Intl. Notebook | Dec 22 2021 |
The Naked City | Jul 19 2013 |
Tonight in 1949 just before 4 a.m.—i.e. early in the morning of July 20—L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen was ambushed by unknown gunmen outside a Sunset Boulevard eatery called Sherry’s. The above photo diagram and close-up shows where his assailants hid behind a billboard across the street from the restaurant and opened fire with shotguns. Cohen was hit in the shoulder, three others were seriously wounded, and New York Daily News reporter Florabel Muir was bruised by a ricochet (or shot directly, according to some accounts). The photo just below shows the view the gunmen had from underneath the billboard. And the last two show the immediate aftermath of the shooting, with a surprising number of bystanders and/or restaurant patrons present considering the late hour, and Cohen henchman Edward Herbert on the ground. He would later die from his wounds. The Sherry’s ambush was the second of several attempts on Cohen’s life. None were successful, though as usual, the members of his circle did not fare well. For a look at a cool collection of photo diagrams and an explanation of their use, see here.
The Naked City | Jul 31 2012 |
Above, a cover of Master Detective from July 1949, inside of which is a story on Ruth Snyder. In March 1927 Snyder garroted her husband with the help of her lover, a corset salesman named Henry Judd Gray. The couple had been after insurance money, but instead they were caught, tried, and sentenced to death by means of electrocution. On the day of the event, which took place at Sing Sing Prison, a photographer named Tom Howard entered the execution chamber as a witness. He was under assignment for the New York Daily News, but was actually based in Chicago, which meant he was unknown to prison authorities in the New York area. That was important, because Howard’s assignment was to illegally take a photo of Ruth Snyder’s execution, which had considerable tabloid value because she would be the first woman put to death at Sing Sing since 1899. Howard was ingeniously prepared—he had strapped a camera to his ankle, and had fed a shutter release up one pant leg to an accessible point inside his suit jacket. At the moment the executioner threw the switch, Howard lifted his pant leg and snapped the blurry photo below, which appeared the next day in the New York Daily News under a huge header that read simply: Dead! The issue was a sensation, the image became iconic, and Howard became nationally famous.
Hollywoodland | Jun 8 2011 |
Above is the front page of New York’s Daily News, from today 1937, with a headline about the death the previous day of starlet Jean Harlow. Harlow was world famous, and her passing, which came suddenly, or at least seemed to, triggered wild speculation in the tabloid press because of confusion over what had killed her. Left to fill the fact vacuum, the tabs claimed she had died variously of alcoholism, complications from an abortion, over-dieting, sunstroke, poisoning due to her platinum hair dye, and VD. Eventually doctors realized she had died of kidney failure, and had actually been ill for a long time. She had been fatigued for weeks, and the previous year had suffered a bout of septicemia and sustained a bad sunburn—both indicators of kidney dysfunction. But a correct early diagnosis probably would have made little difference, since there was no treatment for kidney related illnesses in 1937—penicillin wasn’t in commercial usage yet, and dialysis was a decade away. Harlow was twenty-six when she died. Below is a selection of publicity photos of the woman nicknamed the Blonde Bombshell. She was one of the first sex symbols in American cinema, and remains one of the most revered.
Sex Files | Jan 6 2011 |
This January 1954 issue of Whisper tells readers about a stripper named Lola Dewitt Stewart who bit a cop, covers a gala Harlem dance, and exposes the voodoo rites of Haitian virgin priestesses. The issue also contains a profile of Christine Jorgensen, the most famous transsexual of her day. Jorgensen—whose name is misspelled "Jorgenson" by Whisper editors—had been born George Jorgensen and had lived unhappily as a male for twenty-five years. After a stint in the Army, he learned about the possibility of becoming more feminine, started by taking hormones, and later travelled to Copenhagen, Denmark to have his male sex organs removed. At the time, Denmark used castration on sexual criminals, which is why the procedure was legal there.
Jorgensen, now female in appearance, returned to the U.S. and New York’s Daily News broke her story with one of the most famous headlines in tabloid history: Ex-G.I. Becomes Blonde Beauty. Jorgensen parlayed the recognition into a show business career, establishing a blueprint for later transgenders like Coccinelle. Jorgensen finished the last of her reassignment surgeries in the mid-1950s and, now sexually female, continued in show business for many years. She danced in Las Vegas, appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, was voted “Miss Neutral Zone” by American soldiers serving in Korea, and had high-profile romances. Later in her life she reflected that she was proud to have been part of the sexual revolution. “We may not have started it,” she said of herself and other transgenders, “but we gave it a good swift kick in the pants.”
Intl. Notebook | Aug 6 2010 |
Cover of the New York Daily News from today in 1962, the day after Marilyn Monroe was pronounced dead from a drug overdose.
Intl. Notebook | Jun 22 2010 |
New York Daily News from today, 1969, announcing the death of Judy Garland, one of the most famous and successful child stars ever. Like many child stars that came after her, Garland had problems with her weight, her self-image, along with drugs and alcohol throughout her life. She died of a Seconal overdose at age 47, but a doctor privy to her autopsy results commented that her liver was in such an advanced state of cirrhosis that she was already living on borrowed time.
Sportswire | Jul 3 2009 |
Former New York Yankee baseball player Jim Leyritz, who is considered a god in the Big Apple for hitting a three-run homer in game 4 of the 1996 World Series, finds himself in legal trouble yet again after a heated domestic incident with his wife last night. The New York Daily News reports that Leyritz dragged his wife Karrie out of bed and hit her twice after learning she had written a check without his permission. Leyritz, whose homer is credited with saving the Yankees ’96 season, has had numerous troubles since retiring from sports. The most serious of those incidents occurred in December 2007 when, after a night of partying with a stripper, he ran a red light and broadsided an SUV driven by a waitress named Fredia Ann Veitch. Veitch was ejected from her vehicle and died at the hospital a short time later. Leyritz was taken into custody after an unsatisfactory field sobriety test, and later charged with DUI manslaughter. His situation got even worse when a police video surfaced that showed his apparent lack of concern when informed by an officer that Veitch had died. We watched the video and don't think there's any way to tell what's really going through Leyritz's mind, and he has strongly maintained that he was not being callous, but was just too shocked by events to show much reaction. He has also maintained he wasn't drunk that night, and the collision was not his fault. Soon a jury will decide whether that’s true, and in the meantime he’ll be arraigned for domestic battery.