Local News

by Marvin Heiferman, Diane Keaton, Carole Kismaric (Editor)

"These 92 duotones... Hearken back to the days of whiskey-breathed news hacks and cigar-chamoing shutterbugs leering out from behind weathered Speed Graphics with no. 2 press bulbs and lightsaber flashes.... Good fun at a good price."--Library Journal

Genres: Photography, Art

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 1999

Reviews

[Stephanie McGarrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When tabloid pictures were gorgeous. Sensational photography from a sensationalist LA Hearst paper. Diane Keaton has put together a nice collection from the local news section featuring everything from found dogs to crime reenactments.

[Leonard Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A swell book of alarming, charming and bizarre photos from true crime and exploitation newspaper tabloids in 1940s and 1950s L.A. And it's by Diane Keaton! Yes, that Diane Keaton! Who knew?

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most intriguing part of this photo collection is seeing how newspapers "doctored up" photos in the 40's and 50's. The sense of drama was unreal.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at just how compelling the photographs in this book of old Los Angeles tabloid prints actually were. While they don't have the rich composition that you would see in something by Weegee, the images are fascinating in a similar way as a testament to their time, the spirit of journalism during the era, and the characters themselves. Each photo suggests a tantalizing, noir-esque story yet to be told. Many of the images are marked up and altered with editors' pencil, which was distracting in some of the photos, but in others it sort of underscored the surreal mood of the shots.

[Kipp Poe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much info with pictures but interesting stuff, seeing life unfold from a candid view point. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I guess that makes up for the brief captions. I love to look at old photos and make my own stories out of them.