Professor Hex: Black Dahlia Revisited

I'm watching the 48 Hours Mystery episode "Black Dahlia Confidential". They are concentrating primarily on Steve Hodel's "Black Dahlia Avenger". So far, a half hour into it, it's pretty much a rehash of previously debated facts concerning George Hodel and Elizabeth Short. It is nice to see some of the locations, such as the still-existing Frolic Room and Hodel's amazing Franklin House, complete with secret room.

Here's some Dahlia news for you as well.

An article on Steve Hodel's "Black Dahlia Avenger" from the LA Times (subscription) and see also "Black Dahlia Murder FBI Files Published by PaperlessArchives.com" if you're interested.

They've interviewed Tamar Hodel, Steve's half-sister, who claims that George Hodel raped her as a child. She also claims that Man Ray was a dirty old man who took nude pictures of her and her mother saved her from getting raped by John Huston, yes that John Huston, director and actor, son of Walter, father of Angelica. I wonder what CBS lawyers thought of that. Of course, John Huston is long dead, but you'd think they'd be a bit more careful about calling one of America's great directors a raping pedophile. Of course, Huston played a variation on this character in "Chinatown", acting for a director with a confirmed penchant for young girls, Roman Polanski. The strange thing about this accusation against Huston is that I've heard it no where else, not even rumors. One would think the Huston family (or its lawyers) would have a comment.

Of course, if Huston was a pedophile perhaps his casting in "Chinatown" was a sick inside joke.

Wow, now they're interviewing Walter Morgan, 90 year old ex-LAPD detective. Cool. And the footage of the Franklin House is really amazing.

Okay, the substantials: they're comparing Hodel's handwriting with the handwriting on the Black Dahlia Avenger letters. Not enough evidence says their expert.

They examine the photos from George Hodel's photo book, the very photos that sent Steve on his quest. Their expert says she's 85 percent sure that the photos are not Elizabeth Short.

Now they're claiming as "new evidence" the supposition that Short's body was posed in imitation of Man Ray's "Minotaur'. This is neither new or "evidence". This idea is covered extensively in Hodel's book and is simply a matter of opnion.

James Ellroy just said he believes that Steve Hodel has solved the case. LAPD told 48 Hours that almost all the evidence from the Black Dahlia case has disappeared from their files.

Final verdict: Unsolved

I enjoyed Steve Hodel's Black Dahlia Avenger and I recommend it. I'm not sure Hodel solved the case but George Hodel was a fascinating man and the book is an insight into the underbelly of Los Angeles in the forties. And, as I've said here before, George Hodel's life has the whiff of something sulphurous and satanic. I think he was into much stranger things than we so far have imagined.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:35 PM