Digging for Solomon’s Treasure

Speculators are excavating at the Pool of Siloam in hopes of finding King Solomon’s treasure.   Nov. 14, 1909: Flames roar through an Illinois coal mine, trapping hundreds underground.

Nov. 28, 1909: Mine inspector Theodore Fellows is being taken to an insane asylum after becoming a raving maniac because of the horrors he witnessed at the St. Paul mine disaster in Cherry, Ill.

Synagogues Plan Fundraising Campaign to Aid Needy

Thanksgiving marks the opening of the social season and men may need a new dress suit.

Nov. 24, 1919: Three synagogues plan a fundraising campaign to help victims of war and pogroms. It’s interesting to note that there was a synagogue at Central Avenue and 21st Street. View Larger Map

Hopis Expel Mennonite Missionaries

Nov. 19, 1909: The Moquis of Arizona, now known as the Hopis, throw some Mennonite missionaries out of Oraibi.

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movie Columnist

Nov. 7, 1944: Gracie Allen performs her new work, “Concerto for Index Finger.” Some of Charles Laughton’s recordings of the Bible are too hot to handle or at least they're too hot for Decca.  Yes, you can find the record on EBay. At least the commercial release.

Young Adventurer Sent Home

Nov. 1, 1939: Charles Conner of Chicago, who ran away at the age of 14 to fight in the war, is sent home after a remarkable series of adventures. At one point, when the ocean liner carrying him was stopped by a British patrol for nine days, he decided to swim 2 1/2 miles to shore … And Jews are fleeing Vienna for “a reservation in former Polish territory.”

Attorney General Rules Against Using Bibles in School

Elgin watches are the timepieces of choice for job-seekers.      Aug. 1, 1947: U.S. Webb dies at the age of 82.

Oct. 30, 1909: California Atty. Gen. Ulysses S. Webb says: “When we force our citizens to pay for and send their children to public schools, where the Bible of another faith is read to them, I believe we come dangerously near intruding upon freedom of conscience.”

Plaza Festival Celebrates Columbus Day

What the stalwart young lad is wearing.

Oct. 22, 1909: Columbus Day is celebrated at the Plaza with a surprising array of ethnic groups. I’ve seen postcards of the Indian Village at Eastlake Park, but have never found out too much about it. I’d be interested to know which band of Apaches was in Los Angeles. Notice that in addition to Spanish dances, the youngsters did Dutch and Greek dances. And somehow, in celebrating Columbus Day, people found a way to reconnect with “the early times and romance of California.” Father John Caballeria says: "We should all encourage this glorious spirit of the past and the old mission days of Southern California should never be forgotten. The Indians and the dances all show what great work has been accomplished in the past and just as great a work will be done in the future. This old mission is the mother of the churches in Los Angeles, as all of the churches in the city started from her. The old mission is getting old, very old, and for this reason we want to preserve its walls. The old mission needs lots of help."

Voices: Jack Nelson, 1929 - 2009

March 4, 1965: Jack Nelson covers a memorial for a civil rights demonstrator.

Nelson wrote: "Dr. King declared that 'the man who pulled the trigger is a sick, hate-filled man.' But he added that 'what killed Jimmie Lee Jackson' was more important than 'who killed him.' "Jackson was killed, Dr. King said, 'by the indifference of every white minster of the Gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows.’ "

Tent Revival in El Monte

A.A. Allen stages a tent revival in El Monte, with faith healing.

Oct. 17, 1959: Dear True Love, wait until the Shangri Las release “The Leader of the Pack.”

Matt Weinstock, Oct. 16, 1959

Above, Eugene Vale discusses his novel "The Thirteenth Apostle," which received good notices at the time and is completely forgotten today. Out of curiosity, I picked up a copy on EBay. I may give it a little writeup if it's worthwhile. -- lrh   Horrible Splice     Film editors are among the most important, if unsung, factors in movie making.  After the producer finishes producing, the writer finishes writing, the actors finish acting and the director finishes directing, the editors put the pieces together smoothly.      A veteran film cutter was hired recently to edit a highly unlikely horror movie designed for the teen-age trade.      He did what he could against impossible odds but after the final cutting the desperate producer and director summoned him to give the film another run through in the hope further revision might improve it.     It was a frustrating session and after ward the film cutter said with a shudder to a colleague, "It was like putting a  Band-Aid on a leper."   ::       AN AMATEUR PILOT flying along the shoreline near Oceanside recently saw a car in the surf and two women financially trying to push it on the beach.  He landed his crate at a nearby airport and called the Highway Patrol.  The CHP said it had jurisdiction only over highways, not beaches, and promised to notify the local sheriff's office.     The pilot flew back to the distressed women, kept circling the car, and when they wrote in the sand, "Is help coming?"  he waggled his wings.     But before the sheriff's posse could get into action, the U.S. Marines came to the rescue.  Attracted by the plane buzzing the reservation, someone dispatched an amphibious jeep to the scene and the car was pulled out.     If he could have gotten a  submarine into the act the pilot feels certain he could have sold the incident to television.   ::   DANGER SIGNS High jinks with high balls And bets on jinxed horses Are two of the pastimes That lead to divorces.     --EDITH OGUTSCH ::       A STUDENT, anxiety written on his face, poked his head into the SC classroom where writer Mary McCall was conducting her night course in play writing and asked, "Is this where they teach how to prevent juvenile delinquency?"     "I'm afraid not," she replied, "this is a course in writing."     Afterwards it occurred to her that the young man may have inadvertently turned up a new approach to the disturbing subject.  Perhaps putting potential delinquents to work at a typewriter creating fictional murder and mayhem would cut down on the real stuff.   ::       BY THE WAY, the Board of Education pamphlet "Discipline," recently sent to parents of school children, may have had more impact than was realized.     In confronting an elementary school pupil with his sins, Ed Harding, child welfare and attendance worker said, "Do you know who I am?"  Awed, the boy said, "Are you the man who runs the spanking machine?"   ::       A MAN WHO flew in from Dallas the other night isn't sure we're ready for the jet age.  After roaring across southwest skies at around 500 m.p.h. and saying precious minutes, the jet and its fidgeting passengers had to wait on a ramp at International Airport for half an hour.  No place to disembark.   ::       AT RANDOM -- The sly collegians at L.A. State argue their football team is ranked first in the nation on the polls.  Of course, it's La. (abbreviation for Louisiana) State . . . Provocative classified ad in the Newhall Signal:    Unencumbered girl, light housework.  Pregnant girl OK."  The key word is "unencumbered" . . . El squelcho dep't:  Two men in  a bar were telling each other how tough they were on a raising scale of improbability and finally, Pete the Waiter reports, one said witheringly, "You know, guys like you I eat alive for breakfast- when I'm not hungry!" . . . naturally the amateur meteorologists tried to describe yesterday's weird atmospheric effect caused by ash from the brush fire.  Nearest approach: pink twilight.