Newsflash from the Past: No Trace Found of ‘Witch-Woman’ LOS ANGELES, November 15, 1929 — (UP) — Police said today that had no trace of the so-called “witch woman,” hunted for beating 4-year-old Tommy Hetherington last Wednesday after luring the boy from his mother’s parked automobile. Several suspects have been taken into custody, it was […]
“Solutions are not the answer.” — Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States. “John F. Schaff Jr., Sun Valley chairman of the Nixon For Governor Committee, prepares the Sun Valley office for an open house from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at 8101 1/4 San Fernando Rd., Sun Valley. Aiding Shaff […]
The lives of few entertainers have ever matched that of actress/dancer/vaudevillian Valdeo Lord Parker and her mother, Maude. Both performed under many aliases throughout their lives, which requires a lot of reading between the lines to understand who they were and what happened to them. According to U.S. Census records, Valdeo was born in Lincoln, […]
Photos of a teenager named Betty Bradley and her pet deer “Bennie” (sometimes spelled “Benny”) in 1927. Bennie was said to be the former pet of Mexican bandit Pancho Villa, and was given to Bradley as a gift when she visited Mexico with her parents. Villa had died in 1923. In 1926-27, Bennie and Betty appeared together on local radio station KHJ. […]
On the evening of February 5, 1962, Morton “Bud” Harold Thompson Jr., 27, fatally stabbed his mother, Helen Sincere Scheuer, 53, with an ice pick at their small apartment at 11734 1/2 La Maida Ave., North Hollywood. Scheuer, who worked for a Lockheed Martin factory in Burbank, was trying to solve a crossword puzzle at her kitchen table […]
In August of 1934, vaudeville performer Don Dixon was arrested by LAPD after officers found him sleeping in his car. The police suspected him of being intoxicated. Later, Dixon successfully argued in front of a judge that he had fallen asleep inside his car after playing an accordion at a wedding. “I was not drunk, your honor,” Dixon told Judge […]
Stunt woman Edith Happy (1925-1999) performs her famous hippodrome stand at the Sheriff’s Rodeo at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1958. Happy started her trick riding career in 1943 at the Salinas Rodeo. In 1945, she met her future husband, Don Happy, who taught her stunt work. Edith quickly became a rodeo favorite and later toured […]
11-year-old Eric Henderson (left) and his 9-year-old brother, Lars, train their cap guns on a stewardess in this 1957 publicity photo. The San Fernando Valley boys, touted as the fastest cap gunslingers in the country, appeared on a television show, brandishing their new cap gun models. Following the broadcast, the brothers were challenged by other […]
The life of strongman Arthur Blackmer, aka Arthur Santell (1910-1998), is interesting — if a little sketchy. He was born Ezra Arthur Blackmer Jr. in Orange County on February 2, 1910. He came from a large family, and had three siblings. His father was a ranch hand, who moved around a lot. His mother died when […]
