Dear reader Jane's birthday news - December 7, 1948, a Tuesday. Front page news: Ex-commie Whittaker Chambers has formally accused Alger Hiss of stealing confidential State Department documents. Meat prices dropped five to eight cents a pound. There was light rain and the temperature in LA had a high of 63 and a low of 42. Brrrr. the state draft quota was cut for January. In Long Beach, a 14-month old baby narrowly escaped injury when an automobile crashed through a bedroom wall within inches of the crib where she was sleeping. Jap war lords won a high court delay. and the big news is that the city population, thanks to Jane, hit 2,008,580.
In other news, film actress Diana Lansing was in court on kidnapping and extortion charges involving a film producer, John Clein of 555 N. Rossmore. She and her co-defendent, actor Christian Anderson, forced Clein into his apartment at gun point, forcing the producer to sign a contract giving Miss Lansing $50 a week for four years under threats that his relationships with the actress would be disclosed. Clein maintined she was merely a chance acquaintance.
You could take a twelve-hour direct flight to New York for 99 bucks. All department stores were having nice sales. Actor Robert Walker (Bruno Antony of Strangers on a Train), was arrested in Tokeka, Kansas and spent the night in jail - drunk and destroying city property. But charges looked like they were going to be dropped. Authorities described Walker as a "sick man." You could have a brand new Chrysler Royal four-door sedan for $2472.52.
Actors Turhan Bey and Peggy Ann Garner assisted World Student Service Fund on the campus of Los Angeles City College. In movies, Red River was in its eighth smash week at four theaters. Laurence Olivier's Hamlet was at the 4-Star. Over in Jane's neck o' the woods, The Bruin (where she would later work) was playing Beau Geste, while the Village had Road House with Ida Lupino. At the Chinese was When My Baby Smiles at Me. Three brand new houses on my street, Bolton Road (but the other side of Beverly Park leading down into Cheviot Hills, were about to be completed. I'm sure they would have been pricey, around $30,000 or so, maybe a bit more. All three houses are still there and selling for 3.5 million. 10408 Sunset Blvd. was for sale - beautiful home, but you had to be rich - about 65 grand. Today? Over 8 MILLION.
