THE BLACK DAHLIA
In anticipation of a new film based on Hollywood’s most notorious unsolved murder, Allan Radcliffe explores the ongoing fascination with the Black Dahlia mystery.
rime fiction sells by the barrow-load and
thrillers pack out cinemas. But we are
never more titillated by crime than when it has its basis in fact. The abiding success of True (‘rime collectable part works. detailing the gruesome deeds of serial killers from Vlad the Impaler to ('rippen and Peter Sutcliffe suggests a morbid fascination with real-life horrors that holds more power over Us than anything to have leapt from the iruagination of a Stoker or Shelley.
In the l'nited States. no single horrific event has so intrigued and mystified the public consciousness as the Black Dahlia mystery ()n 15 January I047. the nude. decapitated body of lili/abeth Short. a 32-year-old aspiring starlet from Medford. .\lassacluisetts. was discovered in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body had been cut in two. internal organs had been removed. her face was slashed from ear to ear. and wounds to her head showed signs of sustained torture.
The brutal slaying immediately caught the imagination of the public. not least because of the compelling studio portraits of the raven-haired. black-clad. blue—eyed beauty that were reprinted daily in the press. Slttilfs looks and her connection to Tinsel Town. albeit fleeting and tenacious. led journalists eager to further sensationalise the crime to nickname the victim ‘The Black Dahlia'.
The murder inspired an unprecedented number of hoa\ confessions. In the aftermath of Shorts death. more than 50 ‘confessing Sams‘ handed themselves into the LAPD in an attempt to wring fifteen minutes of fame from their association with the city ofangels‘ most shocking slaying.
Some 450 l..-\l’D officers were assigned to the case. but. despite a diI/ying list of suspects which traversed Hollywood's social stratum. Short‘s killer has never been identified.
And yet the Black Dahlia refuses to stay buried. Nearly (ill years alter the event. the popular fascination with this mystery shows no sign of abating. .-\ number of best-selling books have been written on the subject. including Janice Knowltoifs Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer. which caused a storm on its publication in NUS. Knowlton claimed that ‘recovered memories‘. which surfaced during psychiatric therapy. led her to recall that her abusive father. George Knowlton murdered the woman she called ‘.»\unt Betty". The
16 THE LIST " —;_“ Set‘ JCS-'3
x ‘ i ' R O , . . -, ~ ,,‘¥'°"50mson Say: litmus -v r' ' w... minim .’ i“. ‘ ' .. .. j A w __ Mm .. When Elizabeth Short (top left) died, the whole
of Hollywood took notice. Woody Guthrie (above) and Orson Welles (top, middle) were among the suspects
case also loosely inspired a number of lilms. including the l98l Robert DeNiro vehicle True ('mr/exsions. 2()()() has seen the Black Dahlia re-enter popular culture with a vengeance. liarlier this year. Donald Wolfe. author of The .-l.s'suss'inurirm ofxllurrlyn Monme unleashed his exhaustive piece of investigative journalism. The lf/ur'k Uri/Ilia Files: The .llnl), I/Ie .anll/ and the .llrm/en'r. Wolfe‘s book was the result of a lengthy trawl through evidence kept hidden away in the l..»\ District :\Itot‘ttc‘_\"s office for over half a
century His lindings cast new light on the murder
and its wider connections to l-lollywood royalty. notorious mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel and Malia boss Joe Dragna and a comrpt police force. Wolfe‘s inquiry even led him to the door of the (‘handler family. publishers of the [A 'Iimes at the time of the murder. The author's major claim is that the Black Dahlia file remains '()pen and L’nsolved' because of a huge cover up. Dl‘tillglil about to prevent the link between the mob. press barons. Hollywood and the big shots at City Hall from being exposed.
Meanwhile. Shorts brief life and shocking death are about to be thrast back into the mainstream
THE BLACK DAHLIA REPRESENTS THE PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM GONE HORRIBLY SOUR
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consciousness thanks to Brian De Palma‘s latest
slice of cinematic (irand (iuignol. 'I'lre Blur/x Dull/m. Based on a best-selling novel by James lillroy. the film follows the investigations of two police officers ‘Bucky‘ Bleichart (played in the lilrn by Josh Hartnett). and Ice Blanchard (Aaron lickhart) who become obsessed with lili/abeth Short's death. To further complicate matters. Bleichart is confronted with a professional dilemma when he realises that his girlfriend (Scarlett Johanssonl had ties to the murder victim. lillroy was initially inspired to write his version of The Black Dahlia myster for highly personal reasons. The author‘s own mother was murdered in Los Angeles when he was a young boy. a crime which remains unsolved to this day. While lillroy’s lingering grief over his mother‘s death fuelled his passion for the subject. he also recognised that lili/abeth Short was a cipher onto which the American public projected their darkest fears and desires. 'She‘s a ghost and a blank page] he said. “A post-war Mona Lisa. an LA quintessential." lillroy‘s comments go some way to explaining the ongoing fascination with the Black Dahlia. Brutal murders happen every day. everywhere. yet the squalid death of a drifter from the mid-west.