Christmas Shoppers Menaced!

December 20, 1947
Hollywood

Shoppers in the S.H. Kress Co. store at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard this evening were terrorized when a gun-wielding robber forced floorman John W. Cossett to empty a register and hand over $110 before fleeing the scene.

The disappointing take seems about what you’d expect when a gunman hits a dime store.

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

One thought on “Christmas Shoppers Menaced!”

  1. And at the age of 55, after dozens of novels and countless short stories, he died. Not that you’ve heard of him or any of his books—unless you collect potboiler novels of the 1930s.

    The list of his works is impressive in bulk if nothing else, with titles that tell the entire plot in two or three words: “Dancing Feet,â€Â “In Love With a T-Man,â€Â “Love or Money,â€Â “Modern Marriageâ€Â and my favorite: “Short Skirts: A Story of Modern Youth.â€Â

    Robert F. Burkhardt was born in Altoona, Iowa, and after a long apprenticeship as a reporter at a series of newspapers, he began handling publicity in the Hollywood studios: Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. He and his wife, Eve, combined their names to form the pen name Rob Eden, adopting another pseudonym, Adam Bliss, for a series of mysteries.

    Today, not a single one of his volumes is in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. A Google search turns up very little on him or his widow. However, a 1935 article in The Times lists many celebrity authors and their pseudonyms:

    Guy Bolton—writing as H.B. Trevelyan (“The Dark Angelâ€Â)
    Harry Chandlee and Douglas Churchill—writing as Lee Hill (“Platinum Blondeâ€Â)
    Lou Edelman—writing as George Schierhaus (“G-Menâ€Â)
    Douglas Fairbanks—writing as Elton Thomas (“Thief of Baghdadâ€Â)
    W.C. Fields—writing as Charles Bogle (according to imdb.com he also used Mahatma Kane Jeeves).
    Phil Goldstone—writing as Phil Stone
    D.W. Griffith—writing as Lady Smythe-Cavendish, Lord James Byington
    M.H. Hoffman—writing as E. Morton Hough (“Champagne for Breakfastâ€Â)
    Sol Lesser—writing as Don Swift (“Mine With the Iron Doorâ€Â)
    David O. Selznick—writing as Oliver Jeffries (“Recklessâ€Â)
    John Stahl—writing as Louise Reels
    Daryl Zanuck—writing as Melville Crosman

    The works of Rob Eden:
    Always in Her Heart
    Blond Trouble
    Dancing Feet
    Fickle
    The Girl With Red Hair
    Golden Goddess
    Heartbreak Girl
    Her Dream Prince
    Her Fondest Hope
    In Love With a T-Man
    Jennifer Hale
    Kathie the First
    Loot
    Love Blind
    Love Came Late
    Love Comes Flying
    Love or Money
    Love Wings
    The Lovely Liar
    Lucky Lady
    Men at Her Feet
    Modern Marriage
    Moon Over the Water
    The Mountain Lodge
    A New Friend
    Pay Check
    Second Choice
    Short Skirts: A Story of Modern Youth
    Step-Child
    This Man Is Yours
    Trapped By Love
    $20 a Week

    The works of Adam Bliss:

    The Camden Ruby Murders
    Four Times a Widower
    Murder Upstairs

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

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