Papers’ roads merge

Mark R. Madler

In 1920, Glendale had two local papers -- the Evening News and the

Daily Press. But by the end of that decade, the two had merged to

become the Glendale News-Press.

Until then, the two papers covered the city in their own style.

The Glendale Daily Press, a morning paper, started out as an

eight-page broadsheet that by mid-decade was printed in two sections.

The stories and columns were spread over eight columns, with separate

editorial, sports and society pages.

The column “Purely Personal” kept residents abreast of who had

traveled where or who was in the hospital. A column by the editor --

Thomas D. Watson in 1925; and Alfred F. Wesson two years later -- ran

along the left column on the front page and kept readers abreast of

editors’ opinions on local issues.

A big national or state story would get the largest headline at

the top of the front page, while small local stories filled in the

remainder.

“Police rebel at doing zoo duty” is indicative of the type of

local story that ran: short and to the point. It told of how Glendale

police had tired of taking care of “the collie pup, Airdale dog,

Angorra cat and buckskin horse” in the Police Department pound.

The Evening News came in two sections as well, with state and

national news in the front section and local news in the back

section.

Stories continued to lack bylines, and advertising remained on the

front page. Inside there were sports pages, stock tables and radio

listings.

Advertising reflected movie theaters’ rising popularity, as the

Lincoln Theatre, Alexander Theatre and Glendale Theatre bought ads.

Other businesses vying for consumer dollars were C + S Cafeteria,

Woodson’s Photo Craft Store, and the Piggly Wiggly supermarkets, with

six locations in the city.

An incident mid-decade illustrated just how steep the

publications’ competition was.

In May 1923, the Evening News filed a lawsuit against the Daily

Press seeking $10,000 for having planted one of its employees, Jennie

Swenson, at the News in order to steal subscriber lists. A news

account from the time also related how Daily Press editor Thomas

Watson returned some of the stolen documents under the cover of

darkness to the News officer.

The lawsuit was later settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

Then, on Feb. 15, 1928, an announcement in the Evening News told

of its purchase of the Daily Press and subsequent merger the

following day.

An unsigned front-page editorial explained the merger was due to

the cost of putting out a newspaper.

“In every respect we shall aim to make the News-Press a more

complete and comprehensive newspaper than Glendale had before -- a

great and efficient medium for community service,” the editorial

said.

After the merger, Col. Ira C. Copley became the paper’s majority

stockholder.

The first issue the following day declared the News-Press as the

“Leading newspaper in the San Fernando Valley.”

Wire copy provided the news on national and international events,

and inside the paper were a sports page, classifieds, a comics page

and a separate automobile section.

The ads reflected the prosperity of the times, with full pages for

food, clothing and appliance stores; builders; and banks and savings

and loans.