Black Dahlia Avenger II: Presenting the Follow-Up Investigation and Further Evidence Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel to Los Angeles’s Black Dahlia and other 1940s LONE WOMAN MURDERS
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He opened the article by saying:
“After writing this I am going to leave town, and I will not return until the killer of the ‘Black Dahlia’ is under lock and key.”
Fisher went on to provide readers with a long running scenario on how the fictional detective, Nick Charles, “The Thin Man,” would have conducted the investigation. He suggested:
I’d have him [Sleuth Nick Charles] “rig” a phoney [sic] killer, one the police would give credence to, and have him use the phoney as bait to bring the real culprit in.” [Note: Incredibly, the Herald Express newspaper took Fisher’s suggestion to heart, and, just one week later, “rigged a phoney confessor as bait.”]
Their headline in 6” letters read:
“CORPORAL DUMAIS IS BLACK DAHLIA KILLER.”
The police, going along with the ruse, initially gave it credence, despite knowing that the false confessor was innocent and had already established that Dumais was on his east coast military base on the date of the murder. Did the Black Dahlia Avenger respond by turning himself in? No, but their ploy did provoke him to act. He went out the following night and killed again, writing his response in lipstick on his new victim, Jeanne French’s strangled and bludgeoned body. It was his direct and very public reply to the press and police department’s attempt to try and trap him. In large bold letters, he wrote across her nude torso, “FUCK YOU - BD.” This savage killing, known as “The Red Lipstick Murder,” occurred just three weeks after Elizabeth Short’s and is the second murder count that Head Deputy DA Steve Kay indicated he would file against George Hodel, based on the accumulated evidence.
Fisher ended his 1947 piece with these startling comments:
… “I think I know who the killer is, and think the police do also, and in a very short time will have his name. When the killer’s name is published I think a lot of his friends will be very surprised and terrified. … I believe the police right now have a definite ‘line’ on the real killer. Look for a thriller finish to this case.”
Apparently, Fisher didn’t get the “Don’t Tell Memo.” For those who might wonder just exactly where Fisher would have obtained this “inside information,” I would offer the following:
At the time Steve Fisher wrote his article, Dorothy “Dorero” Hodel, a fellow studio screenwriter, though still living with George Hodel, was working for and having an ongoing affair with the iconoclastic writer and rebel film director, Rowland Brown. (Quick Millions, Blood Money, The Doorway to Hell, What Price Hollywood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Nocturne).
Rowland would remain close to Dorero until his death in 1963. Dorero knew George had overdosed his personal secretary, Ruth Spaulding in 1945. And the later DA files revealed that she knew he had killed Elizabeth Short. Obviously, my mother would have shared this knowledge with her then current lover, Rowland.
At that time, Rowland was a close friend of and collaborator with fellow screenwriters Steve Fisher, Ben Hecht, and Gene Fowler. [Brown co-wrote the screenplay of What Price Hollywood with Gene Fowler. Fowler’s son, Will, was one of the first news reporters to arrive at 39th and Norton Ave, and obtained his own private set of photographs of the Black Dahlia crime scene, which most certainly would also have also been circulated to many of Hollywood’s “insiders.”]
In addition to Steve Fisher being a close friend of Dorothy Hodel’s then part-time lover, Rowland Brown, we also have a second direct link of Fisher to George Hodel, again, by way of George’s friend and actress, Marya Marco. As we have seen from her filmography, Myra had a small part in the 1947 film, Song of the Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Who was the screenwriter for that film? STEVE FISHER!
Chapter 3
Marion Herwood Keyes
Marion Herwood Keyes circa 1947
1940s personal secretary to Vincente Minnelli and Dr. George Hill Hodel
Marion Herwood was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts on January 25, 1904, and died in Sequim, Washington on July 4, 2009 at the remarkable age of 105!
In his excellent book, A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli (Da Capo Press, 2010) author, Mark Griffin, informs us that in the late 1930s, Marion was personal secretary to Vincente Minnelli. Griffin’s research seems to indicate that the Minnelli-Herwood relationship may well have been more than just business.
On pages 30-31 Griffin writes:
Just as Vincente’s relationship with Lester Gaba had everybody guessing, so did his association with a striking, modishly attired young woman named Marion Herwood. As Minnelli recalled, “The work at the Music Hall was getting so involved that it was decided that I should have a secretary. I hired Marion.
Each time Minnelli made the move from Broadway to Hollywood (first for a brief stint at Paramount in the late ‘30s, then with MGM for keeps) Herwood went with him. It was during Vincente’s second attempt at breaking into the movies that his faithful assistant was dealt a devastating blow. Without explanation, Vincente suddenly shifted his attention from Herwood to MGM’s resident showstopper. [Judy Garland]…After Herwood recovered from her broken engagement and the breakdown that followed, she would resume her work as a costumer on such MGM classics as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Postman Always Rings Twice. And she would eventually marry an investment banker.
Based on the timing of her breakup with Minnelli, it would appear that Marion was then almost immediately hired by Dr. George Hill Hodel to be his personal secretary at his privately owned, downtown Los Angeles First Street VD clinic.
During the war years, Marion was obviously wearing two hats: George Hodel’s girl Friday, as well as being a highly talented A-list costumer at the Hollywood film studios.
Marion was a coworker and close friend to Ruth Spaulding, who was also employed as a secretary at the First Street clinic. Ruth as we know, in the early to mid-1940s, was very much in love with and having an ongoing intimate affair with George Hodel.
As summarized in the “Aftermath” chapter of BDA, we now know that Ruth was the previously “unidentified secretary” that George Hodel admitted to killing in the1950 DA tape recordings. Here is a partially excerpted section from those original DA transcripts where George was speaking in conversation with his close confidant, “The Baron” in the living-room of the Franklin house:
“Supposin I did kill the Black Dahliah [sic]. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my Secretary anymore because she’s dead.”
…
“…They [LAPD] thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary. …”
That forced overdose occurred in May 1945, just eighteen months prior to the Elizabeth Short Black Dahlia murder. And it is believed that Marion Herwood Keyes terminated her employment as George Hodel’s secretary shortly after the suspicious “overdose” death of her good friend and coworker, Ruth Spaulding.
Here is a summary of Marion’s amazing filmography from the years 1944-1948:
1944: Gaslight, Mrs. Parkington, The Thin Man Goes Home, Marriage is a Private Affair. 1945: Between Two Women, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Keep Your Powder Dry, Without Love, Her Highness and the Bellboy, Weekend at the Waldorf, Adventure, The Clock, and The Valley of Decision. 1946: Easy to Wed, The Hoodlum Saint, The Postman Always Rings Twice, A Letter for Evie. 1947: The Other Love, Body and Soul. 1948: No Minor Vices and Arch of Triumph.
Marion Herwood Keyes’s last credited film, Arch of Triumph (1948) starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Charles Laughton.
In the secret DA files, I discovered that DA Lt. Frank Jemison had named and interviewed two of Elizabeth Short’s personal acquaintances, Ann Toth and Connie Star, both of whom were “extras” and frequently obtained bit parts in films from Hollywood’s Central Casting. Ann Toth, a part-time actress, was the girlfriend of Mark Hansen, owner of the Florentine Gardens, a popular restaurant and “nude girlie revue” nightclub. I am quite certain that my father both knew and frequented Mark Hansen
’s nightclub on a regular basis. Why? Because (1) he loved burlesque and “nude reviews” [on the DA Bugging Tapes, he bragged about taking some visiting dignitaries from China to a local burlesque house] and (2) Hansen’s Florentine Gardens Club was located just one mile from the Franklin house.
Connie Star, in her interview with Lt. Jemison, recalled seeing Elizabeth Short with a young boyfriend at Mark Hansen’s home, located on Carlos Avenue at the rear of his club, on January 11, 1947, just four days prior to her body being discovered.
Lt. Jemison determined that both Connie Starr and Ann Toth worked together as extras on location at the Hollywood studio set during the filming of Arch of Triumph. As noted, Marion Herwood Keyes, George Hodel’s former personal secretary, was the costume designer on that film, which means that the three women most certainly would have come in contact with each other during the shoot. Just another example of the seemingly unending one-degrees-of-separation.
The DA Hodel-Black Dahlia files also contained Lt. Jemison’s original handwritten notes, including his George Hodel “To Do List.” Below is a scan from the files where we discovered that on March 2, 1950, less than two weeks after George Hodel’s taped confession referencing his admitted killing of his secretary, that Lt. Jemison is reopening the original 1945 LAPD Spaulding death investigation with plans to reinterview all the original witnesses. He listed six items for follow-up on the Hodel investigation, number four being:
“#4-all witnesses – In Re. to Ruth’s death-Sec. to Hodel.”
Lt. Jemison’s reinterviews of all of the original 1945 witnesses would most certainly have included Ruth’s then coworker and closest friend, Marion Herwood Keyes.
DA Lt. Jemison
Section of Note referencing Dr. Hodel’s secretary, Ruth
Ruth Spaulding—Motives for Murder
On the back of the thick brown envelope, the handwritten note read, “NOT TO BE TAMPERED WITH OR OPENED BY ANYONE EXCEPT ––-.”
The writer, a young married woman, distraught, with emotion, had sealed the packet in March 1945. She left instructions that it was not to be opened until after her death. Sixty years later, the personal and highly confidential contents of this package would find their way to me to help establish, at least in part, the probable motive for my father’s murder of his personal secretary, Ruth Spaulding.
We recalled the specifics. Ruth Spaulding was George Hodel’s secretary at the First Street Clinic. She died of an overdose of barbiturates on May 9, 1945. The facts were suspicious and LAPD investigated George Hodel as her possible killer. LAPD learned that they were having an affair and that George had recently broken up with Ruth. As a woman scorned, Ruth had written detailed information about George Hodel’s activities and was about to reveal them. My father, in a late night telephone call from Ruth’s apartment, summoned my mother to the residence and gave her Ruth’s writings, ordering her “to burn them.” LAPD investigated, but the evidence was insufficient to charge him with the crime. Five years later [February 1950] in a confidential conversation with “The Baron,” which was captured on the DA surveillance recordings, George Hodel admits to the Spaulding murder. “They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary…”
Part of the Spaulding puzzle has been previously examined and discussed. We know that had Ruth survived the forced overdose, she could have most probably linked George Hodel to dating and possibly treating Elizabeth Short as his patient. Hence, his recorded statement, “Supposin’ [sic] I did kill the Black Dahlia, they couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my Secretary [Ruth Spaulding] anymore, because she’s dead.” But those statements made by my father were after the fact. They did not provide the motive for Ruth’s 1945 murder. We know that my father killed Ruth to keep her silent, but about what?
Based on the recent receipt of copies of these sixty-year-old private letters and documents, I believe we may well now have the answer!
It appears that Ruth Spaulding was about to expose and make public the fact that Dr. George Hill Hodel, head venereal disease control officer for the Los Angeles County Health Department, and chief-of-staff of his privately-owned First Street Clinic was fraudulently and intentionally misdiagnosing patients, then billing them for unwarranted laboratory tests, prescriptions, and medical treatment! What patient in 1945 Los Angeles would even think to question or consider a second opinion after hearing the diagnosis of “syphilis” or “gonorrhea” coming from the mouth of LA’s top VD doctor? Imagine the headlines and scandal that would have resulted from Ruth Spaulding’s revelations:
“HEAD OF COUNTY HEALTH CHARGED WITH MALPRACTICE”
Here is the back story and documentation.
In 1945, Mrs. X, a married woman, met and fell in love with a dashing young naval officer. They had a brief affair. Mrs. X became concerned that she may have contracted a venereal disease. And her lover, to reassure her, suggested that she go and see Dr. George Hodel at his First Street Clinic. Dr. Hodel examined the young woman and ordered lab tests. Shortly thereafter, she was informed by Dr. Hodel that “she has contracted Gonorrhea” and he treated her accordingly. Mrs. X was billed and paid $75.00 in services. [Approximately $750.00 in today’s dollars.] Upon returning to her home state, the distraught woman obtained a second opinion and was advised that she never had a gonorrhea infection. Mrs. X contacted Dr. Hodel’s clinic secretary, Ruth Spaulding, who then rechecked the lab reports and determined that they “were negative” and confirmed to Mrs. X that she had never contracted a venereal disease.
Ruth Spaulding sent Mrs. X the laboratory reports, signing the letter with, “cordial personal regards.” [Note: This is hardly a business salutation and to my thinking is suggestive that the two women could well have had additional correspondence or personal contacts of which we are unaware.] My father’s secretary further personalized her letter by adding an apologetic, “P.S., I am required to send the enclosed bill.”
Exhibit A
COPY OF MRS. X 1945 TYPED/SIGNED LETTER TO BE OPENED ONLY AFTER HER DEATH
(I have redacted personal names and identifying information)
Exhibit B
COPY OF 1945 LETTER THAT RUTH SPAULDING MAILED TO MRS. X
(Dated and signed just sixty days prior to Spaulding’s death by “barbiturate overdose”)
Exhibit C
Mrs. X’s 1945 First Street Clinic, billing receipt
Exhibit D
Mrs. X’s Public Health VD prevention pamphlet provided by George Hodel
In addition to Ruth Spaulding’s knowledge of the above malpractice, I can now add a second, equally compelling reason, why my father would have wanted his personal secretary—dead. In her secret writings and intended expose of my father, it is likely that Ruth had also included her direct firsthand knowledge of the fact that her ex-boyfriend/employer, was regularly performing illegal abortions at his downtown First Street Clinic.
How do we know this? It came directly from George Hodel’s own mouth—from his own recorded statements and admissions. Overlooked in 2005, I discovered them during a careful review of the District Attorney’s 1950 Hodel Surveillance Transcripts.
The date was March 19, 1950. [The thirty-first day of electronic surveillance at the Franklin house.] As we know, the detectives were recording and monitoring the conversations two-miles away in the basement of LAPD’s Hollywood Police Station. Below is a scanned copy of page 133 (my numbering). Between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m., George Hodel and “a colored woman” are at the Franklin house, discussing the possibility of the woman being provided a room in exchange for her maid service. Father tells her he is a doctor. They discussed medicine, and she mentioned having had a “currettement” (abortion) in 1944. Father informed her that he owned the First Street Clinic, located downtown at First and Central, and incredibly, went on to tell her, “He has done lots of them (abortions).” [Note: The transcript shows the word as “currettement.” This is the shortened term for a 1940s abort
ion procedure known as a “D&C”, or dilation and curettage. The patient was first administered an anesthetic and then the physician performed a surgical abortion, where, after dilating the cervix, he used a curette (sharp metal instrument) to scrape the uterus. In modern times, this scraping has been replaced with a suction technique to reduce the chances of heavy bleeding and infection. My half-sister Tamar’s 1949 abortion by Dr. Ballard was a “D&C,” and, according to Tamar, “resulted in a large amount of blood loss.”]
Exhibit E
Dr. Hodel 1950 Electronic Surveillance Transcript page 133
Prior to the discovery of these statements, I had speculated that at least part of my father’s source of power and influence came from the information he had locked in his First Street Clinic VD files—highly sensitive medical charts listing the identity and specific medical treatment of well-connected film, police, and politicians documenting their sexual and moral indiscretions.
Now, with absolute certainty, we can add to it their criminal actions. In 1950, abortion was a felony, punishable by state imprisonment. Anyone (including a police officer, deputy mayor, or film director) who brought his pregnant girlfriend or mistress in for a quick cure was guilty as an accessory or accomplice. Once the procedure had been performed, that person was beholden to and at the mercy of the individual he had entrusted. From 1938 through March 1950, at least at the First Street Clinic, that person was—Dr. George Hill Hodel.
In 2003, LAPD reluctantly confirmed to the press that George Hodel was a suspect in his secretary’s overdose. In 1949, the LAPD detectives interviewing my sister, Tamar, at Juvenile Detention also informed her of their suspicions:
“We [LAPD] found her death [Ruth Spaulding] suspicious, and suspected George Hodel was involved in her overdose, but didn’t have enough evidence to prove it.”