Tag Archives: mystery

Author John Gilmore in New Black Dahlia Documentary

January 26, 2012   The Black Bird   No comments
John Gilmore

 

Black Dahlia Rendezvous
As reported on
http://www.johngilmore.com

 

January 29, 2012 is the date for the release of the first feature-length documentary/interview on the story of Elizabeth Short, as explored, researched and remembered by John Gilmore, author of Severed, the True Story of the Black Dahlia. Gilmore met Elizabeth Short in October 1946, on her visit to his grandmother, Margaret Knox, in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. It was a week before Halloween. Gilmore was eleven years-old, and Elizabeth Short was twenty-two. Less than three months later, Elizabeth Short was found brutally murdered. Tune into johngilmore.com for updates on showing.

Update 2/22/12: A recent update of Gilmore’s website has removed the info on the documentary. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the film will actually be released…

Elizabeth Short - the Black Dahlia

Elizabeth Short in color c. 1946

 

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Who is the Black Dahlia? (1975)

January 19, 2012   The Black Bird   No comments
Who is the Black Dahlia film

Watch the 1975 made for TV flick Who is the Black Dahlia, about the mystery shrouded 1947 murder of 22 year-old Elizabeth Short, in its entirety here. Released the year I was born!

Although lacking in the gore and grue departments of a big screen R-rated feature, there’s plenty of intrigue to latch onto. Directed by Joseph Pevney of Alfred Hitchock Presents, Star Trek and The Fugitive fame, and with a torchy soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere (The Invaders and The Outer Limits). So many memorable actors and actresses! Lucie Arnaz is pretty accurate as Beth Short in terms of nearly always having a suitcase in her hands. Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Ronny “Lt. Bogomil Cox, Tom “Mr. C” Bosley, Brooke (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) Adams and a veritable cornucopia of cool character actors from the heyday of Hollyweird! Keep an eye open for Sid “Captain Spaulding” Haig (House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects) as the tattoo artist! The question is did Beth Short really have a tattoo on her leg?! Only if it was sliced off is my answer…

This past week marked the 65th anniversary of poor Beth Short’s horrendous murder. “Hollywood… down on your luck,” as Phil Lynott put it in a Thin Lizzy tune.

More Black Dahlia posts to come. Stay tuned!

-The Black Boid!

 

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Mike Hammer, Private Dick

January 19, 2012   The Black Bird   No comments
Kiss Me Deadly by Mickey Spillane

A Tale of Two Hammers

The Night Stalker / The Night Strangler DVD

The Night Stalker / The Night Strangler

Long before Kolchak the Night Stalker, Darren McGavin played Mickey Spillane’s vintage private detective, Mike Hammer, on the ole glass teat (as Harlan Ellison referred to the boob tube a few decades back). And, while we’re at it, here’s the only flick I watched while visiting my ole hometown (La La Land), in November. A nifty li’l noir flick with a righteously weird radioactive twist bordering on the science fictional. A few of you might remember catching Ralph Meeker, who played Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly, in Dan Curtis’ made for TV masterpiece The Night Stalker. Of course Meeker was alongside his predecessor, Darren McGavin. Coincidental, dontcha think? If you’re like me and dig Kiss Me Deadly on film, you won’t be disappointed with Mickey Spillane’s novel of the same title.

 

Mike Hammer, the TV series

 

 

Kiss Me Deadly

 

Enjoy!

-P

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