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!