Lana Turner

Imagine.  It's the 1940s and you've saved your money so  you can visit Hollywood.  You go to the restaurants you've read about in the fan magazines.  You hang out at the studio gates, and take the tour bus to the home's of the stars.  And in the end, the only movie stars you see are the ones on the postcards sold at the corner news stand.  Remember, it's Hollywood, where people make up stories for a living.  The folks back home can be told anything, and who's the wiser.

Oh Lana Turner, what a life she lead.  Born in 1921 in Wallace, Idaho, as Julia Jean Turner, she moved with her family to sunny southern California when still a child.  No, she wasn't discovered at Schwab's Drug Store, but at a small cafe near Hollywood High School.  The rewards of skipping class.  She made a lot of movies in her career, and by any standard  was a successful actress.  A lot of those films were good movies and a couple have withstood the test of time.  Most notably, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Imitation of Life (1959).  Unlike a lot of glamour girls, Turner could act, and while the parts disappeared as she aged, she never officially retired.  Eventually she would make her way to television and make a notable turn on the night time soap, Falcon Crest.  Her last movie was Thwarted, a low budget film made in Florida.  It was made in 1991, just a few years before her death in 1995.

Lana Turner also had an adventurous private life, going through seven husbands, and more than a few lovers.   To put it mildly, she didn't always make the best choices.  There were husbands that hadn't gotten around to divorcing previous wives.  Physically abusive husbands, including one, actor Lex Barker, who was alleged to have  raped Lana's teen aged daughter, Cheryl Crane.  And then there was boyfriend, Johnny Stomponato.  Stomponato was a gangster and member of the Mickey Cohen crime family.  Lana and Johnny took up  in 1957.  Lana tried to break things off, but Johnny Stomponato wasn't the type of man to leave when asked.  In 1957, Lana took a part in a movie being made in England, Another Time, Another Place, opposite a young Sean Connery.  Johnny followed her to England and  confronted Connery with a gun.  Sean Connery decked Stomponato with one punch, disarmed him, and turned him over to the police.  When Lana Turner returned to Hollywood, Johnny Stomponato was waiting for her.  And then he was dead, stabbed to death in Lana Turner's house.  The official story is that Stomponato was beating her and that Lana's daughter, Cheryl, stabbed Stomponato, defending her mother's life.  But of course, it's a Hollywood story, so there are rumors of murky cover-ups.  The most popular is that Lana and Johnny had reconciled, that things had gotten rough, and that Lana did the stabbing, and that after consultation with studio lawyers and publicity men, it was decided that Cheryl should take the blame to save her mother's career.  In 1958, the  DA decided that Cheryl Crane's actions were justified and no charges were filed.

Earl Darling, Number 2796

Just think. Before modern computers, digital finger print analysis, and the whole lot of modern crime fighting tools, this is how we looked for criminals. A postcard sized mugshot would be sent to local police departments on the off chance that someone would recognize Darling, Earl, escapee from the state pen. I'll bet this guy got picked up at least once on a vagrancy charge and was released before anyone at the local jail had seen this card.

David Cooper, Number 4483

Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but I hope that David Cooper got away. With luck, he found a nice, secure place to hole up, a way to make an honest buck, and some friends to fill his life.

Ann Anderson, Bank Robber

Wire photos were a method used by news wire services to electronically transmit still images by either telegraph or telephone wires. The caption reads, "(RO2) Reno, Nev., Jan. 2--BOOKED ON BANK ROBBERY CHARGES Mrs. Ann Anderson, 28, of Petaluma, Calif., is one of three persons booked in the Reno city jail on bank robbery charges. Mrs. Anderson and her husband and 33-year-old Shirley Maniscalco of San Fransisco are being held in connection with a bank robbery at Cotati, Calif., last Friday. Their arrest followed a fight at a Reno motel last night in which a fourth member of the group, Ted Barker was shot and killed. (APWirephoto) (RS1420str) 1955" Stamped on the back, "MRS DONALD MRS ANN ANDERSON RECEIVED EXAMINER REFERENCE LIBRARY JAN 3 1955" This has been a rather frustrating post. I was able to find a listing for a California prison inmate named Ann Anderson, aged 84, and had this lady been sentenced to life, that would be the right age. And then the wall, access to prison, court, and arrest records cost money.

Mug Shot

This is back from the days when I worked at a photo lab. I had a copy negative made of this image and then made a modern black & white print.

The Police

I bought this picture from a dealer in Oakland, California, so if the image isn't of the Oakland, PD, it's probably from the bay area. The woman are smiling and not cuffed, so they aren't the criminals.

Crime Scene Photos

On the back of the photo of the two men, "Henry Weaver and Leon Olliphant looking over the blood stained stair case of Dr. Foss."

Peeping Tom

Written on the back of the print, "A) SEPT 62 SD PEEPING TOM." I purchased this photographer here, in Los Angeles, so the SD very likely stands for San Diego, and this is probably a police photo. If this man was around 25 when this image was taken, then he's probably in his early 70's and maybe still alive.