Thursday, December 09, 2010

Vintage Headlines: Ask Dora


Let's turn our time travel dial back seventy-one years for today's Vintage Headline.  On this date in 1939, the Walt Disney Studios, located at 2719 Hyperion Avenue, made the front page of the Los Angeles Times, thanks to the antics of a gentleman named J. Ridford Worth.  This is his very short and distinctly enigmatic story:

Eluding a deputy Sheriff who had questioned him concerning his possession of a gun, J. Ridford Worth, 39, of 818 N. Angelino Ave., Burbank, yesterday shot himself in the chest in the foyer of Walt Disney Studios, according to police.

At Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, where he refused to make a statement, Worth was reported as not in critical condition.

Deputy Sherriff G. H. Weinner said he questioned Worth at the north end of Silver Lake, where the latter was examining a revolver.  Worth jumped into an automobile and sped to the studios at 2719 Hyperion Ave., where his assertedly estranged wife Dora is employed as a secretary.

There, according to Detectives C. M. Pitts and W. L. Chase, who investigated, he shot himself.  Asked why he had done it, he assertedly declared, "Ask Dora."

Worth, according to police, is an unemployed salesman.  Mrs. Worth resides at 508 S. Wilton Place, officers said.

2 comments:

A said...

Yikes! I never heard of that one.

Johnny Jackhammer said...

Even more notable is Dora's address. It wasn't all that long ago when it was a standard item in a news story. This was replaced with "in the block of" and finally with "area man." It's probably a good thing that it's not a common practice any longer, but it certainly speaks to a less cynical time.

(and Happy Holidays, Jeff & readers! Glad to see the posts cranking up again . . . especially the four-color fun!)