Created by June Morrall
(Photo: at left, Arthur Samish in a satiric pose as a ventriloquist.) Beginning his colorful career as a young history clerk in the State Assembly at Sacramento, the ambitious, politically saavy Arthur Samish set himself up as a “public relations counsel” for special interests–at a hotel across the street from the capitol dome. “I can …
“One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest” Author bought a 1939 International Harvester school bus, already equipped with bunk beds, benches and a refrigerator. It was christened with a new destination sign that read, “FURTHER.” At the wheel of the bus was Neal Cassady, the real-life hero of Jack Kerouac’s beat generation novel “On The Road.” …
Embraced by literary critics, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” was viewed as a microcosm of the wider world–where power is often abused–and the individual is suppressed for the sake of conformity. “Cukoo’s Nest” soon became a Broadway play and later an Academy Award-winning film starring Jack Nicholson. Although Kesey’s second book, “Sometimes A Great …
A creek running through the James Denniston property in Princeton–where the family reputedly resided in an adobe–was named Denniston Creek after its owner. Denniston operated Old Landing, the only wharf on the Coastside (where there were no natural harbors); little steamers stopped there to load produce in the 1850s. Denniston was politically powerful. During a …
Continue reading “Miramar Beach’s Amesport & Judge Josiah P. Ames: Part III”
Born in England–but reared in New York City—Josiah P. Ames was 20 when he joined Col. Jonathan Stevenson’s special regiment that sailed around Cape Horn to California in 1847. The colonel’s instructions were to take part in the American occupation and to make the inhabitants “feel that we come as deliverers.” With the completion of …
Continue reading “Miramar Beach’s Amesport & Judge Josiah P. Ames: Part II”
(Photo: Peninsula Studios, San Mateo County History Museum). But it was rough going for the indie Peninsula Studios. What a disappointment it must have been when “Let Women Alone” opened at San Francisco’s Cameo Theater in 1925 and the silent received the briefest mention in the local newspaper: “plenty of fun and a considerable portion …
Continue reading ““Let Women Alone: Lost Silent Filmed on Coastside, Part III”
(Photo: Peninsula Studios, San Mateo County History Museum, Redwood City) In January 1925 the Half Moon Bay Review reported that Peninsula Studios had released “Let Women Alone.” The silent motion picture was adapted from “On The Shelf,” a short story by Viola Brothers Shore that appeared in the “Saturday Evening Post.” In the silent version, …
Continue reading ““Let Women Alone: Lost Silent Filmed on Coastside, Part II”
Inez Burns soon learned that she had been framed double-crossed by Walter and Gloria Shannon–the people Inez had given shelter to in her Fillmore Street flat. Testifying before the new grand jury, the Shannons were to be the “star” witnesses against Mrs. Burns. Inez’s charges that the Shannons wanted to “shake her down” for $35,000 …
Continue reading “The Inez Burns Story, Part XVIIII: Conclusion!”
While Inez worked long hours in the hospital-like environment upstairs, she was unaware that Gloria Shannon was compiling material for a book about Burns’ abortion business. Inez may have known that on the street outside the Fillmore Street flat, state medical investigators followed women leaving the clinic, attempting to persuade them to testify in court …
But the political hierarchy she had relied on for three decades was changing. Still, the saavy abortionist believed she could survive even in the new environment. Inez Burns recalled that in the past when she had faced trouble, she found many important people who could be “bought.” Seven years earlier, police arrested Inez for performing …