Hollywood - The Glen Park Connection ... Since the Earliest Days of Tinseltown
This series of articles by Evelyn Rose was originally published in the (Hi)Stories of Our Neighborhoods column in the postings at the Glen Park News in November 2021. They are republished here with permission.
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Glen Park and the neighboring Fairmount district are associated with significant histories, from the route of the Old Spanish Road, to the first dynamite factory in America personally licensed by inventor Alfred Nobel, to the first human to soar at high altitude in a fixed-wing craft, to Glen Park suffragists co-leading the first suffrage march in America in 1908, and to mid-century housewives whose activism halted construction of a freeway through Glen Park and Glen Canyon Park. One not yet discussed is the Glen Park connection to the glamor and glitz of Hollywood that began during the earliest days of Tinseltown.
Click on the topics below to learn more. You can also find navigation between the 5 articles in the series at the end of each article.
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Part 1 – Caroline Evers and the Glen Park Glenodeon
Mrs. Caroline Evers, former president of the Glen Park Outdoor Art League and Glen Park suffragist, becomes a successful proprietor of the neighborhood nickelodeon in a profession dominated by men.
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Part 2 – Bob Lippert, King of the B’s
How a teenager who ran a theater in Glen Park before the Depression became a B-movie mogul and pioneer of drive-in theaters.
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Part 3 – Aeronaut Dan Maloney on the Big Screen
Brought to is life the daredevil achievement of Dan Maloney, an early 20th Century Fairmount resident who began his career at Glen Park and the Mission Zoo then later became the test pilot for aviation pioneer John J. Montgomery, as portrayed in a movie about Montgomery by director William A. Wellman.
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Part 4 – Gregg Palmer, Glen Park Hollywood Cowboy
Born and raised on Nordhoff Street on Martha Hill in Glen Park, Palmer grew up to become a frequent player in television westerns and a member of John Wayne's stock company.
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Part 5 – Irene Ryan of Arlington St., a 1960s TV Icon
The amazing life history of Jessie Irene Noblitt, better known as Irene Ryan, and how her legacy continues to live on.
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