The Police Commission wanted to close all-night theaters but the council rejected the action amid debate over whether the city, county or state should care for the homeless who would be displaced. Yes, the homeless of skid row were an issue 70 years ago.
Hitler accuses France and Britain of "encirclement." View this page
USC commencement exercises at the Coliseum.
"Rattlesnake" James, the last man to be hanged in California.
Jewish refugees to the Philippines?
Authorities try to regulate the B-Girls on Main Street.
David Villasenor teaches woodcarving to at-risk youths.
"Harlem Comes to Hollywood."
Another full-page ad for the Rex. Tony Cornero certainly took out lots of full-page ads in The Times. Evidently we didn't have a problem with offshore gambling.
When writing letters was an art.
The Rev. Bruce Brown could be making a rebuttal to the saying that ministers should preach with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.
Officer Wilmont Wilson and the Rev. Bernard F. Gurden, a pastor at Angelus Temple, die.
Bess Keeney is attacked while waiting for a streetcar at Jefferson and Vermont.
Duesenbergs for sale!
Boxers Tony Galento, left, Max Baer and Lou Nova clown for the camera.
Literature and art by Lee Shippey.
Casting for "Rebecca."
The Times opposes parole for sex criminals.
Bill Henry takes a look at Hollywood Park's revenues. View this page
Beatnik robbers tell victim to "play it cool." Woof, Daddy-o.
Above, another mass-transit plan that never got off the drawing board.
All right, you kids, no more chopped and channeled five-window coupes, understand? And no more lowered front ends on your T-buckets! Next, we're going after your Glass Packs.
Nice headline -- does that mean some women aren't upset?
Above, FBI agents give the governor of Mississippi the names of about 10 men involved in the lynching of African American truck driver Mack Charles Parker.
Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike addresses a Planned Parenthood meeting and calls California's laws against birth control unconstitutional.
The Times noted that Charles Owens had an art exhibit on the third floor of City Hall.
A 27-year-old man says he robbed the country club where he worked to provide a few essentials for his mother. He was sentenced to the six months on the road gang and probation.
Marx Brothers are at work on "A Day at the Circus."
Dr. Wong, a normally "placid Oriental," becomes agitated when he sees the Man-Lion statue in "Tarzan."
Joe Louis makes a surprise visit to the Main Street Gym.
I am writing to you again in behalf of my husband, Walter J. Collins, No. 12824, an inmate at Represa, Calif.
I understand that his name appears on the June calendar and that he
will be called before the prison board some time this month for a
hearing.
I wish that you would consider a parole for him as I really need his
support. I am not at all able to work and am solely dependant upon
others for a livelihood. Due to worry over my health and conditions in
general I spend a great part of my time in bed with nervous breakdowns.
If
Walter were released, I am sure that he would be able to secure a
position and support me, thus enabling me to regain my health.
'When a person's health is gone this old world looks very dark and dreary.'
--Christine Collins
I certainly have suffered thru the loss of our only son, whom you know was kidnapped and thot to have been at the Northcott
murder farm. Then the brutality of the L.A. police and my imprisonment
in the psychopathic hospital because I would not accept someone else's
child as my lost boy caused the loss of my position which was my only
source of support, as well as the loss of my health.
I am really
destitute, having to rely upon strangers for help. I have a sick sister
who is unable to work on account of her health as much as she is
willing to help me.
I am writing to you from a humane standpoint
and hope that you will just give my husband another chance. I am sure
that he will make good. He has been imprisoned for nearly eight years
and we both have suffered terribly in that length of time.
I
know that should a parole be granted at this meeting I would regain my
health and I would certainly be most grateful to you. When a person's
health is gone this old world looks very dark and dreary.
Hoping you will give this consideration and thanking you for your previous courtesy, I beg to remain,
Respectfully yours, Mrs. Walter J. Collins 2614 N. Griffin Ave. Los Angeles, Calif.
ps. Please do what you can for Walter. Thank you. Mrs. C.
George Albert Scott and Curtis C. Lichtenwalter were leaving the In Between Cafe, 5414 Melrose, with $400 and a sawed-off shotgun about midnight Dec. 30, 1958, when they encountered Kenneth S. Savoy, 35, on his way into the bar.
"Just a minute, mister," Scott said. "Give me your wallet."
Savoy, an executive at Samuel Goldwyn Studios, said: "I'm single and have no responsibilities -- no one will miss me. If you want my wallet, you will have to shoot me first."
In reply, Scott pulled the trigger.
Scott and his partner ran for the car, where Jessie Mae Noah, 27, of Long Beach was waiting. "I just went along for kicks," she told homicide detectives.
Lichtenwalter took the wheel as Scott jumped into the car, saying: "Take off. I had to use this. I shot a man in the stomach." The three of them went bar-hopping in Long Beach before splitting up.
It was supposed to have been easy money, Lichtenwalter said. Lichtenwalter, who had no police record, told investigators he had come to Los Angeles from Chicago in 1958 and met Scott, a 36-year-old parolee, through a co-worker. When Lichtenwalter got laid off, Scott suggested they pull some robberies.
"I don't know why I did such a crazy thing but after I once started, the die was cast," Lichtenwalter, 41, said.
The partners robbed six Los Angeles bars between Dec. 16 and Dec. 30, 1958, according to court records. After the killing, Lichtenwalter told Scott he was through, so Scott went by himself to rob two more bars on Jan. 7, 1959, before leaving town.
Scott was identified through a police sketch. After his photo was published in newspapers, Noah surrendered to Long Beach police and investigators arrested Lichtenwalter at a Compton hotel.
State police, sheriff's deputies and FBI agents cornered Scott at a tourist court in Texarkana, Ark., where he had registered with Barbara White, a former women's wrestling champion. Authorities cleared the rest of the guests, then called Scott's room and ordered him to surrender.
When he hung up on police, officers fired 12 tear-gas shells into the cabin, along with 10 rounds of buckshot and "numerous bursts of machine gun fire," The Times said. Although neither Scott nor White was injured, "gunfire literally blew apart the front of the cabin," The Times said.
Scott and Lichtenwalter were tried on six counts of robbery and one count of first-degree murder. Lichtenwalter was found not guilty of murder but convicted on the robbery charges and sentenced to prison.
Scott was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the gas chamber. During a sanity hearing after his sentencing, Scott slashed his throat with a double-edged razor he had hidden in his mouth. It took 16 stitches to close the wounds.
In the summer of 1960, he staged a hunger strike because his wife hadn't written to him, and his attorney filed an appeal with the California Supreme Court because Scott's mother had been hospitalized for drug addiction and emaciation.
The state high court rejected Scott's plea, and he was executed in the California gas chamber on Sept. 7, 1960. No further record can be found of Curtis C. Lichtenwalter. Update: Regular Daily Mirror reader Dick Morris tells me that a man named Curtis C. Lichtenwalter died July 13, 1993, in Dade County, Fla., at the age of 74.
Above, another editorial in The Times' well-worn tradition of asking: "What's all the fuss I hear about ... recalling the corrupt mayor ... a federal anti-lynching law ... opening up America to the refugees of Europe? We don't need to recall the corrupt mayor ... we don't need a federal anti-lynching law ... we don't need to take in European refugees (they would just go on welfare). Things are fine just the way they are."
The key point, which is buried in the editorial, is mayoral candidate Fletcher Bowron's promise not to use the LAPD as strikebreakers.
At left, business as usual with the LAPD of the 1930s. And yes, they got off.
At left, Mary Astor is thrown from a horse en route to filming scenes for an MGM movie at the Uplifters' Ranch. According to The Times, the horse was spooked by a passing car. Astor was taken to Santa Monica Hospital to be treated for back injuries.
Max Reinhardt stages a production of "Faust" starring Conrad Nagel at the outdoor Pilgrimage Theater in the Hollywood Hills. The Pilgrimage Theater was renamed the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in 1976 as a tribute to the longtime county supervisor.
In sports, the Hollywood Stars beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-1 in the Civil War series ... The Giants beat the Cubs 6-2 ... The Pirates and the Boston Bees split a double-header. Boston takes the first game, 6-0, and Pittsburgh takes the second game, 4-3, after 14 innings.
"Pin smashing" is becoming increasingly popular in Los Angeles, says The Times, noting that "bowling is mighty easy on the eyes when Bette Morris goes into action..." Oh, you sports guys.
And Bob Ray, who has been covering the Pacific Coast League for The Times since 1924, is saluted with "Bob Ray Day" at Wrigley Field.
The Dodgers split a double-header with the Reds, winning 8-6 and losing 3-1 ... the Braves win a double-header over the Giants ... and gunmen rob a Malibu restaurant.
Two gunmen break into the living quarters above the Malibu Sea Lion Restaurant, 21150 Pacific Coast Highway, gag and bind the owner's wife and children and wait for him to come upstairs with the day's earnings ... Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and China's Mao Tse-tung call for a summit meeting on the Middle East crisis.
Elmer Valo's single scores Carl Furillo in the 10th ... Warren Spahn throws the 43rd shutout of his major league career ... Al Wolf profiles boxing manager Lou Viscusi.
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.
Subscribe to this Blog - What is RSS?
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.