Goodbye 1947, and Hello... 1947?

Gentle reader,

We thank you for coming along on our nine month's voyage into old Los Angeles, city of vice and foolishness, of sunlight and deep shadow.

Many of you have asked "What's next after December 31?" The real question should be "What about March 13th?" You see, we somewhat arbitrarily began our blog adventure in March 2005/1947, and the plan was always to loop around at year's end and finish out the 1947 calendar year.

So tomorrow, you'll find us having super-charged our time traveling, rewinding further still to January 1947. Elizabeth Short, who will soon become more famous than she ever dreamed, welcomes the new year in San Diego, thinking idly of finding a ride back to L.A. W.C. Fields awaits burial after his sad Christmas death from a stomach hemorrhage. It's 1947 all over again. Anything can happen.

Stay tuned for buttermilk skies and much more strangeness between now and March 12, and on March 13 an announcement of what fresh form 1947project will take.

yours,
Kim and Nathan
(and Larry, too--hey, you read the comments, right?)
1947project

The Lonesome Death of Baby Ralford

December 30, 1947
Los Angeles

They met again in Superior Court, Douglas Ralford, electrical engineer of Long Beach, and Dr. W. R. Senseman, Lancaster hospital owner, and his nurse, Alma Carleton. The last time was November 4, 1946, when Vivian Ralford gave birth to an apparently stillborn son.

Alma told Vivian her child was dead moments after his birth; seven hours later, wrapped in paper in the morgue, baby was heard to cry. He was hurried back to the nursery, where he died two hours later of exposure.

The Ralfords were seeking $100,000 in damages, but reached a pre-court deal through Attorney S.S. Hahn and Senseman's insurance company, believed to be in the range of $5000.

1947project on KNX Newsradio

FLASH: Here's the piece in handy MP3 format.

Nathan and Kim are back on the air this week in a moody mood piece scribed by KNX investigative reporter Michael Linder, the L.A. Press Club's 2004 Radio Journalist of the Year. You can hear our spot throughout the hourly news round ups either on Thursday or Friday, and probably thoughout the weekend, on KNX-1070 AM.

The Miraculous Case of the Nurse on the Running Board

December 28, 1947
West Hollywood

The peace of little Sharon Lee Christensen's sleep was shattered tonight when a late model sedan crashed through the wall of the 5-year-old's bedroom at 8852 Cynthia Street and came to a stop atop the child, with only her mattress protecting her from certain death.

The incident began when Lucille Bianchi, 20, a nurse, parked her car on a steep grade on Larrabee Avenue near Sunset Boulevard. The car rolled free and Lucille hopped onto the running board, struggling frantically to get inside and throw the brake. Before she could, the car smashed through the Christensen's wall, with Lucille along for the ride. She was taken to West Hollywood Emergency Hospital with a possible broken pelvis. Sharon Lee, meanwhile, went to sleep in a less drafty part of the house.

Don Smith's Last Ride

December 27, 1947
Los Angeles

He didn't obey the boulevard stop, so cops pulled him over. Donald I. Smith, 50, sat in his car in front of 1640 S. Robertson and eyed the rearview as the officer walked towards him. By the time the man reached the car, Smith was slumped over the dash with a bullet in his head. He died an hour later in Santa Monica Hospital. File under: you'll never take me alive, copper.

It didn't take long to determine that Smith was the man wanted for kidnapping his 14-year-old stepdaughter Sheila Shirley Marilyn Morrison from her aunt's place in Leucadia on Christmas. The girl had already been found safe in a hotel in La Mesa.

Smith must have known they were going to catch him. He left a series of mocking notes in the car. One read: "To John Law--Greetings, John. Our relations to the best of my memory in the past were never overaffectionate. It's all been strictly business, so let's keep it that way. My name is Donald I. Smith. My address is Nebula M-17. Any astronomer can tell you, but it's too far to bother going there. Nebula M-17 is quite a journey and it may tire your flat feet. Happy New Year and may all your kids be born with flat feet. I was educated at three prisons. I've been in jails too numerous to mention. I've got a long prison record."

No one bothered to check to see if Nebula M-17 burned a little dimmer in mourning.

A Deadly Holiday Tradition

December 26, 1947
Los Angeles

Each family celebrates the season in their own way. Some have carolling and stockings, some make a respectful visit to church, others opt for Chinese food and a double feature. Glenn Hepner, 43-year-old upholsterer, honored Christ's birth by picking up a stranger, Alonzo W. Boren, 61, and bringing him home to 2831 S. Orange Dr. for a drinking party.

Hepner's wife Anna retired early, leaving the two men to their tippling and horseplay, and in the morning found Glenn dead on the bathroom floor. Rousted at his home at 724 N. Fairfax, Boren admitted he'd been fighting with his host, and had left him in the bathroom. An autopsy is pending.

The Axleys' Last Xmas

December 25, 1947
Los Angeles

Mrs. Mabel Axley, 30-year-old beautician, didn't tuck her sons Claude Jr., 8, and Jimmy, 3, into bed on Christmas eve. After a fight with her drunken, unemployed husband Claude, she was locked out of the family manse at 739 Marine St., and spent the night in the garage. Mabel awoke to the heat and smell and sound of fire--the house was burning, and no one responded when she pounded on the door.

Gerald C. Benson, who lives at 801 1/2 Marine, soaked himself at the garden hose and made several valiant efforts to rescue the children, to no avail. The children's mother was badly burned attempting to get to her sons, and is in Santa Monica Hospital tonight. Claude Axley, meanwhile, emerged unscathed. He has been charged with two counts of murder.

And on Marine St., a charred teddy bear lolls in the ashes, along with other ruined Christmas gifts opened not by tiny fingers, but by flame.

Santa and the Stink Bombs

December 24, 1947
Beverly Hills

While staff and customers awaited the start of the annual holiday party at Vallera's Rotisserie Restaurant and Delicatessen, 8680 Wilshire Blvd., the festivities were disturbed by the sudden explosion of two stench bombs, one of which had been left a phone booth. The restaurant is the sixth business being picketed by the A.F.L. Culinary Workers union to be attacked in this manner.

Owner Joe Vallera says that the union is disputing one employee's wages, but that most of his 60 workers have been crossing the line. Those workers rushed into action following the bombing, manning mops and fans to flush the foul smell away. After an hour they had either succeeded or become acclimated, and the party went on as planned.

Ho Ho Ho, Stenchy Christmas!

A Pill Bottle Is Not A Toy

December 23, 1947
Los Angeles

Trying to entertain her daughter Penelope, 18 months, while herself recovering from surgery, Mrs. Evelyn Gavrus of 10923 S. Hobart Blvd. tossed a closed bottle of laxative pills to the baby, thinking she would toy with it like a rattle. The child deftly popped the lid off and gobbled down four or five pills as Evelyn screamed for help. Neighbors came running, but by the time they got Penelope down to Park Emergency Hospital, Gardena, she was dead, her tiny frame overwhelmed by the 2/100s of a grain of poison inside each pill.

A Very Bad Date

December 22, 1947
Los Angeles

Mrs. Helen Miller, 19, met a man in a restaurant about a week ago, and agreed to go back to his hotel room. He told her his name was Donald Graeff, and if she thought she might forget it, any chance was lost after he held her captive and carved his initials into her upper thigh with a dull jacknife. "I am going to brand you," he explained, "So I can keep you all to myself."

Today, Mrs. Miller managed to get word out to police, and was rescued. Mr. Graeff is in police custody, and will be questioned about several unsolved sex/mutilation murders in the city, including that of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia.

A Suicide Pact

December 21, 1947
Hollywood

Wiley and Zelda Mills, both 65, took sleeping pills in their apartment at 1753 1/2 N. Berendo St. after preparing their wills and writing apologetic notes. Zelda's to their son Francis in Berkeley read " We are sorry to have to do this now. But it is the only thing left. Dad and I talked it out and there would be no use of my trying to go on alone. We love you very much. Mother."

The couple's son-in-law Cambern Cottrell, 1025 S. Westmoreland Ave., alerted police when he was unable to get the Mills on the phone or to answer their door. When officers L.T. Napier and J.H. Stein entered the apartment, they found Wiley dead and Zelda unconscious. She is in critical condition in General Hospital.

The couple was apparently despondent over financial problems and the death of Cambern's wife, their daughter Marjorie, from pneumonia four years ago.

Christmas Shoppers Menaced!

December 20, 1947
Hollywood

Shoppers in the S.H. Kress Co. store at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard this evening were terrorized when a gun-wielding robber forced floorman John W. Cossett to empty a register and hand over $110 before fleeing the scene.

The disappointing take seems about what you'd expect when a gunman hits a dime store.

The Noir Nurse

December 19, 1947
Los Angeles

Nurse Fay Young, 28, was dressed all in black when they found her in a cafe two blocks from her apartment at 826 W. Sixth Street--down to the .45 caliber Army automatic hidden in her purse.

Police were interested, because Fay matched the description of the woman who had just held up Stanley Brown, 1110 S. Lake Street, for $9 nearby. Would that she had walked to the cafe. It was her suspicious behavior in a cab that led driver Sam Wurtzel, 1163 S. Kingsley, to drop a dime on her. It seems she had been cradling the weapon in her lap and cooing to it, "This is my only friend, my best friend."

Fay and her best friend are in police custody tonight. Neither is talking.

The Case of the Walking Wristwatch

Hear this case recounted live on KPCC radio's Pacific Drift L.A. noir episode.

December 18, 1947
Hollywood

Two years ago, Mrs. Mary Louise Loftus rented a room in her home at 6429 Primrose Avenue to a (seemingly) nice young man whose height and cherubic features earned him an occasional paycheck doubling for Orson Welles. John Abernathy made such a good impression on Mrs. Loftus that she entrusted him with taking a broken diamond- and sapphire-studded wristwatch down to the jewelers. And that was the last she saw of Abernathy until...

... driving near Sunset and Laurel Canyon Boulevards last night, Loftus thought she spotted Orson Welles standing on the corner. But everyone knew that Orson was in Rome making Black Magic and mourning his split from Rita Hayworth. Ergo, that had to be Abernathy taking his evening constitutional! The lady called the cops, who located Abernathy in his nearby apartment at 8117 Sunset and took the kid down to the Hollywood Jail. The charge: grand theft, wristwatch, for the missing bauble was valued at $750.

Hans' Best Friend

December 17, 1947
Los Angeles

Hans S. Erlandsen, 48-year-old security guard, suffered an apparent heart attack today while driving and smashed into a telegraph pole at the used car lot at Santa Barbara and Vermont Avenues. Officers J.H. Turner and L.M Friday were called to the scene and tried to aid the stricken man, but his Doberman pinscher refused to let them anywhere near his master. After nearly half an hour, the dog quieted and permitted ambulance workers to attend Erlandsen, who was probably dead when his car left the road. According to his fishing license, the victim lived at 3980 S. Budlong.

Barone & Tucker Do the Slow Roll

December 16, 1947
Highland Park

Two city police officers were unharmed today following an accident as they made the difficult low-speed exit off the Arroyo Parkway near Figueroa Street. As officers W.B. Barone and J.C. Tucker left the high speed lanes, they swerved to avoid another car and hit the median, causing their sedan to flip.

The Case of the Killer Longshoreman

December 15, 1947
Los Angeles

Police are holding Rufus Avery, 47, on suspicion of murder and arson after discovering the longshoreman wearing scorched clothing in the aftermath of a fire at 10351 1/2 S. Hickory Street.

Mrs. Vera Dudley directed police to look at her former suitor, who had previously attempted to burn her house down, following the early morning blaze in which her mother Mrs. Minnie Dudley, 50, and children Lawrence, 8, Carol, 6, and Kenneth, 4, were killed.

Avery was taken into custody at his hotel room at 108 Palos Verdes Street, San Pedro. Vera Dudley was not at home at the time of the fire.

1947project featured on KPCC's Pacific Drift, Sunday 9pm

Fans of SoCal noir are directed to tune their Philcos to KPCC-FM 89.3 at 9pm this Sunday, for a special noir-themed episode of Pacific Drift with Ben Adair and Queena Kim. This week's show includes a visit to Sunday's 1947project crime scene. What do you get when you cross an Orson Welles lookalike with a jewel-studded wristwatch? You'll just have to listen, or read the blog, to find out.

Also on the Noir L.A. episode: Alan Silver, author of LA Noir; Rob Thomas, creator of "Veronica Mars"; Paula Woods, author of Strange Bedfellows; and LAPD “cold case” detective Dave Lampkin. Plus LA Weekly music editor (and bubblegum fiend) Kate Sullivan reviews the year's best local music

The show will also be available as a podcast.

A Mysterious Assault

December 14, 1947
Atwater Village

When Mrs. Evelyn Schott got off the street car near her home at 3224 Garden Ave., she stepped unknowingly into a trap. For lurking one block from home's safety was a man with evil intent. He sprung upon Evelyn from behind a bush and commenced beating her head. She screamed, neighbors poured onto their lawns, and her assailant jumped into a car and split. Evelyn was patched up at Pasadena Ave. Emergency Hospital, and won't, we wager, be walking home alone after dark again anytime soon.

Let's Play Supermarket Sweep

December 13, 1947
Los Angeles

Mrs. Esther D. Miller, 39, is a woman with an interesting hobby. She writes letters to her grocer, accusing him of padding her bill, and demanding cash in exchange for not calling the police.

Mrs. Miller, who lives at 1416 W. 53rd Street, stands accused of writing such a letter to grocery owner I. Rodman, in business at 54th Street and Normandie. She demanded $200, and extortion charges were filed.

Rodman's wife told U.S. Commissioner David B. Head that this was not the first extortion demand from Mrs. Miller. Last time, Mrs. Rodman had personally paid out $300, reasoning that "[her] husband has ulcers and [she] didn't want to upset him."

Bail was set at $1000.

People Who Live In Lean-Tos Shouldn't Insult Women

December 12, 1947
Van Nuys

What turns a brother against his own kin? For 20-year-old Harold Berry, who is on County relief to the tune of $128 monthly and resides at 14359 Erwin Street, it was brother Murrill, 27, suggesting that Harold's bride Colleen was available to anyone who asked. The lady responded by tossing a knife, but since she threw like a girl, Murrill was able to duck. He knocked Colleen out, and Harold threw Murrill out.

Furious Harold steamed for a time, then grabbed his revolver and stalked off to find his brother, who was not, as he'd first guessed, passed out in his car. So he stormed several blocks to 14657 Calvert Street, where big brother maintained a lean-to. Without thinking, he later told police, he pumped three bullets into the sleeping man's head.

As Colleen sobbed, Harold learned he'd have his formal murder charge on Wednesday morning.

The Case of the Singed Curtains

December 11, 1947
Los Angeles

Some criminals just want to be punished. Consider the case of Mrs. Betty Cole, 27-year-old cocktail waitress, raising her twins alone while her Army captain husband serves at the San Francisco Presidio. Police investigators picked Betty up when it became clear that she was the pyromaniac responsible for four small blazes at the Palms Wilshire Hotel, 626 S. Alverado, on September 14, one at 1272 S. Western on October 14, and an initial fire at 1326 Oak Street on November 7, 1946.

Realizing that they had a nutty dame on their hands, and that no one had as yet been injured, the investigators offered to waive the charges if Betty would agree to stop smoking and drinking. But when Betty called the station to ask her nice policeman friends to join her for a beer, they revived the prosecution. Betty was picked up in a cocktail lounge, and her bail is set at $2500.

Child's Play

December 10, 1947
Pasadena

Two baby cousins, each 14 months old, were playing together in the kitchen of the Joseph and Mary Diaz home at 3139 Alameda Street while the adults kibbitzed in the living room. Suddenly a child's scream shattered the peace of the evening. The Diazes rushed into the kitchen to find their son Joseph Junior bleeding profusely from his head, as cousin Alice Vasquez sat spellbound, a pancake turner clutched in one fat fist. The families raced to Pasadena Emergency Hospital, where Joseph died a few hours later.

Rowdy Roddy McDowall?

December 9, 1947
Los Angeles

Two laborers came to Superior Court today to sue actor Roddy McDowall, 19, for damages caused when the parties were involved in a head-on collision on September 7. In the accident, which happened on Roosevelt Highway near Latigo Canyon, Rosalio C.Padilla, 30, lost his left eye and suffered a broken knee, while Max Alverado, 42, received minor injuries. Through their attorney George Cohn, Padilla and Alverado sought $52,000 and $5200 respectively, from McDowall and actor Richard Long, 19, owner of the vehicle.

A message from the future: You know Roosevelt Highway as PCH, and Richard Long as Prof. Harold Everett from Nanny & the Professor.

You Can't Be Noirish 24/7

Psst, that crime bus has filled up... so if enough folks keep asking to be on the tour, we're gonna add a second bus on Saturday January 14. Waaaaah, I hear you cry, but that's not the anniversary of the discovery of the Black Dahlia's body! True, dearest, it's the anniversary of her last day of captivity. Much creepier, don't you agree?

But I didn't stop by to talk mutilation murder, not this time, but rather to alert you that when your humble editrix (moi) isn't blogging weird crime, I'm publishing Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. We're having a holiday sale, where you can get three gift subscriptions for the price of two, or a flat rate envelope stuffed with mags at a bargain rate. If you like neglected genius, oddball pop, true tales of lives lived distinctly and "the best cover art since the old Esquire" (sez Gene Sculatti), then you might want to check this link out.

Oh, did the wee policeman get an owee?

December 8, 1947
Los Angeles

Man, it took some guts for Elmer E. Kunkle to file his battery suit today. Not many LAPD officers would want it widely known that, when sent by his superiors to quell the noise at a party at 206 N. Avenue 51, he not only failed to intimidate with his mere presence, but was, he claims, set upon by the rowdy guests, beaten and bum-rushed off the property. Kunkle's suit names Graham E. Thompson and his wife Esther, William St. Charles, Jerry M. Garner, Leonard W. Likes and Angus D. Bell, and seeks $50,000 damages.

Keep It Dark, We Like It That Way!

December 7, 1947
Inglewood

Those grousing murmurs regarding the ornamental lighting proposal for the business district at Crenshaw and Manchester Boulevards will be formally heard on January 2 in City Council Chambers. At issue are the costs for the bulbage, a hefty $6.10 per foot frontage for business owners.

Bonus Gift for Crime Bus Passengers

Each brave rider who joins us on the Crime Bus for Dahlia Day 2006 will receive a very special gift, a free CD of "Somebody Knows!" an ultra-rare 1950 CBS radio show that re-created key incidents in the Black Dahlia case and offered a $5,000 reward for tips in an attempt to solve the murder.

Stay tuned to this blog for more announcements about the one-day-only trip into the dark side of historic Los Angeles. The pre-sale list is filling up quickly, so be sure to reserve if you want dibs on a seat once they go on sale.

Date: 1/15/06
time: 11am-4pm
starting: in Hollywood
cost: $25 max, probably less
reserve: by email to editrix Kim, amscray @ gmail . com

Update: Please DON'T vote for 1947project as Best Los Angeles Blog

UPDATED UPDATE: Since clearing ones cache and cookies results in a clean slate where some unscrupulous soul can vote as many times as they like, and since legit voters are being locked out of the contest, we ask that you not bother voting for 1947project in Gridskipper's Urb contest. I am truly sorry to have wasted your time--and my own--on this unprofessional foolishness.

UPDATE: We've received several reports of people receiving a "page not there" error when attempting to vote. If this happens to you, will you please contact me at amscray at gmail dot com? Thanks -Kim

Gentle Readers:

Thanks in large part to the kind readers who nominated us last week, we are officially in the running for a Gridskipper Urb award as one of the Best Los Angeles Blogs. Yea! Only we are up against our pal Rodger at 8763 Wonderland. Boo!

In any case, we'd really appreciate it if you could click over and, if you like what we're doing at 1947project, cast a vote before December 26.

Our catagory, Best Los Angeles Blog, is near the bottom of the page, under Best New York Blog, here.

thanking you in advance for your vote, I am,
yr pal,
Kim
Editrix

Come Ride the Crime Bus

Our more observant readers may have noticed the countdown in the upper right hand corner of this site, bringing us ever closer to January 15th, the anniversary of the date Elizabeth Short’s mutilated body was discovered in scrubland in South Central Los Angeles. The Black Dahlia Case has become one of the most notorious and iconic unsolved crimes in a city rife with vice, subject of books, films, paintings and tasteless t-shirts.

On the morning that counter hits zero, you, lucky reader, will have an opportunity to be on a bus with a group of your fellow true crime and LA history aficionados, visiting a hand-picked selection of obscure and celebrated noirish crime scenes, from the Hollywood iHop where SLA revolutionary turned Minnesota soccer mom Kathleen Soliah tried to bomb two LAPD patrol cars to the Black Dahlia site on South Norton Avenue and many fascinating spots between.

This isn’t your typical Hollywood Babylon tour, but rather a voyage into untraveled lands and the incredible, forgotten crimes of the sort we run every day on 1947project.

More info will be forthcoming, but for now we’re looking for a projected headcount. If you’d like to be on the reserved list for the Crime Bus tour (ticket prices tba, but it will be no more than $25, and quite probably less), email editrix Kim at amscray @ gmail dot com. People on the reserved list will get first dibs at scoring one of the limited seats on the bus once the tour is formally announced.

We hope to see a lot of you on Dahlia Day 2006!

A Fish Story

December 6, 1947
La Jolla

A secretary, in heels and hose and a neat little updo, catching big game fish? That's crazy, kids! And yet it happened today off the beach in La Jolla.

Folks spotted a big fish swimming erratically between the two breakwaters, as if it had been injured. The exquisitely-named Mrs. Dymple Axtell, 28-year-old secretary of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, watched for a spell and then couldn't contain herself. She enlisted Harry Grimm to row her out, and promptly gaffed a 512 pound, 12' broadbill swordfish. which they pulled back to shore. A San Diego fish market paid them $81.82 each for their share of the fish, which will handily cover any damage to the lady's coiffure or manicure.

An Ill-Mannered Con

December 5, 1947
Los Angeles

There were two distinguishing features of the man who robbed the Bank of America branch at Seventh and Broadway near closing time today. He had a very dirty face, and he was no gentleman.

Teller Paul V. Glowczewski of 2939 Covina Street told police that the man came to his window, showed a revolver through his Army raincoat's split pocket, and snarled "Gimme money." Glowczewski placed some cash on the counter, and Mr. Grubby snapped "Gimme more!" He was right; Glowczewski had been holding out on him.

Then the man took his money and strolled casually out of the bank, leaving one shaken teller and several dozen oblivious customers to finish up their business.

1947project in new Best of Blogs book

We are honored and delighted that our little experiment is featured in the upcoming book Blogosphere: Best of Blogs by Adrienne Crew (of LAist) and Peter Kuhns. 1947project kicks off the chapter titled "Pushing Boundaries of the Blog Format." Do visit the Blogosphere website for bonus chapters and to learn more about the book.

No Impulse Control

December 4, 1947
Los Angeles

Mark Lima, 16, could hardly dispute mother Estelle's opinion that he was a lousy student: his latest report card showed failing grades in spelling and in math. But why did she have to harp at him like that, first about school, then about leaving a door open?

Barely thinking, he loaded the .22 rifle his father Alfred, a Tijuana chemist, had given him when he turned 14 and he shot Estelle once in the back. Then, horrified, he called the ambulance to their little home at 412 1/2 W. 68th Street.

Even in her agonies, Estelle, 41, sought to protect her son, "Don't hurt Mark... he's a good boy!" Her condition is critical, and Mark is in juvenile custody.

The Sad Case of the Model and Her Baby

December 3, 1947
Toluca Lake/ Hermosa Beach

It took police some time to piece it all together, but when they did, they found that familiar tragedy of a man of mature years, the young, troubled model he married, a love that burned but briefly, the child caught between them, and money. Always money.

The tale unraveled when Sam Wartnik, 45, sportswear manufacturer with offices at 1020 Wall Street, had his attorney ask Wartnik's partner Al Hirschfeld and employee Clifford Jones to drop by the house where his wife and son had been living solo since the he filed for divorce last week. Wartnik, in San Francisco on business, had been unable to get Lena Mae, 30, on the phone, and was concerned she might have done something rash.

This was the gal, after all, who he painted in his divorce suit as a drunk and drug abuser, a person who had once tried and several times threatened to kill him. All the same, he'd left baby Neil Ellis in Lena Mae's care.

On the door of the little Cape Cod-style house at 4545 Clybourn Avenue they found a note: "Have gone to spend week-end with friends." They broke in.

Lena Mae was big on notes. Along with the blood splattered in every room they found the one that said "Sam, here are the keys. Now you can sell the home and gloat over your MONEY."

And the one on the back of Lena Mae's summons to a custody suit that was to be held this morning. It said "Sam, this summons is my reward for standing by you through thick and thin. Well, this is what you've often begged me to do so I'm doing it--and taking my sweet, precious Neil with me. Too bad, cause we both did love life since you left us broke but happy together. We got well together with your beat-up presence away. Good bye..."

And they found Neil, dressed only in a diaper and his own congealed blood, strangled on a bed. He'd been that way for a couple of days. Propped on another bed, a whimsical book for expectant fathers.

The hotel manager found Lena Mae in the Hermosa Biltmore, covered in hesitation cuts, ultimately dead perhaps of poison. And more notes. "Bleeding to death is so slow but I do want my baby buried in my arms." And in her wallet, beside the season pass to Santa Anita, on the back of a mailing receipt for something sent to her husband at his office on November 10, a day after they separated, "I am Mrs. Sam Wartnik. Notify Los Angeles Police."

Sam and Lena Mae were married in Las Vegas on May 19, 1946. Baby Neil was born on January 24, and died around December 1.

2005 intrudes, happily

1947project got a little contemporary notice today, in a piece in the L.A. Times exploring the bloggers of Los Angeles, and in a pre-nomination for an Urb Award from Gridskipper. To stay in the running for that Best L.A. Blog Urb (Urbie?), we need to get seconded and thirded, so if you like this blog, please drop by Gridskipper and let them know, in an email or comment, that you think 1947project deserves to be considered in our category.

We thank you. And now, back to your regularly scheduled 1940s.

Cops Clean House in Watts

December 2, 1947
Watts

Police at the 77th Street Station are wrapping up a two-day sweep of neighborhood nogoodniks, having dragged 31 suspected robbers (male) and 8 grand theft person suspects (female) out of bars at 10218 and 10224 Graham Ave. A number of those arrested were armed with knives. No additional details were provided.

Further neighborhood reading:

Lou Costello's Mama Gets Robbed

December 1, 1947
Studio City

It was 2 am, but the lights were blazing in Mrs. Helen Cristillo's home at 4037 Coldwater Canyon. Helen and her sister Mrs. Alma Kelly were in the kitchen, preparing gifts for the Lou Costello Jr. Foundation Benefit Bazaar, when they heard a noise in a guest room and discovered the furniture in disarray. A ladder propped outside the window and the missing screen made it clear that they were dealing with thieves, not poltergeists, and the cops were called.

When houseguests Mr. and Mrs. Louis Failla came home soon after, Mrs. Failla discovered her jewelry box and its contents valued at $3715 was missing. And Helen Cristillo found that her purse, which had contained eight hundred dollar bills and a $7000 pair of diamond and platinum earscrews (a gift from Helen's proud son, comic Lou, last Christmas), was also missing.

Not a bad haul for a few minutes work, but assuredly the act of someone without any holiday spirit. Phooey!

Hurrah for the telephone!

November 30, 1947
Los Angeles

Hurrah for the telephone!

First, Mrs. L.B. Beddoe, 4587 Date Ave., La Mesa, received a call from daughter Pamela Evans, who said she was going to kill herself. Mama called the LAPD business office and asked if someone could please stop her.

Radio patrolmen J.P. Hooper and T.A. Gibson raced to Pamela's pad at 104 N. Catalina, where the 19-year-old department store worker was passed out beside an empty pill box. The officers rushed her to Hollywood Receiving Hospital for a stomach pumping. Pamela presently revived, and murmured of the financial woes that had inspired her act.

But happily the phone had still been working, and so the lady lives. Moral: always pay your phone bill first.

The Mystery of the Vanishing Cash

November 29, 1947
Los Angeles

Bertha Bremley, 5809 Blackstone, Bellflower, is baffled. It was less than two blocks from the clothing shop at 529 S. Broadway to the bank, she remembers nothing unusual happening during her walk, and yet when she arrived she no longer was holding the money bag containing $1000 in checks and $2155 cash which she intended to deposit.

That is one smooth pickpocket! Downtown strollers beware.

The Ballad of Homer and the Washboard

November 28, 1947
Los Angeles

In sentencing ex-con Homer Stone, 45, to a stint of one to ten years in San Quentin, Judge Clement D. Nye didn't praise Stone for pleading guilty and saving the state time and money, no. Rather, he rode the man who admits he beat his mother with a washboard after she accused him of being drunk.

"She called me a bad name, your honor," whined Homer. "I don't think she called you nearly enough," said the Judge. "If I had been there I'm sure I would have called you exactly what she did." Whereupon, one assumes, Homer would have beat Judge Nye with a washboard, so it's just as well he wasn't. The Stone home: 339 W. 46th Street.

Recommended listening: "Washboard" by the magnificent, mysteriously under-rated Florida garage band The Nightcrawlers.

Low Visibility

November 27, 1947
Los Angeles

Driving in heavy fog last night, Chief Petty Officer Lavern J. Ringle, USN, veered off the road at Crenshaw and Manhattan Beach Boulevards and struck a eucalyptus tree. The collision fatally injured Ringle's 15-month-old daughter Cecelia Ann and left her mother Mae Amy in serious condition. Also slightly injured were Roger Ringle, 6, and his friend Ronald Taber, 1o. The Ringles reside at 920 Silva Street, Long Beach.

Crippled Lad Routs Would-Be Kidnapper

November 25, 1947
Los Angeles

16-year-old William Brooks Tissue was minding a used car lot for the owner when William F. Anserson, 25, asked Billy to show him what one of the cars could do. Once they were moving, Anderson produced a pistol and demanded the boy keep driving east. At 76th Street and Atlantic Ave., the brave youth ran the car up onto a curb and lunged for Anderson's pistol. Anderson ran, and was quickly arrested on a charge of kidnapping and robbery by two police officers who witnessed the incident.

Brave Billy Tissue weighs just 110 pounds and wears steel leg braces following an attack of infantile paralysis in 1938.

Girls Get Gassed

November 24, 1947
Inglewood

Clunk! Gas leaking from a new heater inside a garment plant at 104th Street and Grevillea Ave. poisoned five women, who keeled over their electric sewing machines around 10:30 this morning and had to be carried outside by their woozy co-workers. The women were given oxygen by a Fire Department rescue team, with the most seriously afflicted taken to Harbor General for observation.

After the firemen left, the remaining women returned to work, and soon the vacant lot beside the plant was filled with another round of queasy, disoriented gals. The firemen came back to treat these new victims.

Later still, the women who had been helping the others finally succumbed after eating their gas-soaked lunches, and the firemen came out for a third time. Only then were plant owners Mrs. amd Mrs. Cecil Webb told to shut up shop and fix the damn heater before allowing anyone back to work.

Westside Brats Run Amok, spankings at 11

November 23, 1947
West Hollywood

Two college boys out for a lark on a Saturday night. A nightclub. A cigarette machine. Trouble.

Patrick Cantillon, 20, 11610 Bellagio Road, Bel-Air and his pal, 22-year-old Martin F. Davis of 442 S. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, were inside Tabu of Hollywood, 7290 Sunset Blvd., when they became enamored of the cigarette machine, and sought to remove it from the premises.

Co-owner Leo Pavich, 1002 California Street, objected and bloodied the lads, who retreated with vengeance on their minds. Soon a bottle was hurled from a passing car, breaking one of Tabu's front windows and nearly striking several patrons. It was war.

The boys returned, bearing bricks. Pavich drew his gun and fired through their windshield, there was a scamble on the sidewalk, one of the youths took off running and Pavich shot at his fleeing figure. At this point several Tabu patrons had joined the melee. What fun!

No one was seriously hurt. Cantillon and Davis received emergency treatment for minor injuries, as did Tabu patron Larry Borgan. Then the would-be cigarette bandits were booked into the Hollywood Jail. We presume their mommies and daddies are not amused.

Speed Kills

November 22, 1947
Los Angeles

County officials are in no hurry to play host to 18-year-old Leonard L. Chambers, 652 S. Indiana Street, who was found guilty of going 55 in a 25 mph zone and sentenced by Santa Monica Municipal Judge Lawrence Scherb to 10 days in jail (nine suspended), 30 days without a driving license, and to visit the County Morgue in the next 10 days to gaze upon the mangled body of a speeding victim. A Coroner's office spokesman told the Times that in light of regulations, it was unlikely that this grisly date would be kept.

No, no, use your OWN wallet!

November 21, 1947
Los Angeles

When Henry Davis Jr., 24, died at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital yesterday, it seemed from his deathbed remarks that he'd been shot for having an empty wallet, after a trigger-happy pair of robbers hadn't bothered to look for cash in his pockets.

But when a Mrs. Henry Davis Jr. called the hospital asking about her husband, who had just expired, police became suspicious. If Davis had been kidnapped, robbed and dumped at the hospital, how would the wife have the slightest idea where he was?

Det. Sgts. L.O. Burton and J.G. Cotch had a talk with Mrs. Davis at her home at 2228 E. 98th Street, and soon learned that Ervie Smith, 21, of 9697 E. 98th Street had informed her that after holding up some gamblers for $700 in Santa Monica, Henry shot himself in the gut while putting his gun away. As a dying thanks to his partner for not stripping his pockets, Henry came up with the robbery story... and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for his meddling wife (who, presumably, will not be getting the $250 Henry died with).

Today's lesson: use your wallet

November 20, 1947
Los Angeles

When the police found Henry Davis Jr. of 2228 E. 98th Street in the driveway of the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, where he'd been tossed from a car, he was bleeding from a gunshot to the belly and near death. He told officers that two armed men had forced him into their car, discovered his empty wallet, and shot him before he could offer up the cash in his pockets. Then these hair-trigger fellas had dropped him off at Georgia Street.

After Davis died, police found more than $250 in his clothing.

What price embarassment?

November 17, 1947
Los Angeles

$13,100. That's the amount Mrs. Marie Waterman wants as compensation for the events of last December 15, when her hand became trapped in the bathroom window of her apartment at 334 N. Normandie. Mrs. Waterman was in the all together at the time, and could not reach a towel. When she finally yelled for help, a man answered her cries and got an eyefull.

She is in Superior Court hoping that Western Loan & Building Co, her landlords, will pony up a whole field of cabbage for her trouble.

Strip Shopping

November 16, 1947
Los Angeles

Three fellas who stopped by the market at 1313 E. Olympic last night got a humiliating surprise when a pair of armed robbers made them slip off their trousers and hand 'em over. While the chilly victims were waiting in the back of the store, the robbers made off with $800 from the till and $289 from various pockets. They were kind enough not to take the trousers when they left.

Pretty Baby

November 15, 1947
Los Angeles

Mother: when a man comes to the door, tells you your little Arnie is the handsomest tot he's ever seen and suggests that for a mere $2.50 he can snap a swell shot of the little one for entry into the Downtown Business Men's Association's beautiful baby contest, slam that screen door fast. There's no such contest, the guy's a crook, and to be perfectly honest, your kid is... uhm... gee... well, he's just adorable.

This has been a public service announcement from your pals at the 1947project.

Finders Losers

November 14, 1947
Los Angeles

Two years ago, someone snuck into waitress Gertrude Dye's home at 2208 1/2 Marathon Street and stole $2000 in War Bonds and Postal Savings notes out of a dresser drawer. She was able to replace the postal notes, but the War Bonds were a loss.

Until today, when she heard from an LAPD officer conveying a message from his counterparts in Bakersfield, where a gas station attendant had found the missing bonds under the floor mats of a used car he was servicing. The only problem: the bonds are made out to Gertrude and her former husband James. We hope they can split their windfall amicably.

What Folks Did Before Maytag

November 13, 1947
Los Angeles

17-year-old Ray Luedeman was cleaning rags in a pan of gasoline on the back porch of his home at 1877 W. 38th Street when the automatic gas heater beside him clicked on. Suddenly realizing the danger of the gas igniting, he scooped up the pan, sending gas flying all over the heater and his clothing. He's in Georgia Street Receiving Hospital being treated for serious burns.

Further reading: Never Done, A History of American Housework

The Case of the Suicide's Bullet

November 12, 1947
Los Angeles

Mrs. R.J. Odman was sleeping peacefully in her bed at 825 N. Wilcox Ave. when Harry Lavine, 41-year-old guest of her upstairs neighbor, actor Matty Fain, shot himself just below the heart. The bullet exited Lavine's back, came through floor and ceiling, and passed through Mrs. Odman's splayed hair before stopping.

She was startled but unharmed; Lavine is in serious condition in the Prison Ward of General Hospital. Not for the threat to Mrs. Odman, though: Lavine, also an actor, was out on $5000 bail on a narcotics charge, but had failed to appear in federal court on Monday. Prior to shooting himself, he left a note absolving Margie Martini, 28, who was arrested with him on the drug charge. Miss Martini awaits her preliminary hearing in the County Jail.

A mini Matty Fain 1947 film festival:
Dead Reckoning, with Humphrey Bogart and Lizbeth Scott (Fain, uncredited, as "Ed")
Down to Earth, with Rita Hayworth (Fain, uncredited, as "Henchman")

Mom and kids nab peeping tom

November 10, 1947
Alhambra
Armed with a .22 caliber rifle and righteous indignation, Mrs. Violet Cuddy and her children Donald and Betty captured their neighborhood peeping tom, James Burke Bennett, 27, of 128 S. Chapel Avenue and turned him over to the cops. The courageous Cuddys reside just down the block at 209 S. Chapel. Bennett got popped on a vagrancy charge and sentenced to 90 days in County Jail, plenty of time for Violet to invest in some asbestos curtains for the bedrooms.

Hardly a love match

November 9, 1947
Gardena

Divorcee Gloria Hendrickson, 23, has known Bob Holstein, 37, for two years. He wasn't much trouble until his own divorce went through last August; ever since, he's been pressing Gloria to be his wife. She made it clear she wasn't interested, but continued to see Bob. It made a break from her theater usherette job and nights at home at 14215 S. Vermont with her parents and 3-year-old son Richard.

Last night his frustrations reached the boiling point while he was driving her home from work after midnight. He pulled over on El Segundo between Vermont and Budlong and again raised the question of an engagement. The lady repeated no way, no how.

Bob grabbed the ribbon tie around her neck and choked her, dragged her out of the car, letting her head connect with the running board. Desperate, Gloria scrambled to get underneath the vehicle and away from her tormentor. Then another couple pulled up to see what the trouble was. Bob made noises about a lover's spat, but Gloria shrieked and ran for help. Her saviors were Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Brownley of 334 Oxford St., and they brought her to the Vermont Ave. sheriff's substation where she swore out a complaint.

Bob Holstein, still being sought, lives at 1540 146th Street in Hawthorne. So peel an eye for the louse.

She Died Doing What She Loved

November 8, 1947
El Monte

The Morales family mourns the death of its 103-year-old matriarch Rafaela, who dropped a cigarette onto her clothes while rocking on her porch at 223 E. Slack Road and was consumed, despite the valient efforts of her daughter, Mrs. Pilar Mendoza, 54, who raced over from her house next door on hearing Rafaela's cries.

Betty out-Foxed

November 7, 1947
Glendale

Waitress Betty Fox, 23, currently sharing digs at 1248 S. Boyington Ave., really needs an apartment--she can't get married until she finds a place for she and hubby to canoodle. The grapevine hummed with news of a three-room flat a soldier was giving up as he entered service, so she tracked the new recruit down and asked if his place might still be available.

"Sure thing, toots, and if you gimme 48 bucks that'll cover the first month's rent."

She ponied up in exchange for the key and address, and soon learned that there is no such number.

Sandwich of Mystery

November 6, 1947
Los Angeles

When asked why he had attempted to kidnap Celina Jarmillo, 18, as she was leaving work at 1427 E. Fourth Street, Raymond Adame, also 18, explained: "Last April she made me a sandwich of potatoes, beans and macaroni, and, according to our legends, she bewitched me. I couldn't get out of her spell." A later reports added fish eyes to the sandwich ingredients, and Farmer's Market columnist Fred Beek suggested this might be a good addition to a meatless Tuesday menu.

In any case, Celina's witchery must still have been working, because a radio car drove by just as Raymond tried to make the snatch. He's down at Hollenbeck cooling his heels. Adame usually resides at 206 N. Clarence Street, Jarmillo at 5927 Fifth Ave.

Nickels for Knuckels

November 5, 1947
Los Angeles

While thieves are known for their light fingers, one of them is sporting especially heavy pockets after cleaning out a safe containing $666.25, $453.25 of it in 5 cent pieces, from the Automatic Beverage Corp. at 8739 Melrose Ave. In case you're keeping count, that's 9065 nickels--and there must be some sweet Buffalos in the bunch!

Typically it's the bride who provides the trousseau

November 4, 1947
Burbank

Newlyweds Beverly Lou, 19, and Alvin Ray Turnmire, 21, were in custody today after Alvin got popped leaving a cafe at Screenland and Magnolia. Alvin said he was out looking for his lost dog, but officers found Beverly Lou napping a few blocks away in the family car, with Mike the dog keeping watch. In the glovebox, a .45.

A search of Beverly Lou's parents' house at 4232 Goodland Ave., Studio City, where the youngsters had been living since their marriage two months ago, revealed the spoils of half a dozen burglaries stashed in the garage: pretty much everything a couple of kids would need to start life in their own apartment.

Alvin, a plasterer and ex-Marine, confessed that he had stolen household goods from furniture stores, cafes and a model home, but insisted Beverly Lou believed he'd bought the items. Most of the loot was brought home by car, but for the fridge, enterprising Alvin used a trailer.

Further reading:

Tragedy on Elm Avenue

November 3, 1947
Long Beach

Fred and Mattie Friel were out at dinner in Long Beach on Sunday night when Mattie had a heart attack. She was rushed home to 319 Elm Ave., where her doctor, F.W. Kuhlmann prescribed bed rest. He left Fred watching over his wife.

When Dr. Kuhlmann went to check in on Mattie yesterday, there was no answer at the house. Concerned, he walked in and found Fred dead from a heart attack in the living room. Mattie was unconscious in bed. Taken to Community Hospital, her condition is listed as critical.

Mattie Friel is 58, her husband was 62.

Visit historic Long Beach in vintage postcards:

Next time, we're playing at Don's place

November 2, 1947
Los Angeles

There were ten unhappy poker players at 711 E. 51st Street this evening, after a game at William W. Baker's house was broken up by three gunmen posing as cops who lined the players against a wall and relieved them of about $2000.

Further reading:

Is your telephone box burning...?

November 1, 1947
Pico Rivera

A freak accident left telephone boxes flaming inside nine homes and one service station after a truck that was being towed broke loose and hit a high tension tower, which fell, breaking a telephone cable. The fires, all in the vicinity of Rosemead and Washington Blvds., were quickly extinguished by two county fire engine companies.

Further reading:

Me-OW!

October 31, 1947
Venice

Mrs. Kenny Platt, 820 Millwood Ave., was at her wit's end. Her beloved black pussycat Midnight had been up a 35' palm tree for the past week, and she just had to get him back before the witching hour.

Calling together three tree trimmers armed with ladders and some kindly neighbors to hold out a taut blanket to catch the kitty's fall, Mrs. Platt made a concerted assault on the feline's stronghold.

Alarmed by all the activity, Midnight made a mightly lunge, scaring the blanket holders, who ducked. Midnight landed safely on the street, was scooped up by his mistress, and enjoyed a big bowl of milk.

Happy Hallowe'en!

 

You're a good man, Richard Nixon

October 30, 1947
Pomona

Still catching up on his jet lag following a Congressional fact-finding tour of post war Europe, Representative Richard M. Nixon is beaming after receiving a Good Government Award from the Junior Chamber of Commerce at a dinner in his honor last week.

At a luncheon meeting in Whittier earlier that day, Nixon quipped, "If we lose the battle for democracy in Europe, we can consider it lost at home."

Further reading:

Bleccccch!

October 28, 1947
Los Angeles

It's ant season, which means it's that time of year when little kids find and gobble up big gooey handfuls of honey-like ant poison and end up in hospitals getting their little tummies pumped.

Two terrified families raced their babies into Georgia Street Receiving Hospital within an hour of each other, each complaining of ant paste ingestion. 19-month-old Janet Aiken of 1511 W. 99th Street and 10-month-old Cheryl Mayo of 3028 W. 36th are both doing fine after treatment.

Parents: lock up that ant paste!

Ships That Pass

October 27, 1947
New York / Los Angeles

On Sunday, when the Army transport ship Joseph V. Connolly eased into New York Harbor bearing its sad cargo of more than 6000 U.S. war dead, a car veered off the road in Los Angeles and struck a tree, leaving three people dead.

Among the accident victims: Andrea M. Hernandez, 22, of 1217 West 257th Street, Harbor City. On the transport ship: the remains of her husband, Private Pete A. Hernandez, previously intered in Belgium.

When a man owes you money, get an elephant gun

October 26, 1947
Los Angeles

Some months back, retired aircraft worker Pietro Bresciani, 60, made a large loan to Jack Elmer States, laundry operator of 955 Luder Ave., El Monte. The money was not forthcoming. So Bresciani purchased a big-game rifle and asked States over to his house at 132 E. Ann Street. As States approached, Bresciani shot through the screen door, and his debtor fell dead on the steps.

Premediatated enough for you? Bresciani even had some $50 bills on hand to give out to passersby as he waited for police... unless he took them from States' wallet. Did the dead man finally pay that debt? In any case, after reenacting the shooting for the cops, Bresciani was taken to jail.

When A Californian Vacations

October 25, 1947
Elkhart, Indiana

The first reports of strange behavior by Howard Burbank, 57-year-old San Fernando Valley real estate man, came when he was pulled off a Chicago-bound bus after trying to choke a fellow passenger, William Ross of Cleveland. Following a police investigation, Burbank was freed.

Later today he stashed his clothing in a parked car, and ran naked down the street. Perhaps that's considered normal behavior in the San Fernando Valley, but not in Elkhart in October! So a passing driver knocked him down, and cops took him to the jail at Goshen, where it took four strong men to get a pair of pants onto him.

Further reading:

Possible Repercussions for Bear Hunters

October 24, 1947
Los Angeles

The State Fish and Game Commission wants to talk with Glendale bow and arrow hunters Howard G. Mathison (910 Pelaconi Ave.) and James R. Stevenson (342 W. Elk Ave.) about the bear they killed near Lester Henry's San Fernando Valley apiary earlier this month.

Assistant City Attorney Donald M. Redwine questioned the bear hunters and the honey-keeper, and implied Henry had a right to protect his investment. The case is being held under advisement.

When they got evicted, it was moider!

October 23, 1947
Los Angeles

Actor Lionel Stander and wife Jehanne blew the whistle on landlords Howard and Bertha Kline in the court of Superior Judge Robert H. Scott, refuting the Kline's claims of default in the purchase of the home at 605 S. Plymouth Blvd. and seeking to remain in residence.

The Standers assert that while they signed a $65,000 purchase agreement for the property, this was part of a hustle allowing the Klines to avoid registering the residence with the Office of Price Administration. They claim the two couples had a private, oral agreement that the Standers would pay $600 per month in rent, although the cap should have been set at $200. The hearing will continue tomorrow.

Further viewing: Hart To Hart: The Complete First Season DVD

The Poisoner's Nephew

October 22, 1947
Los Angeles

After being examined by three alienists, Louis William Rains was ruled insane and committed to Mendocino State Hospital by Superior Judge Charles W. Fricke. Rains, a house painter, aged 40, suffered hallucinations which caused him to believe his elderly aunt, Lucy Nolan, sought to poison him. On August 5, he beat the woman so badly that she died at Maywood Hospital.

Rains, a veteran who saw no wartime service and was seeing a psychiatrist at the time of the crime, lived with his aunt at 6217 Pala Ave., Bell.

One tough old bird

October 20, 1947
Newhall

After being forced off the road around 3 am, 64-year-old rancher Heinie Rodemacher spent twelve hours pinned beneath his pick-up truck in a dry wash off Highway 99 until his cries were heard. Gasoline and battery acid dripped onto him during his ordeal.

The fatalistic fellow told attending CHP officer Joe Green and Dep. Sheriffs W.C. Collin and L.C. Smith "you'll never get me out of here," but two hours of hacksaw and acetylene torch work did the trick.

Rodemacher is at Newhall Community Hospital for treatment of his chemical burns and leg injuries.

Who the hell are you, lady?

October 19, 1947
Los Angeles

Emboldened by the attentions of fellow bus riders and the media, Chuck Harader (see yesterday's post) displayed a photograph which he said depicted the mysterious Susan, object of his affections.

But the photo was soon identified as being that of Lynn Allen, radio actress (and ex-Marine) of 802 S. Norton Ave. She expressed bewilderment at how Harader got her photo, but wished the romantic fool luck in his quest.

When taken off the bus to be introduced to Miss Allen by journalists, Harader broke down and cried "That's not Susan!" Well, she never claimed she was.

Harader, who is giving up his quest after six days riding the Vermont Avenue bus, says Susan knows where he lives should she wish to see him.

I love Susan Simpson, and I'm going to ride this bus until...

October 18, 1947
Los Angeles

For the past five days, ten hours at a stretch, Chuck Harader, 28, pianist/composer of 2208 Cahuenga Street, has been riding a Vermont Avenue bus, trying to match female riders to his ideal, a gal called Susan Simpson who, he says, he "dated" last summer on numerous evening bus trips into Griffith Park. She never told him where she lived or let him escort her off the conveyance, but he adores her all the same.

She's even sent him letters, asking him to meet her at their usual place (that would be the Monroe St. bus stop just south of City College), and later asking why he had failed to make the date, and suggesting a mysterious "Steve" would be incensed by her actions. He must have missed her when he got off the bus to grab a bite. He won't make that mistake again. And so Chuck rides, with his weekly pass, sandwiches and coffee thermos by his side, ready to protect his lady... if he can just find her again.

Some dark stuff from Subcrawl

Another soul goes free, cont.
A piece of a Delaney & Bonnie & Friends song would not stop playing in my head. It was the soundtrack to various tapes of painful and shameful moments from my life.

The Return of Manny Chavez
Manny is often homeless, and yet owns 25,000 records.

Luv is...
Sure he's a bit forward for the first date; straight shooters like Tom often have rough edges.

The architecture of chance
Of course, when planes crash into churches called Pillar of Fire and then wheel into local funeral homes, one wonders if some higher preservationist is pulling the strings.

beautiful paranoia
If you grew up with nightmares of mushroom clouds like I did, even though it was the seventies, you could get behind this article threading the abstract expressionists to cold war propaganda.

Where's the girl?

October 17, 1947
Los Angeles

Sitting in Edward R. Brand's Superior Courtroom, movie actor/ boilermaker Gerald D. O'Neill, 50, heard his sentence of 10 to 20 years read.

There was no wife there to comfort him--not Mrs. Stella Frank O'Neill (720 S. Bonnie Brae, wedding date 2/7/42), nor any of his subsequent bigamous brides: Mrs. Margaret Beeler Williams (156 Coolidge Ave.), Mrs. Julia Twitchell (826 W. 49th St), Mrs. Anna Gwendolyn Ashley (221. Columbia Street).

Even his special lady friend and financier of his legal expenses, Mrs. Myrtle Riley (4532 Willowbrook Ave., "the sweetest girl in all the world"), sat out the special day.

Attorney Richard Erwin intends to appeal. As for O'Neill, let's hope he stays out of the dance halls, which it seems he can't visit without proposing marriage.

Are you going to eat that?

October 16, 1947
Compton

Mayo Elementary School nutrition supervisor Helen Peal of 1316 N. Edgemont Street and butcher J. Berman, whose shop is at 1006 Monroe Street, Hymes, are facing misdemeanor charges after school cook Ruth Mills blew the whistle on them.

Seems Berman delivered 25 pounds of foul-smelling hamburger to the school cafeteria, and when Mills told Peal that she thought it was spoiled, Peal advised she spice it up good and serve it to the children.

The city health department seized the meat before anyone ate it.

Death of an old timer

October 14, 1947
San Fernando Valley

Lester Henry has been losing beehives and honey during the night, so he called in two Glendale hunters, Jim Stevenson and H.A. Mathieson, along with six of their hounds. The dogs swiftly treed a six-foot bear about 100 yards from the intersection of Balboa Blvd. and Rinaldi Street. The men used bows and arrows to drop their quarry.

The bear, estimated to have been 14 years old, is the first seen in the area in several years, and is believed to have come into the valley from the Wilson Ranch.

Amour fou, for four

October 13, 1947
Salt Lake City

The three boys from Altadena just planned to see their lady friend off at the Pasadena bus terminal for a trip to Philly. But as the bus pulled out of the station, they jumped back into their coupe and sped after it, waving (one assumes less frantically as the hours passed). When the bus alit in Las Vegas, they called home asking that cash be wired to Salt Lake.

But instead of money, it was the Man who awaited the romantic fools. The cops held the youths until their parents could collect them, while the lady's bus, freed of its gallant shadow, sped off for the East.

A lovely spot for a beating

October 12, 1947
Hollywood

Mrs. and Mrs. Leonard Wood of 416 N. Avenue 57 were shocked last night by the violent chiding given by Sheppard W. King III, 22, to his 2-year-old son and namesake.

The male Kings, of 1811 N. Whitley Ave., had sat separately from the boy's mother inside the lobby of the Pantages Theater because of crowding. When the baby talked during the show, the Woods allege, his father took him into the lobby and hit him multiple times in the face, causing blood to spurt from the child's nose. The Woods then followed the young family home, and called police to report the abuse.

Sheppard Senior was booked into Hollywood Jail, where he denies striking the child with undue force. Sheppard Junior, meanwhile, was treated at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital for two black eyes, facial and cranial bruises, and a cut lip, before being returned to his mother's care.

(I will leave it to our staff detective, Larry Harnisch, to tell us if this is the same Shep King III who--under the monicker Abdullah and described as a Texas playboy--was divorced by world renowned belly dancer Samia Gamal in 1953 under mysterious charges of ill-treatment.)

Second Time's the Charm

October 11. 1947
Los Angeles

For the second time in two weeks, pint-sized miscreant Thomas George Redhead, 14, has busted out of Juvenile Hall. This time the boy, whose initial offense was stealing a Pacific Electric bus, which he drove to San Diego, shimmied up to the second story of the detention center and dropped more than 16 feet to make a fresh escape. I guess it's true what they say about Redheads...

Well I'll Be A Monkey in a Corset!

October 9, 1947
Jacksonville, IL

Dr. Andrew C. Ivy. Vice-Prexy of the U. of Ill., needs just $5000 to fund his next study, with which he hopes prove that the decline over the past two decades in peptic ulcers among the distaff sex is directly tied to the Flapper-inspired loosening of their stays. To demonstrate his thesis, he intends to lock 40 monkeys in corsets of the sort being promoted by French coutouriers like Christian Dior.

Monkeys wearing the New Look? That's daffier than anything the French have tried to sell us!

P.U.!

October 9, 1947
Huntington Park

Soon after the employees of the cooperatively-owned women's fashion workshop Glamour Gauge Manufacturing Co, 2514 E. Gage Ave., voted not to join the A.F.L. International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, the threats began. Ventura Fashions of California, for which Glamour Gauge makes clothing, complained to Superior Court last week that a union agent had threatened to destroy their business, possibly with bloodshed.

But it was by stink-]shed that the attack came, by way of a half-brick tied to a fruit jar packed with noxious acids, hurled through Glamour Gauge's transom last night. The smell was so foul that the adjacent market, novelty shop and typewriter shop were rendered unfit for use, and passersby on the sidewalk also held their noses and ran. Police and the D.A.'s office are investigating.

They asked her to bring water for the dog

October 8, 1947
East Los Angeles

7-year-old Paul Esparza Jr. is in Juvenile Hall today, but that's an improvement on his home life. Discovered locked in a five-foot square windowless closet at 1341 S. McBride Street after his cries were heard by a woman who'd come to fill the family dog's water dish, Paul was freed from his tiny prison after deputies broke down the door.

The senior Paul Esparza, a cement worker, and the boy's stepmother reportedly locked him up for the past six days before they left for work. Paul was imprisoned while his 6-year-old brother Robert was in school and baby Richard cared for by relatives, due to Paul Junior's contagious skin condition.

Paul senior was arrested on his return to the house and booked on suspicion of child neglect. Neglect? The kid had water and sandwiches!

From noir to pink: Editrix Kim presents the Gummys Friday night

La Vida: Hoopla (LA Weekly)
The Best Hoopla Ever!
Featuring Lancelot Link, the Archies, Zack de la Rocha and Pamela Des Barres!
by LIBBY MOLYNEAUX

Abram the Safety Ape will salute
the great simians of Hollywood
at the Bubblegum Awards.
See Friday.

FRIDAY, October 7
October is International Bubblegum Month. Let us now bow before all things sugary, joyful, underappreciated and one-hit-wonderful with the Bubblegum Achievement Awards, brought to us by the fun-pushers from Scram magazine. The awards go to Steve Barri (Grass Roots string puller, producer of the all-chimp band Lancelot Link & the Evolution Revolution), Ron Dante (the Archies), Joey Levine (Ohio Express) and Dr. Demento, who needs no parenthetical. Besides sweet acceptance speeches, there will be a screening of the new documentary Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth, live performances by Dante, the Bubblegum Queen and Canned Hamm, a special puppet spectacular created by marionette master Bob Baker, and a visit from Abram the Safety Ape, plus cake, ice cream, Bazooka bubblegum, raffle prizes, oddly hip and hiply odd people. My candidate for next year: the Buoys, the Rupert Holmes�led band who recorded �Timothy,� the peppiest song about eating your friend ever recorded. Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St.; Fri., Oct. 7, 7 p.m.; $52. (323) 223-2767.

Maniac Hunted in Two Santa Monica Stabbings

October 5, 1947
Santa Monica

Girls of Santa Monica, beware! If a dark-skinned man in his late 20s, dressed in frayed workman's clothing, should approach you, run away, lest you suffer the terrible fate of Lillian Dominguez, 15, or the slightly less terrible fate of Barbara Jean Morse, 14.

Lillian of course is the schoolgirl victim of an unknown fiend, murdered Wednesday as she walked home from a school dance at Garfield Elementary with two classmates. A man approached the girls at 17th Street and Michigan Avenue, and did something to Lillian. She cried, "That man touched me! I can't see," and collapsed with a fatal wound to her heart muscle.

Now Barbara Jean Morse has come forward with a similar tale of being approached a month ago while walking through an alley one morning near her home at 343 Euclid and, she thought, struck by a strange man. She ran away, and only on arriving home covered in blood and in pain was it discovered she had been stabbed by a stiletto-type weapon.

Police remain baffled as to the motive or the perpetrator of these sadistic crimes.

tHE cRayON kILLeR

October 4, 1947
Long Beach

James Harry Hoxworth, 40, has a pretty good idea who's messing with his wife Violet--family friend Harold E. Ward, also 40. Why, they're out in a car together right now!

James and his shotgun waited at the Hoxworth home at 1143-B Junipero Ave., and when Harold and Violet pulled up, James jammed the barrel through the car window and blew a fatal hole in Harold's chest. Then he yanked Violet out the passenger door and beat her soundly.

When police arrived, they found a note inside the home, scrawled in crayon, in which James accused Violet of infidelity.

Gift suggestion for the prison bound artiste: Crayola Travel On Case

Lucky Lady!

October 3, 1947
Los Angeles

After waiting six years to begin her trial on charges of killing husband Major George A. Tucker, battilion commander at Ft. MacArthur, Mrs. Marie Tucker, now 45, is going home for good.

Accused of stabbing the Major in their home at 1423 13th Street, San Pedro on July 1, 1941, Mrs. Tucker's trial was to commence on December 8, 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor intervened, and the many military witnesses to the case were scattered across the globe. Lawyers Jerry Giesler and Frank P. Doherty recently moved to dismiss the indictment, as witnesses remain at their distant posts. Assistant D.A. John Barnes didn't fight them, so Superior Judge Thomas L. Ambrose set Mrs. Tucker, who has been out on bail, permanently free.

When arrested, Mrs. Tucker said that her husband's wound, from which he died after 10 days, was an accident. It seems he'd been making a ham sandwich after a wild party, and somehow the butcher knife pierced his spleen, stomach and heart. The knife ended up in the back of a utility drawer. Although the stabbing happened on civilian property, no one called the police, and Major Tucker was flown by bomber up to San Francisco for two rounds of emergency surgery, while fellow officers hustled around collecting evidence from the scene.

These kinds of things happen when you cook drunk, so be careful out there!

Proof implied

October 2, 1947
Los Angeles

When Long Beach evangelist Dr. Charles E. Fuller was born, to Henry and Helen Day Fuller, 60 years ago at 255 S. Hill Street, birth certificates were not recorded. So when he sought to obtain a passport for a European revival tour, some clever proof was necessary to satify the pencil pushers. In Superior Judge Harold B. Jeffrey's court today, he fervently hoped that a photograph of the infant Fuller taken at a studio at 41 S. Main would be sufficient. (at left, Fuller's childhood home)

Final Visitation

October 1, 1947
El Monte

Charles Edward Thompson, 37, and wife Gladys separated recently, with Charles allowed a weekly visit with 6-month-old baby Barbara. Yesterday Charles, who has been living at 1105 W. 29th Street, drove to the female Thompsons' residence at 737 Brice Road, El Monte, and the family went to L.A. so Barbara could visit her doctor. Words were exchanged on the ride home, and Charles made to split with the kid. He failed in this, and the trio returned to El Monte, where Gladys walked the groceries into the house at Charles' directive. She'd not even reached the door when she heard two shots.

Charles expired at Temple City Emergency and Barbara followed her father in death at General Hospital soon after.

A new web project from editrix Kim

Birth announcement: Subcrawl

Announcing the launch of Subcrawl, a new group linkblog overseen by yrs truly whose subtitle is "tomorrow's zeitgeist today." Our brilliant editors, many of whom also contribute to Scram, a journal of unpopular culture, will be presenting a hand-picked selection of their most intriguing online discoveries. We hope you'll tune in and enjoy the show.

Subcrawl is at http://www.subcrawl.net
and we welcome your feedback.

Comes the Death Ship

September 30, 1947Honolulu

The Army transport ship Honda Knot, her hull draped with flowers, moved slowly out of Pearl Harbor today on its somber voyage to San Francisco. Inside her hold, the corpses of 2292 American war dead bound for repatriation. Among them were victims of the Japanese attack on Hawaii. This is the first shipment of what will ultimately be tens of thousands of American bodies returned from the Pacific Theater. More here.

On this day, the abstract expressionist, and mentor to editrix Kim, Michael Charles Longdo was born.

Yet More Donlevy Dirt

September 29, 1947
Los Angeles

Superior Judge Allen W. Ashburn ruled today that Marjorie Lane Donlevy's February divorce from actor Brian was no longer valid, despite Mr. Donlevy's assertion that he had not encouraged Marjorie's infidelity with a blue-blooded New Yorker.

He denied that he had entrapped his estranged wife, who was discovered in a hotel bed with James Hannan on December 15 by Donlevy and four witnesses. Further, Donlevy refutes claims by William M. Cameron and his sister-in-law Mal Simpson that he kept one hand in his pocket to suggest the presence of a firearm during a drunken visit to their home at 1239 S. Beverly Glen Dr. last New Year's Eve.

Donlevy estimates the couple's marital property as $200,000 at the time of her fling with Hannan, and claims he has already given Marjorie $100,000 as a settlement. Tell it to the judge, McGinty!

Further reading: Preston Sturges' The Great McGinty

Three Cheers for Bunky

September 28, 1947
Los Angeles

Bunky's a tiny poodle mix puppy whose mistress, Mrs. Marguerite Lawson, is even more fond of today. That's because the foundling, an adoptee from the SPCA, savagely attacked the strange man who attempted to mash Mrs. Lawson as she walked home from a market near her home at 1325 S. Dewey Ave. Saturday night. Bunky reacted with the courage of a much larger (and less fluffy) canine, and when the rotter released his hold on Mrs. Lawson to lunge for Bunky, lady and Bunky got away.

How you know when it's time to move

September 27, 1947
Los Angeles

For the fourth time since August, and in the second time this week, a runaway car ended up inside the home of Mrs. Howard White, 8442 Kirkwood Drive. The latest unwanted vehicular guest belonged to 23-year-old Earle Ray Dugan of 5426 Virginia Ave. It rolled from a hill above the White home, plowed into the living room, hit the chair the lady had just vacated and ended up against the mantle, where it shattered the fireplace and several priceless antiques, among them a bowl whose twin is in the (other) White House... where, one hopes, the fence is stronger.

Further reading: Porcelain Repair and Restoration

The Case of the Tipsy Toddler?

September 26, 1947
Los Angeles

Songbird Marjorie Lane Donlevy's February divorce from actor Brian Donlevy is not going well. In fact, the lady has filed to have it voided.

She claims that last December, the actor--who when he wasn't ignoring her talked constantly of divorce-- suggested she go to New York. While in the east, she met and was wooed by James Hannan, who shocked her with an almost immediate proposal of marriage. She succumbed to his attentions.

During her travels, Donlevy kept their 4-year-old daughter Judith in an unknown location, and refused her access to the child. Soon he revealed knowledge of her affair with Hannan (and possession of compromising photographs), and used that information to force her to consent to a "grossly unfair" divorce decree, lest he take the photos to the newspapers.

Mrs. Donlevy now believes that Mr. Hannan's woo was being pitched at the behest of her ex-husband. Further, she denies the claim of her daughter's nurse that the child once drank a glass of gin that was sitting unattended on a table within her reach.

There will be a hearing in Superior Court Judge Fred Miller's court on Monday. For now, Miller has ordered Donlevy to pay $2100 in his ex-wife's legal expenses.

Further viewing: in 1947, Mr. Donlevy appeared in Kiss of Death... and in The Trouble with Women (which is not available on DVD)