth Letters

A lot of letters written to Ann Toth, who was the roommate of Elizabeth Short – the Black Dahlia, were listed on EBay. The vendor carefully noted that the letters were from the 1950s to the 1970s, rather than from 1946, when Toth lived with Short at the home of Florentine Gardens executive Mark Hansen. The vendor also noted that none of the letters were written by Toth. Instead, there are letters from  a son, a bill for auto insurance, employment contracts, a receipt for the purchase of a television set and miscellaneous letters of transmittal, etc. Even so, the final bid on the lot was $560.

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 18, 1959

As Senators Write to Indignant Taxpayers     While we're all gathered here together, in this smoke-filled room, I'd like to say a few words in behalf of politicians.     They are our friends.  Behind that stodgy facade that they put up, they've all got hearts as big as Daddy Warbucks'.     And what they do, they do in our best interests.     I am prepared, I might add, to give you an example.     You remember, a couple of months ago, when Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois drafted a resolution calling for a government expenditure of $200,000 to permit himself and his 99 colleagues to fly to Waikiki to welcome Hawaii into our union of states?     The resolution was drawn up shortly after Alaska, which is cold, slipped quietly into the union.  And it was met, I'm told, with some resounding cheers in the upper house before it was drowned out by a chorus of taxpayer screams.     Well, now, at last, I can tell you the story behind the proposal.  I have it from an indignant taxpayer who was among those who wrote their protests  to Washington.     He wrote to Sen. Dirksen, Clair Engle and Thomas Kuchel.     Dirksen replied, in part:     "Nothing delighted me so much as to observe in every section of the country that a proposal to have the entire Senate attend the Hawaiian inaugural ceremonies at public expense struck so deeply into the hearts of people and offended their basic feeling with respect to governmental extravagance and the need for economy.     "I should point out that when the question was asked of me by the press, I said that I presumed every senator 'wanted' to go to Hawaii, but as you well know, 'wanting' to go and 'getting' to go is quite another matter . . .     "I reaffirm, however, my delight that there is an aroused feeling in the country with respect to spending.      "As for the record, I take some real pride in the record which the Republican minority made in the Senate in resisting huge authorizations for the expenditure of money and heavy appropriations.     "This aggressive effort on the part of the minority plus the determination of the president to hold the budget line plus the clear evidence of public interest all joined to give us a good record in this field."     I would have suspected that the junket was a Democratic plot if I hadn't seen Sen. Engle's answer, too:     "Thank you for your letter regarding the proposal of Sen. Dirksen . . .     "I agree that this suggestion is ridiculous; and if it had come to a vote, you may be sure that I would have voted against it.  It is not improper to send a small delegation . . . on this great occasion;  but to send the entire delegation is, of course, preposterous."     California's Republican senator, Tom Kuchel, had still another explanation:     "I fully agree with you that it would be an abuse of the public trust and a flagrant waste of public funds for either branch of the Congress to arrange a so-called junket for its entire membership . . .     "It is unfortunate that a jocular remark about a possible trip to Hawaii was misunderstood and subsequently treated seriously by a certain segment of the press . . .     "You may rest assured that I would never be a party to such an extravagance." Statesmanlike Stuff     So now we know.  Either:     1 -- Sen. Dirksen -- who's been battling those spendthrift Democrats for years --  was just testing us taxpayers to see if we were alert;     2 -- If those spendthrift Republicans had gotten it to the floor, the Democrats would have voted it down; or:         3 -- It was just a big joke.    I get the feeling that if the indignant taxpayer taxpayer had written 97 more letters to our elected representatives, all would have expressed violent opposition to such a prodigal scheme, no matter what they might have said before.     It's like I told you at the start.  Politicians are our friends.  Especially if we're watching them.

Three Sought in Robbery, Killing

Dance tonight at the Roma, 616 S. Hill St.

Nov. 18, 1919: The housekeeper of a downtown rooming house is sought in the robbery and murder of the proprietor, W. Frank Sheets, and police are also looking for her husband and an associate in the killing. Police say that the housekeeper, Margaret Evans, was secretly married to Philip Gargano and that witnesses identified photos of Gargano and Alfonso Bassano as the two men seen running from the Santa Anita rooming house after the killing. A pistol found near the rooming house was registered to Gargano, police say.

Father Seizes Daughter in Child Custody Dispute

Nov. 17, 1909: The courts and the police grapple with a child custody case after a father seizes his 2-year-old daughter and refuses to say where she’s been hidden, based on advice from his attorney.

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 10, 1959

The Satirizing Americans     The persons probably most amused by the movie and TV stereotype of the American Indian are the scores of Indians themselves now working in industry in the L.A. area.     Many of them take a quiet delight in satirizing the phony characterization.  Among these is Carl Gorman, technical illustrator at Douglas Aircraft's publications department in Lawndale.  [Note: Gorman was the father of Native American artist R.C. Gorman -- lrh].  Gorman is also well known for his paintings of Indian life and Arizona desert scenes under his Navaho name, Kin-Ya-Onny-Beyeh.     It is frequently necessary for supervisors and coordinators to hold policy conferences, which may cancel or change work already done.  Not long ago the brass had their heads together in spirited debate and the hired hands, watching from a distance, feared the worst in revised plans.  One workman, Frank Terry, brightly suggested that maybe they were discussing a promotion list.     Carl went into his Indian act.  "Much noise, much wind," he mocked solemnly, "but no rain." ::      A PHYSICAL education teacher at a junior high school in San Fernando Valley was instructing a class in basketball and while explaining the rules, placed her hands on one girl's shoulders to demonstrate overguarding and asked, "Now, what foul did I commit?"     "Togetherness," a smart girl named Stephanie replied, breaking up the proceedings. ::     MIDNIGHT HOST Life is a midnight host Who gives us a hasty snack And then when we're gone Suppresses a yawn And never invites us back.     --RICH FLOWER ::     AGAIN Joe Marshall, manager of what he contends is the zaniest construction company in town, doesn't know what to do about the help.     Not long ago one man refused to drive the orange pickup truck.  He said the color attracted bees, which found him tasty.      The other day Benny Branch was spraying the interior of a building while a helper held an extension light.  "Throw the light on the floor," Benny said.  "OK," the assistant said, and did, breaking the bulb.     If they'd just whistle while they work, Joe broods, instead of all that crazy stuff. ::     A SERVICE MAN finished filling the vending machine in the Police Building with cartons of milk, locked it and left.  When he returned half an hour later a trusty was waiting for him.  "You left your money box here," he said, "so I took it to the property room for safe keeping."  A trusty, in case you forgot, is a prisoner who does odd jobs around the station. ::     EVERYONE, it seems, is sadly contemplating our imperfect world, finding little that is comforting and conveniently blaming others.     Over coffee, J. Farrington Barrington Arrington, the sage of Bunker Hill, became thusly eloquent: "The canopy of innocuous desuetude continues to descend over the contemporary scene.  The dynamism has gone out of the individual and a rigid retrogression has gripped society."     "I think I know what you mean," his wife said, "it's drink and be merry for tomorrow is uncertain -- judging by the beer cans and empty bottles in the hallway trash boxes." ::     AROUND TOWN -- As Charlie Park was leaving the Coliseum Sunday with about a minute to go in the Ram game there was a tremendous roar from the crowd.  A man walking nearby observed, "They must be hanging Sid Gillman " . . . Speaking of football, no truth to the rumor the entire UCLA football team is named Smith and all other names were changed to protect the passer . . . A radio announcer giving a commercial for a dramatic school said the faculty is made up of "the topmost cream of the upper echelon of the TV industry."  Than which there is none plus ultra . . . Be wary of Hatton Hulett .  He sidles up and asks, "Will the ball park look like a nudist camp when the Dodgers play next summer? After all, they'll be playing without Dressen."

Woman Whistles for a Cop

Nov. 10, 1909: Hope Whittaker, who works until midnight as a cashier at the Peking Cafe, carries a police whistle in case of emergencies and used it when accosted by Eric Eich. Officer Blaisdell arrested Eich after Whittaker said: "This man's trying to insult me." Eich was sentenced to a $30 fine or 30 days in jail.

Yet Another Killer Dad in the Black Dahlia Case

The front page of the Los Angeles Examiner, Jan.  25, 1947. The only message ever confirmed to be from the Black Dahlia’s killer.

With the publication of Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger” and “Most Evil,” I assumed that the market for “Daddy did it” claims about the Black Dahlia case was exhausted, particularly after the tragic suicide of Janice Knowlton, who began this bizarre publishing genre with “Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer.”   But no. Throw onto the pile of claims about conveniently dead “killer Dads” the one being offered by Dennis Kaufman, a Sacramento man who says his stepfather, Jack Tarrance, (you guessed it) killed Elizabeth Short and committed the Zodiac murders. And yes, there is a movie in the works. Unlike some crime writers, I am a specialist rather than a generalist. The Black Dahlia case is one I know well, but I’m only familiar with the outlines of Zodiac, so I’ll skip anything involving Tarrance and the Zodiac killings. Here’s a brief explanation of what’s wrong with the claim (it’s not even good enough to call a “theory”) linking him to the Black Dahlia case. My information on Tarrance comes from online reporting by Kris Pickel and posted by KOVR, the CBS affiliate in Sacramento.  According to Pickel’s reports, Kaufman and “forensic document examiner Nanette Barto” say that Tarrance’s handwriting matches the Zodiac letters and the mail received in the Black Dahlia case.   The problem with these claims (and it’s the same mistake made by “Black Dahlia Avenger” and “Most Evil”) is that they are based on the wrong assumption that Elizabeth Short’s killer sent a flood of postcards and letters to newspapers. There were no letters from the killer. There were no postcards from the killer. There is no handwriting to compare.  Zero. Let me repeat: The only confirmed message from the killer of Elizabeth Short is the “Here! is Dahlia’s belongings” envelope shown above, which used letters clipped from newspapers. Notice that there’s no handwriting on the envelope. None. All the rest of the mail was the work of anonymous crackpots. The fact is that in the weeks after the killer sent some of Short’s belongings to the newspapers, there was a deluge of mail from pranksters. Every bit of it was a joke. That anyone is taking this mail seriously 60 years later is a sad reflection of the  pitiful lack of skepticism among amateur researchers, writers and book publishers.     The issue of whether Tarrance was the Zodiac killer is one I will leave to somebody else. But here’s the first question I have for the folks claiming he killed the Black Dahlia: “Can you show that Jack Tarrance was in Los Angeles at the time of the murder?” Not, “Could he have been in Los Angeles? “ or “Do you think he was in Los Angeles?”  The next question is: “If you don’t know, what are you doing to find out?” You’ll notice from the KOVR videos that the purported “evidence” is long on the nebulous art of handwriting comparison and very short on facts. All that’s said is that Tarrance was in the Navy and might have been in San Diego in 1945 – two years before the killing – and was discharged a few months after the Black Dahlia murder. In fact, a shot of his discharge papers shows he was in the service until October 1947, nine months after the murder.   It is not impossible to answer the question of where Tarrance was in January 1947 at the time of the Black Dahlia killing – but it’s a fair amount of work. The test will be whether these folks will even attempt to fill in the blanks or content themselves with a lot of mumbo-jumbo about penmanship in hopes of a book/movie deal. Note: The two images of crackpot mail are from the Herald-Express/Herald Examiner photo archives. Some of the Herald’s Black Dahlia material, including these images, is at the Los Angeles Public Library and has been posted online, and many photos are in the John Gilmore archives at UCLA Special Collections. The screen grab of Tarrance’s honorable discharge is from KOVR.

The Case of the Thankful Thief

Nov. 8, 1909: The yearly season of petty crimes opens in Los Angeles, according to The Times, with a burglar who ate half a loaf of bread, some peach preserves and helped himself to $3 in a savings bank. [Update: they were pear preserves, as a reader noted]. It’s hard to match “Blows Out His Brains” as a one-column headline.