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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 52 — The Numbers Game

Posted on March 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. We are at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short has left the French family in San Diego and is with Robert M. “Red” Manley, a traveling salesman who picked her up and is giving her a ride back to Los Angeles. Police have detained Red and are questioning him about the Black Dahlia.

Do you like statistics? No? Good. Let’s have some.

Just for fun (OK, my idea of fun may not be yours), I added up the different citations in Wolfe’s end notes to determine his primary source. Recall that the book is titled: “The Black Dahlia Files.” So they are going to be the main source, right?

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March 25, 1907: Young Bike Messengers a Key Part of L.A. Drug, Sex Trade

Posted on March 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Technology has changed, but people have not. Simply because they lived nearly a century ago doesn’t mean Angelenos were unable to indulge their vices, they simply procured them in a different manner.

One of the main staples was the throngs of young bicycle messengers who traversed the city in packs.

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Posted in 1907, 2006, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, City Hall, Crime and Courts, Food and Drink, LAPD, Streetcars | Tagged biking, crime and courts, cycling, drugs, prostitution, vice | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 51 — Slinging Hash

Posted on March 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob (and were are those pesky thugs, anyway?), the Mogul (missing in action so far) and the Murder That Transfixed (fixed, yes, but transfixed, hardly) Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short is in San Diego in the last month of her life and has just met Robert M. “Red” Manley.

Page 70

Wolfe is discussing Manley’s arrest in Eagle Rock after his return from a sales trip to San Francisco. Remember that while Los Angeles police and reporters were madly searching for the mysterious red-haired man last seen with the Black Dahlia, he had left his car in the garage of a friend and driven up to San Francisco.

The usual source for this episode is Will Fowler, who claimed to have witnessed the arrest. I would imagine Wolfe lifts this more or less from “Reporters.” It is amazing, isn’t it, that although the book is called the “Black Dahlia Files” it consists mostly of an embellished rehash of “Reporters” and John Gilmore’s “Severed,” which is 25% mistakes and 50% fiction. With a bit of garnishing from Jim Richardson’s “For the Life of Me” and Mary Pacios’ “Childhood Shadows.”

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Dec. 4, 1911: Man Arrested for ‘Masquerading in Female Attire’

Posted on March 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 4, 1911

Clarence Westfall, 22 years old, was taken into custody at San Pedro yesterday afternoon when a boat from San Diego docked. He was arrested for having masqueraded in female attire and was taken to the Central Police Station, where he told a story that nearly resulted in his being liberated. When the police received the report from the station at San Pedro, however, that Westfall, in posing as a woman, had endeavored to be assigned to a woman’s stateroom, he was locked up.

He said he was frequently obsessed with the desire to don women’s clothing, do fancy work and generally “act like a girl.” He had about convinced the detectives that he was a fit subject for alienists to examine when he was recognized as a former prisoner. He was locked up on a charge of vagrancy.

A random discovery too good not to share.

Posted in 1908, 1911, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Fashions, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Streetcars | Tagged #LGBT, 1911, crime and courts, crossdressing | 4 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 50 — Trying to Make It Real Compared to What

Posted on March 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. We are in the last few weeks of Elizabeth Short’s life, in which she met Robert M. “Red Manley,” a traveling salesman from Los Angeles who picked her up on a trip to San Diego.

Imagine my surprise—no, my shock—to read this in L.A. Weekly. Here’s a screen shot to show I’m not making this up.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

March 23, 1907: At L.A. Orphanage, a Page From Dickens

Posted on March 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

For some time, the teachers at the Casco Street School had been concerned about the pupils from the nearby Christian Orphanage. But finally the problems became too great to ignore.

“One small boy, an especial pet and a delicate child, was found, one cold, rainy morning, filling his blouse with the filthy scraps of bread from the garbage pails in the rear of nearby residences. He was so hungry. ‘Aunt Ada’ had sent him to bed without any supper because he was naughty and she had slapped him in the morning because, like Oliver Twist, he had asked for more mush,” The Times said.

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Posted in 1907, 1912, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, Food and Drink, LAPD, Pasadena, Religion, Streetcars | 3 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 49 — Family Ties

Posted on March 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files,” more properly titled “Stuff I Scraped Out of ‘Severed’ Thanks to John Gilmore, Who Calls My Book ‘a True Crime Classic’ and ‘Crap’ ” (If you figure that one out, you’re good).

Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We just finished the portion of the story in which Elizabeth Short has been befriended by the French family in San Diego in the last month of her life.

I heard from one of Elizabeth Short’s sisters yesterday, as I do from time to time. Out of concern for her privacy, I won’t quote the e-mail, but she asked what I knew about the upcoming Brian De Palma movie. I told her I turned down a chance to attend the sneak preview, but that several people who saw the movie said it was horrid. Sample comment: “There is so much wrong with this film that I don’t even know where to start!”

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 48 — An Army of One

Posted on March 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul (and where is that darn Mogul, anyway?) and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short has been befriended by the French family in San Diego about a month before her death.

Page 65

Wolfe is inexplicably in the middle of an account in which he claims Elizabeth Short impulsively decided to leave San Diego. In fact, the French family asked her to leave after she had been with them a month. In the book’s “Elizabeth Short goes bad girl” section, she is enthusiastically portrayed as a lazy tramp, completely at odds with the facts but lustily depicted in John Gilmore’s “Severed,” which is 25% mistakes and 50% fiction.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, Books and Authors, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Acrobats

Posted on March 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Americans at the turn of the century lacked many things, but they had some amazing live entertainment. Here’s a snip of a performance courtesy of Edison Studios, 1904. These guys rock. I have watched them dozens of times now and I still find them amazing.

Enjoy!

Posted in 1904, Film, Uncategorized | Tagged 1904, acrobats, Edison, film | Comments Off

Anne Redding: SBCC Faculty Lecture on ‘Crime Across the Curriculum’

Posted on March 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Anne Redding

Anne Redding, courtesy of Santa Barbara City College.

Anne Redding, chair of the School of Justice Studies at Santa Barbara City College, will present the annual faculty lecture tomorrow on “Crime Across the Curriculum.”

Redding’s lecture will examine the impact of crime across the spectrum of human experience. “Crime is a living organism that is feeding off social deterioration, rage, and human fragility,” Redding told Baraa Alkassir of the campus paper, Channels.

“I wouldn’t say that there is a crime culture in America. However, our culture has a great fascination with basic human interest in crime,” Redding told Alkassir.

Redding was selected to deliver the lecture by a committee based on nominations by her students and peers. We have heard her lecture many times on the Black Dahlia killing and she gives her students an excellent synthesis of this complex case.

Redding will give “Crime Across the Curriculum” on Wednesday, March 21, at 2:30 at Garvin Theatre on the SBCC campus. Admission is free and open to the public.

Posted in Black Dahlia, Coming Attractions, Crime and Courts | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 47 — Wax On, Wax Off

Posted on March 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files (which have been mostly ignored so far): The Mob (a bit of that), the Mogul (no sign yet and we’re 63 pages into the book) and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.”

Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the butchered, anonymous body is discovered and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story in which Elizabeth Short has been befriended by the French family in San Diego about a month before her murder in 1947.

The two-minute executive summary:

In the last week, we have seen a continuing disinterest in facts, heavy reliance on John Gilmore’s “Severed” (to the extent that it’s rather amazing that Gilmore can dismiss “Mogul” as “crap” since it relies so heavily on his book) and bold fabrication. We have also found that Wolfe is not the least bashful about making statements that are easily disproved. Glynn Wolfe is casually described as procurer of girls for Syndicate brothels in a complete fabrication of what allegedly exists in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s files. Nor is Wolfe shy about making up quotes and attributing them to fairly inaccessible sources, down to making up what movies were playing in San Diego theaters.

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March 20, 1907: St. James Raises a Church — Burned in 1973 as Hate Crime Against Gays

Posted on March 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

The Methodist Episcopal congregation, formed from a merger of the Centennial and Central churches, planned a wonderful new building at 22nd Street and Union. Although the congregation studied the idea of a new location, the members finally decided there was no better place than the one they had.

The church was designed by A. Dudley using an old English half-timbered style with a Gothic tower. The vaulted ceiling was highlighted with gold and the pews were arranged in concentric circles around a corner pulpit.

The Times noted:

“The congregation of St. James gives promise of becoming one of the strongest in the outlying parts of the city. Its pastor [the Rev. Robert S. Fisher] is a young man who has made his way rapidly toward the front and only last fall declined to accede to the wishes of the bishop that he accept a leading church in San Francisco.”

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Posted in 1907, 1917, Architecture, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Religion, Streetcars | Tagged #LGBT, 1907, 1917, architecture, hate crimes | 2 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Second Universal City Celebrates Its Centennial

Posted on March 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Feb. 10, 1915, Universal City
Universal City in the Washington Times, Feb. 10, 1915.

Note: This is an encore post from 2015.

In an age where businesses come and go, bought up by larger competitors or going under due to bad financial decisions, finding one in business for decades and at the same location is very rare. Film conglomerate NBC-Universal has operated for over a century at its current Universal City location, the thriving second Universal City for the company, celebrating its Centennial, March 15, 2015.

Founder Carl Laemmle jumped into the film business as a Chicago exhibitor in 1906, quickly turning his Laemmle Film Service into one of the largest film exchanges in the country in 1909. After threats and questions by the Motion Picture Patents Company, Laemmle established his own production company, IMP Corporation (Independent Motion Picture Corporation).

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

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Posted in 1915, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, San Fernando Valley | Tagged 1915, film, hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, San Fernando Valley, Universal City | Comments Off

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on March 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1946 20th Century-Fox picture “The Dark Corner” with Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Mark Stevens, Kurt Kreuger, Cathy Downs, Reed Hadley, Constance Collier and Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra. The screenplay was by Jay Dratler and Bernard Schoenfeld based on a story by Leo Rosten. The photography was by Joe MacDonald, art direction by James Basevi and Leland Fuller, set decorations by Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox, costumes by Kay Nelson, music by Cyril Mockridge, music direction by Emil Newman, arrangements by Maurice de Packh and makeup by Ben Nye. The film was produced by Fred Kohlmar and directed by Henry Hathaway.

“The Dark Corner” is available on DVD from Amazon.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged film, hollywood, mystery photo | 33 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 46 — Snooze Alarm

Posted on March 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short has been befriended by the French family and we have seen a fair amount of embellishment of what was already a fabrication in John Gilmore’s “Severed.”

Page 63

Wolfe is in the middle of an enthusiastic smear in the “Elizabeth Short goes bad” section of the tale, assuming, apparently, that we won’t feel as much sympathy when she gets killed off if he makes her into a lazy tramp.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 45 — Nothing but Compost

Posted on March 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We are at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short has been befriended by the French family in San Diego in December 1946, about a month before her murder.

Page 62

Let’s pick up where I left off yesterday. In Wolfe’s portrayal (which is completely at odds with the facts), Elizabeth Short has given the Frenches a phony story about waiting for a friend to wire some money that “never seemed to arrive.” In fact, she got $100 almost the next day, courtesy of her former boyfriend, airline pilot Gordon Fickling.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, Donald H. Wolfe, John Gilmore | Comments Off

March 18, 1907: In L.A. Schools, Young Ivan and Josefina Learn English

Posted on March 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

“Who was the first man?” asked the teacher of an American boy.

“Washington,” was the reply. He was reminded of Adam and observed: “Yes, if you count foreigners.”

Henrietta B. Freeman paid a call on a schoolroom somewhere in Los Angeles in March 1907. She didn’t say where, nor did she give the teacher’s name, just that the teacher was a woman.

All Freeman says about the classroom is that there was a blackboard. For visual aids, the teacher had picture cards: a boy fishing, riding a bicycle and rolling a hoop; a girl washing her doll’s clothes in a tub, using a bar of soap.

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Posted in 1907, 1910, 1912, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, LAPD, Music, Streetcars | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 44 — Honored Guests

Posted on March 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is telling the story in “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story in which Elizabeth Short is in San Diego about a month before her murder in January 1947.

I got a phone call last night from retired Police Capt. Ed Jokisch about the copy of “Mogul” I gave to him. He started out: “That no-good S.O.B. Vince Carter” and it went downhill from there. Ed, who is in his 90s, is a good friend and worked in homicide in 1947 after serving in the Navy during World War II. Ed was a close friend of Capt. Jack Donahoe, the head of homicide during the Black Dahlia investigation, and is staunchly loyal to him. As far as Ed is concerned, there were few finer people in the world than Donahoe, an opinion shared by everyone except a few scurrilous Black Dahlia books.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

March 14, 1907: San Bernardino Jury Clears Man in 10 Minutes of Killing Black Over ‘N-word’

Posted on March 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
March 14, 1907

Elijah Washington died because he didn’t like being called a six-letter word for black people.

And a San Bernardino jury decided that Tough Webster had done nothing wrong in killing him, even though Webster’s friends said the slaying was unjustified.

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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 43 — Our Far-Flung Correspondents

Posted on March 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative is told in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story where Elizabeth Short has gone to San Diego about a month before she was killed.

I was voicing skepticism yesterday about what movie was playing at the Aztec Theatre, an all-night movie house in San Diego, on the date in question. “Mogul” claims it was the “Al Jolson Story,” which is extremely unlikely.

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Posted in 1947, 2006, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off