Lost and Found : Stolen Trunk Is Found, but Celebrity Photos Are Missing

The photos of Mickey Rooney are missing. So are the ones of Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra.

But, by a stroke of luck, about half of the 1,000 pictures stolen from Melody Doff--whose grandfather owned the famous Sunset Strip nightclub the Mocambo--have been returned unscathed inside her red trunk.

The trunk was recovered Sunday after a series of incidents that began in an alley behind a 3rd Street antique store. Michael St. John, a friend of the store owner, was approached by a man on a bicycle, who asked if St. John was interested in buying an old tea set and a lamp made from an ice bucket.

At first, St. John declined. Then he remembered reading about the items in a newspaper story detailing the theft from Doff. He offered the man $20 for the goods and asked if he had anything to put them in. The man pulled the trunk out of a makeshift trailer attached to his bike and told St. John he could have it for free.

St. John then contacted Doff to let her know that he had the stolen objects. “I know how it feels to be in a position of loss,” said St. John, who recently lost all his belongings after someone took the rental truck he was using to move out of his apartment. “I was hopeful we could put it all together.”

On Tuesday, Doff cracked open the trunk on the living room floor of her Los Angeles apartment to see what was left inside. She was disappointed to find that dozens of old black-and-white pictures depicting her family’s long history in Hollywood were missing, but relieved that about 500 other snapshots of friends and family were still inside.

“Yesterday, I had nothing,” said Doff, thumbing through a stack of photos. “Today I have a lot back, and more faith in people.”

St. John said he is working with detectives to help identify the man on the bicycle. He also offered to help Doff canvass antique stores on La Brea and Melrose avenues to find the stolen pictures.

Among the material still missing are photos of Doff’s grandfather, Charles Morrison, at the Mocambo with Sinatra, Davis and Lena Horne. The club, once one of the hottest hangouts on the Sunset Strip, was closed in 1957. Also still missing are photos of Doff’s mother, Marilyn Morrison, with her first husband, bobby-soxer heartthrob Johnnie Ray, and pictures of Doff’s movie producer father with Rooney.

The items were taken late last Wednesday when someone cut the padlock of the detached garage behind Doff’s apartment, just south of Beverly Hills off Pico Boulevard.

Also taken from the trunk were pictures that Doff, 32, collected while working as a publicist for the television shows “Silver Spoons,” “Who’s the Boss?” and “Facts of Life.” Among the photos of her with the cast members was a “Diff’rent Strokes” script, autographed by Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord when he appeared on the show.

Gaylord, who heard about the robbery from his aunt, stopped by Doff’s apartment Tuesday to give her an autographed copy of a book on the greatest moments in Olympic history.

“You hear so often about how bad people are,” he said. “You want to make a difference and show there are people in this city that care.”

Doff also received a call from a man offering to give her some of his old family photos of the Mocambo.

“The good news is catching up to the bad,” Doff said. “If our family history was stolen, it’s been replaced with a new history.”