Tag Archives: California

Classic Hollywood #109 – Fred MacMurray & Carole Lombard 1937

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Fred MacMurray & Carole Lombard Skeet Shooting Between Takes

Fred MacMurray Carole Lombard 1937 Candid Skeet Shooting 1937 photo Tom EvansMore Deadly Than The Male!

Carole Lombard, blonde screen star, killed two kinds of birds with one gun in this skeet shooting match against Fred MacMurray and writer Claude Binyou while on location with Paramount’s “True Confession” company at Lake Arrowhead. Not only did Carole blast the clay pigeons with unerring accuracy. She also bagged two masculine egos, thoroughly puncturing the pretensions of MacMurray (waiting to shoot) and Binyou (operating the trap) to superior marksmanship. photo: Tom Evans for Paramount 1937

Among the many things that drew Clark Gable to Carole Lombard was that she was one of the guys. Lombard was also a favorite among studio stagehands and technicians.

In Gable & Lombard & Powell & Harlow, 1975 (Dell) by Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein the following story illustrates the sort of loyalty that made Lombard so appealing. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #108 – Ann Sheridan At Bat

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The “Oomph Girl” Ann Sheridan Does Her Spring Training

Ann Sheridan 1930s Catalina Island with Gabby HartnettI made a positive print of this undated photographic negative, identified as Ann Sheridan. If correct, it is a very early publicity photo of the actress nicknamed the “Oomph Girl.” Besides that, there is no information about when or where the photo was taken or who the man in uniform with Sheridan is.

Obviously the photo was taken at a beach. At first glance the man squatting with the big smile resembles Continue reading →

Three Boys And Three Beauty Pageant Contestants – 1960

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“Boys Will Be Boys” A Different View Of The Beauty Contestants

Boys at beauty contest 1960

Times have certainly changed. What was once considered as a filler, stand-alone human interest news photo in 1960 would never be shared or published today without recrimination. If the photo appeared in any form of media, it would be called offensive by a significant portion of our sensitive society.

Here is the original caption Continue reading →

Vanishing America: An Old Fashioned Style Candy Store – Ojai, CA

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Kingston’s Candy Company: A Candy Trip Down Memory Lane

Kingston's Candy Co. Interior

If you are ever near Ojai, about 85 miles north of Los Angeles, Kingston’s Candy Co. is worth a visit, even if you don’t crave sweets.

When I first visited Ojai, California around five years ago I kept wanting to pronounce Ojai, “O.J.” as in O.J. Simpson. It is pronounced Oh Hi.

Kingston's Candy Co. ExteriorThe reason for my initial visit to Ojai was Bart’s Books, a unique used book store that is mostly outdoors. Walking along East Ojai Avenue, the main street of Ojai’s small downtown area with its quaint shops and restaurants, you will eventually stumble upon Kingston’s Candy Co..

Walking into Kingston’s you will discover an unpretentious, real candy store, the kind that used to flourish in every neighborhood in every metropolitan city until the 1960’s.

Kingston's Candy Co. Standard CandyThe prices are about on par with supermarkets for the regular candy such as M&M’s, Kit Kat’s, Milky Way’s, and other standard fare. What makes Kingston’s unique is that it has a lot of older candy brands that were popular years ago and you thought might have vanished forever. Confections like Sugar Daddy, Whatchamacallit’s, Coconut Alice’s, Good n’ Plenty, Teaberry, Glee, Hubba Bubba and Gold Mine Chewing Gum, and dozens of other candy’s, gums and sugar based sweets line the small shop. Continue reading →

Best Legs Beauty Contest 1948

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Not Just Another Pretty Face

Best Legs Contest Ocean Park CA July 27 1948

Putting a large black mask over a woman’s face is supposed to block out the rest of her features so that only her legs can be judged? I don’t think so.

If the judges really wanted to decide this contest by legs only, they could have put a screen in front of them blocking everything but their legs.

The news caption reads:

Ocean Park, CA July 27 – This Time Their Faces Don’t Count – These girls are winners in a preliminary contest to select the possessor of the most beautiful legs here. The masks, of course, are so the judges won’t be swayed by facial beauty. Among the girls are a dramatic actress, three student models, a secretary, a student, a drum majorette, and a nightclub cigaret girl.

The “Artwork” Of The 110 Harbor Freeway Los Angeles

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Why Go To The Museum of Contemporary Art or The Getty?

If you live around Los Angeles you may be too busy to go to a museum to see paintings. Luckily or unfortunately depending on your point of view, you can always get your fill of “art” while driving to work.

On the constantly congested 110 Freeway, one can take in up close the utter decay of the city every 6 to 30 feet. That is the range of distance between the supporting pillars of the freeway on the median. There you can admire the ugly, illegible scrawls of grade school drop-outs.

The “Lovely Artwork”

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Late 19th / Early 20th century Photograph of a UFO in California

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What is in the sky in this photograph?

Is this one of the earliest UFO photographs?

Catalina Island Circa 1900

I saw this magic lantern slide photograph for sale on eBay about 5 years ago and thought it was interesting enough to copy on to my computer, but not to bid on.  It was identified as Santa Catalina Island at the turn-of-the-century and that was pretty much all there was to the description. The person selling it did mention there is a strange object in the photograph.

There certainly is.

First I do believe there are UFO’s. But let’s be clear – Unidentified Flying Objects. Not necessarily spacemen from other galaxies or strange visitors from other planets in flying saucers. I won’t eliminate the possibility, but I need better evidence.

There definitely is something in the right hand corner of the photo. For some strange reason I do not believe this photo is a hoax.  It appears to be in the air. But, is it flying? Is it a blemish to the photo itself? Is it a reflection? Somebody threw their hat in the air? A cloud? Sunspot? Optical illusion? Or is it some sort of saucer-like spacecraft? Click on the photo and then click again to get an enlarged closer view.

Larger Image of Catalina Island UFO

I checked the newspaper archives from the Los Angeles Times from 1890-1915 and can find no mention of this event on Catalina Island where the photograph was supposedly taken.  Continue reading →