This photo is a rare instance where can tell you no details. I don’t know where it was taken or when. Neither Google or the online LA City Directories (early versions of phone books) have heard of “Vernon T Mercer.” Nor did I find him in a few of the mid-1930s phone books when I searched under just “Mercer.” I also drew a blank on Google Images and TinEye. But that sign on the side of the van: “DeLuxe Horse Pullman” – I’m guessing this was a horsie version of the first-class Pullman train carriages which introduced George Pullman’s concept of the sleeping cars on long-haul trains in the 1860s and continued until December 31, 1968. I’m also guessing Mercer’s van was used for transporting high-class thoroughbreds to and from race tracks. If you have anything to contribute, I’m all ears!
Photograph of a Vernon T. Mercer “deluxe horse Pullman” van somewhere in Southern California, undated
Letter from David O. Selznick to Ed Sullivan re casting of Vivien Leigh, January 7, 1939
In a recent research rabbit hole (an occupational hazard when you write historical fiction), somewhere someplace somehow I came across this image of a letter that David O. Selznick wrote to Ed Sullivan. At the time – January 7, 1939 – Sullivan was still just an entertainment journalist (his eponymous television show that would catapult him to national fame was still nine years away) and Selznick was six days away from announcing who he had (finally!) cast as Scarlett O’Hara. I’m surprised that, with less than a week to go before telling the world he’d cast a Brit, he was still undecided and went to the trouble of dictating a letter that went at least to two pages explaining why he might not be casting Vivien Leigh.
Or was he just putting Sullivan off the scent? If he was, that’s a lot of trouble to go to. Then again, the official announcement of who would play Scarlett O’Hara in the movie version of Gone with the Wind was the entertainment news of the year, so there was a lot at stake. And Selznick was notorious for being a prodigious writer of letters and memos, so any of the above is more than possible.
It’s also interesting to not that Vivien’s name is misspelled. A week later, after the official announcement was made, her name would be known all over the world.
January 7, 1939
Mr. Ed Sullivan
621 North Alta Drive
Beverly Hills, California
Dear Edt
Vivian Leigh is by no means cast as Scarlett. There are three other possibilities. But should we decide on Miss Leigh for the role, I think the following answers your question:
1. Scarlett O’Hara’s parents were French and Irish. Identically, Miss Leigh’s parents are French and Irish.
2. A large part of the South prides itself on its English ancestry and an English girl might presumably, therefore, be as acceptable in the role than a Northern girl.
5. Experts insist that the real Southern accent, as opposed to the Hollywood conception of a Southern accent, i.e. basically English. There is a much closer relationship between the English accent and the Southern accent than there is between the Southern accent and the Northern accent, as students will tell you, and as we have found through experience.
4. I think it would be ungrateful on the part of Americans, particularly Americans in the film and theatrical worlds, to feel bad about such a selection in view of the English public’s warm reception of American actors’ portrayals of the most important best-beloved characters in English history and fiction, ranging the way from Wallace Beery in “Treasure Island”, to Fredric March as Browning in “The Barretts”, to Gary Cooper in “Bengal Lancer.”
5. And, finally, let me call your attention to the most successful performances in the American theatre in many, many years those, — those respectively, of the American Helen Hayes as “Queen Victoria” and the British Raymond Massey as “Abraham Lincoln”.
I feel that these are days when we should all do everything within our power to help cement British-American relationships and mutual sympathies, rather than to indulge in thoughtless, half-baked and silly critcisms. As I have said, Miss Leigh is not set for the role, but if she gets it…
When this letter was reproduced in the book “Memo From: David Selznick” it only has the first three points, but does have this paragraph:
Miss Leigh seems to us to be the best qualified from the standpoints of physical resemblance to Miss Mitchell’s Scarlett, and – more importantly – ability to give the right performance in one of the most trying roles ever written. And this is after a two-year search.
I like to think that you’ll be in there rooting for her.
Cordially and sincerely yours,
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Tagged Correspondence / Letters / Memos, David O. Selznick, Ed Sullivan, Movie
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Interior shot of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles (undated)
The majority of the photos I’ve come across of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel feature crowds of people, especially during its peak years, the 1920s and ‘30s. So it’s nice to see what the place actually looked like without swanky partygoers getting in the way. I do like all that detailing on the walls above those Arabianesque arches, and those black light fixtures that would have been perfect for Rick’s Café Americain in “Casablanca.” When someone finally hands me the keys to that time machine, a night at the Cocoanut Grove is definitely on my itinerary. Care you join me?
Aerial shot of the Taft building at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood, 1926
I wish this photo were bigger so that we could see more detail, but when a photo was taken nearly 100 years ago, we have to take what we can get. This 1926 aerial was shot taken looking southeast across the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. That skyscraper (because back then, 12 stories counted as a skyscraper) is the Taft building, which opened in 1923. These days, the most famous intersection in LA has three buildings that tall, but back then, as we can see here, it really stood out. The Dyas department store on the southwest corner (later The Broadway) opened in 1927.
This image gives us an idea of what that same intersection from the same angle looked like in May 2022.
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Hollywood, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood Blvd
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The Supreme Restaurant, Broadway, downtown Los Angeles (undated)
I could find no information on this photo, not on this restaurant other than it was called “The Supreme” and it was somewhere on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. But look at that gorgeous typeface and how they chose to advertise: “THE SUPREME … PLACE TO EAT.” Talk about raising the expectations of potential customers. They must have been very confident of their menu, and I have to admire that.
** UPDATE ** – Further investigation has revealed that The Supreme was at 835 S. Broadway. The photo below shows us how that same building looked in February 2023. It looks boarded up and covered with graffiti but I think that’s because it’s part of the renovation of the Hamburger department store building. We can see the fire escape cage is still there.
Traffic passes the Dyas-Carlton Cafe at Wilshire Blvd and La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, circa late-1920s/early-1930s
In this photo we’re watching traffic zoom through the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and La Brea Ave. In the background we can see the charming Dyas-Carlton Café with its octagonal turret with its own octagonal turret, which in turn has a cute little weather vane. The photo was taken circa late-1920s/early-1930s, so I’m surprised to see a three-light traffic signal because I’d have expected a two-light semaphore model. The road looks freshly paved, but I don’t see any lanes painted along Wilshire, and that concerns me!
** UPDATE ** – The cafe’s owner was one of the Dyas brothers whose failed department store on Hollywood and Vine was later occupied by The Broadway.
“Dyas-Carlton Cafe Opening Soon” – Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1928:
This interior shot of the Dyas-Carlton surprised me. Looking at the exterior shot, the restaurant doesn’t look nearly that big!
This is how the northwest corner of Wilshire and La Brea looked in December 2022. It’s been a construction site for a very long time. Whatever is going up there sure is taking a long time!
“Confessions of a Nazi Spy” plays the Warner Theatre, 6433 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, circa 1939
These days, over 80 years later, we tend to lump Confessions of a Nazi Spy together with all the WWII-themed movies that came out of the Hollywood war propaganda machine (and I mean that in a positive sense.) It’s easy to forget, though, that this movie was the first of its kind. Released in May 1939, was the first anti-Nazi movie produced by a major U.S. studio at a time when the others were still hedging their bets. They didn’t want to ruin their European markets by upsetting Hitler’s Nazi party in the hopes that Europe wouldn’t descend into war. But patriotic Jack Warner didn’t care. He green-lighted this movie knowing that all Warner Bros. movies might be banned in Germany. And they were. This rather dramatic night shot was taken during the movie’s run at the Warner Bros. Theater at 6433 Hollywood Blvd.
The Warner Bros. theater is still standing but it’s been closed for many, many years. This is how it looked in August 2022.
Art Deco bowling alley, billiards hall, and Recreation Grill café at 970 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, circa 1929
When I think of bowling alleys, I think of bright colors, flashing lights, quirky mid-century Googie-esque architecture. I never think of geometric Art Deco towers. This beautiful combination bowling alley, billiards hall, and café (called the Recreation Grill) opened at 970 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, in 1929. I don’t know what it looked like inside, but the exterior is striking.
Here is an advertisement for the Pasadena Bowling and Billiard Building, 970 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena:
** UPDATE ** Evidently, this bowling alley was called Mason Bowling Alley. That name was in the caption for this interior shot of it:
In case you were wondering, yes, it was too much to expect for that marvelous building to still be around today because this square brick thing that replaced it is *so* much nicer. #sarcasm
A horse-drawn billboard for Bill Hoppers Blacksmith Shop rolls down Hollywood Blvd just west of Vine St, Hollywood, circa late 1920s
And from the “We Don’t See This Anymore” file comes this shot of what I can only describe as a horse-drawn billboard designed to advertise Bill Hoppers Blacksmith Shop. It does make me wonder how many blacksmiths still existed in Hollywood by the late 1920s (going by the automobiles in the parking lot in the background.) My guess is “not many” so maybe the point of this display was to remind the locals there was still at least one left. It’s rolling down Hollywood Blvd just west of Vine St, Hollywood.
** UPDATE ** Other people have suggested that this was a mobile blacksmithing service.
Kelly D says: “It only became a parking lot because of arson. I was waiting outside my apt building, on Hollywood Boulevard one morning at 3 am, waiting for the shuttle for LAX, when waaay down Hollywood Blvd, that was devoid of cars, I saw lots of emergency vehicle red lights. Lots. Turns out they were putting out the fire that destroyed the historic restaurant building.”
Andie P says: “Blacksmiths did a lot of work that had nothing to do with horses. Decorative ironwork & etc. My dad hired a mobile blacksmith in the late forties, fifties and sixties, to do ornamental gates, fences, tops on walls, and so on. The horse-drawn trailer may have been an advertising gimmick to attract business. If for shoeing horses, it would have been advertised as a farrier. And the one who took care of my dad’s horses in the fifties, had his base on San Fernando Road in East L.A. he had a portable “furnace” on his truck.”
Possibly taken earlier that day before the parade got going?
Bill Hoppers retired in 1954. Here is an ad for selling off his goods.
The northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine in the vintage photo would later be the site of the CoCo Tree Café, which became Melody Lane, which became Hody’s, which – predictably – is now a parking lot again. This image is August 2022.
Harold Lloyd confronts a policeman in “Why Worry?” as onlookers crowd the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds, Hollywood, 1923
I assume I’m not the only one here who is forever distracted by background locations in old Hollywood movies, and who tries to figure where it was filmed? This is a case in point. In this scene from “Why Worry?” (1923) Harold Lloyd is confronting a policeman as onlookers crowd the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds in Hollywood. What I didn’t know was that prior to Kress opening their five-and-dime department store at 6608 Hollywood Blvd in 1934, they had a smaller store at that intersection. I also love that five-bulb street light, but I especially love that bell on the right. It designates the El Camino Real Highway. I believe (but might be wrong) that the rectangular sign below it gives mileage to the nearest mission.
** UPDATE** – Although he looks really short in this photo, Harold Lloyd was five foot ten. The guy playing the policeman was John Aasen who suffered from gigantism and stood seven foot five.
Jay S says: “From IMDB: ‘Ringling Brothers circus giant Cardiff Giant (aka George Auger) was contracted to play the role of Colosso, but died shortly after filming began. A nationwide publicity campaign was instituted to find a replacement. Norwegian John Aasen, living in Minnesota, was discovered as a result of a newspaper article about his shoe size.’”
Bill M says: “The sign on the El Camino Real Bell shows Mission San Fernando 3 miles. The one facing the other direction would give the miles to Mission San Gabriel. The bells were relocated to the Hollywood Freeway (101) in the 1950s.”
Al M says: “What’s also interesting, and goes right by the modern eye, is the sign for Stein’s makeup. Makeup for the masses was fairly new in the early 1920s and Steins was one of Max Factor’s main competitors – so a sign that big during that era was extremely significant. As far as I knew, Steins was based in NYC . . I know they were down in the Bowery for the longest time supplying materials for Broadway shows. I had no idea they had an LA presence at any time.”
This is how the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds looked in May 2022.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Movie Stars, Stores and Shopping
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