In case you just tuned in, I am using the Wikipedia entry on Wallace Beery — alleging that he was involved in the death of Ted Healy — as a way to explore Wikipedia’s fundamental problems with accuracy and delve into Hollywood myths.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

As we take our long, investigative journey through the “Wallace Beery — Ted Healy” tale, you may wonder why I’m not using the Los Angeles Examiner, Herald-Express and Daily News as sources. After all, I do live in Los Angeles and have the advantage of the Los Angeles Public Library’s microfilm collection of old newspapers.

I will be checking them, but my goal in this little adventure in research is to demonstrate that anybody — with enough curiosity and tenacity — can do the same thing in fact-checking a dubious account of a historical event. All these resources are online. True, The Times clips are on ProQuest, but many public and university libraries offer this service for their patrons.  The Times also offers paid access to ProQuest.

Google’s news archives provide United Press and Associated Press accounts, which are reliable, and in the historic period they frequently quoted other papers, such as the Los Angeles Examiner, on an exclusive story. (Historical aside: United Press didn’t become United Press International until its merger with Hearst’s International News Service or INS in 1958).

Let me say again: Anyone with enough curiosity and tenacity can do this.

To be continued.