From the Stacks: 'Bookmen and Their Brothels'

“Bookmen and Their Brothels: Recollections of Los Angeles in the 1930s” by Ward Ritchie recently showed up on EBay for too much money, so I borrowed a copy through interlibrary loan and spent a happy hour or so reading what was presumably the transcript of a speech to the Zamorano Club. “Bookmen” is a splendid little item of 42 pages printed by Grant Dahlstrom in 1970 and evokes what must seem an improbable time when people cared about custom printing and binding – rather than a Kindle with generic fonts.

Bullet of Mystery – Part 5

In case you just tuned in, I’m posting a small case study of research I did with Caroline Comport on her grandfather Lionel Comport for her master’s thesis. Researching Los Angeles is a treasure hunt, and every time I dig into the resources I find something new. Bullet of Mystery – Part 1 Bullet of Mystery – Part 2 Bullet of Mystery – Part 3 Bullet of Mystery – Part 4   In Part 1, I summarized the case of Lionel Comport, a milkman who was shot in the back while making his rounds in 1901. In Part 2, we looked at some of the resources for online newspapers, and in Part 3, we examined sites that have property records on the corner where the shooting occurred. In Part 4, we delved into the Sanborn maps of the neighborhood. In my final post in the series, I’ll talk about one of the happy discoveries of research. There are, of course, many more places to look. This is a merely a sample.

Coming Attractions – Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

Photo: Los Angeles Public Library Credit: Carolyn Kellogg/Los Angeles Times

While we are discussing family research in Bullet of Mystery, the Los Angeles Public Library will present a program on getting started in genealogical research. The free presentation will be from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. Folks should gather at the reference desk in the History & Genealogy Department on Lower Level 4.  No reservations are necessary for groups of six or less. Larger groups should schedule an appointment at (213) 228-7400. As we say at the Daily Mirror: Any day we can do research is a good day.

Bullet of Mystery – Part 2

In case you just tuned in, I’m posting a small case study of research I did with Caroline Comport on her grandfather Lionel Comport for her master’s thesis. Researching Los Angeles is a treasure hunt, and every time I dig into the resources I find something new. Bullet of Mystery – Part 1   If you’re a fan of detective stories, you may remember that Sherlock Holmes routinely read all the newspaper coverage as part of his investigations (and no, we won’t be putting on disguises or bringing in the Baker Street Irregulars). But the papers are a good place start.

From the Stacks – 'Portraits of Crime' (1977)

Two years after writing about  LAPD Det. Ector Garcia, I finally located a copy of his book, “Portraits of Crime,” which arrived in the mail from the U.K. while I was on vacation. No one will ever mistake this book for great literature. The editing is weak (as in “Leo” LaBianca) but the rough, raw writing gives “Portraits” a freshness and immediacy that might be missing in a more polished work. Written by LAPD artist Garcia (d. 1987) and Charles E. Pike, “Portraits” consists of composite sketches and brief summaries of  29 cases from the 1950s to the 1970s. Aside from the Tate-LaBianca and Son of Sam murders, most of the subjects are obscure killings, kidnappings and rapes that could easily be the raw material for several seasons of TV crime shows.

Make Your Own Pickwick Book Shop Bookmarks!

I noticed that L.A. Observed had an item on the reissue of “Los Angeles: A Guide to the City and Its Environs,” a book that is well worth having. The Daily Mirror HQ acquired its copy (formerly the property of Fremont High School--ahem) back in the 1970s and it has provided many hours of entertainment (check out the Chapman South American Chinchilla Farm, 4957 W. 104th St., admission by telephone appointment only). The book has been reissued previously and is available on Bookfinder, although the price may be a little steep.   As a public service, to accompany your new/used copy of the WPA guide to Los Angeles, here are scans so you can make your own bookmarks from the Pickwick (d. 1995), 6743 Hollywood Blvd. You’re welcome!

Pages of History -- 'The Truth About Los Angeles'

Thanks to the Huntington Library, I was able to obtain a photocopy of Louis Adamic’s “The Truth About Los Angeles,” one of hundreds of little pamphlets published by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. I was vaguely aware of these pamphlets but it wasn’t until Christopher Hawthorne began his “Reading L.A.” series that I learned Adamic had been a contributor. There is (of course) a website devoted to Haldeman-Julius’ publications with a searchable database of  nearly 2,000 items. According to the database, Adamic wrote: Yugoslav Proverbs (380) The Truth About Los Angeles (647) Facts You Should Know About California (752) The Word of Satan in the Bible (1307) Hollywood From the Inside (1401) One of the more tantalizing items is the pamphlet “The Personal Element in Business” (1296) with essays by three major writers on Los Angeles: Adamic, who wrote “Dynamite”; Morrow Mayo, the author of “Los Angeles”:  and Carey McWilliams, author of “Southern California: An Island on the Land.”  Why they were writing about “The Personal Element in Business” is truly a mystery. Mayo also contributed an essay to “The Bigotry Trust in the U.S.A.” (1314)   Other Haldeman-Julius titles with a Los Angeles or California connection are: "Anti-Evolution Strikes California" in "Is Death Inevitable?" by Maynard Shipley (271) "Address at the Grave of Luther Burbank" (724) Edgcumb Pinchon's "Life Among Hollywood's 'Extra' Girls" (755) "How 'Wicked' Is Hollywood?" (1591);  which includes "How 'Wicked' is Hollywood?" by H. A. Woodmansee; "Los Angeles -- The Heaven of Bunk-Shooters" by Farnsworth Crowder; "How Aimee Semple McPherson Gets the Kale" by Eric Wolfe; and "Pasadena -- A Charming City, But" by A. C. Senske. A bit of online research shows that the Oviatt Library Special Collections at Cal State Northridge has a nearly complete collection of the Haldeman-Julius publications, although it is apparently missing “The Truth About Los Angeles.”

Pages of History -- A. Victor Segno's 'How to Be Happy Tho' Married'

The library at the Daily Mirror HQ recently acquired the elusive work “How to Be Happy Tho’ Married” by our favorite charlatan and con man, A. Victor Segno. Although we have several of Segno’s works (“The Law of Mentalism” and “How to Live 100 Years”) “How to Be Happy Tho’ Married” has been near the top  of our desiderata list because Segno abandoned his wife in Los Angeles and ran off with another woman.  As such, we hoped to find amusement in this little 1901 pamphlet (which cost more than $25 in 2009 dollars), but it seems that in some ways little has changed in more than a century: “Marriage, like all human institutions, has its advantages and disillusions; therefore, it should be entered into with care and the selection of a partner founded upon good judgment.” "Marriage is the door through which many deluded mortals have returned to earth -- and their senses." We’re still looking for “How to Have Beautiful Hair.” ALSO A. Victor Segno on the Daily Mirror

Pages of History – Morrow Mayo’s ‘Los Angeles’

Morrow Mayo didn’t do terribly well in the first page of his chapter on the 1927  Marion Parker case (“Strange Interlude”) in “Los Angeles.” Let’s see if the next page is any better. We find that once again, Mayo has trouble quoting documents accurately. This is his version of William Edward Hickman’s telegram to Parker’s father: In comparing this text with a photo of the telegram from the Los Angeles Evening Express, Dec. 19, 1927, we find that he dropped a few words and he misspelled Marion as Marian. The text actually reads: [Marian] Marion secure. [Use good judgment.] Interference with my plans dangerous. [Marian] Marion Parker George Fox [I apologize for the poor quality of the scan. It was a challenging day with the microfilm reader.] Keep reading for a photo of a letter Hickman sent to Marion’s father compared with Mayo’s purported text of the letter. And I have to say that while Mayo’s transcription makes Hickman sound somewhat rational, seeing the actual letter, with its crazy quilt of cursive writing and printing, conveys some of Hickman’s lunacy.

ALSO Fact-Checking ‘Los Angeles’ – Part 1 Fact-Checking ‘Los Angeles’ – Part 2

Pages of History -- Morrow Mayo's 'Los Angeles'

Any day I can do research is a good day – even if I run into trouble, as I did on Tuesday. I stopped by the Los Angeles Public Library to delve into the microfilm on the Marion Parker case. And here’s what I found in the Los Angeles Evening Express for Dec. 19, 1927. (Sorry about the quality of the scan. It was a challenging day). No, your eyes aren’t fooling you. Morrow Mayo made a slight error in transcribing William Edward Hickman’s telegram. [It should be the special delivery letter]. And the names were below the text, as signatures. ALSO Fact-Checking “Los Angeles,” Part 1

Pages of History -- Morrow Mayo and 'Los Angeles'

Imagine how pleased I was to discover that by complete coincidence (and I do mean complete coincidence) Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne is planning a yearlong project called Reading L.A. that will begin with the same book I have been planning to examine, Morrow Mayo’s “Los Angeles.” Hawthorne is also planning to look at Louis Adamic’s “The Truth About Los Angeles,” a rare item that I’ll have to track down because I don’t have it in the Daily Mirror HQ. I don’t plan to examine most of the books on Hawthorne’s list, but I’ll be looking forward to what he has to say about Mayo’s influential and jaunty but problematic book (recall that Mayo is one of the early sources of the myth about Gen. Harrison Gray Otis’ armored car).  ALSO Christopher Hawthorne’s reading list Another Good Story Ruined – Gen. Otis’ Armored Car Morrow Mayo on the Daily Mirror

Pages of History

Los Angeles Times file photo Clarence Darrow addresses the jury in one of his two trials on charges of trying to bribe jurors in the McNamara brothers’ case.

For the last week, I have been reading the transcripts of People vs. Clarence Darrow, which were digitized by the Los Angeles County Law Library and are available from the University of Minnesota’s Law Library. WARNING: The transcripts consist of 90 PDF files in a 400-megabyte portfolio, so downloading them will put a load on your computer and printing them out could take days and consume 8,000 sheets of paper. But if you are patient, you will be rewarded. Reading the transcripts is like being in court and hearing the long speeches and nearly continuous objections of Darrow’s defense team of Earl Rogers and Horace Appel, two brilliant attorneys whose lives disintegrated like powerful engines that were run too hard for too long. Rogers is known today through a few books, and Appel is completely forgotten, so the transcripts provide a record of their speeches and examples of their courtroom tactics. And then there are the random outbursts:    The prosecution generally comes off well in the transcripts and Dist. Atty. John D. Fredericks – referred to as Capt. Fredericks because of his rank in the California National Guard  -- and Deputy Dist. Atty. W. Joseph Ford seem to be well-matched to Rogers and Appel. The major tactical mistake, based on my reading to date, is that Fredericks brought in too many witnesses in an attempt to show Darrow’s unrelenting determination to win the case -- by bribery and coercion if necessary. The defense won and Darrow was found not guilty – but if even half of the testimony is true, it paints a damning portrait of one of America’s legal heroes as a ruthless, corrupt man.    The transcripts are also a window on the past in countless ways. Much of the action focuses on a ranch outside El Monte, with a barn and a water tower. People ride streetcars and go into saloons with swinging doors. The courtroom is small, crowded and hot, so the judge moves the trial into a bigger courtroom in the Hall of Records. The transcripts fill three boxes, so they aren’t easy reading – but there are many treasures to be discovered. Thanks and a tip of the hat to John Aloysius Farrell for reminding me that the transcripts are  online. I stumbled across the University of Minnesota Law Library’s Clarence Darrow website early in my research and it had slipped my mind.