Only Yesterday Twenty years ago this week,...

Only Yesterday Twenty years ago this week, “The Agony and the Ecstasy” was playing at the Carthay Circle Theater . . . “Bonanza” topped the Nielsen ratings, followed by an Andy Griffith special, “Gomer Pyle, USMC,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Get Smart,” “Bewitched” and “The Red Skelton Show.”. . . Swanson TV dinners cost 48 cents each . . . The Swingle Singers were performing at Royce Hall . . . Helms Bakery was offering $100 guarantees for bakery truck salesmen along “established routes,” touting the weekly average as $130 . . . Ten days in Hawaii ran as low as $245, including air fare. Oct. 27, 1911 David Horsely arrived in town from Bayonne, N.J., determined to make movies on the West Coast like they did back East. Needing a place to begin work, he quickly leased the Blondeau Tavern, a small roadhouse at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, for $30 a month. It was Hollywood’s first studio. The five-room bungalow served as production offices, and the barn stabled horses for cowboy movies. Horsely’s cameras arrived the following Monday, and he set his schedule of making three features a week: a Western, an “Eastern” and a comedy. Oct. 29, 1936 Crossroads of the World opened.

The center building of this charming shopping area may look like a ship about to sail onto Sunset Boulevard, but it’s supposed to look as though it’s on a world cruise, passing small shops representing a variety of architectural styles--Spanish Colonial, Tudor, French Provincial. The designer of this fantasy, Robert V. Derrah, also created another Moderne classic, the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant. Both buildings have been designated cultural landmarks by the Cultural Heritage Board. Oct. 27, 1965 “NEW YORK -- The National Broadcasting Co. and representatives of Johnny Carson, star of its ‘Tonight Show,’ are trying to resolve Carson’s desire to quit the show--like Jack Paar before him--and go into a prime-time evening show of his own.

“An NBC spokesman said that Carson’s contract runs to April, 1967, and that Carson undoubtedly would continue on the late-evening program through next summer.

“Carson, the network man said, is tired of the nightly grind. But the spokesman added that perhaps arrangements would be made to . . . keep him happy.”

Celebrations Today is Mother-in-Law Day . . . Jonas Salk was born on Oct. 28, 1914 . . . Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi was born on Oct. 29, 1911 . . . Oct. 31, Halloween, is National Magic Day, in commemoration of the death of magician Harry Houdini . . . Wednesday is the 97th anniversary of the patenting of the ballpoint pen . . . “War of the Worlds” was first broadcast on Oct. 30, 1938 . . . Saturday is Sadie Hawkins Day . . . The Spruce Goose made its first and only flight on Nov. 2, 1947. Events The Brawley Cattle Call can be heard Friday, Saturday and next Sunday; (619) 344-3160 . . . Ye Olde English Faire begins Saturday in San Marcos; (619) 744-5015.