The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 47

Tuesday, November 10, 1981 Part II 11 CosAnjjelcs Stones will admonish the jury to ignore his jokes. They don't, of course. And they get the message Max is sending them. For instance, when he is trying to prove the fallibility of a witness. Max smiles benignly and begins, "Once upon a time there was a guy who had a face lift and a hair transplant." The jurors lean forward expectantly.

"Well, despite all this, the poor man died one day. He couldn't believe it, so he went to St. Peter in tears and said "St. Peter looked at him closely and then said, 'Harry, it's you! If I'd only recognized Max studied juries the way an entomologist studies grasshoppers. He watched the way they jumped.

If he had a rich and beautiful client and a middle-class female jury, he had her wear the same dress every day of the trial. "I'd rather have them feel sorry for her than envy her," he says. "That's something you don't learn in law school." Star Character His celebrity clients were Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel. "Berihy was a quiet, mild person except when someone called him Bugsy," Max says. "He hated the name.

I had to stop him from knocking a reporter on his ass one day when the guy called him Bugsy. He wanted to be called Benjamin. "Mickey Cohen thought he was a big shot and loved publicity. Most gangsters didn't. When one of Mickey's guys would get arrested everybody called them 'the Seven Dwarfs' he'd shout Max is not certain how he got hired by people like Siegel, who was shot to death in 1947, or by Cohen, who died of cancer five years ago after a long prison term.

"You handle one case, you know, and get some press on it and then another calls in. So you take them. But I wouldn't mislead anyone about these guys. I wouldn't lie. I just wouldn't say anything." He is hunched over a Bloody Mary in the Second Street Saloon, adjacent to his downtown office.

Talk of gangsters makes him uneasy. Reputation is important to Max. He protects his good name like a stripper guards her tassels. "I never socialized with people like Cohen or Siegel," he says. "They were never in my house.

It was strictly business." There was one exception. Cohen came to Max's wedding in 1947. But then so did prosecutor J. Miller Leavy. And Superior Court Judge Charles Fricke.

Solomon's reputation by then was beyond reproach. It was such that he was asked to sit on a three-man panel to evaluate candidates for deputy district attorney. "It was funny," Max says. "I'd OK a guy for a job in the D.A.'s office then end up trying a case against him. I asked one kid why prosecution and not defense.

He said, 'I could never represent a guilty Max laughs. "I never have!" There have been hundreds of cases over the years. Ask Solomon how many he won and how many he lost and he shrugs. "You don't keep score." There was Brenda Allen. Flaminjr red hair.

A knockout. She had a whorehouse on a Hollywood hilltop, off the Strip. Newspapers called her a "Ring Mistress of Sex Circuses." They wrote in more colorful superlatives those days. Max's clients were people like "love thieves" and "ravish bandit" who always thanked his victims. One headline trumpeted, "Nude Janitor Murdered in Bathtub." It didn't matter that people in bathtubs generally were nude.

It was the word that counted. Max lost the Brenda Allen case. She went to jail for pandering despite his plea that "she has a little dog to care for." She ended up working in a department store years later. It is all there in two thick scrapbooks Solomon keeps in his office, jammed with clippings and photographs Please see SOLOMON, Page 12 I TO RICK MEYER Los Angeles Times A Different World, A Special Place. FORMER JUDGE JOHN TEAL ATTORNEY AT LAW SERVING ALL YOUR LEGAL NEEDS 505 City Pkwy.

West, Ste. 1000, Orange, Ca. PHONE: (714) 634-1505 NO FEE FOR INITIAL OFFICE OR PHONE CONFERENCES Defense lawyer Max Solomon wears black pinstripe suits, a flaming sapphire pinky ring and a smile. A Lawyer of the Old School Crime Is His Bread and Butter Dally Crulsai Irom Sin Pedro ind Long Beach (lot Sin Pdto only! 714 527-711V JOB HUNTERS TO MEL THOMPSON Mel Thompson, nationally recognized career consultant, can help you into a higher paying, more satisfying career position-privately, confidentially. Call for a personal appointment to discuss your future.

'Syndicated columnist and author of "Why Should I Hire You?" (714) 851-8785 Newport Beach Office (714) 239-6156 San Diego Office Career Consultants not an employment agency. ARTHRITIS PAIN PAINLESS LASER ACUPUNCTURE Arthritis, bursitis, neuritis, migraine, low back pain successfully treated with LASER ACUPUNCTURE MAC ARTHUR MEDICAL CENTER A Medical Group 18021 Sky Park-Suite Irvine, California 92714 714557-7372 or 957-3358 Mel Personnel consulting, recruiting and outplacement services 1401 Dove Suite 320 Newport Beach, CA 92660 225 Broadway, Suite 1822 San Diego, CA 92101 By AL MARTINEZ. Times Staff Writer Max Solomon, a criminal defense lawyer who wears black pinstriped suits and a pinky ring, limps when he walks, due to injuries from a childhood automobile accident. "It isn't too bad usually," he says, gimping down the corridor of an office building, "but when I am trying a case before a jury it gets worse." He smiles impishly. "Much worse." Solomon is 72 and peers out at the world through thick bifocals.

He is 5 feet, 9 inches, weighs 200 pounds and has been trying criminal cases in Los Angeles for 45 years. He still represents bookies and unfortunate people of chance, which is to say gamblers. A Job to Be Done "Someobdy's got to represent them," he says with a wave of his hand that sets his star sapphire ring aglow under overhead neon lights. "Might as well be me." That's Max. A wave of the hand, a flash of star sapphire, a willingness to speak for the people on the fringes.

He was at his prime in an era that jumped with names like Harry the Hook and Bat and Crazy Benny and Meatball and the Call House Queen. They were gangsters and killers and whorehouse madams, the anti-social elements of society who came to their apex before anyone knew what anti-social meant. And whenever they were in trouble, they sent for Max. People like Mickey Cohen, Bugsy Siegel and Louis (Tom) Dragna. Not that he liked them or even cared to be around them much, but they deserved a good defense and Max was there to give it to them.

"Like they say," he observes, good humor twinkling through, "you get them acquitted but you don't shake their hand." They knew that. But they still sent for Max. He went into criminal law during the Depression instead of civil law because it paid faster, although all things considered he would have rather been a boxer. Not too tall, not too pretty and not too slick, Max had no idea he possessed the glowing qualities of a star lawyer until he got the case of the Old Lady in the Bathroom. It happened when the LAPD vice squad, with nothing better to do one night, swooped down on a penny -ante poker game on the East Side, where Max was raised.

One of those arrested was an elderly woman who, just after the raid, had to use the bathroom, as elderly ladies often must in times of stress. "I learned," says Max, who was hired to defend her, "that when she was in the bathroom, a policeman had stood by the door." Max smiles. "It was perfect." He made a big point of this in court and when the officer came up for cross-examination, Max shuffled from the defense table to the witness stand (the limp getting worse every step), looked at him without saying a word, then walked away shaking his head. A Matter of Style He paused dramatically and once more turned, gimped back to the vice cop, stared reprovingly at him for what seemed an eternity and then, in the indignant tone of a spinster school marm, said, "Aren't you It was his first case. He won it.

Style is what it's all about. Like the wide suspenders he wears. Like the antique cufflinks and the pinky ring. Like his 1940ish suits with batwing lapels. In courtroom technique, he falls somewhere between Clarence Darrow and Jake Ehrlich, though there is much of the Jewish Uncle in Max too.

Take his stories. They have become so much a part of the way Solomon tries a case that often a prosecutor DEGDS 1 RteniBlnnTTITTilfnrffflfl A rl SALE ENDS NOV. 14, 1981 BASE CABINET Pre-finished, Unassembled 1 5.00 extra for assembly. 99.50 OTHER SIZES AVAILABLE COUNTERTOP AND SINK EXTRA UNFINISHED BIRCH VENEER. PRE-FINISHED OAK VENEERED fas PREFINISHED BIRCH VENEER ALL HARDWOOD FRAME SOME BLEMISHED ASSEMBLED Unfinished PreflnishedPref inistwd SSEMBLED Unf lni8ned Pref in jshed punished Oak Birch CABINET Birch Birch Oak Birch 12" Base M(3 TM-M CABINET Wall Wall Wall Wall Wall 27Mx30" Wall Walt Wall 27.00 47.50 62.00 67.50 teem 15" Base 18" Base 21" Base 24" Base 27" Base 30" Base 36" Base 18" Base Drawer.

30.50 36.00 31.50 39.00 33.50 43.50 36.00 42.00 57.00 47.50 "63.50 69.50 78.50 68.00 72.00 32.50 46.50 42.00 53.50 45.50 57.00 61.50 53.50 64.50 77.00 61.00 68.50 89.00 75.00 99.50 61.00 W.S0 57.00 70.00 72.50 s80.00 24" Wall Corner 61.50 Wall 29.00 36W718" Wall 132.50 30" Base Sink 36" Base Sink 36.50 52.00 Yield effective through November ring In your mtoiurtrntnti different Kiwi and dtllgm of cabliwts on display. Carloads of nwrthandist stacked in our start and war nous. Com in and pick out th styl and sit cabin! you nd. nav all th liitl ndd to complitt most vry kind of kitchn unit mt npvu. naui nwn our, insian mtm yourMlf ana tavt.

WE HAVE THOUSANDS OF DOORS IN RH WALL 30X30 II IJIlJPXU r- ummo7 eJ) lrPTtHR RHH pri I IAIC SINK 36" JsH NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! FIRST QUALITY 1 TAX FREE. You may exclude from federal taxes up to $2000 interest earned on your ALL SAVERS account if filing jointly, up to $1000 if filing individually. GUARANTEED for the full 12-month term, your tax-free year Treasury Bill rate effective on the date you open your ALL SAVERS account. Your ALL SAVERS account will be INSURED to $100,000 by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. I'cnallv lor curlv withdrawal.

8 FOOT CABINET SETS UPPER AND LOW CABINETS interest will be pegged to the one- andha" constructs I rTl rT r7Tl ppPT iWfenl eight hr- Mlg I HK doors 1 BJ Bj Hh jD Hi I 367 I side -Lin French .79" tulvfiVl I'll I JtU N0VlSlE I 3ih inch douglas fir -aqi WB li i I 3-LIGHT FRENCH .79 IfcS r''lj; MllAC I SOindM-IH INCH OOUO FIB fA9S Ma I e. 10 -LITE FRENCH 99 1 -T, I 1 4J.5S6FT HARDBOARD. 4 Dfl SET 1 BI-F0LD DOORS 17 1 WlJmvm i DECEMBER 1, 1981 NEW IRAKEOGH RETIREMENT ACCOUNT 22 TO 30 SIZES IN STOCK ON STYLES BELOW MFWUa Ud assem I2I.H FKEFlilMEl UK assem. 1I7.H MM WUJMT FMISI assem. 4M.H IEWPMT (MELMINE FINISH K.D.

444.M UHtlWI LT. WALNUT FINISH K.D. (M.M MLHI MMI (ALDER FRAMES) ASSEM. 4II.M MVHWTN (MELMINE FINISH) K.D. Ill.M FMEST KCil (MELMINE FINISH) K.D.

IJI.M KEXSIMTN UK (raised panel) assem. HI WUJHT( BIRCH (ALDER) ASSEM. I27.M MFMIMa UK (RAISED PANEL) ASSEM. Ill.M PIHttEU HTTEIIWTl RAISED PANEL )SEM. 742.M MTU.

UK RAISED PANEL ASSEM IJI.M Via MAV VAHTMTHCHimit MUAL OPPOflTlMTY innnn unill DING SPECIALS LHJ Lb3 LU It 'J 1315 WUUU PAIN Qfi ADt B. 5 4-iim" 30. 32 A 36x 1 CROSS-BUCK FIR i. 12-LITE ENTRY 11995 30. 32tMi SOLID MAHOGANY 12-PANEL ENTRY 99 4V PRIMED HI.

HOME OFFICE 260 Ocean Avenue, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (714) 494-7541 Additional offices in HllHFIR TWO PANEL fllnOK Mild nm in uiunniuv a aab 99 uin-kiifcininiradij ww J. v.t'rHnCL CNini WJ 32 A 36 1 INCH SOLID MAHOGANY hvxt San Clemente 492-1 195 0.8-CARVED PANEL LagJna Niguel 496-1201 Belmont Shore (213)438-9421 Murrieta 677-5632 Balboa Island 675-3212 Lake 674-21 91 OliveOrange 998-8400 Glen Avon 681-0111 Balboa 673-3701 IH INCH SOLID IMHOOANY AAOg M. 1 INCH HOLLOW COM atm MQM 9 -CARVED PANEL 99" INTERIOR DOOR 4" pur rNmb LagJina Hills 586-5100 ITT A MMMBlM".