noirish Los Angeles

[Fab Fifties Fan]

WOW Handsome Stranger, awesome screen caps!!!

Cry Danger is absolutely one of my very favorite movies! Mostly because it showcases so many things I love, like:

1950's Trailer Parks and 1950 Nash Statesmans!

[source: TCM]

AND an underated actress I adore, Jean Porter!

[source: TCM]

Jean played a lot of small and moderate parts in films throughout the 40's and early 50's, but she never became the star she should have been. On the set of her 1946 film "Till the End of Time", she met the director Edward Dmytryk and they married in 1948. Dmytryk was one of the infamous Hollywood Ten and subsequently blacklisted as a dirtector for a few years. They moved to England for a while until he decided to come back to the US and accept a plea deal.

Jean filmed several parts in movies and TV shows throughout the fifities and retired from acting in 1961 to stay home and raise her kids. She is now 85 and still with us! Her husband Edward died in 1999, shortly after their 51st anniversary.

Here are a couple of Jean's glamour shots from the 40's....



Photo credits: Fanzine

~Jon Paul

[mars3941]

On my first and only visit to L.A. in June 09 I was shocked at the lack of upkeep on the downtown freeways. This is an example of what I mean. I wonder why the City doesn't maintain them?

[mars3941]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

yep, still there, albeit looking a tad disheveled from years of wear and tear though, (enter at your own risk )

I was in L.A in 09 and I was surprised at how bad the freeways were kept. This photo is what I mean.

[PHX31]

Sorry for the off-topic post real quick, but was Michael Jackson was trying to emulate her?

[mars3941]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

The American Film Noir Site has a page dedicated to the filming locations of cry danger.

It's part of their Bunker Hill Section

Thanks for linking this site it is awsome. I have seen most of the noir films mentioned but the ones I haven't seen I'll be on the search for.

[FredH]

Fab Fifties Fan's terrific post on Barbara Payton reminded me of some material that I intended to post on one of my
favorite little movies and its star. The star is Barbara's old boyfriend and fighting companion, Tom Neal:


PRC pictures Inc.

Tom Neal's life followed the same noire-style path as Barbara's. After growing up in a wealthy family,
Neal was educated at Northwestern University, then received a law degree from Harvard. Along with
his law degree, Neal picked up some boxing skills on his college teams.

In his turbulent romance with Barbara Payton, he put his boxing skills to good use, punching out his
rival for Barbara's affections, actor Franchot Tone, and putting him in the hospital with serious injuries.

Not satisfied with partially ruining his life (and career), in 1965 Neal shot his third wife, Gale Bennett,
in the back of the head with a .45 caliber pistol and killed her. He must have had O.J.'s law team on his
side, because somehow he got off with involuntary manslaughter. He was out of jail on parole by
1971, but dropped dead of heart failure the next year at age 58.

But before all this happened, he made one of my favorite little (as in little budget) movies named:


PRC Pictures Inc.

The charm of these "Poverty Row" films is that they could get so much out of their meager budgets.
Naturally, this usually involved shading the truth when it came to expenditures for such things as
location shots and such. The fun for us, of course, is to ferret out the "fakery", so here goes:

Now I think anyone who has watched the movie has noticed that the scenes where Tom Neal is
hitchhiking westward, must have been originally filmed from left to right, which makes them look like
he is going eastward. Instead of re-filming these scenes, PRC must have just flopped the images and we have this:


PRC pictures Inc.

O.K. minor problem with the steering wheels on the wrong side.

Now we have our hero hitchhiking through "Arizona":


PRC Pictures Inc.

Wait a minute; this area looks familiar:


Google Streetview

We are in the Mojave Desert, east of Palmdale, California in the Antelope Valley. I'm not exactly sure
where they were,
but deserted roads, sand, and Joshua trees are a dime a dozen out there.
(I live over by those hills in the background by the way).

In a few minutes, Tom Neal is picked up and they drive off, still in Arizona:


PRC Pictures Inc.

Sure looks a bunch like this current shot of Sierra Highway heading west into Acton from Palmdale:


Google Street View

The road has been widened and straightened to accommodate traffic for the Metro Link train station in
Acton and the Antelope Valley Freeway is cut into the hill (up where you see the semi truck).


Now finally they arrive at the California border:


PRC Pictures Inc.

The road up ahead sure looks familiar! Go up two pictures.



If you have never watched Detour, you are missing a good movie. Ann Savage is really terrific too.
The movie is in public domain and you can watch it for free here:

http://www.archive.org/details/Detour

[Handsome Stranger]

Yikes! I saw that photo of Tom Neal in the desert at the start of Fred's post, and I immediately thought it was this guy:


[source: Image Entertainment Blu-ray]

...even though I've seen Detour more than a few times...

[malumot]

You were very observant, Mars.

With the exception of a few neighborhoods, the general "unkept" look of the freeways is due to the fact that most of LA proper is now indistinguishable from your garden-variety 3rd World S-hole. (I pointed out the same a few months ago regarding the Harbor Freeway "slot" through Downtown.) Sad, because most of the cities surrounding it (Tri-Cities, South Bay, etc.) are still fairly well kept.

But don't take my word for it. Potential mayor and native Angeleno Rick Caruso sings the same song......

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_861363.html

Originally Posted by mars3941

I was in L.A in 09 and I was surprised at how bad the freeways were kept. This photo is what I mean.

[GaylordWilshire]

I bet alot of people in actual "3rd World S-holes" wouldn't mind living in the worst parts of L.A. today....

"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." --H.G. Wells

[FredH]

Originally Posted by Fab Fifties Fan

WOW Handsome Stranger, awesome screen caps!!!

Cry Danger is absolutely one of my very favorite movies! Mostly because it showcases so many things I love, like:

1950's Trailer Parks and 1950 Nash Statesmans!

[source: TCM]

AND an underated actress I adore, Jean Porter!

[source: TCM]

Jean played a lot of small and moderate parts in films throughout the 40's and early 50's, but she never became the star she should have been. On the set of her 1946 film "Till the End of Time", she met the director Edward Dmytryk and they married in 1948. Dmytryk was one of the infamous Hollywood Ten and subsequently blacklisted as a dirtector for a few years. They moved to England for a while until he decided to come back to the US and accept a plea deal.

Jean filmed several parts in movies and TV shows throughout the fifities and retired from acting in 1961 to stay home and raise her kids. She is now 85 and still with us! Her husband Edward died in 1999, shortly after their 51st anniversary.

Here are a couple of Jean's glamour shots from the 40's....



Photo credits: Fanzine

~Jon Paul

O.K. that's it! Get the time machine out and take me back to 1951, so I can hang out at the Clover Trailer Park with Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, and Jean Porter. If Powell can't make it, I'm still good. I want to drive that 1950 Nash, and I'll even take that crappy trailer they gave Dick Powell and his buddy.

[malumot]

I bet alot of people in actual "3rd World S-holes" wouldn't mind living in the worst parts of L.A. today....

I am sure that is no doubt true, but if that's the bar LA now sets for itself, it's a rather low one.

[mars3941]

Thats very graphic for a early 60's film. That could be an actual auto death scene.

[mars3941]

No way, in fact when I was in Ca in 2009 I was going to take that drive up the mountain when the cops were chasing Bogie in his 37 plymouth. The road from what I gather is much more drivable than it was in 1941. That was cool. Thanks for posting it.

[ethereal_reality]

A popular nightspot was Al Levy's Tavern at 1627 North Vine Street.


LAPL



below: It was located on the west side of Vine Street opposite the Vine Street Brown Derby.


LAPL



LAPL




LAPL

[ethereal_reality]

Predating Al Levy's Tavern on Vine was Al Levy's Grill downtown at 617 South Spring Street.


matchbook/ebay



below: This is such a wonderful facade. So.....noirish.



LAPL



above: I would love to know the color scheme for this neon concoction.

_________

side note: Al Levy got his start selling oysters to Metropolitan Opera patrons.

below: Al Levy and his oyster cart. -date unknown-


LAPL

____

[ethereal_reality]

A fire at Al Levy's on Vine.


LAPL


below: Al Levy's is gone...but the theater to it's left is still there.


google street view

[FredH]

Court Circle:


HistoricAerials.com


Going:


HistoricAerials.com


Gone:


HistoricAerials.com

[Mary A. Reed]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

A fire at Al Levy's on Vine.


LAPL


below: Al Levy's is gone...but the theater to it's left is still there.


google street view

Hello everyone. I'm a big fan of everyone here.

I just wanted to weigh in with a little info on that little theater. For years it was known as the CBS Radio Playhouse, from 1935-1954. Every week the most popular show on radio would air from there, and this was when radio was big, called Lux Radio Theater. Every week the announcer would begin the show by declaring they were "broadcasting LIVE from HOLLYWOOD and VINE," even though the building is actually one block south of the famous intersection. As a matter of fact, that very declaration each week kept the myth of Hollywood and Vine as some magical corner alive for years, even decades, after the show went silent.

Even more interesting is the tidbit that Cecil B. DeMille himself was the host of the Lux Radio Theater, broadcasting from that building, each week from 1936-1945. The show recreated famous films of the day, and DeMille would interview the actors each week. For example, William Powell and Myrna Loy recreated "The Thin Man" for radio listeners on that show.

Every single famous actor in Hollywood appeared on that show, every one, from Clark Gable to Bogie, from the Barrymores to Barbara Stanwyck. You name them, they traipsed through that front door to pay their respects to DeMille. (As a side note, DeMille was finally banned from appearing on radio altogether when he refused to pay a $1.00 fee for radio broadcasters to lobby for a closed shop, which he opposed. He always claimed it was the Commies that drove him off the radio, and they did admit they hated him. S'ok, he got his comeuppance shortly after when McCarthy went after his enemies. Not that there's any connection, that I know of, it is just an interesting fact).

Back to our little theater: The Fibber McGee and Molly Show grew out of an appearance on the Lux Radio Theater. Other spinoffs from initial appearances on that show included radio and TV shows with Jack Benny, and George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fred Allen, and Phil Harris. Also William Bendix first broadcast "Life of Riley" on the Lux Radio Theater show. Orson Welles had a summer replacement show, which he followed up with his own show, and then caused riots by creating a segment called "War of the Worlds."

All of these shows were broadcast live from that building. Its historic Hollywood at its finest because its the myth of what was created from it that stands the test of time. The building itself is rather small and even non-descript! Just thought I'd share!

[gsjansen]

Great information on the Vine Street Theater Mary!

photograph of the vine street theater under construction 1926. the image was taken looking down from the hotel plaza


Source: LAPL


a wider view from the plaza of construction just getting under way of the theater. note the demille/laskey barn is still at the corner of vine and selma. the barn and the studio will be gone by 1928, moving to the paramount lot at melrose.


Source: LAPL


just prior to completion


Source: LAPL

in 1954, the theater got a modern make over and reopened as the Huntington Hartford Theatre
note mike lymon's next door. used to be al levy's


Source: LAPL

1982


Source: LAPL

i'm glad that they restored the facade back to it's classical appearance!

[malumot]

Mad Dog Earle...

Whitney Portal is a pretty easy drive, though your car may wheeze a bit as it climbs from 3700 feet at Lone Pine to 8400 feet at road's end in only 9 miles.

Eastern Sierra is some of the most spectacular and under-appreciated scenery in the state.

Originally Posted by mars3941

No way, in fact when I was in Ca in 2009 I was going to take that drive up the mountain when the cops were chasing Bogie in his 37 plymouth. The road from what I gather is much more drivable than it was in 1941. That was cool. Thanks for posting it.