Kent Kane Parrot

Kent Kane Parrot (May 22, 1880 – March 11, 1956) was an American political figure and attorney who was considered the "boss" of municipal politics in Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s. Early years Kane was a native of Kennebunkport, Maine, the son of a wealthy family. In 1905, he married his third cousin, Mary O'Hara. They had a son, Kent Kane Parrot Jr., and a daughter who died of cancer in childhood. Following the end of their marriage, O'Hara worked as a Hollywood screenwriter; her most noted work was My Friend Flicka. Parrot moved with O'Hara to Los Angeles in 1907, where Parrot attended USC Law School. He was reported to have been a star football player while a student at USC. Parrot received his law degree in 1909 and was admitted to the bar, but he found his talent as a deal-maker with tremendous people skills. He was described as a big man, approximately , with a "magnetic personality". George Cryer Parrot became active in local politics, and in 1921 he teamed up with George E. Cryer, an assistant district attorney who had prosecuted public corruption cases. Parrot saw Cryer as a good choice for a mayoral candidate and suggested to Cryer that he run, with Parrot as his campaign manager. In 1921, the Cryer-Parrot team defeated the incumbent Mayor Meredith P. Snyder. Cryer's campaign promised to close the "dens of vice" and attacked Snyder as being corrupt and unfit to be mayor. The Los Angeles Police Commissioner sent a telegram to the newspapers before the election asking, "Shall crime and protected vice continue, or will the voters and taxpayers elect George E. Cryer mayor?"