This week’s mystery movie is the 1941 Monogram film King of the Zombies, with Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer, Patricia Stacey, Guy Usher, Marguerite Whitten, Leigh Whipper, Madame Sul-Te-Wan and Lawrence Criner. Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
And then he was gone as if he had never been here at all. The hundreds of people who threw themselves at his feet to kiss the hem of his robes or simply to occupy the chair where he had been sitting were nothing but a memory.
He was Avak Hagopian, a somber 20-year-old from Kharadag in Azerbaijan, and working in Tehran as a mechanic—or a goldsmith—the stories vary. He paused one day as he was about to bring down a mallet and was struck with a vision, a vision that returned twice more. With faith in God, he would cure the sick, the blind and the diseased. The young man with the dark, intense eyes grew a beard and let his hair flow to his shoulders. He became “Avak the Healer” or “Avak the Great,” performer of miracles.
Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 Columbia film What a Woman, with Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Willard Parker, Alan Dinehart, Edward Fielding, Ann Savage, Norma Varden, Douglas Wood and Grady Sutton. Continue reading
I recently had a very pleasant chat with Daniel Curtis regarding the Black Dahlia case, British vs. American sensibilities about murder, the English and American schools of mystery writing (Agatha Christie fans, be warned), Sherlock Holmes, Renaissance drama, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Crippen, Jack the Ripper – and Mozart.
Give it a watch!
Welcome to the ninth 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 portrayals of the murder and the investigation. 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.
The high bidder on an inscribed first edition of Michael Connelly’s“The Narrows is Kostadin Hadzhibanov. Congratulations! The book will be on its way once I receive proof of a donation in the winning amount to a charity of your choice in memory of Elizabeth Short.
Coming soon: The auction of a signed first edition of Michael Connelly’s The Drop with the winning bid going to a charity of one’s choice in memory of Elizabeth Short
Next month: Black Dahlia Ask Me Anything, October 6 on YouTube.
Links:
Joan Renner: “James Ellroy Presents Elizabeth.”
LAPD Public Records Request on the Black Dahlia (pdf).
In this session, I discussed the Los Angeles County coroner’s files and the LAPD files in the Black Dahlia case. I also discussed: Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was the 1928 Universal film Lonesome, with Glenn Tryon, Barbara Kent, Fay Holderness, Gustav Partos and Eddie Phillips.
Note: This is an encore post from 2013.
Joseph and Anna Lewis, 2630 Johnston St., Highland Park, had been married for 42 when she disappeared.
Not that Joseph, 72, a carpenter, was particularly concerned about her absence. Police were not informed of the disappearance until her daughter Shirley returned from a vacation in Montana and learned that her mother was missing.
According to Anna’s brother Charles Biba, she had visited in Chicago and boarded a direct flight to Los Angeles on Aug. 13.
Joseph told police “she has probably run off with some man,” but allowed investigators to search the home and agreed to a polygraph test — which he “passed with flying colors,” The Times said. Further investigation revealed that he had filed for divorce while his wife was gone.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Henry R. Wagner of San Marino will be 85 years old Sept. 27 but the Zamorano Club couldn’t wait that long. In order to surprise Dr. Wagner, it celebrated his birthday at its monthly dinner Wednesday night—and the members got a surprise, too.
Never before had a woman been introduced to the club, but at that dinner Mrs. Wagner, Dorothy Huggings of San Francisco and Ruth Frye Axe, Dr. Wagner’s present secretary, were honor guests.
September 12, 1944
Charles Holdren, 45, lived at 1515 Trolleyway, Venice, with his wife, Ellen, and daughters from a previous marriage: Virginia, 20, Peggy, 18, and Lois, 13. He worked as a fish cutter and after Charles and Ellen had spent Sunday drinking heavily, he decided to go to bed.
Where he found his wife, Ellen, 44.
The Times said he “objected to her presence in bed when he started to retire.”
At the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre: Rainbow Rhapsody with ‘Spectratone.’
Photo: City Hall, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. Credit: Larry Harnisch/LADailyMirror.com
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
There are some obstacles that even love cannot overcome, or so David Everett has discovered. The 30-year-old mechanic is in critical condition at Torrance General Hospital after shooting himself in the head and neck in despondency over his frustrated love for his 17-year-old first cousin Janet. And yes, she lives in a trailer park.
Everett is the man who was handing out $100 tips the other day after withdrawing all his money from the bank. Not just to Flora Killingsworth for bringing him ham and eggs, but to 15-year-old newsboy Edward Grant for a nickel paper, and to a cabdriver who took him to Glendale. To top it off, Everett ripped up some $100 bills and threw them in the street.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
September 10, 1907
Los Angeles
A very uncertain day. No evil omens glare anywhere but in all aspects there lies a heavy veil, defying those who would peer into this day. Beware, therefore, of all and any unconsidered act. Promise nothing unless you comprehend clearly the full scope and limit of the pledge. Sign neither note nor contract this day without full security in your hand. Avoid speculative enterprises like the plague.
“A red flag flows wildly” this day. Take heed that neither spark nor flame be left carelessly in dangerous places. Do not retire tonight without guarding against fire with much more care than usual. A great fire is threatened for a large city on the Atlantic Coast this night.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
In New Delhi, unimaginable carnage. “I counted the bodies of at least 30 Moslems, men, women and children, who were chopped up like beef by bearded Sikhs at the main New Delhi railroad station as they were about to leave for the safety of Lahore in the Moslem Pakistan area of the Punjab,” says James Michaels of United Press.
In Hamburg, British troops force thousands of Jews from Exodus 1947 to disembark in Hamburg, Germany. “Many of the Jews, frustrated in their dream of celebrating the Jewish high holy days a week hence in Palestine, began to wail. They shouted against “Hitlerism” and being returned to “this land which is a bloody graveyard of millions of Jews,” according to Associated Press.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
September 9, 1907
Los Angeles
More than a year before the 1908 presidential election, Republican William Howard Taft is far and away the favorite over Democrat William Jennings Bryan in a straw poll reported by The Times.
Reminder: The next Black Dahlia Book Club will be Tuesday, September 15, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube. In this session, I will discuss what we know about the LAPD files in the Black Dahlia case, even though the department refuses to release them. The next Black Dahlia Ask Me Anything is October 6, 2026.
Bidding in a charity auction for a signed, inscribed first edition of Michael Connelly’s The Narrows will conclude with this session.
Send bids to LMHarnisch@Gmail.com with “The Narrows” in the subject field. I will post the bids (if any) once a day. As of September 8, the high bid was $100.
Reminder: Don’t dress up like the Black Dahlia for Halloween. Don’t do it.
Email me your questions and I’ll answer them!
Los Angeles, Calif.,
Sept. 8, 1931
Dear. Mr. Neumiller,
I am writing to you again in behalf of my husband, Walter J. Collins, No. 12824, an inmate at Represa, Calif.
I understand that his name appears on the June calendar and that he will be called before the prison board some time this month for a hearing.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
September 8, 1907
Los Angeles
Jack Foster, a handsome, blond actor who is the toast of the vaudeville circuit, noticed a young lady standing at 3rd Street and Main after a show.
Seeing that she was alone, Foster said: “Rather late for you to be out all by yourself, isn’t it, girlie?”
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Sept. 7, 1907
Los Angeles
Henry Sief of the health office has released the latest figures on infectious diseases in Los Angeles and the news is wonderful.
There were only 20 cases of diphtheria in August, a 31% decrease from the 29 cases in July. Scarlet fever was down to 9 cases in August, a 55% drop from July, when there were 20. Tuberculosis is down to 10 cases from 24.
