ELIZABETH SHORT

ELIZABETH SHORT

 (July 29, 1924 – January 14 or 15, 1947)

 known posthumously as "the Black Dahlia", was an American woman who was found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her case became highly publicized due to the graphic nature of the crime, which entailed her corpse having been mutilated and severed at the waist.

A native of Boston, Short had spent her early life in Massachusetts and Florida before relocating to California, where her father lived. It is commonly held that Short was an aspiring actress, though she had no known acting credits or jobs during her time in Los Angeles. She would acquire the nickname of the Black Dahlia posthumously, as newspapers of the period often nicknamed particularly lurid crimes; the term may have originated from a film noir murder mystery, The Blue Dahlia, released in April 1946. After the January 15, 1947 discovery of her body, the Los Angeles Police Department began an extensive investigation that produced over 150 suspects, but yielded no arrests.

Short's unsolved murder and the details surrounding it have had a lasting cultural intrigue, generating various theories and public speculation. Her life and death have been the basis of numerous books and films, and her murder is frequently cited as one of the most famous unsolved murders in American history, as well as one of the oldest unsolved cases in Los Angeles County.

 It has likewise been credited by historians as one of the first major crimes in post-World War II America to capture national attention.

On the morning of January 15, 1947, Short's naked body was found severed in two pieces on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue, midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. At the time, the neighborhood was largely undeveloped. Local resident Betty Bersinger discovered the body at approximately 10:00 a.m. while she was walking with her three-year-old daughter. Bersinger initially thought she had found a discarded store mannequin.

When she realized it was a corpse, she rushed to a nearby house and telephoned the police.

Short's severely mutilated body was completely severed at the waist and drained entirely of blood, leaving its skin a pallid white.

Medical examiners determined that she had been dead for around ten hours prior to the discovery, leaving her time of death either sometime during the evening of January 14, or the early morning hours of January 15.The body obviously had been washed by the killer.

Her face had been slashed from the corners of her mouth to her ears, creating an effect known as the "Glasgow smile.” Short had several cuts on her thigh and breasts, where entire portions of flesh had been sliced away. 

The lower half of her body was positioned a foot away from the upper, and her intestines had been tucked neatly beneath her buttocks. The corpse had been "posed," with her hands over her head, her elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart.

Upon the discovery, a crowd of both passersby and reporters began to gather; Los Angeles Herald-Express reporter Aggie Underwood was among the first to arrive at the scene, and took several photos of the corpse and crime scene. Near the body, detectives located a heel print on the ground amid the tire tracks, and a cement sack containing watery blood was also found nearby.

Another widely circulated rumor (sometimes used to counter claims that Short was a prostitute) holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that resulted in "infantile genitalia.” Los Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had engaged in sex, including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case; FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Short's autopsy itself, which was reprinted in full  in Michael Newton's 2009 book The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes, notes that her uterus was "small"; however, no other information in the autopsy is provided that would suggest her reproductive organs were anything other than anatomically normal. The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior to and following her death.

Another rumor—that Short was a lesbian—has often circulated; according to John Gilmore, this rumor began after Herald-Express reporter Bevo Means was told by the deputy coroner that Short "wasn't having sex with men" due to her purportedly "small" genitalia.

GEORGE HODEL

 (October 10, 1907 – May 16, 1999)

first came under suspicion for murder in 1945, following the death of his secretary Ruth Spaulding by a drug overdose. He was suspected of having murdered her in order to cover up his financial fraud, such as billing patients for tests that were never performed. At about this time, Hodel moved to China where he had earlier worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. These events first came to public attention in 2004.

In January 1947, the body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short was discovered in an empty lot in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Short had suffered gruesome mutilation, notably her body being cut in half at the waist. The case earned major publicity and prompted one of the largest investigations in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department. The case was never solved. However, authorities at the time interviewed hundreds and focused on about 25 suspects, one of whom was George Hill Hodel, Jr.

Hodel came to police attention as a suspect for the Elizabeth Short murder in 1949 after the sexual abuse allegations and trial, when known or suspected sex criminals were investigated. Hodel's medical degree also aroused suspicion, given the hypothesis that whomever bisected Short's body had some degree of surgical skill. The full details of the investigation came to light only in 2004, when a "George Hodel- Black Dahlia File" was discovered in the vault at the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. The file revealed that in 1950, Hodel was the prime suspect of the Dahlia murder. His private Hollywood residence was electronically bugged by an 18-man DA/LAPD Task Force during the period 18 February to 27 March 1950. The transcripts of conversations revealed Hodel's references to performing illegal abortions, giving payoffs to law enforcement officials, and to his possible involvement in the deaths of his secretary and Elizabeth Short. The DA tapes recorded him saying:

"Supposin' I did kill the Black Dahlia. They can't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary anymore because she's dead. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary."

In October 1949, George Hodel's name was mentioned in a formal written report to the GJ as one of five prime suspects, but none of the named suspects were submitted to the 1949 Grand Jury for consideration for indictment as the investigation was "ongoing." By April 1950, Lt. Jemison had gathered enough evidence to charge Dr. Hodel and was about to arrest him for the Short murder, when Hodel again fled the United States. He lived in Asia until 1990.

After Hodel died in 1999, his son Steve, a former LAPD homicide detective, wanted to learn more about his father. In the process he uncovered information that led him to believe his father was Elizabeth Short's killer. This investigation began with the discovery of a photo album owned by George Hodel, which contained a portrait of a dark-haired young woman who Steve Hodel believed was Elizabeth Short. During Steve Hodel's investigation, he learned that his father may have killed more than once. Steve Hodel also suspected his father of being the Lipstick Killer of the 1940s and the Zodiac Killer of the 1960s, and may have been responsible for other murders.

Hodel had purchased the famous Sowden House in Hollywood, living there from 1945 to 1950. The structure, built in 1926 by Lloyd Wright (son of the noted American architect Frank Lloyd Wright), is now a registered Los Angeles Historic Landmark. Based on information developed in 2010-2014 (physical evidence, cement sacks) used to transport the body from the residence to the vacant lot where Elizabeth Short's body was found, some researchers argue that Sowden House is where Short was slain and her body surgically bisected. A police cadaver dog and subsequent soil analysis tests conducted in 2014 by forensic anthropologist, Dr. Arpad Vass confirmed that soil samples from the rear of the residence were "specific for human remains." The segment was filmed for the television program "Ghost Hunters" but did not air. It was instead made available via the show's website.

JUDY GARLAND- MR. MONOTONY

Judy Garland - Mr. Monotony [deleted] (Easter Parade, 1948)

CABIN IN THE SKY- TORNADO

Cabin in the Sky 

 1943 American musical film based on the 1940 stage musical of the same name.

 Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film stars Ethel Waters and Rex Ingram, who reprised their roles from the Broadway production, as well Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson and Lena Horne. It was Horne's first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Louis Armstrong was also featured in the film as one of Lucifer Junior's minions, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra have a showcase musical number in the film.

HANGOVER SQUARE

Hangover Square 

1945

 film noir directed by John Brahm, 

based on the novel Hangover Square (1941) by Patrick Hamilton. 

The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon who made a number of changes to the novel, including the change of George Harvey Bone into a classical composer-pianist and filming the story as an early 20th-century period piece.

The movie was released in New York City on February 7, 1945, 

two months after its star, Laird Cregar, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Laird Cregar, a fan of the original novel, encouraged 20th Century Fox to buy the film rights. Fox relented, but wanted to recreate the success they had enjoyed with The Lodger the previous year and made several changes to the story, including the main character's personality and the setting. Cregar, George Sanders and John Brahm, who had all worked together in The Lodger, were announced as working on the film.

Cregar, who had ambitions of being a leading man and was worried that he would always be cast as a villain, refused the role and was put on suspension. Glenn Langan was announced as his replacement.

 However, Cregar realized he could use his romantic scenes with Linda Darnell and Faye Marlowe to his advantage in order to change his public image into a more romantic one. He thus accepted the role, but began a radical crash diet to give his character more physical appeal.

The film had to be shot entirely in sequence so as to be consistent with Cregar's real life weight loss.

This frustrated director John Brahm, who frequently clashed with Cregar over how the film should be handled. Cregar, a real-life musician, was eager to perform the musical pieces on his own; however, Brahm insisted that Cregar mime. Cregar used amphetamines to aid his rapid weight loss which led to erratic behavior on his part. Brahm lost patience with Cregar and forced the entire cast and crew to sign a document stating they were on Brahm's side and not Cregar's in order to humiliate him into submission. 

When the filming had ended, Cregar told Brahm: "Well, I think we've worked together long enough to know we never want to work together again."

George Sanders also brought complications. Having been put on suspension the previous year for refusing to perform in The Undying Monster, George accepted the role of Dr. Allan Middleton. However, he was unhappy with his script, particularly the final line in the film, which required him to justify the death of George Harvey Bone by saying, "He's better off this way." When shooting the scene, which was very expensive to film, George repeatedly refused to say the line. He later got into an altercation with the film's producer, Robert Bassler, which ended in George punching Bassler. The line was later changed to, "It's better this way."

American composer Stephen Sondheim has cited Herrmann's score for Hangover Square as a major influence on his musical Sweeney Todd

THE RED SHOES

The Red Shoes

(1948)

 British drama film written, directed and produced by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, known collectively as The Archers. The film is about a ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, itself based on the fairy tale 

"The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Andersen.

The film stars Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and features Robert Helpmann, Léonide Massine and Ludmilla Tchérina, renowned dancers from the ballet world, as well as Esmond Knight and Albert Bassermann. It has original music by Brian Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of Technicolor.

JOAN CRAWFORD- SLAP

GASLIGHT

Gaslight

 1944 mystery-thriller film, adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light, about a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane. 

The film was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor, & Best Screenplay; 

it won the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Production Design.

The psychological term gaslighting, which describes a form of psychological abuse in which the victim is gradually manipulated into doubting his or her own reality, originated from the play and its two film adaptations.

 Gaslighting, today, mostly refers to one of the methods of abuse used by a narcissist to emotionally control a victim, through which the narcissist gains pleasure.

GASLIGHT- 1940- ENGLISH VERSION

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS- TO MISS NEW ORLEANS"

THE SUSPECT

THE SUSPECT

(1944)

film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, set in London in 1902, in Edwardian times. It is based on the novel This Way Out, by James Ronald, and was released by Universal Pictures. It stars Charles Laughton and Ella Raines.

THE WHITE ROSE OF NAZI GERMANY

This is a photo of Christoph Probst, two of Sophie Scholl and one of her brother Hans Scholl. They were members of the White Rose campus resistance movement in Nazi Germany. It was this week in 1943 they were arrested and beheaded for being part of The Resistance. Christoph was 23. Sophie was 21. Hans was 24. I wanted to honor them. 

Here is some of their story excerpted from the White Rose page at the Holocaust Research Project (holocaustresearchproject.org):

"In the early summer of 1942, a group of young men — including Willi Graf, Christoph Probst and Hans Scholl formed a a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to the Nazis regime.

"The group co-authored six anti-Nazi Third Reich political resistance leaflets. Calling themselves the White Rose, they instructed Germans to passively resist the Nazis. They had been horrified by the behavior of the Germans on the Eastern Front where they had witnessed a group of naked Jews being shot in a pit.

"The core of the White Rose consisted of five students — Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Christoph Probst, all in their early twenties — also members were Hans and Sophie's sister Inge Scholl, and a professor of philosophy, Kurt Huber. ....

"On three nights in February 1943 -- the 3rd, 8th and 15th -- Hans, Alex and Willi conducted the most dangerous of all the White Rose activities. The three men used tar and paint to write slogans on the sides of houses on Ludwigstrasse, a main thoroughfare in Munich near the University. They wrote 'Down With Hitler', 'Hitler Mass Murderer', 'freedom', and drew crossed-out swastikas... this while policemen and other officials patrolled the streets of Munich. It was, by far, the most public, blatant and dangerous of their activities.

"On Thursday, February eighteenth, 1943, Sophie and Hans distributed the pamphlets personally at the university. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they flooded out of lecture rooms. Leaving before the class break, the Scholls noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to distribute them.

"They returned to the atrium and climbed the staircase to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This spontaneous action was observed by the custodian Jakob Schmid. The police were called and Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. The other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were brought in for interrogation.

"Sophie and Hans were questioned for four days in Munich, and their trial was set for February twenty second. They, along with Christoph, were arrested. Within days, all three were brought before the People's Court in Berlin. On February 22, 1943. The trial was run by Roland Freisler, head judge of the court, and lasted only a few hours, they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Only hours later, the court carried out that sentence by guillotine. All three faced their deaths bravely, Hans crying out his last words,

"'Long live freedom!'

"Later that same year, other members of the White Rose -- Alexander Schmorell (age 25), Willi Graf (age 25), and Kurt Huber (age 49) -- were tried and executed. Most of the other students convicted for their part in the group's activities received prison sentences.

"Prior to their deaths, several members of the White Rose believed that their execution would stir university students and other anti-war citizens into a rallying activism against Hitler and the war. Accounts suggest, however, that university students continued their studies as usual, citizens mentioned nothing, many regarding the movement as anti-national. Their actions were mostly dismissed, until after the war when their efforts were eventually praised."

repost courtesy- Kevin Sessums

HATTIE MCDANIEL'S HOUSE

  Hattie McDaniel’s house at 2203 S. Harvard St. in the West Adams district of LA.
 In 1949-ten years after she won an Academy Award for Gone With The Wind white residents filed a lawsuit to forbid sale of houses to non-whites using what had been a covenant clause in their deeds. McDaniel took them to court and won the case. Thus ending this practice.

repost courtesy~  Illeana Douglas~ los angeles/antebellum correspondent

ALL ABOUT GENE TIERNEY

Gene Tierney

 (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991)

 was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as a great beauty,

 she became established as a leading lady. 

Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), 

and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as

 Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

Tierney's other roles include Martha Strable Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait (1943),

 Isabel Bradley Maturin in The Razor's Edge (1946), Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), 

Ann Sutton in Whirlpool (1949), Maggie Carleton McNulty in The Mating Season (1951), 

and Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955).

With difficult events in her personal life, 

Tierney struggled for years with episodes of manic depression. 

In 1943, she gave birth to a daughter, Daria, who was deaf and mentally disabled, 

the result of a fan breaking out of rubella quarantine and infecting the pregnant Tierney while she volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen. In 1953, she suffered problems

 with concentration, which affected her film appearances. She dropped out of 

Mogambo and was replaced by Grace Kelly.

 While playing Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955), opposite Humphrey Bogart, Tierney became ill. Bogart had a personal experience as he was close to a sister who suffered from mental illness, so during the production, he fed Tierney her lines and encouraged her to seek help.

Tierney consulted a psychiatrist and was admitted to Harkness Pavilion in New York. Later, she went to the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. After some 27 shock treatments, intended to alleviate severe depression, Tierney fled the facility, but was caught and returned. She later became an outspoken opponent of shock treatment therapy, claiming 

it had destroyed significant portions of her memory.

In late December 1957, Tierney, from her mother's apartment in Manhattan, stepped onto a ledge 14 stories above ground and remained for about 20 minutes in what was considered

 a suicide attempt.

Police were called, and afterwards Tierney's family arranged for her to be admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The following year, after treatment for depression, she was released. Afterwards, she worked as a sales girl in a local dress shop with hopes of integrating back into society, but she was recognized by a customer, resulting in

 sensational newspaper headlines.

Tierney died of emphysema on November 6, 1991 in Houston,

 thirteen days before her 71st birthday.

She is interred in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. Tierney was survived by her daughters Daria and Christina. Certain documents of Tierney's film-related material, personal papers, letters, etc., are held in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, to which scholars,

 media experts, and the public may have access

LOST HILLS: BUNKER HILL- LOS ANGELES

"FREE, WHITE AND 21"

“Free, white, and 21” appeared in dozens of movies in the ‘30s and ‘40s, a proud assertion that positioned white privilege as the ultimate argument-stopper. It was a catchphrase of the decade, as blandly ubiquitous as any modern meme: a way for white America to check its own privilege and feel exhilarated rather than finding fault.

HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT~ 1941

Hollywood Steps Out from u.mass2001 on Vimeo.

Hollywood Steps Out 

1941 short Merrie Melodies cartoon by Warner Bros., directed by Tex Avery. 

The cartoon features caricatures of Hollywood celebrities from the 1930s and early 1940s 

including Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, Bing Crosby, Greta Garbo and Groucho Marx.

• When announced for the bubble dance  Sally Rand is called “Strand” by Crosby, 
• presumably to avoid infringement. Rand refused permission to copy her dance act.
• 

• The original release had an extended ending where Clark Gable kisses the man anyways, this was cut out of the reissue print because Clark was worried it would hurt his career, the result of cutting the ending was an abrupt black-out fade.
• 
•