I saw this framed advertisement in the Boddy House at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge on a recent visit. (Sorry for the poor photo.) Manchester Boddy not only wrote a column, he owned the old L.A. Daily News from 1926 to 1954.

His Daily News was the only L.A. paper to support FDR. Boddy ran unsuccessfully for senator against Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950’s Democratic primary, in which he labeled her the “Pink Lady,” paving the way for Congressman Richard Nixon to defeat her in the general election.

Evidently Boddy was a columnist for his newspaper as well. I’d love to have the Daily Bulletin describe my column as “brilliant” and on everyone’s lips — but it might help if, like Boddy, I signed the promotional department’s paychecks.