Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
In the late 1940s, T.V. station KTLA covered on live T.V. the attempted rescue of a child from a well. I believe the child was named Cathy Fiscus or something like that. Unfortunately, the child didn't make it. Maybe not a major disaster, but a tragic incident. This may have been the first T.V. live feed of a news story from the field, outside of a studio. Maybe somebody can post more info on this case. As a kid, I remember watching the failure of the Baldwin Hills Dam on KTLA, I believe in 1963. Houses were carried down the hill.
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Kathy and Barbara Fiscus, December 1948 by
Michael Ryerson, on Flickr
Kathy, 3, with her older sister Barbara (9) in late 1948. Kathy has about four months.
Kathy Fiscus rescue chronicle
On April 8, 1949, Kathy Fiscus, 3, fell down an abandoned well in San Marino. The resulting rescue attempt gripped Southern California. Television stations KTLA and KTTV broadcast live.
As part of its coverage, the Los Angeles Times published a “Rescue Chronicle.” From the April 10 and 11, 1949, editions:
FRIDAY (April 8, 1949):
4:45 p.m.–The child, in a footrace in a vacant lot, fell into a 230-foot abandoned water well.
5 p.m.–Her playmates notified Mrs. Alice Fiscus, who called police.
5:45 p.m.–Police and firemen attempted to pull the child from the well by ropes and failed. They dropped air hoses through the mouth of the well to insure ventilation. Mrs. Fiscus could hear Kathy’s crying voice.
6 p.m.–Massive clamshell cranes arrived to dig for the trapped child.
Two women, one memory, 1999 by
Michael Ryerson, on Flickr
April 11, 1999. Alice Fiscus, 81, closes her eyes during the opening prayer at a memorial service 50 years after the death of her three-and-a-half year old daughter Kathy. Beside her is her daughter Barbara (Fiscus) Simon, 59. The memorial service was held at San Marino High School.
Al Seib/Los Angeles Times