noirish Los Angeles

[John Maddox Roberts]

On the bench front right is George Sanders and I think that's Joan Fontaine seated next to him. Seated in the center is Liz Taylor with Robert Taylor next to her. The four of them were in "Ivanhoe" (1952). Seated second from left is Russ Tamblyn. Standing behind the left end of the bench is Donna Reed who was in "From Here to Eternity" (1953). Next to Van Johnson is Stewart Granger and I think that's Ava Gardner behind them. I believe that's John Garfield behind George Sanders. Not sure about the rest. As I noted earlier, the bearded man in armor is Howard Keel, costumed for "Jupiter's Darling" (1955).

[GaylordWilshire]

A new story on the Marion Parker kidnapping and murder:

http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures...ign=departures



(I'd also forgotten all about Ayn Rand's typical idiotic reverence for her murderer: see post 1836.)

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Google

On many trips to Los Angeles over the years, I've gone on architectural expeditions armed with various guides, always more interested in residential development than any other aspect of the built environment. I've always tried to conjure what the streetscape must have been like long ago, and there are literally dozens of guides and histories that do a good job of describing what seems to be an idyllic way of life (if politically a nightmare by modern, or at least my, standards). But even actually driving around old L.A. neighborhoods hour upon hour fails to give the feeling I sought--too many changes, modern cars, architectural gaps etc---and, of course, what I seek isn't really obtainable. Now that I've done some of the same "drives" using Google Maps, and employing Street View (which enables me find a shot of a street that excludes as much as possible cars, blue garbage bins etc), suddenly I've found that sense of L.A. past I've been seeking all along. I am going to post a link to a slideshow of such shots later--they're really much more effective when viewed in a series, full-screen--but want to start with this one above of 1631 S. Wilton Place (south of Venice Blvd.). Most of the pics I've put together have ordinary or at least unknown stories, but this house is where Marion Parker was living with her family at the time of her death in December 1927. The house, as sopas pointed out a year or so ago, seems eerily unchanged. The pic above is meant to evoke what it might have been like to walk by the house in 1927. (I hope all the shots you see after this will have the effect of looking as though they were taken many decades ago rather than literally just the other day.) Here is the same shot of the Parker house, but wider, to give the house some context:

Google

An excellent summary of the sad case of Marion, including a link to a shot of the house in 1927: http://www.cemeteryguide.com/gotw-parker.html

And another site with the story: http://markgribben.com/?p=288

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a fun snapshot.
"Shirley in Hollywood, 1943."

Agree, E_R, great photo.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

3 couples out on the town....Saturday night, August 24th 1946.


eBay


Signatures & Sentiments on the back
I twisted my neck trying to read all this. (from what I can tell, Betty seems to be very popular)

I don't know why, but I thought I'd write these down. There's a list of names
on the back, so I'm assuming they're in order, left to right, of the people in the photo.

Don, Sonny, Dorothy Cohen, Al Cohen, Mort Cohen and "Me."
I'm assuming "me" is "Betty" as the notes on the back are all written to her.

So, left to right as in the picture:

Betty,
Swell meeting you.
What hi-school produces such pretty girls.
Hope we can get together again.
Don

It's been swell meeting you Betty - maybe
we can double again sometimes.
-Sonny-

To a very swell girl who
I hope we'll see more of --.
Dot
(Dorothy Cohen)

To a very charming girl
dating a swell guy -- my brother.
The best Betty,
(can't make out the closure)
(Al Cohen)

Dear Betty,
I had a swell time at Slapsy's with you
and I hope we'll have many more. (You
can take that 2 ways). Here's to your
happiness in the future & love & kisses
always,
Your date,
Morty
Saturday, Aug. 24, 1946
(Mort Cohen)
___

And what is Betty's right hand doing?

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

This particularly repulsive aerial from 1970 captures the CRA's scorched earth policy in all it's horror


LAPL

Parched earth, another view. (NLA repost )

Circa '70

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/7706/rec/14









Construction of ARCO Towers replacing the Richfield Beacon





Before . . .


Curious 1888 topographical survey in and around county courthouse between Flower and Grand. Area could use a bridge or two?


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/12915/rec/95

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

old file of mine / with numerous eBay finds

__

Thanks to JMR for identifying the film! John Garfield died in 1952, so that can't be him behind George Sanders, but isn't that Esther Williams
standing next to Sanders? Of course we also have Lionel Barrymore, who died in November 1954, so this has to be one of his last photos.

Just behind and to the left of Barrymore I think is George Raft. The woman between Raft and Walter Pidgeon might be Claire Trevor. The guy behind
and to the left of costumed Howard Keel is Paul Douglas.

Also in the back row, the guy wearing a suit and vest behind Stewart Granger looks like future California Senator George Murphy. And standing to
Murphy's left . . . is that Louis Calhern?

[John Maddox Roberts]

FW,
Good catch with Esther Williams! She's also in costume for "Jupiter's Darling." I was studying the b&w pic, where she's all but cropped out. I believe you're right about the others as well. But if that isn't Garfield, who is he? The only match I can come up with is Steve Cochran, but I don't really think it's him. Can anyone else identify him? Whoever he is, he looks noirish as all get-out.

[Beaudry]

Here's something I don't think we've seen before, or at least I know I haven't, because I sure as shootin' would have remembered it.

1950, and Julius Shulman has photographed the (just built? recently remodeled?) Stiles Clements-designed penthouse atop the Richfield:











The link to all eleven images is here. Much in the way I hadn't realized until quite recently that all the Nadel photos were available online via the Getty, in wonderfully high resolution, now I've stumbled upon the 6000+ of Shulman's. I find the Clements pictures particularly compelling; in 2003, the "Report on the Eligibility of 5570 Wilshire Blvd. for Landmark Status" submitted to the City, which famously insisted Clements' postwar work was lacking in value and being devoid of a style, and which thereby allowed Mullen & Bluett to be demolished, is pretty well disproven with the wonderful images Shulman shot of Clements' oeuvre. (Some time in the near future I need to do a big fat post on the Late Moderne in general and Clements' role within it specifically.)

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Thanks to JMR for identifying the film! John Garfield died in 1952, so that can't be him behind George Sanders, but isn't that Esther Williams
standing next to Sanders? Of course we also have Lionel Barrymore, who died in November 1954, so this has to be one of his last photos.

Just behind and to the left of Barrymore I think is George Raft. The woman between Raft and Walter Pidgeon might be Claire Trevor. The guy behind
and to the left of costumed Howard Keel is Paul Douglas.

Also in the back row, the guy wearing a suit and vest behind Stewart Granger looks like future California Senator George Murphy. And standing to
Murphy's left . . . is that Louis Calhern?

I think that's Debbie Reynolds to Calhern's left, and it looks like Ralph Meeker just above Keel's shoulder, but that ballerina is driving me nuts. MGM didn't make all that many musicals in those years. Of course, she could be costumed for an interlude or a dream sequence or something, not necessarily for a musical. This sort of thing brings out the obsessive in me.

[Earl Boebert]

OK, to make the guessing game a bit more efficient, I've numbered the folks:



Besides the others mentioned, I think 16 is one of the Gabors, 18 is Anne Francis, 19 is Walter Pidgeon, 20 is Farley Granger, 25 is Robert Taylor, and 40 is George Sanders.

Cheers,

Earl

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

OK, to make the guessing game a bit more efficient, I've numbered the folks

Cheers,

Earl

8. Vic Damone (there's Kismet people in there)
32. Ann Miller (?)

(As usual, I'm terrible at this)

I cannot believe this shot isn't on the web decoded to a fare-thee-well

OMG, Liz looks great

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

8. Vic Damone (there's Kismet people in there)
32. Ann Miller (?)

(As usual, I'm terrible at this)

I cannot believe this shot isn't on the web decoded to a fare-thee-well

OMG, Liz looks great

Thanks for the numbering job, Earle. Tovanger, you beat me to Ann Miller, I was just about to suggest that. I think 21 is Deborah Kerr. And I now think 14 is Leslie Caron, costumed for "The Glass Slipper" (1955). Could 15 be a very young Leslie Nielson? Nielson, Ann Francis and Walter Pidgeon were all in "Forbidden Planet" (1956).

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I like that bridge a lot. What's depicted in the medallions over the pedestrian arches?

__

Looks to me like the seal of the city, or possibly county which is similar.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Only 29 guesses re 41 peeps? I think I recorded them all (misspellings are my own). Please somebody finish/correct this
(MGM releases by date):

01. Steve Forrest
02.Pier Angeli / Natalie Wood
03. Debbie Reynolds
04. Louis Calhern
05.George Murphy
06. Ava Gardner
07. Van Johnson
08. Vic Damone
09.Paul Douglas
10. Howard Keel
11. John Ericson
12.
13.
14. Leslie Caron
15. Leslie Nielson
16. Eva Gabor
17. Merle Oberon
18. Ann Francis
19. Walter Pidgeon
20. Stewart Granger
21. Claire Trevor/Hedda Hopper (?)
22.
23. Russ Tamblin
24.
25. Robert Taylor
26. Elizabeth Taylor
27. Kurt Kasznar
28. George Raft
29.
30. Deborah Kerr
31.
32. Ann Miller
33. Lionel Barrymore
34. Donna Reed
35.
36.
37. Hugh O'Brian (?)
38.
39. Joan Fontaine
40. George Sanders
41. Esther Williams

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Only 28 guesses re 41 peeps? I think I recorded them all (misspellings are my own). Please somebody finish/correct this:

01.
02.
03. Debbie Reynolds
04. Louis Calhern
05.George Murphy
06. Ava Gardner
07. Van Johnson
08. Vic Damone
09.Paul Douglas
10. Howard Keel
11. Ralph Meeker
12.
13.
14. Leslie Caron
15. Leslie Nielson
16. Gabor
17.
18. Ann Francis
19. Walter Pidgeon
20. Farley Granger
21. Claire Trevor/Hedda Hopper (?)
22.
23. Russ Tamblin
24.
25. Robert Taylor
26. Elizabeth Taylor
27.
28. George Raft
29.
30. Deborah Kerr
31.
32. Ann Miller
33. Lionel Barrymore
34. Donna Reed
35.
36.
37. Hugh O'Brian (?)
38.
39. Joan Fontaine
40. George Sanders
41. Esther Williams

20 is Stewart Granger, not Farley.

[NoirNous]

I believe that the gentleman in the patrolman's uniform (No. 1) is Steve Forrest.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by NoirNous

I believe that the gentleman in the patrolman's uniform (No. 1) is Steve Forrest.

Steve Forrest was a contract player for MGM. He was always very youthful looking even when he was well over 80 years of age.


MGM archives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Forrest_(actor)

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

The year is 1953-4


MGM studio

I don't think they took a class photo every year. Is there a photo for a later year? I couldn't find one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Forrest_(actor)

The sad thing about the photo above is that it marks the beginning of the end for the ''studio system". The class photo had gone from a fabulous luncheon to simply standing around on a movie set.
Quite a change. I well remember the talk around our dinner table in those years. It was all about the threat that TV was making upon the movie studios.
In the end it was the many studios that made TV shows themselves.

Things were different in 1943. By 1953 even Lucy [front row left] had gone independant and was a TV star with her own studio [Desilu 1950].

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Only 29 guesses re 41 peeps? I think I recorded them all (misspellings are my own). Please somebody finish/correct this
(MGM releases by date):

01. Steve Forrest
02.
03. Debbie Reynolds
04. Louis Calhern
05.George Murphy
06. Ava Gardner
07. Van Johnson
08. Vic Damone
09.Paul Douglas
10. Howard Keel
11. Ralph Meeker
12.
13.
14. Leslie Caron
15. Leslie Nielson
16. Gabor
17.
18. Ann Francis
19. Walter Pidgeon
20. Stewart Granger
21. Claire Trevor/Hedda Hopper (?)
22.
23. Russ Tamblin
24.
25. Robert Taylor
26. Elizabeth Taylor
27.
28. George Raft
29.
30. Deborah Kerr
31.
32. Ann Miller
33. Lionel Barrymore
34. Donna Reed
35.
36.
37. Hugh O'Brian (?)
38.
39. Joan Fontaine
40. George Sanders
41. Esther Williams

31 = Fernando Llamas?
17 = Merle Oberon?
27 = Kurt Kasznar

It may be that The Last Time I Saw Paris was being filmed when the group photo was taken. That would account for several people in the photo (Van Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kurt Kasznar, Donna Reed, Walter Pidgeon and Eva Gabor).

[John Maddox Roberts]

Could #2 be Natalie Wood? She'd only have been about 16-17, but she was in movies from early childhood and was already a knockout.

[mrfredmertz]

Number 11 is my dear, dear friend John Ericson, who was an MGM star at the time. John is 86 and still the handsomest dude I know.