USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume II > Part 51
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For thirty years Mr. Scarborough has had an office and business in Los Angeles primarily for the purpose of loaning individuals money on first mortgage securities. He has thousands of clients, and his busi- ness is represented in every state of the Union. While president of the two banks in Monrovia for several years, he maintained his office in Los Angeles. Mr. Scarborough has always felt grateful for the high estimate in which he is held by the banks and financial institutions of Los Angeles, expressive of their appreciation of his honesty, ability and integrity.
The notoriety of public office has been distasteful to him, though he consented to serve as police commissioner of Los Angeles in 1901-02, and for several years was mayor of Monrovia. He is a charter member of the Temple Baptist Church of Los Angeles.
SAMUEL W. ODELL, a lawyer of thirty years' experience, who came to Southern California from Moline, Illinois, has enjoyed a high place in the Los Angeles bar, and is also known to a growing circle of appreciative readers as author of several books of fiction.
Mr. Odell was born at Hampton, Illinois, November 4, 1864, a son of John P. and Sarah (Neilson) Odell. In 1870 the family moved to Scott County, Iowa, where he first attended public school. At the age of thirteen the Odells accomplished another stage in the western move- ment when they went to Cloud County, Kansas, and in that pioneer locality Samuel W. Odell attended school for another year. From Kan- sas the family went back to Port Byron, Illinois, where his early educa- tion was finished in the public schools and the Port Byron Academy. He graduated from the Academy in 1885, and then entered Illinois Wes- leyan University at Bloomington, from which he received his law degree in 1887. Mr. Odell upon being admitted to the bar practiced law at Moline, and was one of the leading attorneys of that city until 1904. He served one term as city attorney.
Mr. Odell has been a resident of Southern California since 1904. He was a member of the law firm of Tanner, Taft & Odell until 1912, when Mr. Taft was elected to the Superior Court Bench. Since then the firm has been Tanner, Odell & Taft, Harris W. Taft, son of Judge Taft, being junior partner. This is one of the legal firms of highest standing in the
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state. Mr. Odell lived at Santa Monica the first five years he was in the state and is now a resident of Pasadena.
He is a Mason, a member of the New Century Club of Pasadena, the Sierra Club and the City Club of Los Angeles. His published writings and the output of his literary leisure include "Sampson," "Delilah," "Un- equal Four," "Princess of Athura." Mr. Odell is a republican and a member of the Congregational church.
At Port Byron, Illinois, he married, December 20, 1888, Clara Mor- gan. They have two sons, both of whom were soldiers in the recent war : Morgan S., born in 1894, graduated from Occidental College and in 1917 enlisted in Section 565 of the Ambulance Corps, and with the rank of sergeant was on duty along the fighting front in Italy. Donald, born in 1896, left his studies in Occidental College in 1918 to enlist in the Avia- tion Department, and received his commission as Second Lieutenant Aviation Pursuit Pilot at Camp Kelly. He received his honorable dis- charge April 7, 1919, and resumed his studies at Occidental College, from which he graduated in June, 1919.
HARRINGTON BROWN, postmaster of Los Angeles, has been a res- ident of Southern California forty years, and is a worthy descendant of a proud old family going back into the early colonial period and includ- ing a long line of distinguished men and women.
Mr. Brown is a lawyer by training, but has never practiced to any extent, and during his residence at Los Angeles has been prominently associated with the affairs of the city and has taken an especially active part in the development and upbuilding of its material interests. He has always been heavily interested in real estate, and since the opening of the oil industry has been closely identified with that business. His appointment to the position of postmaster was in direct accord with many distinguished services that he had rendered to the city and the democratic party in particular, and is a merited recognition of his ability as a business man.
Mr. Brown was born in the city of Washington, D. C., January 1, 1856, son of Dr. William VanHorn Brown, who also spent the greater part of his life in Washington. The grandfather was the Rev. Obadiah Bruen Brown, a native of Newark, New Jersey, and a man of great ability and power both in the church and in philanthropy and public affairs. He established the first Baptist Church in Washington, giving his services free of charge. He also contributed large sums of money to the support of charitable and benevolent work carried on by his denomination. He was an eloquent and even a brilliant speaker, and was regarded as one of the finest entertainers in the most brilliant circles in Washington at that time. One of his intimate friends was Andrew Jackson, at whose hands he received the appointment of postmaster general during the Jackson administration. It was Rev. Obadiah Bruen Brown as postmaster general who inaugurated the Star mail route sys- tem, as a result of which the Southern states and many Western terri- tories had their first regular mail service. Mrs. Obadiah B. Brown was a prominent figure in the social life of Washington, and a devoted church worker. She founded the Protestant Orphans' Home in Wash- ington, and when death called her from her labors, her daughter and granddaughter-in-law succeeded *and continued the effectiveness of this great institution.
Dr. William VanHorn Brown, father of the Los Angeles post- master, spent nearly all his life in Washington. At one time he was
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chief clerk of the Land Department, and at another time was connected with the patent office. He was independent in politics and his only im- portant absence from the capital city was the short time he spent when a young man in Missouri. He married Adelaide Harrington, a native of Troy, New York. They were the parents of seven children, two of whom are still living. One son was a pioneer of Los Angeles, and for many years one of the most prominent men of the city. At the time of his death in 1892 every business house closed its doors until after the funeral. He was a partner in the law firm of Hutton & Smart, and had served two terms as district attorney for Los Angeles county.
Mr. Harrington Brown received his education in Emmerson Insti- tute and later at Princeton College, and after graduating entered the law department of Columbian College, now George Washington Univer- sity, at Washington City. He first came to Los Angeles in 1878, and this city has since been his home. On Vermont avenue he bought a tract of a hundred thirty acres extending to Normandie avenue and Santa Barbara street and on into the country. This he subdivided and improved, placing it on the market in residence lots. With his own hands he set out the trees which make that section of the city a beauty spot today and otherwise added greatly to the development of that section. His present home place is located at the corner of Vermont avenue and Santa Barbara street and marks the site of his original home in the city.
On December 13, 1883, Mr. Brown married Miss Minnie Glassell, daughter of Andrew Glassell Sr., concerning whom extended mention is made on other pages of this publication. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brown traveled for a year through the Eastern states and Canada before returning to Los Angeles and establishing their home. They became the parents of the following children: Adelaide J., Lucie T., Eleanor G. (deceased), Harrington Jr. and A. Glassell. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brown are widely known throughout the city and county and are highly esteemed by their friends and acquaintances. Mr. Brown is a member of the Baptist Church, while his wife and children are com- municants of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Brown is active in fraternal affairs and many of the most exclusive clubs, including the University, Jefferson, Princeton, College Men's and Los Angeles Country Clubs. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, Municipal League, City Club and the Gamut Club.
IMMACULATE HEART COLLEGE. As an institution of preparatory and higher education for women, Inimmaculate Heart College at Hollywood has as fully met the expectations of its founders as any similar institution in Southern California. It was founded in 1906 by the Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, and since that time a group of beautiful buildings in the Spanish Mission style of architecture has adorned a spot in the mesa land, six miles northwest of the business center of Los Angeles. Both the build- ings and their environment harmonize wonderfully with the noble plans and purposes that have been carried out in the management and adminis- tration of the school.
The stated object of the college is "the training and cultivating of the entire personality of young girls, not merely by means of text book culture, but by the inculcating of high ideals and the development of power through inspiring and noble environment and by lines of culture far removed from any prescribed books listed in school curricula."
L. G. Brhymer.
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The College of the Immaculate Heart and its High School Depart- ment are accredited to the University of California, and the various de- partments of the institution are visited annually by the University Board of Examiners. The college confers the degree Bachelor of Arts and offers courses in Religion, English, Latin, History, Political Science, Philosophy, French, Psychology, Mathematics and Education, leading to that degree, 124 units of collegiate work being required for graduation.
The College is a Catholic institution, but receives students of all de- nominations. Lectures on the great Christian principles of social and religious life are given weekly, and great emphasis is placed on the forma- tion of those habits of integrity which are essential to a well-formed Christian character. Every safeguard has been thrown around the pupils entrusted to the school, and it is a place to which girls may be sent with the assurance that every opportunity for cultured home and social life will be afforded.
RALPH J. SCOTT is fire chief of Los Angeles, and by reason of that position one of the most responsible and important figures in the mu- nicipal government. He is one of the youngest men to hold such a posi- tion in the fire departments of any large American cities, and has won his way to the top by steady promotion and efficiency.
Mr. Scott was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 1, 1884, a son of James S. and Mary C. Scott. In 1887 his parents moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he grew up, graduating from the Tacoma High School at the age of seventeen. Soon afterward he went to Alaska, and had many experiences as a placer miner in the Skagway and Porcu- pine districts for a year and a half. On returning to Tacoma he was employed in the construction department of the Northern Pacific Railroad until 1904.
Mr. Scott then came to Los Angeles and for one year was in the bag- gage department of the Los Angeles Transfer Company. He received his first appointment to the fire department July 22, 1905, and on Au- gust 1, 1906, was made a driver. His successive promotions have been : Lieutenant, May 31, 1910: captain, October 31, 1913; September, 1918, became acting battalion chief of District No. 1; and on July 17, 1919, was appointed chief of the fire department of the city of Los Angeles by Mayor M. P. Snyder.
Mayor Snyder in making the appointment said of Mr. Scott: "He is a vigorous man ; has made a close study of fire fighting and protective methods, and he's a man with ideas. I have studied him closely and I believe he has the right kind of stuff in him to make the fire department of Los Angeles what it ought to be. He is popular in the department and I am certain will receive the loyal support of all its members."
Mr. Scott was formerly a director of the Firemen's Relief Associa- tion, and in 1913 was elected its vice president and in 1914 its president. He is unmarried and lives with his mother at 2531 East Third street.
LYNDEN ELLSWORTH BEHYMER ("BEE"). It was not so long ago that any dramatic or musical intelligence, of sufficient importance to claim space as news, had to bear a New York date line to get attention. Even the most casual reader of the news pertaining to stellar artists of the stage and in music is aware that a new condition has come about, and is accustomed to look upon Los Angeles as the source of history in the making in artistic affairs.
This new role and sphere of Los Angeles rests upon a sturdy foun-
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dation. It is a foundation due to more than thirty-four years' patient, self-sacrificing and broad visioned work done by probably the most beloved man in Pacific Coast artistic circles, known by many simply as "Bee," and to others as Lynden Ellsworth Behymer.
Without encroaching upon the province of the historian in describ- ing the artistic side of the history of Los Angeles, it is proper to review briefly the career of Mr. Behymer, particularly with reference to his residence in Los Angeles, covering a period of over thirty-four years. He was born in Ohio, and his Lutheran ancestors left Holland many generations ago, went to England, and from there came to Virginia in 1650. One of his ancestors was Jonathan Behymer, a soldier under Washington at Valley Forge. His father, Aaron S. Behymer, survived the battle of Gettysburg after being wounded nine times. His mother was a daughter of Philip and Matilda (Moyer) Leach, and of the same lineage as Dr. Edgar Leach, the noted surgeon and scientist of Edin- burgh, Scotland, and author of many medical works.
Lynden E. Behymer graduated from the high school in Shelbyville, Illinois, in May, 1881. Soon after he became a pioneer in Dakota ter- ritory, establishing a mercantile business at Highmore, Hyde county. At Highmore, January 3, 1886, he married Miss Menettie Sparkes, daughter of Harvey Harrison and Julia (Dunbar) Sparkes. Mrs. Be- hymer was born at Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, May 8, 1866. To their marriage were born the following children: Glenarvon, a Los Angeles lawyer; Enid Lynn, wife of Dr. Roy Malcom, of the University of Southern California, and Elsie Olive, wife of Capt. Egbert Earl Moody, M. D.
As a result of the cyclone which destroyed all his possessions in Dakota, Mr. Behymer came to Los Angeles in 1886, and was given the management of the book department of Stoll & Thayer, book dealers and stationers. At that time the Herald also carried columns of literary review written by Mr. Behymer. Almost from the first he became a power in encouraging the Los Angeles community to support meritorious and high-class literary, dramatic, operatic and musical talent. In the fall of 1886 he assisted in bringing the first important operatic organiza- tion to the city, the National Grand Opera Company, with Theodore Thomas as conductor. The performances were rendered in Hazard's Pavilion, on the site of the Temple Auditorium, and then for the first time the people of the city heard the operas of "Nero," "Othello," "L'Africane," "Tannhauser," "Les Huguenots" and "Norma."
Even the briefest review of Mr. Behymer's succeeding efforts read almost like a chronology of the high lights in Los Angeles' artistic progress. In 1887 he was instrumental in bringing Adelina Patti to Los Angeles, and she sang in Mott's Hall, over the Mott Market, on Main street. Early in 1888, under the same management, Henry M. Stanley delivered his famous lecture, "In Darkest Africa," and Sarah Bernhardt presented "La Tosca." At that time Mr. Behymer was by no means a wealthy man, and it was often at much sacrifice of his limited personal means that he devoted himself so strenuously to the artistic side of Los Angeles .. He soon became associated with Manager H. C. Wyatt, then of the Grand Opera House, at First and Main streets, and with McLain and Lehmann, managers of Hazard's Pavilion, in capacities as press agent, house manager, treasurer, assistant and acting manager. In 1904 he became manager of Simpson's Auditorium, and in 1909 took the management of the Temple Auditorium. He left this post in 1914 to take over the new home of music and art in Los
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Angeles, the Trinity Auditorium, at Ninth street and Grand avenue. The great vision of Mr. Behymer, and one that all his friends hope he will live to realize, is a splendid Fine Arts building, which will prove a permanent home for Grand Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Sym- phony Orchestra and a musical and dramatic conservatory, and many other local organizations whose central purpose is the development of the artistic.
For years Mr. Behymer has represented the leading musical agencies of both Europe and America, confidential representative of dramatic, musical and operatic producers, and has the friendship and the trust and confidence of many of the greatest individuals of the artistic world. With Harley Hamilton and Josephy Dupuy, he founded and organized the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra and was its manager sixteen years. He was with the orchestra in its years of struggle and adversity. For many years he was the adviser and manager of the Los Angeles Woman's Orchestra.
In May, 1919, W. A. Clark Jr., a man of that rare genius which combines business ability with artistic perspective, gave $200,000 out- right to the formation of a symphony orchestra in Los Angeles, with a $150,000 yearly guarantee for five years against any deficit, which would brook favorable comparison with the standardized symphonic organiza- tions of the East.
It is known as the Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles, with a membership of ninety selected musicians, presenting symphonic and popular concert programs of the highest order, providing for a series of especially arranged programs for the elementary and high school pupils of Los Angeles with soloists of international reputation, with first chair- men of supreme merit and Henry Walter Rothwell, a conductor of inter- national fame. To assemble and manage this organization Mr. Clark chose L. E. Behymer.
Since 1899 Mr. Behymer has been the organizer of the annual Philharmonic courses for Los Angeles, California and the Southwest. It is obvious that he has been a pioneer and, like other pioneers, he has borne the heat and burden of the day, oftimes sustaining heavy financial losses, but never relaxing his determination to follow through and seek only the highest and best for his community. It is undoubtedly true that he has led the West, and in some instances has even outdistanced some of the far Eastern cities.
Through his influence and under his local management Los Angeles has been able to welcome and enjoy such celebrities as Adelina Patti, Mme. Marcella Sembrich, Mme. Louisa Tetrazzini, Lillian Nordica, Nellie Melba, Mary Garden, Julia Culp, Johanna Gadski, Schumann- Heink, Fritzi Scheff, Jeanne Jomelli, Alice Nielsen, Emma Ames, Gerville-Reache, Emma Calve, Paderewski, Josef Hoffman, Vladimir de Puchmann, Josef Ihevinne, Harold Bauer, Mischa Elman, Jan Kube- lik, Leopold Godowsky, Maud Powell, Fritz Kreisler, the Flonzaley Quartette, Ysaye, Carreno, Ludwig, Wullner, John McCormack, Amelita Galli-Curci, Riccardo Martin, Anna Case, Emilio de Gorgorza, Edward de Reszke, Alexander Heinemann, David Bispham, Caruso, Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler; also the celebrated dancers, Anna Pavlowa, Mikail Mordkin, Adeline Genee, Isadora Duncan, Maud Allen, Ruth St. Denis, Larger organizations brought here by Mr. Behymer have been the Rus- sian Symphony Orchestra, Strauss' Orchestra, Damrosch Orchestra, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, The St. Cecelia Italian Symphony Or- chestra, Sousa Band, United States Marine Band, Ben Greet Players,
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the Hading Coquelin Company, the Passion Play, Everyman and many of the early efforts in outdoor pastoral drama and the introduction of picture plays. The Metropolitan Grand Opera Company of New York came to Los Angeles before many of the larger cities of the middle West had anything except mediocre operatic talent. He also brought the Maurice Grau Grand Opera Company, the Chicago Grand Opera Company, the Los Angeles Grand Opera Company, the San Carlo Grand Opera Company, and for many seasons owned and operated the LaScala Grand Opera Company. Under his management the Bevani Grand Opera Company gave a four weeks' successful season of grand opera in Italian, at popular prices of a dollar or less, demonstrating that in one community at least grand opera could be performed as in Europe with- out subsidy of loss.
Mr. Behymer was responsible for the first presentation in American of "La Boheme," which was given in Los Angeles in October, 1898, by Del Conte Italian Company, and similarly was responsible for the pre- mier performance in America by the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York in 1901, with Melba in the chief role. On that occasion Fritzi Scheff made her debut in America as "Musette."
In 1904 Mr. Behymer paid $10,000 to secure for Los Angeles a single performance of "Parsifal." In February, 1913, he secured the Chicago Grand Opera Company for a full week's season of eight per- formances when it was necessary to guarantee $88,000. Then for the first time in the West was presented the grand opera "Natoma," with Mary Garden in the title role.
Frequently in bringing larger organizations to Los Angeles it has been necessary for Mr. Behymer to assume the management of ex- tensive tours west of the Rockies. From this has developed this im- portant business as an impressario, supplying Philharmonic Courses and other talent to many of the towns and cities west of Denver. Frequently organizations and celebrated individuals have depended entirely upon Mr. Behymer for the management of their tours in the Southwest.
In 1906, when the Theatrical Trust refused bookings to Sarah Bernhardt, forcing her to make her spectacular tour in a tent, Mr. Behymer handled the California part of her tour. He was also a stanch friend of the late Mme. Modjeska, who entrusted to his management many of her efforts.
Obviously the type of service rendered by Mr. Behymer to his community has been of that unique character such as constitutes pre- eminence. So far as his time and energies have permitted, he has generously given of them to the promotion of civic undertakings, in- cluding fiestas, pageants, entertainments by fraternal and charitable organizations, etc. Mr. Behymer is a rare combination even for a suc- cessful impressario. As the record shows, he has been guided always by the highest ideals of musical and dramatic art, has an unerring judg- ment and taste in that direction, but furthermore has the faculty of the business manager and is a rare expert in publicity, a good speaker, lec- turer and writer.
Mr. Behymer has been active for a number of years in the work of the Playground Association, the City Planning Association, the City Club, the Drama League of America, and is the only western representa- tive of the new order of historical pageantry. Incidentally he has col- lected what is probably one of the most complete musical and dramatic libraries on the Pacific Coast, and is a well-known authority on these subjects.
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Something should also be said of one of his most distinctive services not only to Los Angeles but to American art. When the Federation of Musical Clubs of America decided to give a ten thousand dollar prize for the best American grand opera and hold their biennial meeting in the city that would raise the prize money, Mr. Behymer, with Fred Blanch- ard, president of the Gamut Club, resolved that Los Angeles would be that city. Not only was the sum raised, but an additional forty thousand dollars to give the premier performance in an adequate and sumptuous manner. The prize was awarded to Horatio Parker of Yate, with Brian Hooker as librettist, and Dr. Alfred Hertz of the Metropolitan Opera of New York was engaged as artistic producer. Many of the cast were drawn from the Metropolitan, while the chorus and orchestra were all selected in Los Angeles. The occasion of the first performance a fact of permanent significance in the history of American music, is well re- membered. The first American grand opera was performed July 1, 1915, in the Temple Auditorium, and Manager Behymer, with the asso- ciate board, was greatly responsible for its successful presentation.
In recognition of his distinguished services in the domain of musical and dramatic art, Mr. Behymer was elected an officer of the Academie des Beaux Arts of Paris, March 8, 1907, and six months later received from the French minister of public instruction in like recognition the decoration of the The Palms.
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