Despite his family's wealth his parents did not spoil him with gifts, but instead insisted he work in the 10-acre citrus ranch they owned in . His mother insisted that he be sent East to boarding school to gain a proper education. He raced in the 1980-1984 seasons, with 9 career starts, and started in the Indianapolis 500 in 1981-1983. The Burns influence on Jones and co-director Mark Catalena (who also lensed and edited) is most evident in the early sections, which lay out the rough-and-tumble life and times of the papers founder, Harrison Gray Otis (whose choice quotes are voiced by Hal Holbrook), a Civil War vet who grabbed the chance to run a minor paper in sleepy Los Angeles and turn it into a tool for real estate boosterism. Politicians and the police were there to protect their interests and, more than anything else, those interests revolved around the citys rapid growth. . Resides in Los Angeles, CA Metropolitan Area. Discover what happened on this day. At most newspapers, there is a "wall," with the writers and editors on one side and the business staffers who sell advertising on the other. Ex-husband of Private ", So on November 3 at 6:10 p.m., more than 100 employees gathered around the city desk to listen to a philippic written by a man most of them had never met -- one of the last bona fide legends in their rapidly changing business. The economic boom and the Jazz Age were over, and America began the period called the Great Depression. In theory, he had been away from the paper for quite a while. Buffie also pushed her son Otis hard; as the documentary shows, she regularly told her son to remember who he was, and what he represented. As a friend, classmate and admirer of various Chandlers I could not possibly watch this with an objective eye. It doesn't sound so terrible today, but it was a big deal then.". Yes, the Los Angeles Times remains one of the best papers in the country, but the Otis drive to push The New York Times off its perch, as he once famously put it--a drive that led him to increase the editorial budget by nearly 1,000% in his first 10 years--has been replaced by more modest goals. "He didn't get any good press out of that. Otis cousins hated what they saw as the papers drift toward liberalism, and they hated even more that they had lost control of their paper. Contact profile manager; View family tree; Problem with this page? Four years after giving birth to her second child, she suffered a nervous breakdown and, at the urging of her husband, she went to see a psychiatrist, a courageous decision for anyone in 1932 but especially for a woman of her status. Please check back soon for updates. "Why continue to pile on?" Trusted by millions of genealogists since 2003. Time magazine once called it one of the nation's 10 worst newspapers. At the turn of the century, it was an Otis-Chandler syndicate that quietly purchased tens of thousands of acres of parched farmland in the San Fernando Valley, knowing that the fix was in to steal water rights from Owens Valley farmers 200 miles to the north. I grew up with ink in my blood. One evening before dinner, his father handed him a seven-page memo, in effect Otis's marching orders for the next seven years. (Both of Otis Chandler's parents also attended Stanford, and a grandson named Otis Chandler graduated from the Farm in June.). She blackmailed people into making donations; she used the newspaper (especially the womens pages) to champion her personal causes, and she alternately smothered and intimidated her two children. Yes we are all nostalgic for the feel of print books, but I think we will come around when we see that ideas can be better conveyed through digital, interactive ebooks. "I discovered my trust in a close friend was misplaced," Chandler told STANFORD in 1978. McDougal has lectured in journalism and creative writing at UCLA, Stanford, and the California State Universities at Fullerton and Long Beach. It wasn't that we disliked each other," he explains. Not given to self-reflection or intellectual fancy, he was a man of action. The paper had some habits that seem a little strange now. He also developed real estate and erected the famous Hollywood sign (which. But it was honest, blunt, plainspoken and filled with passion and conviction, and after several years of listening to the bromides of corporate-speak, the newsroom embraced the style as well as the substance of Chandler's remarks. In 1708, he was chosen a member of Her Majesty's Council (at the time, the highest position a native could achieve) and was annually reelected until his death in 1727. It was there that John Otis built a homestead that served many members of the family for generations. A considerable strength of this exceptionally resonant docu, made in association with Los Angeles PBS outlet KCET, is its broad appeal to a variety of viewers, from history buffs and journalism mavens to watchers of all things Los Angeles, and perhaps most of all to longtime SoCal residents who can recall when the Times mattered. After divorcing his first wife (and then remarrying), did he also need to divorce himself from all the obligations his mother had instilled in him since he was a young boy? The writer's sin? Uploaded by While some major papers, most notably the New York Herald Tribune,decided to compete with the increasingly popular newsmagazines and television by adding lifestyle features and interpretive reporting, the Timesran reams of dull wire-service copy. Some 200 heirs with at least 20 different surnames are benefiting from clerk Harry Chandler's fortuitous marriage more than a century ago. "[Washington Post publisher] Donnie Graham called me when he heard about the Tribune sale and said, 'Aren't you just wiped out? See change in peoples lives that use our product. He plunged into related businesses, like book publishing, broadcasting and forest products, and created a formidable, diversified conglomerate: the Times Mirror Co. "He blasted all of them," recalls a bemused Howard Gilmore, '55, a longtime friend and hunting companion of Chandler's. After some back-and-forth polishing, Chandler asked Boyarsky to read the memo out loud in the newsroom. When the water arrived in 1912, the land--once considered barren and useless--was worth millions. He was best known for being a Family Member. He started Goodreads as part of a personal goal to read more books, and has found a large core group of people that love reading, and have helped drive the direction of Goodreads. Even to those who worked closely with him, he was a vexing character. In the early 1970s, Chandler became embroiled in an embarrassing stock scandal involving Jack Burke, '52, an old pal from Stanford. "He is not," she snapped, and they drove to another hospital. Otis Chandler was many things, truly a southern California Renaissance man. No American newspaper has dominated a city the way the Los Angeles Times has dominated Los Angeles. Chandler's teammate and Delta Kappa Epsilon frat brother Merritt Van Sant, '51, sketched me a cameo portrait of their campus life: "Oh, no, we were not sober! Ruthless and strait-laced, he assured the Chandlers family wealth for generations to come. Otis is also well known as, The scion of the wealthy Chandler family who took over the Los Angeles Times and transformed it into a nationally respected publication. Judge Otis held a variety of judicial and military appointments and represented Barnstable County for 20 successive years in the general court of Massachusetts Bay. The scion of the wealthy Chandler family who took over the Los Angeles Times and transformed it into a nationally respected publication. Who are the richest people in the world? What created the controversy was management's refusal to admit, to its reporters or readers, that some profits from the sale of the special magazine would go to the Staples Center itself. The companys enormous financial success kept the rest of the Chandlers at bay. Obviously, as a Buffum descendant, I'm not entirely objective in the matter. Under his watch, the L.A. Times opened international bureaus and hired on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, at the same time buying several television station and the Newsday newspaper. Please comment on the subject of the blog post itself. Their strategy was aimed almost entirely at the short term, to prop up Times Mirror stock price and to increase the familys dividends. or "I think that's Kristie." This put mother and daughter in conflict somewhat, since they were both seeking funds from the same pool of donors, and Buff was certain that her project had more merit than the art museum. The Timeshired away the Herald Tribune's veteran Washington bureau chief and tripled the size of its D.C. staff. He was sure, though, that none of his five children was capable of succeeding him, so he named Tom Johnson to succeed him as publisher, and for the first time in nearly a century somebody other than a Chandler was running the Los Angeles Times. He was known for being a Family Member. The newspaper, though, continued to be a national joke. Widening the rift was the familys general dislike of publisher Norman Chandlers wife, Dorothy (or Buffy), whom they deemed an outsider. Chandler also spent time in the newsroom. Unionists explode dynamite at the Times Headquarters during. In the succeeding years, he and his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, bought most of Southern California -- at least the parts worth having. Chandler Otis was born on month day 1770, at birth place, Connecticut, to Stephen Otis and Lucy Otis . The 1920s represented an era of change and growth. I'd never known of Dorothy "Buff" Chandler's difficulty being accepted into the family, though I did know that she'd been successful in uniting Downtown and Westside [read Protestant and Jewish] philanthropists in building the Music Center downtown. In 1944, he handed the reins of the publishing empire to son Norman, who in turn passed it on to his son Otis in 1960. Perhaps no major newspaper in American history has experienced such dramatic swings in reputation and quality, all due to the whims of the rather bizarre clan that owned it. Sometimes I read Techcrunch, but my favorite Techcrunch article is about how people should read more Science Fiction. He led a privileged, isolated life for most of his childhood. Unionists explode dynamite at the Times Headquarters during Harrison Gray Otis' reign as publisher. Its never too late to rebuild burnt bridges, especially with a member of your family. On the day of my visit, Chandler was prepping the space for a large charity bash, which meant getting several dozen gazelle and impala heads off the floor and onto the walls, and ridding the men's bathroom of the girlie posters that invariably festoon the work areas of car and motorcycle aficionados. He would start in two days. Otis Chandler was born in California. Starting in 1985, when he gave up the title of editor in chief, Chandler wound down his involvement with the paper and with Times Mirror. But Norman and Dorothy had other plans. He still surfs off the Ventura County coast; in fact, he took his long board on the plane with him for his 20th wedding anniversary in Tahiti in May. Otis Chandler was born in 1920s. So rich, complex and contentious is the Times saga that Jones and Catalena could have devoted an hour alone to the papers titanic political battle in 1934 against left-wing gubernatorial candidate and great American novelist Upton Sinclair. "His reign at the Los Angeles Times was the newspaper's Camelot," McDougal says. In 1962, Times Mirror decided to go public, the first of the major family-owned papers to do so. The paper and the company, of course, were never the same. He left six children, of whom the following are descendants:[1], https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otis_family&oldid=1059247052, This page was last edited on 8 December 2021, at 09:38. Our mission is to get people excited about reading, and I think the way that generally happens is through social recommendations so we are working on ways to do book discovery that leverages the wisdom of the masses yet keeps the human element. Whats missing is how a rich Southern California jock, who showed no passion for the family business as a young man, suddenly fell in love with his own newspaper and understood at some elemental level that journalism is more than a business; its also a public trust. Dropbox is also amazing and becoming essential, especially as we are located in multiple places. He laid the framework for Times Mirrors becoming a modern media conglomerate. As the Chandlers and their newspaper gained influence, every up-and-coming politician in the Southland made sure to kiss their ring. I'd slide down a chute from the mail room with the bundles into the trucks. People of this zodiac sign like freedom, travel, philosophy, being outdoors and dislike clingy people, constrained, off-the-wall theories. Still, he sometimes feared that his passion for surfing would be remembered more than his accomplishments at the Times. Once Dorothy became a Chandler, she didn't have much to do with the Buffums anymore. His relatives complained about the Times's liberal bent -- and he has occasionally suggested that they in turn were knuckle-draggers, out of touch with modern times. As Otis poured money into The Times, the paper became the most profitable in the country. Interview segments and archival selections are absolutely aces, as is Liev Schreibers narration. Chandler Otis. [quote style=boxed]By testing them. By 1983 the paper was on Time's 10-best list. As historian Mike Davis observes, with the bullheaded Otis in charge and determined to form a city in his own image, Los Angeles was unique as a monolithically planned and controlled American city. Biden Not Confident Supreme Court Will Uphold Student Debt Cancellation, Celta Vigo Star Gabri Veiga Is Alerting Wealthy Teams In The Premier League, RFK Killer Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole For 16th TimeReversing 2021 Decision, Wednesday, March 1. No longer would East Coast papers view it with contempt. There is an amazing tale of how Chandler was thrown from a horse at age 7 and knocked unconscious. But the larger problem is that McDougal cant decide whether Privileged Son is a social history of Los Angeles, a biography of Otis Chandler or an extended portrait of a newspaper dynasty. So I asked. Next time I wont worry about how I will pay the the rent a good idea needs focus and 100% of your execution. "Otis has really been out there attacking Mark and Kathryn in a mean-spirited way. Right-wing and boosterish, The Times remained what it had always been: the personal tool of the Chandlers. Gavin Newsom (D) blocked the move. Under his watch, the L.A. Times opened international bureaus and hired on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, at the same time buying several television station and the Newsday newspaper. It was Downing who blundered into the notorious Staples Center controversy that contributed mightily to her and Willes's downfall. Blond, blue-eyed, with craggy good looks and an athletes bearing, Otis was a pure vision of Southern California heroism. Following the pattern of his father, Otis became chairman of Times Mirror in 1981. Otis, he says at one point, was wrestling with feelings that caught him on his lantern jaw like a sucker punch. The book is filled with such howlers. It goes all the way back to Harrison Otis and covers the dynasty through 2000. It's an astonishing mlange of antique automobiles and motorcycles, jumbled together with huge stuffed trophy kills from Chandler's peripatetic hunting expeditions. ideamensch is an interview platform for entrepreneurs, makers, and doers. JUMP TO: Otis Chandlers biography, facts, family, personal life, zodiac, videos and related celebs. Willes vowed to tear down that wall. . Mark is beyond being touched by anything Otis would say. ", The Otis Chandler era at the L.A. Times began on April 11, 1960, when his father introduced him as the new publisher. Otis Chandler's Geni Profile. Reporters, already disenchanted by the Willes regime, demanded an investigation and a public apology from Downing, which she gave. A 10-foot-tall Kodiak bear ("October 1985; Record Size; Alaskan Peninsula"), paws and claws extended, looms behind Chandler's head. Perelman wrote of being on a cross-country train ride and stopping in Albuquerque, N.M.: "I asked the porter to get me a newspaper and unfortunately the poor man, hard of hearing, brought me the Los Angeles Times.". Whos the richest Family Member in the world? Focus and 100 % of your family isolated life for most of his childhood most profitable in the 1980-1984,... Good press out of that watch this with an objective eye Liev Schreibers narration dropbox is amazing! The paper for quite a while use our product from Chandler 's peripatetic hunting expeditions to come some. Quite a while and covers the dynasty through 2000 goes all the way the Los Angeles Times has dominated Angeles! 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