This week's column on books about or related to La Canada Flintridge.
"Brooks W. Wilson's “The Newport Harbor Murders Revisited: The criminal justice system found guilty” (CreateSpace, 2012) revisits La Cañada's most famous murder trial. Walter Overell was one of the wealthiest men in Flintridge. His wife, Beulah, was a lovely socialite..." Click HERE for the full version of Around Town: Books and murder on her mind.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Around Town: La Cañada cosmopolitanism
Around Town: La Cañada cosmopolitanism
When our son, Andrew, was a student at Flintridge Prep, he had a pet phrase for La Cañada and its environs. He called it “the bubble.”
Flintridge Prep was full of kids from La Cañada and the nearby communities of San Marino, Pasadena, Arcadia, South Pasadena and Glendale. It was a bubble, a safe nest, somewhat isolated from the outside world.
All that is about to change, at least at Flintridge Prep.
Inspired by his students and armed with a major grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, Prep Headmaster Peter Bachmann, a La Cañada resident, has launched “Curriculum L.A.” I stopped by the headmaster's office last week to discuss these exciting events.
Bachmann's eyes light up when he talks about “a coherent strategy for engaging Los Angeles, one of the world's great capitals.” He wants students at Prep to have “a rich, ongoing interaction with this great metropolitan laboratory.”
Bachmann quotes the president of the National Association of Independent Schools, Patrick Bassett, who calls “cosmopolitanism one of the core competencies of the 21st century.” Bachmann believes that this competency is essential to creating an “idea-lab ethos” to produce tomorrow's leaders and entrepreneurial thinkers.
He says that Prep will have a comprehensive curriculum “both inside and beyond the classroom, for student exposure to geographical, artistic, scientific, civic and philanthropic Los Angeles.” There will be a faculty book group focusing on L.A. literature, and screenings of L.A. films. Students have already studied and toured the L.A. River, the Watts Towers, Chinatown and the Puente Hills Landfill. Bachmann credits two recent Prep grads with inspiring the current program.
Any school can implement a local-focused curriculum, but Bachmann's plan goes beyond that.
Under the Edward E. Ford Foundation grant, Prep is one of four schools in the nation that will design a template that will be used by other schools to produce “not only citizens of the community, but citizens of the world.” The template will include a curriculum both inside and outside the classroom. It will also result in organizational changes. Even the faculty will get involved. There will be book groups, film screenings and a “school-wide conversation” with faculty, parents, alumni and students.
More importantly, Prep will join Loyola High School in collaborating with Esteben E. Torres High School, a Los Angeles Unified School District school in East Los Angeles.
Esteben E. Torres is not a wealthy school. The school was opened in 2010 and comprises smaller schools, or “academies.” One academy, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, now partners with Loyola High School. Flintridge Prep will collaborate with another academy, the Esteben E. Torres' performing arts school, known as the East Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy.
Bachmann, calm by nature, is excited about the prospect. He brightens up when he discusses Prep's future collaboration with the East Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy.
From what I've seen, Bachmann is right on. This will be awesome.
Prep already has an in-house student tutoring program. Every class offered has a high school senior assigned as a student tutor to all the younger students in that class. Prep students already volunteer at a Don Benito, a Pasadena public elementary school.
More to the point, Prep's performing arts program is supported by an excellent drama, music and dance curriculum, with “state-of-the-art” practice rooms, rehearsal space, and performance space, and East L.A. is home to actors, artists, film makers, and musicians. So one can only imagine the results of collaboration between the Prep Community and the Esteben E. Torres Community.
Soon, the incoming 7th graders at Prep will study this: “How did we get from the 1890s, with a maximum population possibility of 300,000, to a city of 13 million?” The class will be taught by Peter Chesney, a member of the Flintridge Prep Class of 2004.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.
com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
When our son, Andrew, was a student at Flintridge Prep, he had a pet phrase for La Cañada and its environs. He called it “the bubble.”
Flintridge Prep was full of kids from La Cañada and the nearby communities of San Marino, Pasadena, Arcadia, South Pasadena and Glendale. It was a bubble, a safe nest, somewhat isolated from the outside world.
All that is about to change, at least at Flintridge Prep.
Inspired by his students and armed with a major grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, Prep Headmaster Peter Bachmann, a La Cañada resident, has launched “Curriculum L.A.” I stopped by the headmaster's office last week to discuss these exciting events.
Bachmann's eyes light up when he talks about “a coherent strategy for engaging Los Angeles, one of the world's great capitals.” He wants students at Prep to have “a rich, ongoing interaction with this great metropolitan laboratory.”
Bachmann quotes the president of the National Association of Independent Schools, Patrick Bassett, who calls “cosmopolitanism one of the core competencies of the 21st century.” Bachmann believes that this competency is essential to creating an “idea-lab ethos” to produce tomorrow's leaders and entrepreneurial thinkers.
He says that Prep will have a comprehensive curriculum “both inside and beyond the classroom, for student exposure to geographical, artistic, scientific, civic and philanthropic Los Angeles.” There will be a faculty book group focusing on L.A. literature, and screenings of L.A. films. Students have already studied and toured the L.A. River, the Watts Towers, Chinatown and the Puente Hills Landfill. Bachmann credits two recent Prep grads with inspiring the current program.
Any school can implement a local-focused curriculum, but Bachmann's plan goes beyond that.
Under the Edward E. Ford Foundation grant, Prep is one of four schools in the nation that will design a template that will be used by other schools to produce “not only citizens of the community, but citizens of the world.” The template will include a curriculum both inside and outside the classroom. It will also result in organizational changes. Even the faculty will get involved. There will be book groups, film screenings and a “school-wide conversation” with faculty, parents, alumni and students.
More importantly, Prep will join Loyola High School in collaborating with Esteben E. Torres High School, a Los Angeles Unified School District school in East Los Angeles.
Esteben E. Torres is not a wealthy school. The school was opened in 2010 and comprises smaller schools, or “academies.” One academy, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, now partners with Loyola High School. Flintridge Prep will collaborate with another academy, the Esteben E. Torres' performing arts school, known as the East Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy.
Bachmann, calm by nature, is excited about the prospect. He brightens up when he discusses Prep's future collaboration with the East Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy.
From what I've seen, Bachmann is right on. This will be awesome.
Prep already has an in-house student tutoring program. Every class offered has a high school senior assigned as a student tutor to all the younger students in that class. Prep students already volunteer at a Don Benito, a Pasadena public elementary school.
More to the point, Prep's performing arts program is supported by an excellent drama, music and dance curriculum, with “state-of-the-art” practice rooms, rehearsal space, and performance space, and East L.A. is home to actors, artists, film makers, and musicians. So one can only imagine the results of collaboration between the Prep Community and the Esteben E. Torres Community.
Soon, the incoming 7th graders at Prep will study this: “How did we get from the 1890s, with a maximum population possibility of 300,000, to a city of 13 million?” The class will be taught by Peter Chesney, a member of the Flintridge Prep Class of 2004.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.
com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Around Town: Moving forward with Girls on the Run
Around Town: Moving forward with Girls on the Run“La Cañada is a running town,” explained Leanne Mothershead.
I knew immediately what she meant.
We were seated outside the Foothill Boulevard Starbucks, Mothershead and I. No dogs. No husbands. Just the two of us.
Mothershead is a volunteer regional coordinator for Girls on the Run, a program that helps girls build self-esteem by training to run.
Mothershead is a Toronto native who moved to La Cañada in 2006. Her husband, John, is a La Cañadan and a 1984 graduate of Flintridge Prep.
When she arrived in La Cañada, Mothershead immediately sought out volunteer opportunities. She turned to www.volunteermatch.org, a free online service that matches volunteers with nonprofits and charitable endeavors.
“I am a runner,” Mothershead explained. “I looked for an organization that would match my passion.”
The first match offered was Girls on the Run, a charity that “encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.”
There are two programs offered by Girls on the Run — one for girls in the third through fifth grades, and one for middle-school girls. The sites are staffed by volunteers. One of the local volunteers is a student at La Cañada High. All of the volunteers, including the teens, receive training, background checks and CPR certifications.
As for the girls, there are no try outs. The program is non-competitive. The girls do not have to be athletes. The curriculum gets the girls conditioned through games and fun activities.
Each group of girls selects a volunteer project. Mothershead smiled as she handed me a flier for a May 24 bake sale organized by the Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School group, with all proceeds going to the Pasadena Humane Society.
As for her own athleticism, Mothershead took up running in 2006, the year she moved to La Cañada Flintridge.
“I had quit smoking,” said Mothershead. “One day, I went for a run and said, ‘Whoa! This is easier!' I haven't smoked since.”
The passion grew, and now Mothershead is an avid half- and occasional full-marathoner, but her main focus is to help girls develop self-esteem, positive body-image and physical conditioning.
Each 12-week session concludes with a practice 5K, followed by entry into a real 5K.
“The girls don’t have to run the 5K,” said Mothershead. “They can walk. They can skip. As long as they are moving forward.”
For more information on the local Girls on the Run, e-mail Mothershead at leanne@gotrlosangeles.org. The Girls on the Run website is www.girlsontherun.org.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
I knew immediately what she meant.
We were seated outside the Foothill Boulevard Starbucks, Mothershead and I. No dogs. No husbands. Just the two of us.
Mothershead is a volunteer regional coordinator for Girls on the Run, a program that helps girls build self-esteem by training to run.
Mothershead is a Toronto native who moved to La Cañada in 2006. Her husband, John, is a La Cañadan and a 1984 graduate of Flintridge Prep.
When she arrived in La Cañada, Mothershead immediately sought out volunteer opportunities. She turned to www.volunteermatch.org, a free online service that matches volunteers with nonprofits and charitable endeavors.
“I am a runner,” Mothershead explained. “I looked for an organization that would match my passion.”
The first match offered was Girls on the Run, a charity that “encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.”
There are two programs offered by Girls on the Run — one for girls in the third through fifth grades, and one for middle-school girls. The sites are staffed by volunteers. One of the local volunteers is a student at La Cañada High. All of the volunteers, including the teens, receive training, background checks and CPR certifications.
As for the girls, there are no try outs. The program is non-competitive. The girls do not have to be athletes. The curriculum gets the girls conditioned through games and fun activities.
Each group of girls selects a volunteer project. Mothershead smiled as she handed me a flier for a May 24 bake sale organized by the Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School group, with all proceeds going to the Pasadena Humane Society.
As for her own athleticism, Mothershead took up running in 2006, the year she moved to La Cañada Flintridge.
“I had quit smoking,” said Mothershead. “One day, I went for a run and said, ‘Whoa! This is easier!' I haven't smoked since.”
The passion grew, and now Mothershead is an avid half- and occasional full-marathoner, but her main focus is to help girls develop self-esteem, positive body-image and physical conditioning.
Each 12-week session concludes with a practice 5K, followed by entry into a real 5K.
“The girls don’t have to run the 5K,” said Mothershead. “They can walk. They can skip. As long as they are moving forward.”
For more information on the local Girls on the Run, e-mail Mothershead at leanne@gotrlosangeles.org. The Girls on the Run website is www.girlsontherun.org.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Around Town: The fundraisers are in bloom
Around Town: The fundraisers are in bloom - La Canada Valley Sun April 21, 2012
Spring is here and the fundraisers are blooming.
In a down economy, we must be creative.
Spring is here and the fundraisers are blooming.
In a down economy, we must be creative.
Last Sunday, we attended the most creative Hillsides Guild “Day at the Races.”
The Hillsides Guild supports the Hillsides center, which began in 1913 as an Episcopal orphanage. Today, Hillsides is a private, nonprofit children's foster care and treatment center, with a focus on counseling and mental health.
Hillsides' “Day at the Races” is the brainchild of La Cañadan Dee Fisher. Dee is a fellow member of the Thursday Club.
Each year, Dee rallies the guild members, assorted husbands and others. I'm not a member of the guild, but we always support Dee's events, which, like their organizer, are a charming amalgam of fundraising, friend-raising and elegance.
This year, Dee partnered with an energetic co-chair named Astrid Fishbein. Their aides de camp, who each made mass purchases of raffle tickets, were Dee's husband, a local viticulturist named Mark Martinez, and Astrid's husband, a man of many talents named Michael Fishbein.
Martinez explained, “I started coming six years ago, when I first met Dee, and now I'm hooked. This is a wonderful cause. The guild is an all-volunteer organization. Their efforts allow the kids to have extra activities, like the annual picnic or a bowling night. These ladies are wonderful.”
The raffle baskets were assembled by La Cañadan Aline Kuhnle, who attended with her husband, Paul.
“This is the most fun we've had all year,” exclaimed Kuhnle.
At Santa Anita Racetrack, the mountains are gorgeous, the food is good and within minutes of arrival, even if you are a teetotaler, you totally mellow out.
Except for mixing up a trifecta with a trifecta box, this year I almost won a lot of money. Plus, there was a lot of chocolate, courtesy of Brettany Harrison, a charming young broker from Coldwell Banker.
Meanwhile, over at Flintridge Prep, the parents are beginning to gear up for the annual Flintridge Prep Parents and Alumni Golf Tournament and Dinner, scheduled for April 30 at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club. Kudos to Randy Dreyfuss for making our town's only golf course available for so many charity events.
Prep now has a gender-neutral parents association. Back in the day we had the Mother's Club that did all the work, and the Father's Club, which had one guy who did all the work and other guys who watched.
The Flintridge Prep Father's Club Blanket Sale was one of the most successful and price-variable development schemes in the history of any local school. The La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation should take note.
By the time this Valley Sun arrives on your doorstep, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy's Disco Divas of the '80s will be arriving home from the 2012 Gala, held on Saturday at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.
The online auction includes a decrepit wheelbarrow aptly named, the Wheelbarrow of Booze. “Bring home this red wheelbarrow and your bar will be stocked for your next party, and much more,” read the description. The Wheelbarrow of Booze was valued at more than $1,000.
Now, that's creative.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
The Hillsides Guild supports the Hillsides center, which began in 1913 as an Episcopal orphanage. Today, Hillsides is a private, nonprofit children's foster care and treatment center, with a focus on counseling and mental health.
Hillsides' “Day at the Races” is the brainchild of La Cañadan Dee Fisher. Dee is a fellow member of the Thursday Club.
Each year, Dee rallies the guild members, assorted husbands and others. I'm not a member of the guild, but we always support Dee's events, which, like their organizer, are a charming amalgam of fundraising, friend-raising and elegance.
This year, Dee partnered with an energetic co-chair named Astrid Fishbein. Their aides de camp, who each made mass purchases of raffle tickets, were Dee's husband, a local viticulturist named Mark Martinez, and Astrid's husband, a man of many talents named Michael Fishbein.
Martinez explained, “I started coming six years ago, when I first met Dee, and now I'm hooked. This is a wonderful cause. The guild is an all-volunteer organization. Their efforts allow the kids to have extra activities, like the annual picnic or a bowling night. These ladies are wonderful.”
The raffle baskets were assembled by La Cañadan Aline Kuhnle, who attended with her husband, Paul.
“This is the most fun we've had all year,” exclaimed Kuhnle.
At Santa Anita Racetrack, the mountains are gorgeous, the food is good and within minutes of arrival, even if you are a teetotaler, you totally mellow out.
Except for mixing up a trifecta with a trifecta box, this year I almost won a lot of money. Plus, there was a lot of chocolate, courtesy of Brettany Harrison, a charming young broker from Coldwell Banker.
Meanwhile, over at Flintridge Prep, the parents are beginning to gear up for the annual Flintridge Prep Parents and Alumni Golf Tournament and Dinner, scheduled for April 30 at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club. Kudos to Randy Dreyfuss for making our town's only golf course available for so many charity events.
Prep now has a gender-neutral parents association. Back in the day we had the Mother's Club that did all the work, and the Father's Club, which had one guy who did all the work and other guys who watched.
The Flintridge Prep Father's Club Blanket Sale was one of the most successful and price-variable development schemes in the history of any local school. The La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation should take note.
By the time this Valley Sun arrives on your doorstep, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy's Disco Divas of the '80s will be arriving home from the 2012 Gala, held on Saturday at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.
The online auction includes a decrepit wheelbarrow aptly named, the Wheelbarrow of Booze. “Bring home this red wheelbarrow and your bar will be stocked for your next party, and much more,” read the description. The Wheelbarrow of Booze was valued at more than $1,000.
Now, that's creative.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Zvenigorodka and Father Patrick Desbois
Last night, I heard Father Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest, speak at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
We began with a short video, followed by remarks and then
the traditional interview by Rabbi Wolpe.
Father Desbois runs Yahad - In Unum, "the leading research
organization investigating the mass executions of 1.5 million Jews and Roma/Gypsy people in Eastern Europe between 1941 and 1944. This is sometimes referred to as "The Holocaust by Bullets," the title of a book written by
Yahad's president, Father Patrick Desbois. While the atrocities of the concentration camps are well-known, this genocide perpetrated in the former
Soviet Union against Jews, Roma and other victims of the Nazis and their allies
is not. Through its investigation, Yahad - In Unum has
discovered hundreds of mass graves of victims murdered in Eastern Europe and
recorded the testimony of more than 1,850 witnesses..."
Rabbi Wolpe asked some tough questions, as well, about his view of the Church, his faith in God and in humanity.
Fr. Desbois said that there is the official history of the Shoah, which claims that everyone
died in the camps and the true history or the "backyard history" (proven by evidence in
the neighborhood) that there are mass graves in every city and town, especially in the Ukraine
He says time is of the essence because he is "chasing death" - the witnesses are now in their late 80s and 90s.
The mass executions were part of the Gernman plan performed by the Germand with the aid
of the townspeople, some willing and some not, long before the camps were ever constructed.
Here's one video
and here's a video from last month at Tufts
As for Zvenigorodka, his group has completed half of the Ukraine. Zvenigorodka will be in the next group. He has native speakers, videographers, forensic special;ists. His teams have Jews and Catholics and Atheists. They are all very dedicated. They plan ins advance with a copy of KGB archives and German records. They have a file on every single
town in the Ukraine.
So we will find out this year or maybe next year what truly happened in Zvenigorodka.
Desbois and his group of 20 or so operate on a shoestring, so if you have $18 or $180, they
can use it. His website is at www.yahadinunum.com
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Kenneth Gage Baum (Part 2)
Most nights, I drive my car up and down Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge, sucked into a dilemma. I am not alone. Miss Audrey Hepburn, our rescue dog, relaxes in the passenger seat.
Sprouts or Trader Joe's? Trader Joe's or Sprouts? Ever since the newest Sprouts grocery opened in La Cañada, I can never decide where to buy cheese.
Most nights, Foothill Boulevard is empty.
“Most likely, everyone is at the movie theater watching ‘The Hunger Games,'” I say to Miss Hepburn. She does not reply.
Long before “The Hunger Games,” another popular fantasy series caught the American imagination. The books about the Land of Oz were written by L. Frank Baum.
Here at the Valley Sun we have uncovered a La Cañada connection to Baum's “Oz” books, published between 1900 and 1920. The books were more popular than “The Hunger Games.” More popular than Harry Potter.
L. Frank Baum, his wife and his mother-in-law were political activists, abolitionists and suffragists. Heroines like Dorothy, Trot and Betsy Bobbin reflected those values. The Oz books resonated with generations of girls.
There were at least 70 sequels written by other authors, including Baum's youngest son, who lived right here in La Cañada. His name was Kenneth Gage Baum.
In 1914, Kenneth Baum was an advertising executive with the Los Angeles Times. Kenneth, along with Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler, was a founding member of the Los Angeles Times Automobile Club, “the first automobile club comprised entirely of newspaper men.” (See “Newspaper Club Formed,” L.A. Times, Nov. 21, 1915).
All of which explains Kenneth Baum's secrecy.
As a newspaper man, a La Cañadan and the son of a celebrity, Kenneth Baum knew the value of lying low. While his other relatives traded on their Oz connections, there was little coverage of Kenneth Baum. Like the wizard behind the curtain, Kenneth Baum stayed out of the news.
By the 1930s, Kenneth started his own advertising business. He moved his family to Balboa Island, but by the 1950s, he was living here, in our town. In March of that year, his mother died at her home in Hollywood. (“Widow of 'Oz' Book Author Passes at 91,” L.A. Times, March 7, 1953). Less than a month later, Kenneth Baum died. He is buried near his parents at Forest Lawn Glendale.
He left behind an unpublished manuscript, titled “The Dinamonster of Oz.”
Kenneth Baum had written the story in 1941. Fifty years later, his own daughter, Ozma Baum, had it published. There are a few copies for sale on Amazon.
According to the Oz Wiki, “the Dinamonster is a giant robot, with cranes for arms and a three-story office building for its head. It was created by the Nome King as his vehicle for one more attempt at the conquest of Oz. The Dinamonster steals the Metachron — a clock powered by captured lightning — from atop the royal palace in the Emerald City. Since the Metachron governs time in Oz, Dorothy Gale, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion set out to retrieve it.”
“Obviously,” I say to Miss Hepburn, “the Dinamonster is a metaphor for Foothill Boulevard, and the Metachron was a portent to the Trader Joe's versus Sprouts conundrum.”
Miss Hepburn agrees.
The Wizard of Oz. Right here in La Cañada Flintridge.
Valley Sun Around Town: There was a wizard among us
The Daily Ozmopolitan
Around Town: There was a wizard among us WGN News
Sprouts or Trader Joe's? Trader Joe's or Sprouts? Ever since the newest Sprouts grocery opened in La Cañada, I can never decide where to buy cheese.
Most nights, Foothill Boulevard is empty.
“Most likely, everyone is at the movie theater watching ‘The Hunger Games,'” I say to Miss Hepburn. She does not reply.
Long before “The Hunger Games,” another popular fantasy series caught the American imagination. The books about the Land of Oz were written by L. Frank Baum.
Here at the Valley Sun we have uncovered a La Cañada connection to Baum's “Oz” books, published between 1900 and 1920. The books were more popular than “The Hunger Games.” More popular than Harry Potter.
L. Frank Baum, his wife and his mother-in-law were political activists, abolitionists and suffragists. Heroines like Dorothy, Trot and Betsy Bobbin reflected those values. The Oz books resonated with generations of girls.
There were at least 70 sequels written by other authors, including Baum's youngest son, who lived right here in La Cañada. His name was Kenneth Gage Baum.
In 1914, Kenneth Baum was an advertising executive with the Los Angeles Times. Kenneth, along with Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler, was a founding member of the Los Angeles Times Automobile Club, “the first automobile club comprised entirely of newspaper men.” (See “Newspaper Club Formed,” L.A. Times, Nov. 21, 1915).
All of which explains Kenneth Baum's secrecy.
As a newspaper man, a La Cañadan and the son of a celebrity, Kenneth Baum knew the value of lying low. While his other relatives traded on their Oz connections, there was little coverage of Kenneth Baum. Like the wizard behind the curtain, Kenneth Baum stayed out of the news.
By the 1930s, Kenneth started his own advertising business. He moved his family to Balboa Island, but by the 1950s, he was living here, in our town. In March of that year, his mother died at her home in Hollywood. (“Widow of 'Oz' Book Author Passes at 91,” L.A. Times, March 7, 1953). Less than a month later, Kenneth Baum died. He is buried near his parents at Forest Lawn Glendale.
He left behind an unpublished manuscript, titled “The Dinamonster of Oz.”
Kenneth Baum had written the story in 1941. Fifty years later, his own daughter, Ozma Baum, had it published. There are a few copies for sale on Amazon.
According to the Oz Wiki, “the Dinamonster is a giant robot, with cranes for arms and a three-story office building for its head. It was created by the Nome King as his vehicle for one more attempt at the conquest of Oz. The Dinamonster steals the Metachron — a clock powered by captured lightning — from atop the royal palace in the Emerald City. Since the Metachron governs time in Oz, Dorothy Gale, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion set out to retrieve it.”
“Obviously,” I say to Miss Hepburn, “the Dinamonster is a metaphor for Foothill Boulevard, and the Metachron was a portent to the Trader Joe's versus Sprouts conundrum.”
Miss Hepburn agrees.
The Wizard of Oz. Right here in La Cañada Flintridge.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Nina Simone & Person of Interest
How can I not be obsessed with Person of Interest?
It has everything - thin-lipped Jim Caviezel playing a rogue ex-CIA agent, Michael Emerson (from Lost) as the wealthy computer geek, a computer that collects all data. Finch, played by Emerson, opens each episode with, “You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn't act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number's up...we'll find you.”
Just as I am obsessed with Person of Interest, the writers are obsessed with Nina. Episode 7 (“Witness”) closes with a shot of Charlie the schoolteacher, now unmasked as the mobster, Elias, to the track of Sinnerman, possibly the greatest track in the history of music.
This week, Episode 19 (“Flesh and Blood”) closes with “Ne me quitte pas.” They say that Jacques Brel wrote the song for his ex-lover, who left him because he would not acknowledge that he was the father of her unborn child. They say she left him and aborted the fetus. The lyrics are translated here by Zafiris There’s no one like Nina Simone.
It has everything - thin-lipped Jim Caviezel playing a rogue ex-CIA agent, Michael Emerson (from Lost) as the wealthy computer geek, a computer that collects all data. Finch, played by Emerson, opens each episode with, “You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn't act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number's up...we'll find you.”
Just as I am obsessed with Person of Interest, the writers are obsessed with Nina. Episode 7 (“Witness”) closes with a shot of Charlie the schoolteacher, now unmasked as the mobster, Elias, to the track of Sinnerman, possibly the greatest track in the history of music.
This week, Episode 19 (“Flesh and Blood”) closes with “Ne me quitte pas.” They say that Jacques Brel wrote the song for his ex-lover, who left him because he would not acknowledge that he was the father of her unborn child. They say she left him and aborted the fetus. The lyrics are translated here by Zafiris There’s no one like Nina Simone.
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