(That’s not a raven, and not a mynah.)
People ask me all the time, hey, you got a time machine, you gonna kill Hitler?
Fat chance.
Look out, crow abusers. Death like manna.
July 5, 1947
Lynwood
Scores of kids ended up in area hospitals from firecracker-related injury over the July 4th weekend, but one young man in Lynwood set a sad record for carelessness and maiming.
Billy Wells, 13, of 2650 E. Century Blvd., insisted on playing with a 4-inch cylindrical professional pyrotechnic device that he found at a South Gate fireworks display. Ignoring the warnings of Joseph S. Dodson of 13715 Wright Lane, the father of a playmate, he punctured the tube and poured black powder on the porch of the Dodson residence.
Then, of course, he lit a match. Dodson was thrown backwards and momentarily blinded by the flash, while Billy’s shattered hand was amputated by doctors at St. Francis Hospital, and he may lose the sight in one or both eyes. The condition of the Dodson porch is not known at press time.
Recommended reading: Firecrackers: The Art and History
What was 25-year-old model and movie bit-player Marjorie Jane White doing standing on the Ocean Avenue bridge overlooking Colorado Avenue at 3:30 in the morning? Thinking about money troubles and how nobody liked her, poor dear.
When Sgt. James Vitale saw her gazing down at the traffic, he knew he might have a jumper on his hands… so he crept up and grabbed the lass, and pulled her away from the brink.
“I don’t think I would have had the nerve to jump,” she sobbed, “But I’m glad you stopped me!” Marjorie’s dad Paul Parr Smith picked her up and drove her home to Inglewood. She’s a contestant in the July 17 Miss Hollywood contest, so judges: give the girl a break!
P.S. Change the name, kiddo. Hollywood memory is short, but not that short.
suggested reading, Santa Monica Bay: Paradise by the Sea : A Pictorial History of Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Ocean Part, Pacific Palisades, Topanga & Malibu
Madge Meredith-what went wrong? The little Iowa City blonde, discovered while working as a cashier in the 20th Century-Fox commissary, later signed to RKO where she starred in “Child of Divorce†and “The Falcon’s Adventure,†though her contract recently lapsed, is today a fugitive, wanted on kidnap charges!
Two men are in custody following the daring escape from remote Lopez Canyon of Miss Meredith’s former business manager, 38-year-old Nicholas Dan Gianaclis and his assistant Verne Vinson Davis.
The men were allegedly shanghaid when they arrived at the base of Laurel Canyon Boulevard for a planned meeting with Miss Meredith. She turned up in a new red convertible, and motioned for them to follow her to Gianaclis’ house up the hill. Near it, she used her car to block Gianaclis’ car while pointing him out to three associates in a third vehicle, one of whom administered a blackjack beating while the others held guns. Gianaclis and Davis were forced into their assailants’ car and driven for more than an hour, with blows punctuating every move they made. On arrival in Lopez Canyon, they were held at gunpoint for six hours, until they managed to escape and find aid at Slocum Ranch.
What’s it all about, Madgey? The lady recently made noise about suing her former manager for substituting a grant deed for a mortgage paper on the house at 8444 Magnolia Drive where until recently she and her family lived, and where the two hostages now reside, though after some initial testimony, the matter was dropped. Gianaclis identified one of his attackers as William Klinkenburg, 32-year-old cook, 6439 Agnes Street. When arrested, Klinkenburg was holding a gun belonging to Barclay Leon Thomas, 33, of 6936 Woody Trail. Barclay’s three-year marriage to Gianaclis’ daughter was annulled last week. Thomas denies any knowledge of the kidnapping and assault.
Madge Meredith’s mother, Mrs. Laura Massow, reached at her home at 8942 West 24th Street, said she had no idea where her daughter, who came home only occasionally, might be.
Police are still looking for the actress, and two mysterious men named “Jim†and “Bill,†and trying to determine motive for the strange incident.
[usually at 1947project we leave our cases frozen in time, but this one is just too juicy not to share further reference material. Miss Meredith turned herself in and served more than two years in prison at Tehachapi before her sentence was commuted by Governor Warren in 1951; Gianaclis had his citizenship denied for reasons of poor character; and in the end the lady got her house back, married a doctor (though it didn’t last) and apparently made some films in Europe.]
By 1947, 8444 had entered into the aforementioned contretemps with Madge and Gianaclis.
(The castle motif is not original to the house, but was added after Northridge.)
You can see why they’d fight over the thing, the views being pretty spectacular.
Although we should assume goats were not involved at that time.
And then there’s Madge herself. Sure, she comes off as no stranger to unsavory characters. But- the story continues, involving as it does Earl Warren, the California Assembly, and that little slice of heaven we call Tehachapi- but I’ll let another illuminate that.
suggested reading: Storybook Style: America’s Whimsical Homes of the Twenties
Oh, it’s simply too ghastly! Algie Atkins, 23-year-old butler of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Silbert, dove into their pool at 250 Carolwood Drive, and never came back up. And you know, Mrs. Atkins was there, but the poor thing can’t swim, so she couldn’t rescue Algie. Neither could the Fire Department rescue squad, when they showed up.
Algie Atkins, kid butler, R.I.P.
Nevertheless, here is the Sibert home. I pity the poor Siberts. My Goodness the vexation one has with placement services! And then to have a domestic go and drown on you. Normally, it would be the butler’s job to fish the corpse out of the pool. Do you see the conundrum?
One must wonder, if the Butler Atkins could not swim, is it possible he was instructed to jump in, as ordered by a Sibert? To do the swimming for them? In which case, he has done his duty, and ranks as a fine butler indeed.
San Fernando Valley
So she went to kill herself. By going swimming. No mention in the paper whether she, like some Barney Barnato, decided to, I don’t know, eat something, not wait the Biblical halfed-hour, and then leap in the deep end.
5-4-3-2… just one more day to go until the state’s liquor licensing laws roll back to their pre-war state. Yep, it’s nearly 6 months after the end of hostilities, and despite several vain attempts by legislators to retain the time restrictions, from midnight tomorrow, bars and package stores may sell joy juice between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., a welcome change from the 10 a.m. to midnight hours of wartime. So let’s have a toast!
