Los Angeles Times cutting 74 positions

There was one night when the newsroom got everything out on time, but there was some problem with the press and the run would be starting later than usual. The news editor told the press foreman "Unless we missed the words 'Fuck you' in 72-point type, let it roll" and we adjourned to a local all-night restaurant.

 

That smell.

 

Midnight Applebees runs with the night shift gang might be all that kept me sane at one stop. Even if you didn’t get along with someone, you left it back at the office while Drinking Good In The Neighborhood.

 

The smell of this around you.

 

This thread is reminding me of the 1994 Ron Howard film "The Paper." It has a brief scene in Robert Duvall's office where the water in a glass starts vibrating, a signal that the presses have started up. One of the screenplay writers, one of the Koepp brothers, lifted that image from his days as a journalist at the Waukesha Freeman, where the aging building had the shakes.

Of course there's the climactic scene where Michael Keaton trades fisticuffs with Glenn Close while trying to Stop The Presses.

 

I'm sure you remember this. The 1957 opening sequence from "Sweet Smell of Success," with the loading docks of the New York Times doubling for those of the New York Globe (which was a real paper, but had merged with the NY Sun in 1923). A personal favorite.

Go With The GLOBE
Read
J. J. Hunsecker

The Eyes of Broadway

 

I will likely be alive the day the presses roll for the final time, and I will shed tears for that happening.

 

The Applebee's located in the town of my previous shop was, (1) the only place serving food and drinks that was open after midnight, and (2) would have deals on Long Island Ice Teas. A fine combination!

 

Pretty much our setup. And those conditions also made it a favored gathering spot for the local Class A baseball team, which made it feel a bit like The Aces in Slap Shot.

 

Great cast in that pic. Great writers too.

 

Such a great flick. Really captures the feel of that era at big city paper.

Though, a NYC tabloid having an 8 p.m. deadline in 1994 is one of my quibbles. Also, you'd think they'd want to replate to get the parking commissioner shooting the paper's managing editor in a bar somewhere on the cover too.

 

Probably my favorite vignette is when Keaton starts rewriting some of Clint Howard's copy, who winces, saying, "don't ... Oh! that's good!"