Welcome to the third session of the Black Dahlia Book Club!

I finally got tired of talking about George Hodel and Steve Hodel (at this point, I know Steve’s monologues from memory) so I decided to spend some time looking at the portrayals of the Black Dahlia case. I consider myself first and foremost a historian of the Black Dahlia case, and think it’s important to examine the source material in detail to emphasize the challenges of researching the murder of Elizabeth Short.

Before getting into the main subject, I gave a brief update on a possible appearance in Michael Connelly’s Killer in the Code podcast.

In this session, I looked at a 1949 retrospective on the Black Dahlia case, published in the Los Angeles Mirror in a series on unsolved killings titled Someone Knows!

Part 1 is here: https://archive.org/details/1949-0513…

Part 2 is here: https://archive.org/details/1949-0514…

The entire list is: Elizabeth Short, May 13-14, 1949; Georgette Bauerdorf, May 16-17, 1949; Dr. Leonard Siever, May 18-19, 1949; Rochelle Gluskoter, May 20-21, 1949; William H. Bonsall, May 23, 1949; Wilma McFarland, May 24-25, 1949; Walter Wanderwell, May 26-27, 1949;   Les Bruneman, May 28-30, 1949; Gladys Kern, May 31-June 1, 1949; Jeanne French, June 2-3, 1949; Virginia Patty, June 4-5, 1949; the Bella Napoli Café murders, June 7, 1949; Celia Holmes, June 8, 1949; Dorothy Lee Gordon, June 9, 1949; Maude Harmon, June 10, 1949; Winifred Shirleigh Smith, June 11, 1949;  Yoshi Nishida, June 13, 1949; Gladys “Billie” Landon, June 14, 1949; Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg, June 15, 1949; Bugsy Siegel; June 16-17, 1949; Louise Springer, who was killed June 13, 1949, was also incorporated into the series.

And a radio show from August 1950 titled Somebody Knows: https://archive.org/details/SomebodyK…

Videos discussed in this episode:

Unidentified Hollywood travelogue: • Unidentified Hollywood Travelogue 

Traveltalks: Los Angeles — Wonder City of the West: • Los Angeles – Wonder City of the West – 1935 

Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light: • Film Noir documentary – Bringing Darkness … 

In this session, I discussed:

–What is the influence of Film Noir on the Black Dahlia case?

–The location of the cafe where a purse and shoes, possibly belonging to Elizabeth Short, were found.

–Whether Elizabeth Short knew Dr. Walter Bayley.

–Was Evelyn Winters included in the Mirror’s Someone Knows! series?

–Steve Hodel’s claims that a wristwatch was found at the Black Dahlia crime scene or supposedly in Elizabeth Short’s body.

–Red Manley’s military career and psychological challenges.

–DNA and the Black Dahlia case.