IF: secret

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This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “secret”.
listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?

“Bachelor number one is a successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed. Between takes you might find him skydiving or motorcycling.”
— Host Jim Lange’s introduction of Rodney Alcala on  The Dating Game, 1978

Rodney Alcala kept a big secret.

By the time Rodney appeared as “Bachelor Number One” on a 1978 episode of the popular ABC game show The Dating Game, he had already murdered two women in California and most likely two more in New York. But despite being a serial murderer and rapist, he managed to charm the interview staff of The Dating Game enough to allow him an appearance.

On the show, seated next to Jed Mills who described his fellow contestant as “bizarre” and “very strange,” Rodney answered the questions posed by bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw and eventually was chosen as her date. However, Ms. Bradshaw refused to go through with the date, citing Rodney’s “creepiness” as a deciding factor. In what is believed by analysts to be a reaction to the rejection, Rodney raped and murdered 12-year old Robin Samsoe and at least two other women a short while after his episode aired.

A long investigation finally brought Rodney to trial in 2003. Charged with Samsoe’s murder and four additional killings, he acted as his own attorney, rambling nonsensically in court (in two distinct voices) for nearly five hours. He claimed he was at Knott’s Berry Farm during Samsoe’s abduction. During his closing argument, he played a recording of Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant,” pointing out the lyrics in which the protagonist tells a psychiatrist he wants to “kill”. In less than two days’ deliberation, the jury convicted Rodney on five counts of first-degree murder. He is currently on death row at San Quentin Prison, awaiting a series of appeals.

Over the years, various pieces of evidence have surfaced, possibly connecting Rodney to nearly 130 murders.

Perhaps, if Jim Lange’s introduction had been more truthful….

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from my sketchbook: helen chandler

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I heard dogs howling. And when the dream came, it seemed the whole room was filled with mist. It was so thick, I could just see the lamp by the bed, a tiny spark in the fog.
By the late 1920s, Helen Chandler was a huge star on Broadway. Her credits numbered twenty plays ranging from broad farce to Shakespeare. As the 30s approached, she hoped her popularity would continued as she headed for Hollywood. Helen had roles in a few pictures including the film version of her popular stage production Outward Bound,  about passengers stranded on a strange ship only to find out they are all dead and the ship is the transportation to heaven (70 years before M.Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense).  Helen had hoped for the lead role in Paramount’s all-star production of Alice in Wonderland,  but lost out to actress Charlotte Henry. Studio heads tried to console a disappointed Helen by casting her in the role for which she is remembered best — Mina Seward-Harker in the 1931 Universal Pictures horror classic Dracula  opposite Bela Lugosi. Dracula went on to become one of the most successful films of the time.

Unable to ride the success of Dracula, Helen’s career began to falter. She returned briefly to the New York stage, but she could not reignite her earlier popularity. Battling chronic alcoholism and an addiction to sleeping pills, Helen entered a sanitarium in 1940. Her career was over.

In 1950, Helen fell asleep while smoking and her apartment went up in flames. She suffered severe burns that left her permanently disfigured. In 1965, while undergoing surgery for a bleeding stomach ulcer, Helen suffered a fatal heart attack and passed away at the age of 59. Per her wishes, she was cremated. Her ashes were never claimed by any relative and they remain at Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles to this day.

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from my sketchbook: martine carol

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Cherchez La Femme
The 1950s were Martine Carol’s time to shine. The seductive blond bombshell was a top box office draw in French cinema. She starred in 15 films and was regularly compared to Marilyn Monroe. She was married to Stephen Crane, fresh from his divorce of Lana Turner (and father of Cheryl Crane, who was accused of murdering Lana’s subsequent lover, gangster Johnny Stompanato). As the 50s ended, Martine’s popularity dwindled — overshadowed by up-and-comer and compatriot Brigitte Bardot.

Despite her tremendous fame, Martine struggled with drug addiction, eventually leading to a suicide attempt. She married three more times after her parting with Crane. She was even kidnapped by notorious French gangster Pierre “Crazy Pete” Loutrel, who had earned a reputation as a cold-blooded killer. After one day, Martine was released from his custody and he sent her roses as an apology.

Martine suffered a heart attack and died suddenly in Monte Carlo at the age of 46. She was interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, but her grave was broken into amid rumors that Martine was buried with a number of valuable pieces of jewelry. Her remains were moved to Cimetière du Grand in Cannes.

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from my sketchbook: roger peterson

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But February made me shiver/With every paper I'd deliver/Bad news on the doorstep/I couldn't take one more step
Roger Peterson was born and raised in Alta, Iowa, and earned his private pilot’s license in 1954, just after graduating from high school. Four years later, he got his commercial pilot’s certificate and was quickly hired by Dwyer’s Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa. Mason City was just a short drive from where Roger and his high school sweetheart, now new bride, made their home.

21 year-old Roger began making charter flights for Dwyer’s, logging flight hours needed for the next level of pilot certification. However, he was not trained for instrument flying and, therefore, not licensed to fly at night.

On February 2, 1959, the manager of the Surf Ballroom, in nearby Clear Lake, contacted Roger for a charter flight to Fargo, North Dakota. The Surf was hosting a concert and some of the performers wanted to fly ahead while the tour bus carried the majority of the tour’s personnel. At a little after 1 a.m. on February 3, Roger’s four-seater Beechcraft Bonanza sat on the runway of the Mason City airfield as a light snow fell. Soon, the single-engine craft was boarded by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as “The Big Bopper”. Roger checked the instruments and the plane took off. Roger maneuvered the plane northwest, cleared the airport but, just moments later crashed into a cornfield about five miles away — killing everyone aboard.

After research and investigation, the Civil Aeronautics Board ruled the crash the result of pilot error. It seemed that since Roger was not certified in flight solely by instruments, he misinterpreted the readings from the unfamiliar navigational gyroscope. He believed the plane was gaining altitude, when in reality, it was losing altitude. He became disoriented while in flight. The weather conditions were only a secondary contributing factor.

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IF: shiny

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The new Illustration Friday challenge word is “shiny”.
Some things are classic, some things are just old

It was summer in Philadelphia in the early 1980s. I was scooping ice cream on South Street to help pay my tuition for art school. Bubblegum pop radio station WIFI had just shaken up their format, re-emerging as “I92 – Rock of the 80s”. As disco was becoming passé, I92 dove headfirst into the popularity of New Wave music, hoping it was a bankable decision. At the ice cream parlor, we cranked the New Wave full blast, utilizing it two-fold — to drown out the chugging fans and to welcome eager customers. The whole staff was animated by the music, dancing joyously as we balanced frozen treats on fragile cones and piled toppings on enormous sundaes. And, in turn,  it translated to entertained and contented patrons.

Among the top selections by The Pretenders, The B52s, Talking Heads and Eurythmics (whose big hit was ice cream-ized by the scoopers as “Whipped Cream is Made of This”), I92 mixed in the occasional novelty tune. Once an hour, we were treated to Angel and the Reruns’ ode to Anissa Jones, “Buffy Come Back” and Total Coelo’s dancey and nonsensical “I Eat Cannibals” . But the one we all waited for was Haysi Fantayzee’s “Shiny Shiny”. As soon as that angelic female voice offered the opening prayer of “Good times come to me now”, the entire place collectively smiled and braced themselves for three minutes and forty-two seconds of pure delight. When the gritty male vocalist spewed his raucous rhymes over a soundtrack punctuated by fiddles and jangling bells, we were frenzied.

Haysi Fantayzee was the brainchild of Paul Caplin, a visionary songwriter/manager/producer/musician from London. Paul was a former member of Animal Magnet, a synth-pop band that accompanied pop superstars Duran Duran on their first national tour. Paul paired his then-girlfriend, vocalist Kate Garner with 20-year-old singer/songwriter Jeremy Healy, carefully dressed them in funky, mismatched thrift-store chic, and produced an amalgam of country, reggae and tribal rhythms reminiscent of contemporaries Bow Bow Wow and Adam and the Ants. The songs, described as political and sociological nursery rhymes set to quirky music, were contained on the band’s one and only album, aptly titled Battle Hymns For Children Singing.  The band became darlings of the music video era MTV. While being interviewed on the groundbreaking music channel, Jeremy Healy even accused Culture Club’s Boy George of stealing his look.

But, fame was fleeting and the the members of Haysi Fantayzee went their separate ways in late 1983, after releasing four successful singles from their Certified Gold debut/swan song.

Now, unlike other stories of ill-fated notoriety that appear in this blog, the only thing to meet an untimely demise in this tale was the band itself.

Jeremy Healy went to become one of the most in-demand and respected DJs on the international club scene. He has produced albums for Gwen Stefani, George Michael and, ironically, Boy George. Jeremy has worked extensively with prestigious clothing designers as musical director for fashion shows, including a decade-long relationship with Victoria’s Secret. He also married and divorced actress Patsy Kensit (but then again, who hasn’t).

Kate Garner retired from the singing end of the music business, in favor of pursuing her love of photography. Kate’s photos appear on the cover of Sinead O’Connor’s 1987 debut, The Lion and the Cobra.  She has photographed everyone from Dr. Dre and Bjork to Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie. Her work has been featured in GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue  and Elle. More recently, Kate took a stab at wallpaper design with one of her creations securing a spot in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Paul Caplin totally abandoned the music business in favor of a more lucrative venture – software. Paul is the founder and CEO of Caplin Systems, a web trading technology company. His bio page on his company’s website makes no mention of his former career.

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DCS: brenda benet

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Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives

From her first part on the early 60s ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds,  Brenda Benet became an in-demand character actress. She played roles in both top prime-time comedies and dramas in the 1960s and 70s, appearing in Mannix, Love American Style, I Dream of Jeannie, Hogan’s Heroes  and many others. She even landed a part in the popular 1973 action film Walking Tall  with Joe Don Baker and Elizabeth Hartman. In 1967, she married actor Paul Peterson of The Donna Reed Show.  In 1969, she left Peterson for actor Bill Bixby. When her divorce from Peterson was final, she married Bixby in 1971.

Brenda was best known for her role as the devious schemer Lee Dumonde on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives.  The character caused trouble for Brenda, as rabid fans reviled the actress. A storyline had her character cause the breakup of one of the show’s popular couples, Doug and Julie. Fans were outraged and Brenda had a difficult time dealing with the negativity. This led to complaints from fellow cast members regarding her on-set behavior.

Brenda’s life began to crumble around her. She divorced Bill Bixby in 1980.  Their son Christopher died suddenly in 1981 at the age of 7. Brenda was devastated and sunk into depression. She began a romantic relationship with 19-year old Tammy Bruce, who would later become an author, political commentator and frequent contributor to Fox News.

On April 7, 1982, Tammy arrived home to find Brenda locked in a bathroom. Sensing something was wrong, Tammy went to get help. Suddenly, she heard a gunshot and soon discovered Brenda had taken her own life. She was 36.

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from my sketchbook: merriman smith

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I had to interrupt and stop this conversation/Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation
In 1941, Merriman Smith became the White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI), a position he held until the Nixon administration. He began the tradition of closing his presidential conferences with “Thank you, Mr. President,” a practice still used by current correspondents.

On November 22, 1963, Merriman Smith sat with several other reporters in the back of a radio car as it made its way down Elm Street in Dallas, Texas — a few hundred feet behind the presidential limousine. Merriman, a regular at a shooting range frequented by Secret Service agents, immediately recognized the sound of three distinct gunshots. He looked up to see a commotion in the open-top presidential vehicle as it sped away. Merriman immediately grabbed the radio and fired off a bulletin to the UPI news desk — a bulletin that, at this point, was pure speculation. A bulletin that could bring him notoriety as easily as it could ruin his career. A mere four minutes after shots rang out in Dealey Plaza, Merriman dictated “THREE SHOTS WERE FIRED AT PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S MOTORCADE IN DOWNTOWN DALLAS” to the operator at UPI headquarters. He waited for confirmation as the Associated Press’ Jack Bell tried to pull the phone away. Merriman’s words were the first account the world received of JFK’s assassination. The press car followed the limo to Parkland Hospital. As it pulled into the emergency room entrance, Merriman tossed the now-dead phone to Bell and ran up to a Secret Service agent who answered his query about the President’s condition with “He’s dead, Smitty.”

Thinking quickly like a true newsman, Merriman hitched a ride with a Dallas policeman to the airport in time to see Vice-President Lyndon Johnson sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

In 1964, Merriman won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy. He was the first to use the term “grassy knoll,” a term that would appear in virtually every future account of the incident.

In 1970, Merriman recognized one more sound of gunshot. It was the one that came from his own revolver. The one he used to put a bullet in his head.

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IF: faded

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This week’s Illustration Friday suggestion for inspiration is the word “faded”.
it's better to burn out than to fade away

“Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded.” — Gertrude Stein, 1931

In 1907, Gertrude Stein met Alice B. Toklas at the apartment of Gertrude’s brother Michael. Soon after, Gertrude and Alice became companions and lovers until Gertrude’s death in 1946.

Gertrude wrote Q.E.D. (Quod Erat Demonstrandum)  in 1903, although it was first published posthumously in 1950. The book detailed Gertrude’s repressed homosexual feelings, her perception of her feelings in society and the moral dilemmas that she faced. Her use of the word “gay” as a euphemism for homosexual was the first time the word was used in print in that connotation. (Many uninformed readers totally missed the reference.)

Gertrude, a renowned art collector and close friend of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, stipulated in her will that her collection be given to Alice. However, the couple’s relationship had no legal recognition. As the paintings appreciated in value, Gertrude’s relatives made claim to them. While Alice was away on vacation, Gertrude’s relatives broke into Alice’s apartment and removed a great number of paintings and placed them in a bank vault. With no legal rights in the matter, Alice made a living with her writing, eventually penning The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook  in 1954. The book, a combination of recipes and autobiography, became one of the best selling cookbooks of all time. It famously contained a recipe for Hashish Fudge, a treat which Alice boasted “can liven up any gathering and is easy to whip up on a rainy day.” The recipe called for spices, nuts, fruit and cannabis. Alice even made suggestions as to where the illegal title ingredient could be obtained. 

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