Intl. Notebook

December 22 2021

GODFATHER HOOD

If you shoot him, you better make sure he's dead.

The prop Daily Bugle newspaper we shared a while back from 2002’s Spider Man got us thinking about these sorts of items, so we had a look around and found this newspaper made for the 1972 gangster epic The Godfather, which bears a headline about (spoiler alert) Vito Corleone’s shooting. The paper is dated today in 1945. Corleone was of course played by Marlon Brando, and it was possibly the crowning achievement of a highly accomplished if occasionally controversial film career. Haven’t seen the movie? All we can say is it’s in no way overrated. And because realism is key in Hollywood, the paper has a rear cover with a story about boxer Tony Janiro beating Humberto Zavala on points, yesterday in 1945.

New York Daily News, The Godfather, Marlon Brando, Tony Janiro, Humberto Zavala, cinema, boxing

The Naked City

July 19 2013

SHOTS IN THE DARK

What do you get for being a member of the Mickey louse club? A cap... in your ass.

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.

Los Angeles, New York Daily News, Mickey Cohen, Florabel Muir, Edward Herbert, mafia

The Naked City

July 31 2012

MASTER PLAN

A little ingenuity goes a long way.

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.

New York City, Chicago, Sing Sing, New York Daily News, Master Detective, Ruth Snyder, Henry Judd Gray, Tom Howard, true crime magazine, murder

Intl. Notebook

August 6 2010

SUICIDE BLONDE

The day the muse died.

Cover of the New York Daily News from today in 1962, the day after Marilyn Monroe was pronounced dead from a drug overdose.

New York Daily News, Marilyn Monroe, drugs, suicide

Intl. Notebook

June 22 2010

BROKEN FLOWERS

Quintessential child star Garland suffers quintessential child star death.

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.

New York Daily News, Judy Garland, tabloid, drugs, deaths

Sportswire

July 3 2009

BATTERY PRACTICE

One of the New York Yankees' greatest heroes runs afoul of the law—again.

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.

New York, New York Yankees, New York Daily News, Jim Leyritz, trial

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 15

1945—Laval Executed

Pierre Laval, who was the premier of Vichy, France, which had collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, is shot by a firing squad for treason. In subsequent years it emerges that Laval may have considered himself a patriot whose goal was to publicly submit to the Germans while doing everything possible behind the scenes to thwart them. In at least one respect he may have succeeded: fifty percent of French Jews survived the war, whereas in other territories about ninety percent perished.

October 15

1966—Black Panthers Form

In the U.S., in Oakland, California, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form the Black Panther political party. The Panthers are active in American politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but eventually legal troubles combined with a schism over the direction of the party lead to its dissolution.

October 14

1962—Cuban Missile Crisis Begins

A U-2 spy plane flight over the island of Cuba produces photographs of Soviet nuclear missiles being installed. Though American missiles have been installed near Russia, the U.S. decides that no such weapons will be tolerated in Cuba. The resultant standoff brings the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of war. The crisis finally ends with a secret deal in which the U.S. removes its missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing the Cuban weapons.

October 13

1970—Angela Davis Arrested

After two months of evading police and federal authorities, Angela Davis is arrested in New York City by the FBI. She had been sought in connection with a kidnapping and murder because one of the guns used in the crime had been bought under her name. But after a trial a jury agreed that owning the weapon did not automatically make her complicit in the crimes.

October 12

1978—Sid Vicious Arrested for Murder

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious is arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is found in their room at New York City’s Chelsea Hotel. Vicious and Spungen had a famously stormy relationship, but Vicious proclaims he is innocent. He is released on bail and dies of a heroin overdose before a trial takes place.

October 12

1979—Adams Publishes First Hitchhiker's Book

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in a series, is published by Douglas Adams. The novels follow on the heels of the tremendously successful British television series of the same name.