Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 45

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(CALIFORNIA.) Los Angeles Evening Herald Express Best News Photos of 1947 [and 1948]. [34], [26] photographs, each about 11 x 14 inches, laid down on album leaves with printed captions on facing pages. Oblong folio, black post binders with gilt titles on front boards, minor wear; 1947 album apparently missing its title leaf and at least one caption, 1948 album missing at least two photographs, 5 photos disbound with wear to mounts, a few photos slightly faded. Los Angeles, 1947-1948
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Additional Details

These albums compile the best work from the photographers of the Los Angeles Herald-Express, a Hearst newspaper. They capture the spirit of a rapidly expanding city that was rising to the center of American culture. Hollywood is represented, with Katherine Hepburn, Heddy Lamarr and other film figures making appearances. UCLA athletes and the Palomar telescope (illustrated) also represent the optimistic post-war spirit.

The city's sleazy side is also captured, evoking the golden age of film noir. A Doberman pinscher protects the body of a private detective who has died at the wheel of his car; a man is arrested for kissing a woman's corpse; suspects line up for the investigation of the "Red Lipstick" murder; another suspect is cleared in the "Black Dahlia" murder case. Murderer Robert Hansen is brought to the desert to view the headless corpses of two victims. A name tag is attached to the toe of deceased mob leader Bugsy Siegel (illustrated). Other images show wildfires, impoverished Oklahoma migrants, gruesome traffic accidents, and the Midnight Mission on Skid Row.

The printed caption slips and gilt-titled boards suggest that these compilations were produced in multiples, but we find no other examples in OCLC, at auction, or even mentioned elsewhere.

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