1964 ‘Rewrite man’ Gene Youngblood in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner City Room, 1964. Photographer: unknown. ©1964 Youngblood Living Trust. Courtesy of the Youngblood Living Trust.
Gene’s father, Denson Youngblood, was an employee of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. Agness Underwood knew and liked Gene’s father, so partially as a favor to Gene’s dad, she hired Gene to work up through the ranks of being a reporter over the course of 6 years. Gene started as a copy boy in 1961, then was a ‘rewrite man,’ and finally a full reporter until 1967 when he was hired by the Los Angeles Free Press as a columnist and Associate Editor.