WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:06.000 Hello, I'm John allre Before you listen to this episode, a couple of 2 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:12.720 things. These are podcasts from the first season of Who Killed Teresa. They 3 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:17.239 haven't been heard in over four years. They're raw. It took me a 4 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.559 while to develop a style. A lot of people like them that way, 5 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:29.480 unvarnished. Others commented that it was amateurish. Nonetheless, here they are. 6 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.280 I'm edited. I haven't gone back and listened to them, I haven't cleaned 7 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.039 them up. Thanks for listening. And once again, life isn't fair. 8 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:45.359 Justice is blind and dysfunctional, and some cops aren't smart and dedicated like on 9 00:00:45.399 --> 00:01:00.719 television. This is Who Killed Teresa. I never knew her in life. 10 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:07.560 She existed for me through others in evidence of the ways her death drove them 11 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:14.920 working backward seeking only facts. I reconstructed her as a sad little girl and 12 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:21.040 a horror at best. Could have been a tag that might equally apply to 13 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:26.359 me. I wish I could have granted her an anonymous end. Relegated her 14 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:32.840 to a few terse words on a homicide Dick's summary report, carbon to the 15 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:38.920 coroner's office more paperwork to take her to Potter's Field. The only thing wrong 16 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:45.200 with the wish is that she wouldn't have wanted it that way. As brutal 17 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:49.159 as the facts were, she would have wanted all of them known. And 18 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.439 since I owe her a great deal and am then the only one who does 19 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:09.919 know the entire story, I have undertaken the writing this memoir. Welcome to 20 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:15.439 the podcast This is Who Killed Teresa? And I'm your host, John Allore. 21 00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:21.960 This is a podcast about criminal justice, social justice, and some unsolved 22 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:30.960 homicides from Quebec in the late nineteen seventies. And today we're gonna We're gonna 23 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:35.080 deviate from the script a little bit. We've had a couple episodes that are 24 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:42.080 interviews and frankly they've been a little heady, little academic, so I need 25 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:50.680 a break, and just to give you update. There are some some trails, 26 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:54.639 some unanswered questions from past episodes that need to be followed up on them. 27 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:59.800 They will be followed up on in future episodes. Just these things take 28 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:07.360 time, so I'm unwilling to say anything definitive until until I get a few 29 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:13.599 more answers. I'm almost there, and when I am there, we'll pick 30 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:17.960 back up on the trail of Teresa what we'll call the Teresa lore Cases. 31 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.000 But until then, I thought, Hey, it's August, it's the summer. 32 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:29.360 Let's um let's have a little fun. We could all we could all 33 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:35.360 use that. So today we're we're going to talk about I mean long, 34 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:43.080 long before the events surrounding my life became the subject of true crime. I'll 35 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:47.439 let you in in a secret, I was a bit of a true crime 36 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.439 junkie before all of this, anyway, And so we're going to focus today, 37 00:03:53.479 --> 00:04:01.360 particularly on some of my exploits when I lived in Los Angeles between the 38 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:08.479 years of I believe it was in nineteen ninety four to nineteen ninety eight. 39 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:13.199 So for La listeners, I know there's some of you out there from La 40 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:19.879 Santa Monica in North Hollywood, this episode today is dedicated to you. I 41 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:34.560 call it My Walk in La Noir three Stories, and we're gonna start today 42 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:43.319 with some talk about the author James Elroy. Now, if you remember, 43 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.879 I did an interview with Michael arn't Field on crime and literature, and one 44 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:54.160 of the things that got cut from that interview was a long passage where we 45 00:04:54.199 --> 00:05:01.079 talked about Elroy. We talked specifically about how you know, when he broke 46 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.639 out with Killer on the Road and Brown's Requiem and all these fantastic novels. 47 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.480 You know, a lot of people were kind of like, man, what 48 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:15.399 an imagination? Where does this? Where does this stuff come from? And 49 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:21.600 then come to find he releases in nineteen ninety six his memoir My Dark Places, 50 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:25.680 which is about the murder of his mother, and we kind of go, 51 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:30.399 oh, I see that that the fiction is being fed by a real 52 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:34.079 life event and then it's being churned back out into fiction. Isn't that fascinating, 53 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:39.480 that feedback loop? Anyway, we had a long discussion about that. 54 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:46.560 In la crime literature, we got into the Michael Connolly novels, particularly the 55 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:56.160 character Harry Bosh, and I'm I've not read any Connolly. I'm kind of 56 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.480 passed reading forty or fifty crime detective novels. So I but Michael's praise for 57 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:08.800 it, Michael Arnfield's praise for it led me to kind of short track solution. 58 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:15.000 So I started watching them. The series on it's on Amazon Prime here 59 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:24.199 in the United States called Bosh. Um it's three seasons, and I binged 60 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:28.240 right through it. The first thing I want to say about Bosh is yet 61 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:32.680 you know, um, it's it's not particularly fantastic. It's no wire, 62 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:38.319 you know, by any means. Um. It doesn't set the world on 63 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.000 fire, but it's certainly lights of lights of lights of fire in my heart. 64 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:45.000 For a number of reasons, you know, it's a little too pat 65 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:49.079 The characters aren't fully developed. But the guy who plays Bosh there, Tolliver, 66 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:54.240 I can't remember his first name. It's he's got some fantastic Hollywood name. 67 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:59.439 He fits the bill. Uh and uh. You know, all of 68 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:05.279 the set pieces are fantastic, the locations and the interiors of homes and hotels 69 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:13.560 and flophouses, they just look perfect. They're not shy on product placement in 70 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:19.079 Bosh. If you watch it, I just don't see a guy like Harry 71 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:25.920 Bosch entering a bar every time and immediately knee jerk responses. All have a 72 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.040 fat tire. Just it's like, okay, sure, sure, pal. 73 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:36.439 And it seems like every every young adult under the age of eighteen in the 74 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:42.199 show can be coerced or information be can be drawn from them from a coke 75 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:48.920 or a diet coke. It's preposterous. Nevertheless, as I say, it's 76 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:56.519 you know, it's la noir um. It's got those elements U and it's 77 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:11.319 it's somewhat Transfercile. So this got me thinking a little bit about about el 78 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:18.879 Roy and the time, the time I spent in La. Now I should 79 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:28.839 begin by saying, my my exploits in La began somewhat auspiciously the night before 80 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.440 I was to fly out there. Um was Friday, June seventeenth, nineteen 81 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.879 nineteen ninety four. So if if if you know that day, that's that's 82 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.879 the native the night of OJ's run towards the Tijuana border. So I can 83 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:56.360 remember clearly, um watching this at a friend's television, Jillian's television in her 84 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:01.200 apartment. That would have been late afternoon, so we he was around three, 85 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.399 so I think around six o'clock Toronto time. We were we were transfixed 86 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:09.240 to this on her television. And then the next day that was it. 87 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:13.399 I was. I was in La. There, I was and met my 88 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:18.399 friend Bobby, and we quickly, you know, went out for drinks. 89 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:22.320 He kind of showed me around the town and lo and behold, it's midnight 90 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:28.639 and there Bobby and I are at Gretna Green, at Nicole Brown Simpson's house, 91 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.279 and we're routing around the front and back of the place. Playing junior 92 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:39.879 to detective. Sure enough that the police pull up and and say, what 93 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:43.759 are you guys doing here? And we say, well, you know, 94 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.679 I was looking around. He says, ah, a couple of looky lose. 95 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:48.559 Where are you from? I say, I'm from Toronto, and lo 96 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:54.279 and behold the next day in the Los Angeles Times, there I am looky 97 00:09:54.399 --> 00:10:01.639 lose from as far away as Toronto, Canada have been captivated by the case 98 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:07.480 of O. J. Simpson. So that's that's where I started in in 99 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:11.840 LA. Not long after that, I was I was living along the beach, 100 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.399 and um, a friend of mine sent me. He said, you 101 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:24.320 need to read this novel. It's called American Tabloid. It's by this author, 102 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:28.279 James Elroy. You'll love it. Um, he said, I'll send 103 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.279 it to you. And while I was waiting for it, I had a 104 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.919 lot of time on my hand. At that time, I didn't have a 105 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:41.159 job yet yet. Um, so I'd spend afternoons the Barnes and Noble at 106 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:46.799 the Third Street promenade. And this, this was a novelty at this time. 107 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.000 All of a sudden, you know, these big bookstores we were back 108 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:56.679 and they were three floors high and there's Starbucks in them or some coffee equivalent. 109 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:00.240 I don't think Starbucks was in at that time. I think Arms and 110 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:05.000 Nobles have had their own coffee place and you could actually sit in a chair, 111 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.559 you know, and they'd let you, you know, read the books. 112 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:09.240 You would have to buy them. So while I was waiting that, 113 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:16.360 I remember just sitting in this Cineamonica Barnes and Noble UM starting to read American 114 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:26.879 Tabloid. And that's that's kind of where it's it started. UM quickly burned 115 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:35.360 through the the the La Quartet, which includes The Black Delia, includes um 116 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:43.480 La Confidential, which they based the movie on, and then the the The 117 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:50.759 Underworld Trilogy as it's as it's known. UM begins with American American Tabloid and 118 00:11:50.840 --> 00:12:00.320 became really really transfixed on on all of these things. So, you know, 119 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.679 my partner in crime with was Bobby. He's the same guy who who 120 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:09.399 who the night first night I was there about at Gretna Green and so we 121 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.840 quickly, you know, we wanted to go to all these places and suss 122 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.440 them out. So you know, we'd go to Parker Division, which was 123 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:24.960 then the police headquarters, and we'd go to you know, Old La and 124 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:31.000 Um to Rampart, and I think La Confidential features Um. You know, 125 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:35.759 all of his senior officers eat at the Pacific Dining Car. So even though 126 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:39.120 we couldn't afford it, we'd go to the Pacific Dining Car and you know, 127 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:43.720 you'd order something called a I had on the menu something called the baseball 128 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:46.759 steak, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a It's a piece 129 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:52.120 of meat, you know, the size of your your fist, and you 130 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.360 know, in the shape of a baseball, and you know, carb this 131 00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:01.279 meat probably cost you fifty dollars, which neither of us could afford. But 132 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:07.000 what did week here were we were hanging out in La Confidential land. We 133 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:13.360 went to the site, of course, where the Black Dahlia was her Elizabeth 134 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:18.200 Short is her name, where her body was found, which is sort of 135 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.279 just on the edge of the kind of the west South suburbs of LA was 136 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.039 just developing then, so it was an empty field. And the section I 137 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:35.039 read at the beginning is actually the opening of el Royce Black Dahlia, and 138 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:45.039 Elizabeth Short has been become famous with that moniker, which is funny. You 139 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:50.240 know, A fellow podcast Misconduct, which is hosted by Colleen and Eileen. 140 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:56.000 Actually just this week have an hour long special on the Black Dahlia on Elizabeth 141 00:13:56.039 --> 00:14:01.360 Short, where they debunk a bunch of myths about that case. It's one 142 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:05.679 of the most gruesome if you don't know it, in LA history, and 143 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:13.799 it's it's infamous. She was found the torso was cut in half, drained 144 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:20.840 of blood. It was her mouth was cut into a joker like Grimace. 145 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.840 She died from a blunt trauma to her to her head and from other wounds. 146 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:31.759 Sections of her of her skin, of her flesh were flayed off. 147 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:39.919 It's just a completely horrific crime. But the black Dahlia, that Moniker is 148 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:43.960 that was created by an oppress after she had died. If you last Elizabeth 149 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:46.919 Short, if you said her, hey, you're the Black Dahlia, she 150 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:52.960 wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about. And and certainly el Roy, 151 00:14:52.879 --> 00:15:01.279 that's why I read it, romanticizes the case greatly. I think there's 152 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.039 a great point in in conflating the death and murder of his own mother with 153 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:13.120 the Dahlia case, which which he clearly does um and he brands her as 154 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:18.279 a as a whore, and there is there's no evidence whatso whatsoever of Um 155 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:24.720 of Elizabeth Short being a prostitute. Anyway, if you want more on the 156 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:31.919 Dahlia case, you should check out the Just Go to Misconduct podcast. It's 157 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:35.600 it's a great episode. And no, I'm not This is not a cross 158 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.240 reference promotion or anything like that. I just happened to to listen to it 159 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.360 because I knew I was going to be talking about Dahlia. So that's why 160 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:50.919 that is. So back to to elroy Um. You know, I think 161 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:58.000 probably his most famous work is La Confidential, and that's because of the movie 162 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:06.080 that was made by Michael Curtis Uh in the late in nineteen nineties is durring 163 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:11.720 H, Denny de Villo, Guy Pierce, Russell Crowe, etc. And 164 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:18.639 you know, Russell Crowe is a tough guys like you know, like a 165 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.519 you. You don't look like rock Lake. You look much better in rock 166 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:26.639 Lake. I'm the ghost of fucking Christmas past. You know, I don't 167 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:33.559 know, I don't know where. You know, this idea of gravel monotone 168 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:41.519 Um evolved from as the voice of urban vigilanteism. But it's it's kind of 169 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:48.360 stuck though, as the voice of you know, hard boiled nor I guess 170 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.279 I guess it goes back almost probably the Bogart in Multese Falcon. You know 171 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:56.200 he's got that flat monotone and all that. But now it's I mean, 172 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:00.000 I'm even doing it right now, right, it's ridiculous. But if you 173 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.919 I mean, if you look at um, you know, any of the 174 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:07.160 Batman movies. Um, it's the same thing, right, I mean Batman, 175 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.680 I was like this the resin gul right, and then and then you 176 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:15.319 even have like, you know, Harvey Dent getting into it. I'm Dent, 177 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.680 we need to save the city and all this, and then Robin is 178 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:22.400 like, ever since I was in the Orphanage, I knew you were the 179 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:27.440 Batman. I knew it all along. Hey I'm not wearing hockey pants. 180 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:32.680 I mean what it's like everybody. I mean, I swear if the movie 181 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:34.960 was you know, if you didn't have the visual, you'd have no freaking 182 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.920 idea who was talking? Because everyone is talking like this except Commissioner Gordon, 183 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.400 who's you know, he's sort of up like this, Hey, Batman, 184 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.640 get the bad light, you know. God God bless him, God bless 185 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:52.559 Gary Olman for doing doing something different. But anyway, that's my that's my 186 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:57.400 stick. I'm work workshopping it. That's my stick on the voice of film 187 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:11.359 law, which you like this anyway, back to back to James Elroy. 188 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:19.039 So, to make a long story short, so I met Elroy twice and 189 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:23.960 I think, uh, you know, around this time, you know, 190 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:26.640 I kind of want to I guess, kind of know what. So what's 191 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:30.240 going on with my sister's case and how does this factor endo all this? 192 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:33.920 And I would say at this time, and this is right around the time 193 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.839 my brother came to La to visit me and we had and he was investigating 194 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.000 my sister's case. So this stuff was and I but I was not really 195 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:45.920 I was. I was not yet like an apostle of it. I was. 196 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.720 I was interested, but I had other things going on. But I 197 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.599 was definitely thinking about it. You know, I hadn't come to you know, 198 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:57.039 sort of like a hard conclusion. This is a murder. This series 199 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:02.200 of cases related. I didn't know at other cases, but it was it 200 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:07.160 was certainly swimming around my head at that time, without a doubt. Um 201 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:14.400 So, So the first time I met James Elroy UM was at a reading 202 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.680 in like either Brentwood or Westwood. Um and it was right. Well, 203 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:26.920 it must have been ninety six because because My Dark Places was out and at 204 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.119 that time, when you bought a copy of My Dark When I have a 205 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:36.519 collection of first editions of el Roy's books, and some of them, some 206 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:38.519 of them I bought on eBay and he had already signed them, and some 207 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:45.319 of them he signed personally. But around this time, copies of My Dark 208 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.960 Places would be released with a little sticker on it that said signed by the 209 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:53.160 author. And if you if you look inside, sir, sure enough they 210 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.799 are signed. But it's just his initials. It just says, um, 211 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:03.079 it's just a J and an E. So I wanted something better, So 212 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:08.039 I took a copy of My Dark Places to this reading and I was going 213 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:15.799 to have James Elroy sign it and I and I arrived early and lo and 214 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:19.160 behold, he was there. He was just hanging out. I'm having a 215 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.319 coffee or something, and no one was in this bookstore, and he was 216 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:30.400 me and my friend Kenson and his then girlfriend. And so I got up 217 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:32.960 the nerve and I went up and I started talking to him, and he 218 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:37.640 was very receptive. And we're sitting there talking. I'm holding my copy at 219 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:41.519 the book and I kind of tell him my story. You know, I 220 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:48.039 have this sister and she died mysteriously and minded in a murder, but we 221 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:53.079 don't know and blah blah. And he takes my copy of My Dark Places 222 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.079 and he immediately says, he says, ah, yeah, man, I 223 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.440 know she lives, baby, she lives, and he signed it. She 224 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:08.319 lives right there. Now you can argue with me on this, but to 225 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:15.440 the best of my knowledge, Elroy never signed that book or any book she 226 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:22.599 lives that way prior to that. I mean, if you, for instance, 227 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:29.319 if you open my copy of Black Dahlia, it's it's inscribed to someone 228 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:36.799 else because I bought it online, and it says LA nineteen forty seven streets 229 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:42.160 overflow with black blood, and it's got his signature, and they're all signed 230 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:48.000 like that. One of them he drew a picture of his bulldog in it, 231 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:53.240 and they all have kind of some kind of crazy yeah yeah baby, 232 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:57.359 you know, crime daddy, oh blah blah blah kind of stuff in him. 233 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:02.039 But this was the first time, to my knowledge, he said she 234 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:10.559 lives in it. Um. So jump forward to years later. I'm now 235 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:17.440 living in North Carolina and Elroy's back and to let you know how much further. 236 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.440 He was doing a reading of The Cold six thousand at a bookstore in 237 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:29.119 Durham, North Carolina called the Regulator Bookstore. So I went. I went 238 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:37.920 again and had my copy of Cold six thousand out. He seemed at this 239 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.119 point, you know, he was he was like a caricature of James Elroy. 240 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:48.279 You know, he was the Hawaiian shirts and all the daddio lingo. 241 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.079 But he seemed to be, you know, removed from himself a little bit 242 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:59.200 in the whole stick, so ended he was. Obviously he was more famous 243 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:03.880 by now. So I got in line, and I wasn't going to kind 244 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:08.559 of reintroduce myself because I didn't see there's much point to it, And unprovoked, 245 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:12.559 he just took my book and he just signed it she Lives. I 246 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:18.400 mean I didn't even request that. That's how he signed them. And as 247 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:25.400 it's about, to the best of my knowledge, subsequent copies that he that 248 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:32.119 he autographs of his books, a lot of them are are inscribed she Lives. 249 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:40.000 And it's it's obviously a reference to his dead, murdered mother. But 250 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:47.720 I like to think that I was the impetus to create that. So that's 251 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:53.079 my first LA story. I'm work shopping it and I'm sticking them with it. 252 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:07.319 Today's podcast is brought to you by Audible. Get a free audio book 253 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:14.960 download and thirty day free trial at www dot audible trial dot com. Slash 254 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:21.599 w kt over one hundred and eighty thousand titles to choose from for your iPhone, 255 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:27.839 Android, Kindle, or MP three player. Now, I know what 256 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:32.319 you're gonna say. You're gonna say, whoa wait a minute, wait a 257 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:37.359 minute, do you sell out? You said you'd never do ads on this 258 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:41.640 podcast, And just just hear me out here, all right, hear me 259 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:48.720 out number one, never say never. Number two. I'm just experimenting with 260 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:53.319 something here, all right. First of all, the first time somebody came 261 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:56.119 to me and said, do you want to monetize your podcast? I had 262 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.680 to use their platform, and I was like, no, I don't want 263 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:02.319 to. I want to do that. I want to do it my way. 264 00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:07.000 Some other folks came forward and made a better offer, and I thought, 265 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:12.440 there may be there may be a way for me to make this work 266 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:21.240 for certain podcasts. I certainly don't want to be pushing pampers and prozac when 267 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:26.960 I'm talking about unsolved murders in Quebec. That's a little too close to the 268 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:30.240 bone. But if we're doing an episode like this, which is a little 269 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:37.839 a little further out there, I figure maybe this is something that can can 270 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:42.119 work. And I have no idea if anybody will even use this stuff. 271 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:47.799 But nevertheless, the third reason is is I've said to you that, you 272 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:52.319 know what, I once upon a time I was an actor. Why the 273 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.920 hell do you think I went to LA and try as I might, they 274 00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:03.880 would never let me be a voice over actor. So screw you. Now 275 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:11.079 I can be my own voiceover actor, all right. So so for this 276 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:17.720 podcast, bear with me. If it doesn't work, I'll stop doing it. 277 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:21.720 But maybe for certain ones we can give it a go. So on 278 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.279 that subject, I thought, hey, why don't you check out audible. 279 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:30.759 It's not such a bad idea. Um, all of Elroy's, James Elroy's 280 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:34.599 titles, you can you can get there. There's this guy named Dick Hill 281 00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:42.000 who's who's apparently the king of of of true crime podcasts, and he does 282 00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:45.279 he does, he does all the Connolly books as well. He does Brown's 283 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:51.519 Requiem. I listened to him. I like him because for one reason is 284 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:56.000 because he doesn't dog like nasty and doctor time. He talks in a regular 285 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:57.480 voice. I like the way, you know, the way he does it. 286 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:00.799 And then some of the some of the other titles by el Roy. 287 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:07.960 Elroy narrates one of them himself, which is interesting. But the La Confidential 288 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:11.880 is done by David Strathhern who was who was in the movie that would be 289 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:15.559 very good. White Jazz is narrated by the late great Jerry R. Back, 290 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:21.319 which would be fantastic. So um, I would say, you don't 291 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:25.559 give it a try. You can download your free audiobook today. You go 292 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:34.400 to audible trial dot com against forward slash w kt and again that's audible trial 293 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:53.880 dot com forward slash w k T for your free audio book. So this 294 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:03.160 is part two True Hollywood Stories. In part two, when I arrived in 295 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:07.720 La, I needed a job, I didn't I didn't have And if you 296 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:10.480 ever, if you're at least back then, I don't know what it's like 297 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:15.160 now, but back then, you know, if you needed a job and 298 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:18.960 you were you know, you were young, you'd you'd look in you know, 299 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.720 you'd look in the trade papers and you know, backstage LA or something, 300 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.279 and you'd see somebody you'd needed an administrative assistant or something, and you 301 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:27.279 go, oh, that'd be all right, I don't do that, and 302 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:30.599 you know, so you'd go out to the location. It was always kind 303 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.640 of mysterious what the you know, what the business was, But as soon 304 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:36.480 as you walked in the door, you'd realize it was porn. You know, 305 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:38.440 you were going to be an admin assistant for the porn industry. And 306 00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:42.920 that's never too attractive. So, you know, it's really hard. If 307 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:45.559 it's hard to break in in la as a as a, you know, 308 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:51.200 in the industry, it's equally hard to just make a living there. Um. 309 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:53.640 So I but I did answer an ad. There was a guy who 310 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.680 put an ad in a paper. He was he said he was from Brooklyn. 311 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:03.000 He didn't know how to drive, he needed a driver. And you 312 00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:07.240 know, I had scant assets. But well, the one thing I did 313 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.400 have that we did have, I had a Plymouth voyager van, a great 314 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.319 Plymouth voyager of the Van. So I thought I could do this, So 315 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:21.720 I answered, I answered the ad. Um. The guy's name was we're 316 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:30.119 gonna call him Gabe mots Um, and Gabe was a famous lyricist. He 317 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:36.480 had um he had written all the lyrics for all kinds of songs for a 318 00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:45.920 highly celebrated star from from the seventies who was who was still alive? Tons 319 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:52.079 and tons of hit golden platinum records. He Gabe went on to write, 320 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:56.240 um a lot of lyrics for Disney movies. Um and he was very very 321 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:03.279 famous. Um but he didn't drive. Um and and he he actually talked 322 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:07.759 like this, Uh, yeah, I don't drive. I never learned how 323 00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:10.759 to drive in uh in Brooklyn. So I just I just need someone to 324 00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:17.920 drive me around. He would like this, and so so um uh and 325 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.839 and my days would consist of this. I would I would pick him up 326 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:26.400 in the morning at his apartment. He lived off Sunset Boulevard. If you're 327 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:32.039 if you recall where the Virgin Record store is or was. I just I 328 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:34.079 can't imagine a record store still being there. So he just lived up the 329 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:40.880 corner from Virgin Records in Hollywood. Um and, um, you know, 330 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:45.400 i'd I'd ride the elevator up to like the twelfth story and this was there 331 00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:48.440 was kind of a posh hotel, although his place was a bit of a 332 00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.920 dump. Um but there were a lot of celebrities living there. Benstein lived 333 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:57.279 there and I'd ride the elevator occasionally with him. Slash from Guns n' Roses 334 00:30:57.400 --> 00:31:02.960 Live lived there, and you know, you'd so you'd ride the elevator with 335 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:06.279 him. And then you know, people who've never been to LA or kind 336 00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:08.799 of like, whoh you met Slash, and you have to realize the nature 337 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:14.759 of meeting celebrities in LA. It's totally different. You know. It's it's 338 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:17.599 like, you know, you're standing in a grocery line with a celebrity, 339 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:19.680 big deal. It doesn't mean you're friends or anything. So this was like 340 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:25.519 this was this was riding the elevator every every morning or the acca, you 341 00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:30.759 know, every second week with Slash and his then girlfriend. You know, 342 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.200 he was obviously coming back either from the studio or night partying or something. 343 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:40.359 And and in the in the like nine months I worked for for for for 344 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:45.519 uh Gabe, Uh, you know, I never got I think about as 345 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:53.119 far as I got was morning Slash he just kind of nod, uh. 346 00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:56.720 You know, he bare chested, leather jacket, jeans, top hat. 347 00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:02.680 I'm not kidding, you know, sunclass aviator glasses, Slashing and el So 348 00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:08.759 I'd pick I'd pick Gabe up. You know, all these gold records on 349 00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:12.160 the on the wall and all that kind of stuff, and I just have 350 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:15.839 to drive him around. And as he did his errands, he'd take me 351 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:20.640 to the podiatrist and Beverly Hills, So I take him to the podiatrist, 352 00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:25.759 let's uh, let's pick up my uh my laundry on on Ventura. So 353 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:28.839 you know, you'd have to go all over the Hills and you know, 354 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:31.759 into the valley and that he he liked to go to I don't know, 355 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:37.880 in Albertson's or a Vaughans, I don't know what. But we specifically had 356 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:43.160 to go somewhere in in the valley for his grocery shopping because they were the 357 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.039 only ones who sold the really good Mitchelline's lasagna. And I don't really understand 358 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:54.160 this because Mitchelline's was a franchise in every single supermarket, but nevertheless we had 359 00:32:54.319 --> 00:33:00.400 we had to go there so um so that you know, this is what 360 00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:04.599 I would do, and um um it was kind of it was. It 361 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.279 was. It was kind of a depressing lifestyle. You know, cash under 362 00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:15.039 this table. Um that got that got really bizarre. Now, now Gabe 363 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:19.359 had this younger Gabe was about fifty and he had this younger boyfriend named Mark, 364 00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:24.599 who was who was rough trade man. I mean the only time I 365 00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:29.240 ever saw Mark, you know, he was bare chested and cut off jean 366 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:36.319 shorts and just ready to party, you know. Um and um he looked 367 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:39.039 like an l a rough trade party boy to me. Um. He didn't 368 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:45.160 live with Mark. He lived in like West Hollywood, m And one night 369 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:55.000 Mark got in trouble and um, he got arrested. He was found prostituting 370 00:33:55.079 --> 00:34:00.880 himself and in in West Hollywood, and there were drugs involved, and he 371 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:05.960 got he got he got thrown into county jail in downtown of La. I 372 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.320 remember we had to go to this place where he was arrested, this apartment 373 00:34:09.559 --> 00:34:13.280 which I thought was going to be his apartment, you know, to pick 374 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:16.920 up his things, and it was you know, it was like this bungalow, 375 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:24.239 the shit ass bungalow with absolutely no furniture and if there was a mattress. 376 00:34:24.760 --> 00:34:29.000 You know, there's drug paraphernalia all over the place. You know, 377 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:32.880 they were popper bottles everywhere, this this kind of thing. So I don't 378 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:38.039 I don't know what we were intending to collect because I didn't see any clothes 379 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:42.039 there or anything anyway, So I spent the better part of a week, 380 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:47.599 you know, between the jail and the bail bondsman. I mean I remember 381 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:55.119 being up three in the morning running Gabe over the bail bondsman and thinking, 382 00:34:55.159 --> 00:35:00.679 this is not for me. This is this is great fodder for or novel, 383 00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:04.639 but this is this is not for me. Um. And then and 384 00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:08.519 then like like going into the La County jail and you know, Marty insisted 385 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:15.400 because he's scared coming right into the two way glass lock up with with him. 386 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:22.159 So you know, you're you're going down this just this narrow, green 387 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:27.079 painted corridor, you know, past the benches in glass, and it's like, 388 00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.280 okay, you know, on your right as huge black guy, huge 389 00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:32.559 black guy, huge black guy. Oh there's skinny Mark, you know. 390 00:35:32.599 --> 00:35:37.480 And and Marcus sitting there pathetically like in an orange jumpsuit. You know, 391 00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:43.760 you could tell he'd been crying, and and you know he's you get me 392 00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:45.639 out of here, Get me out of here, please, please, Gabe, 393 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:50.440 you know, and it just it all became like like too much. 394 00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:54.920 It became just just crazy. And you know, is these episodes of of 395 00:35:54.920 --> 00:36:01.360 of this kind of of like deep ship nonsense. And then moments of mundanity, 396 00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:06.920 of running Marty back to the pediatrist or to pick up his laundry, 397 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:12.199 and it just seemed to be He's in much of a story, I admit, 398 00:36:12.440 --> 00:36:17.159 but it's all I got at this point, me running around this guy 399 00:36:17.239 --> 00:36:22.599 Gabe back and forth, um, and he was this, but he was 400 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:25.599 this, you know, outside of that, he was this famous talent. 401 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:28.760 He was always kind of talking about, you know, I just got to 402 00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:30.760 get back on my feet. You know, if they just take one lyric 403 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:34.639 from me, they'll see I'm the you know, I'm lumpy, the next 404 00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:38.000 star. I can bring it back. I know again, they just guy 405 00:36:38.039 --> 00:36:42.559 have some faith in me, you know, running back to the jail. 406 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:51.360 Jeez. So that was my That was my first job in LA was being 407 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:54.800 the driver, um, and then getting caught up in this kind of tawdry 408 00:36:54.880 --> 00:37:15.480 sort of story and West Hollywood laws Angeles. My parents excelled at appearances. 409 00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:21.679 They were a great looking, cheap couple along the lines of Robert Mitchum and 410 00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:28.119 Jane Russell and Michale. They stayed together for fifteen years. It had to 411 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:32.679 be the sex. He was seventeen years her senior. He was tall and 412 00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:37.079 built like a light heavy weight. He was drop dead handsome and possessed a 413 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:44.760 massive wang. He was an ineffectual man who came off dangerous at first reading. 414 00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:49.880 She bought the physical package and the charm that went with it. I 415 00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:53.199 don't know how long the honeymoon lasted. I don't know how long it took 416 00:37:53.239 --> 00:38:15.960 them to get disillusioned and seed their marriage to dry rot Part three in Cold 417 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:28.599 Blood. I don't really remember where this script came from, but somehow somebody 418 00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:31.960 brought a project forward among us. It was a it was a play. 419 00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:43.679 It was called Last Called and it was about a fictitious meeting between JFK. 420 00:38:44.280 --> 00:38:50.920 John F. Kennedy and Sam Giancanna. You know, one night before he 421 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:57.360 died. Jeff K died in in some Italian eatery. So there were two 422 00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:00.559 main characters in the players, gen con I and JFK. And then there 423 00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:05.840 was there was one other guy. Somebody, somebody had to play sort of 424 00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:08.800 like the owner of the restaurant or the waiter or something, somebody to you 425 00:39:08.840 --> 00:39:13.679 know, to kind of come in the room occasionally and break things up when 426 00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:17.119 you know the dialogue wasn't going anywhere. You know, Serve them drinks, 427 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:21.360 serve them food. This kind of thing. It was a pretty straight stick, 428 00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:24.239 right. It was character piece, two guys sitting at a table talking, 429 00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:31.159 you know, about the Cuban missile crisis, and you know, I 430 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:36.239 don't know al Capone's ship. I don't even remember um, you know, 431 00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:45.960 interspersed with the heavy dollops of um. Really like profane dialogue about Marilyn Monroe. 432 00:39:47.880 --> 00:39:52.360 So the guy who wrote it, I can't remember his name is, 433 00:39:52.840 --> 00:39:55.840 but he's you know, he was from a different era, right, he 434 00:39:55.960 --> 00:40:04.239 was from rat Pack, you know, Las Vegas Times. His claim to 435 00:40:04.360 --> 00:40:12.519 fame was that he had been Lenny Bruce's lover. That's that's all. That's 436 00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:15.920 all I knew. I didn't know him for anything other than being having been 437 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:22.880 Lenny Bruce's lover, and had he had written this play Last Call that was 438 00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:29.559 was written, you know, like Ocean's eleven. And I don't mean the 439 00:40:29.639 --> 00:40:36.320 remake either, I mean the really painful one with Frank Sinatri and Sammy Davis 440 00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:43.039 Junior, Peter Lawborn. Now all this, I mean just really corny dialogue. 441 00:40:44.599 --> 00:40:49.639 But somehow somebody said, what John, you should play JFK. And 442 00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:52.960 his friend of mine, who was Italian Tommy. Tommy should play Giancanna, 443 00:40:53.079 --> 00:41:00.840 and we enlisted my friend Bobby Bobby who who was who was with me that 444 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:07.800 first night at Gretna Green. Bobby was a film director, but he was 445 00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:12.719 always game for a good time. So we got Bobby to direct this thing, 446 00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:15.079 which we really didn't think was going to be very, very difficult. 447 00:41:15.159 --> 00:41:17.880 You know, as I say, it's two hand or two guys on stage, 448 00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:29.519 you know, talking nah like JFK, ridiculous ship like this. Um 449 00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:32.639 and then and then we of course we needed um, we needed the third 450 00:41:32.679 --> 00:41:37.239 guy. We needed the owner waiter. So um, we got a real 451 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:44.519 restaurant oder. We got a guy named Steve Restivo. I don't know who 452 00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:47.800 knew him, but you know, he's significantly older than us. Um. 453 00:41:49.599 --> 00:41:52.119 You know, he was in his I think fifties or sixties. Then I 454 00:41:52.199 --> 00:41:54.320 was. I was in my late twenties, Lily, a little young to 455 00:41:54.320 --> 00:41:58.440 be playing KFK. But hey, what the hell, it's Hollywood, right, 456 00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:07.679 it's make believe. So we got this, this real this, this 457 00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:16.159 this real Italian restaurant owner from the valley to be a UM and uh, 458 00:42:16.199 --> 00:42:22.119 you know, the thing was was destined, you know, I said, 459 00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:24.880 we had the first of all, we had to rewrite the script because it 460 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:30.840 had it had all this stuff in there, like I don't know, it's 461 00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:32.480 one of the lines was something about it, I'd really like to go down 462 00:42:32.519 --> 00:42:37.119 on Maryland's Collie Flower. It's like, you know, no, please, 463 00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:42.400 I I you know, I I don't even want to. I don't want 464 00:42:42.400 --> 00:42:45.800 that image in my head if you don't mind. So we need we need 465 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:52.159 to strike that. And I remember the guy Lenny Bruce's a Lover was really 466 00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:54.760 offended that we had we had basically we took his play and we gutted it. 467 00:42:55.360 --> 00:43:00.480 And somebody had written a famous biography on JFK. I can't remember the 468 00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:06.079 guy, so Washington Post Report or something, and and I basically transposed a 469 00:43:06.159 --> 00:43:10.199 bunch of ships from that book into into this play to make it a little 470 00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:15.360 more palatable and to bring it up to, you know, to nineteen nineties 471 00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:22.320 standards. UM. So we had this thing and we'd um, we'd you 472 00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:24.119 know, it isn't no, there's no budget for these kinds of things. 473 00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:29.719 I don't even know how we eventually paid for this space we were doing. 474 00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:31.760 I certainly didn't pay for it. I think I think Tommy did the guy 475 00:43:31.800 --> 00:43:37.920 play in them. Gian Kanna Um, but we'd we'd rehearse at Bobby's house, 476 00:43:38.559 --> 00:43:42.360 who also lived in the in the in the valley. Actually, to 477 00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:51.079 be more precise, we'd rehearse at Bobby's mommy's. We we rehearse in her 478 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:55.000 garage, um until she got fed up with us. And then we'd rehearse 479 00:43:55.039 --> 00:44:02.719 at Steve Restivo's restaurant, which was was in Studio City. Um. His 480 00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:09.320 restaurant was at four three four nine twanga. I haven't even I've been away 481 00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:12.719 so so long, I can't remember how to pronounce that. It's not to 482 00:44:12.880 --> 00:44:16.679 junga twanga, I believe. Um. So we'd we'd rehearse at this restaurant, 483 00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:24.039 and the thing was put on at some shit hole you know, holds 484 00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:35.519 twenty thirty people. Theater would be generous in in North Hollywood. Um. 485 00:44:35.559 --> 00:44:39.360 And initially, yeah, you know, we were doing we had a month 486 00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:45.480 long run and I remember the first couple of weeks. We're friggin rough man. 487 00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:49.679 I mean, I'm telling you there was there was nobody there, you 488 00:44:49.719 --> 00:44:53.239 know, but you know, somebody's girlfriend in the box office person, you 489 00:44:53.320 --> 00:45:00.400 know, this kind of thing. Um. But as fortune would would have 490 00:45:00.559 --> 00:45:07.360 it, Um, So Tommy worked at this coffee shop on Melrose called Stir 491 00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:14.559 Crazy, and it was kind of a hangout for for people that Jake Kasden 492 00:45:14.760 --> 00:45:21.119 hung out there, who was Um the writer their Kasden's son, Um, 493 00:45:21.119 --> 00:45:29.719 and um Phil hoff Philip Hoffman hung out there. And Tom knew Phil Hoffman, 494 00:45:30.559 --> 00:45:34.000 he knew him really really well. And this, um, this was 495 00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:37.639 before I mean he was a he was, he was a star. He 496 00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:43.719 had already made that that Pacino picture where Pacino's blind, and he was about 497 00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:49.039 to fly to Italy to do the thing where he appeared in Drag with with 498 00:45:49.119 --> 00:45:51.679 de Niro. He was about to do He was about to do that. 499 00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:53.480 So I'd met him a few times. He was not a friend of his. 500 00:45:53.559 --> 00:45:59.880 I'd met him at Stir Crazy. He's over coffee and and Tommy convinced 501 00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:07.960 Hoffman to come in and see this play. And Phil Hoffman loved it. 502 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:12.480 Um, he didn't. He didn't love me. I I mean, he 503 00:46:12.519 --> 00:46:15.599 didn't say anything about about my performance, but he loved Tommy in it. 504 00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:19.840 And he's like, this is your vehicle. This is the thing that's gonna 505 00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:22.079 make you. You know, we got to turn this into a showcase, 506 00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:28.519 all this kind of thing. And Phil Hoffman gave US two thousand dollars to 507 00:46:28.719 --> 00:46:35.079 extend the run for an additional two weeks, and he got the word out. 508 00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:40.760 I remember sitting there and performing one night and looking out into the into 509 00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:47.000 the house and there were these two goombas sitting in the front row that looked 510 00:46:47.239 --> 00:46:52.079 right out of central casting for you know, like The Godfather or you know, 511 00:46:52.159 --> 00:46:55.079 some some Mafia movie. And it turns out they were. They were. 512 00:46:55.079 --> 00:46:59.039 There are a couple of guys who were who were like extras. You 513 00:46:59.039 --> 00:47:04.079 can see them in the open wedding shot of or the opening wedding scene in 514 00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:10.480 the first Godfather movie. So they they they were They were again life imitating 515 00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:17.800 art. They were um in quotation marks actors who were you know, of 516 00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:23.280 the criminal element who had heard there was this play about Gankana and wanted to 517 00:47:23.320 --> 00:47:30.519 come and see if it was accurate or fun and they liked it. I 518 00:47:30.519 --> 00:47:32.559 remember them seeing it, coming them back, you know afterwards, and he 519 00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:37.079 did a a job, you know, did it did all right? You 520 00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:40.559 know, this kind of thing. So it was um, you know, 521 00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:43.880 all of a sudden, you know, for the last two weeks were playing, 522 00:47:43.880 --> 00:47:49.159 are playing a packed houses and all this kind of thing, and we 523 00:47:49.239 --> 00:47:54.159 thought it was going to be the beginning of great, great things like this. 524 00:47:54.159 --> 00:48:01.880 This was going to be the catalyst shitty theater to propel our our our 525 00:48:01.880 --> 00:48:17.119 film careers in Los Angeles. So, based on this experience, you know, 526 00:48:17.159 --> 00:48:21.199 we wanted to follow up the momentum. We're like, you know, 527 00:48:21.239 --> 00:48:23.239 we got to do another project. We got to do another project, you 528 00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:25.480 know, because you know the name of the game in la is you do 529 00:48:25.519 --> 00:48:28.519 it. You do a play, you do a showcase. You like, 530 00:48:28.760 --> 00:48:31.599 I don't know, agents and casting directors out they never come, but you 531 00:48:31.639 --> 00:48:35.800 always believe in your head that they will come, you know. Um, 532 00:48:36.039 --> 00:48:38.400 Nevertheless, you need to propel this fantasy. You know, the next show 533 00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:42.920 will be the one where everyone comes, you get signed, you know, 534 00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:50.159 and then and that's it. You're on You're on your way on the the 535 00:48:51.400 --> 00:48:58.519 utter bullshit fantasy treadmill which is Hollywood. Um, you're better off buying a 536 00:48:58.559 --> 00:49:04.719 lottery ticket. So we found this other vehicle. A Canadian writer Michael McKinley 537 00:49:05.079 --> 00:49:09.679 had written a play um called Walt and Roy and this couldn't miss man, 538 00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:14.559 This was this was a great idea. It was um, it was about 539 00:49:14.559 --> 00:49:22.559 Walt and Roy Disney and the sort of plot was It's the eve of Walt 540 00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:28.559 and Roy going to the Bank of America to request alone so that they can 541 00:49:28.639 --> 00:49:34.400 make snow white, and Walt and Roy are up all night kind of agonizing 542 00:49:34.440 --> 00:49:37.199 their pitch. That was. That was really it, and we were like, 543 00:49:37.239 --> 00:49:38.480 well, this is it. This was this is great. This is 544 00:49:38.480 --> 00:49:44.880 a property from Canada. No one's seen it. Um will do it. 545 00:49:45.559 --> 00:49:49.159 It will get discovered, you know, it'll rub off good on Mike Hill, 546 00:49:49.559 --> 00:49:55.119 rub off good on us, and we're off to the races, and 547 00:49:55.119 --> 00:50:01.880 and everything that could go wrong with the production went with with that. So 548 00:50:02.039 --> 00:50:07.320 to begin with, we said, why why mess with success? We we 549 00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:15.559 assembled the same team. Bobby directed I would play Walt um Uh, Tommy 550 00:50:15.599 --> 00:50:22.159 would play Roy Um and uh. Actually at first it was not Tommy who 551 00:50:22.199 --> 00:50:24.880 was going to play Roy. Andy Buckley was going to play Roy. And 552 00:50:24.920 --> 00:50:29.519 some people you probably if you know Hollywood, you know Andy Buckley. Buckley. 553 00:50:29.800 --> 00:50:35.199 Andy was the love interest of the vice president on the first year of 554 00:50:35.320 --> 00:50:38.079 VP. He's in the New Jurassic Park movies. He's all He's all over 555 00:50:38.239 --> 00:50:42.079 HBO. You see him a lot in HBO. And Andy, Uh, 556 00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:47.079 Andy and the the we had all been friends. Andy and Tommy or Bobby 557 00:50:47.159 --> 00:50:52.360 and I and um originally he was going to play Roy Disney. But you 558 00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:58.760 know, of course he he bailed and h Andy had a habit of this. 559 00:50:59.039 --> 00:51:01.559 Um I remember for you know, like two years earlier, he was 560 00:51:01.599 --> 00:51:06.880 in a production of The Heidi Chronicles playing Scoop and he got booked in a 561 00:51:06.960 --> 00:51:10.000 role and he couldn't do it. So he talked me into stepping into the 562 00:51:10.079 --> 00:51:14.039 role a Scoop like for a week and he's like, oh, it'll be 563 00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:15.840 fine, it'll be fine, they'll rehearse you and all that. They didn't. 564 00:51:16.039 --> 00:51:21.000 They didn't frick and rehearse me. I spent a Sunday evening for an 565 00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:27.199 hour with the stage manager walking me through the blocking. Um and then Thursday 566 00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:31.639 night I was on for four nights. There's absolutely terrifying experience. Thank you, 567 00:51:31.679 --> 00:51:37.280 Andy, thank you so much for that. Um So anyway, um 568 00:51:37.480 --> 00:51:39.400 so, anyway, Andy bailed, so we got Tommy to come in and 569 00:51:40.239 --> 00:51:50.360 to do Roy Disney. And as I say, it just it just didn't 570 00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:53.519 click, man. I mean to begin with, we we chose a theater 571 00:51:53.559 --> 00:51:58.639 in Teluca Lake, and I think we are sentimentally attached to that because the 572 00:51:58.639 --> 00:52:01.880 original Walt Andy studios had been had been over there, so are like, 573 00:52:01.880 --> 00:52:06.199 well, this is a great idea. Well they and nobody lived around to 574 00:52:06.239 --> 00:52:08.280 Luca Lake. Or it wasn't to Luca Lake, its Silver Lake. To 575 00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:13.039 Luca Lake is the valley. It was Silver Lake, so old Hollywood, 576 00:52:13.719 --> 00:52:19.639 way way way out on Sunset Boulevard. Um, the past. You nobody 577 00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:24.280 lived there and then let alone now I'm sure. And so you know, 578 00:52:24.320 --> 00:52:29.039 you're asking people to, I don't know, take a two hour bus ride 579 00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:35.360 to come and see a play. And this theater was this theater was run 580 00:52:35.400 --> 00:52:39.480 by this absolute lunatic. This and he lived in the theater. I remember 581 00:52:39.480 --> 00:52:46.599 he lived up Um like you'd you'd go, I'm not making this up. 582 00:52:46.639 --> 00:52:52.840 You'd go into the lighting booth, you know, up you know, in 583 00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:57.039 the in the rafters of the theater, and there's another door in there, 584 00:52:57.039 --> 00:53:01.199 and you'd walk through the door and you were in his room. And so 585 00:53:01.239 --> 00:53:04.719 the guy, you know, you know a lot of you were rehearsing at 586 00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:07.639 ten o'clock and he'd he'd come out of the room and yell down from the 587 00:53:07.639 --> 00:53:12.639 red knock it up. I get that hell out of here. It's the 588 00:53:13.840 --> 00:53:19.960 close up. And the guy was I remember he was a prodigy of John 589 00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:23.400 Cassavetti's or something. Right, So he's he's like a freaking method actor, 590 00:53:23.559 --> 00:53:27.360 right, So he's yelling at us, but he's he really believes it, 591 00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:30.239 right. I mean, I thought the guy was gonna freaking kill us. 592 00:53:30.280 --> 00:53:32.440 He probably thought he was yelling at Jenna Rowlands or something. He knock it 593 00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:37.280 off down there. I taught you about farther, fucking shut up and Jesus 594 00:53:37.400 --> 00:53:40.199 Christ, so you were under this this. I mean, I just remember 595 00:53:40.199 --> 00:53:45.360 being tense all the time, um, because I thought someone was gonna yell 596 00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:49.159 at me or blame me. So you know, that was the first thing. 597 00:53:49.159 --> 00:53:54.400 And and we do these stupid things, you know that. M Yeah, 598 00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:59.360 you know how along around Gorman's Chinese Theater. I mean, nowadays it's 599 00:53:59.400 --> 00:54:02.039 quite common you have people dress those Disney characters and all this, you know, 600 00:54:02.360 --> 00:54:07.559 taking pictures and signing autographs. I think back then it wasn't the degree 601 00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:10.760 it is now, but there were a lot of people who would play characters 602 00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:15.880 that I remember. Something somebody dressed is something furry, and definitely there was 603 00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:20.079 a batman, you know, there was some there was some guy out there 604 00:54:20.239 --> 00:54:23.480 in black latex with a with a black cowl over his head. And so 605 00:54:23.519 --> 00:54:29.400 we got the idea that we dresses Walton Roy Disney go out there and sign 606 00:54:29.400 --> 00:54:31.679 autographs. So there I am, you know, in two tone shoes with 607 00:54:31.760 --> 00:54:37.519 a pencil thin mustache and you know, suspenders and a tie. And of 608 00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:40.039 course nobody knew who the frigg. I was like, oh the all are 609 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:43.840 you supposed to be? Dude? And I'm you know, I'm trying to 610 00:54:43.920 --> 00:54:47.079 hustle and hand out pamphlets and no one's having any of it. Besides, 611 00:54:47.079 --> 00:54:50.199 you have to take a bus for two hours in order it comes to the 612 00:54:50.199 --> 00:54:52.599 performance, and it wants to do that, you know, they just they 613 00:54:52.679 --> 00:55:00.719 just want to get their souvens and go back home. But it was it 614 00:55:00.800 --> 00:55:06.760 was for a variety of reasons that you know, part two of our of 615 00:55:06.760 --> 00:55:12.559 our great plan for for Hollywood domination just failed miserably. I mean, nobody 616 00:55:12.639 --> 00:55:16.320 came and um, you know it kind of it just it just ended it 617 00:55:16.440 --> 00:55:22.159 kind of misery. And this this was this was kind of my my sign 618 00:55:22.159 --> 00:55:24.360 off to Hollywood. Very shortly after that, I think within a month, 619 00:55:25.159 --> 00:55:30.199 we had packed the van to leave, um back east, you know, 620 00:55:30.239 --> 00:55:37.840 feeling defeated and like I would never do anything associated with the enter team and 621 00:55:37.920 --> 00:55:44.760 industry. Again, this kind of it was really black world. And I 622 00:55:44.800 --> 00:55:47.960 remember, and you know, to kind of to bookend it, uh, 623 00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:52.079 you know, the night before I left, I've been up too late with 624 00:55:52.239 --> 00:55:55.840 friends and I just had I just had time to kill. I remember sitting 625 00:55:55.840 --> 00:56:02.039 in that Barnes and Noble where I had originally read American Tabloid and I burned 626 00:56:02.079 --> 00:56:12.119 through. I guess it's Peter Erskine's book Raging Bulls, Easy Riders and Raging 627 00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:15.280 Bulls about the sort of a heyday in the seventies of the film industry. 628 00:56:16.559 --> 00:56:21.519 Um, and just just burning through that. I read that whole book. 629 00:56:21.519 --> 00:56:24.800 I think in a two hours sitting. It's just kind of strung out and 630 00:56:24.960 --> 00:56:30.519 defeated. That was sort of that was the end of it from there. 631 00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:37.400 But but as a coda to that, so I mentioned you in the last 632 00:56:37.440 --> 00:56:45.559 call that JFK. Giancana play. We got a real restaurant owner named Steve 633 00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:52.519 or Stevo to be in the play and we rehearsed at his restaurant, which 634 00:56:52.559 --> 00:57:01.320 I said it was at four three nine in Studio City. The name of 635 00:57:01.360 --> 00:57:09.480 the restaurant was Votelos and if you haven't caught up to me yet. Um. 636 00:57:09.719 --> 00:57:19.840 Years later, Votelos became famous because that was the restaurant where the actor 637 00:57:19.960 --> 00:57:25.320 Robert Blake was famous for the film version of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and 638 00:57:25.679 --> 00:57:34.920 later the seventies television show Baretta. Robert Blake was there with his with his 639 00:57:34.920 --> 00:57:39.320 his then wife Bonnie Blake, having dinner. She went out and waited in 640 00:57:39.320 --> 00:57:45.159 the car. They went out together. In the car, Blake says, 641 00:57:45.360 --> 00:57:52.199 Um, I've forgotten my gun in Votelos. He goes back into Votelos to 642 00:57:52.280 --> 00:58:00.719 retrieve his his gun allegedly, well, he's in the restaurant by Blake gets 643 00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:06.480 shot in the head waiting in the car. Blake is arrested, tried for 644 00:58:06.639 --> 00:58:14.599 murder, and acquitted of that murder. But it it became this stuff of 645 00:58:15.119 --> 00:58:23.239 Hollywood lore, the Robert Blake case, And that was the restaurant that we 646 00:58:23.320 --> 00:58:43.880 rehearsed last Call in UM in My Demon Dog Days in Los Angeles. Now, 647 00:58:43.920 --> 00:58:47.719 as I mentioned, today's podcast is brought to you by Audible. Get 648 00:58:47.719 --> 00:58:55.000 a free audio book download and thirty day free trial at www dot audible trial 649 00:58:55.400 --> 00:59:02.679 dot com. Slash w k T over one hundred and eighty thousand titles to 650 00:59:02.760 --> 00:59:10.079 choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or MP three player, including 651 00:59:12.199 --> 00:59:16.719 Blood, Cold, Fame, Sex, and Murder in Hollywood. This is 652 00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:23.599 the story of the Robert Blake case, and you can get it right there 653 00:59:23.719 --> 00:59:30.440 on Audible, along with a whole pilot true crime stuff. You get a 654 00:59:30.480 --> 00:59:32.679 thirty day trial. You can try some of these things out. In addition, 655 00:59:34.679 --> 00:59:40.079 book I referenced Suskind's Easy Rider and Raging Bulls. You can also get 656 00:59:40.119 --> 00:59:44.039 that get a free trial and listen to that on Audible, which would be 657 00:59:44.079 --> 00:59:49.800 a great listen. And that one is written or is read by Dick Hill, 658 00:59:50.039 --> 00:59:53.599 the same guy had referenced earlier. Who does all of them? The 659 00:59:55.000 --> 01:00:02.719 well some some of the James Elroy and Michael Connelly novels. That's it for 660 01:00:02.760 --> 01:00:07.440 today's episode of Who Killed Teresa? As always, I'm your host, John 661 01:00:07.559 --> 01:00:16.400 Lore and just a few housekeeping things before we sign out. I was away, 662 01:00:16.480 --> 01:00:21.599 as as I mentioned at the beginning programs, I've been away for the 663 01:00:21.599 --> 01:00:28.280 majority of July in Canada, and again, as I said, when I 664 01:00:28.320 --> 01:00:30.800 have things to follow up on, I'll let you know when I can do 665 01:00:30.840 --> 01:00:35.559 a more thorough job. But there. There will be some upcoming episodes about 666 01:00:35.840 --> 01:00:40.559 some of the events and things that happened there, but for now, I 667 01:00:40.599 --> 01:00:45.559 guess it's the summer. Consider this kind of some summer podcasts which are a 668 01:00:45.559 --> 01:00:52.360 little less focused the loft topic, and then we've move into the fall. 669 01:00:52.119 --> 01:00:58.960 We'll get we'll get back to matters of murder. As always, if you 670 01:00:59.039 --> 01:01:05.360 like what you here, please give us a five star rating on iTunes. 671 01:01:06.280 --> 01:01:10.960 Ratings help boost the project and get more people interested and maybe help solve crimes. 672 01:01:13.639 --> 01:01:17.760 We are also on Twitter at t e r e s a a l 673 01:01:17.920 --> 01:01:23.199 l ore. That's at tersa or is the account specific for the podcast, 674 01:01:23.400 --> 01:01:29.320 but if you want to reach me, I'm at Justice Guy at j U 675 01:01:29.519 --> 01:01:36.159 s t U s g u Y. You can also find more information more 676 01:01:36.199 --> 01:01:42.639 specific in detailed information and graphics related to the content on any of these shows 677 01:01:42.760 --> 01:01:45.320 on the Tresa our website and that's t h e r e s a a 678 01:01:45.599 --> 01:01:53.000 l l o or dot com treslor dot com. We'll get your extensive information 679 01:01:53.039 --> 01:01:59.559 and visuals if you like us on Facebook, if you look for who Killed 680 01:01:59.639 --> 01:02:04.119 Teresa the podcast? If you like us as an added bonus, I'll let 681 01:02:04.199 --> 01:02:09.519 you in on what all the music is that plays in the podcast, but 682 01:02:09.719 --> 01:02:14.639 you got to like us in order to find out and as well if you 683 01:02:14.719 --> 01:02:17.199 want to, if you want to contact me privately, you can send me 684 01:02:17.280 --> 01:02:24.159 private message on Twitter, or you can email me at Teresa or at gmail 685 01:02:24.320 --> 01:02:32.159 dot com and again with all those social media outlets. If you want to 686 01:02:32.159 --> 01:02:37.000 tell me what you like or what you don't like. If you got a 687 01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:43.480 suggestion for a show, by all means, let me know um and I'd 688 01:02:43.480 --> 01:02:46.199 be happy to do it. I'd happy. I'd be happy to focus on 689 01:02:46.239 --> 01:02:54.519 any case that that interests you and interests you could have a lot of fun. 690 01:02:55.800 --> 01:03:06.280 So once again, thanks for joining the Castle Who Killed Baby? I 691 01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:16.480 love you. Come, Come, come into my eyes. Let me know 692 01:03:17.119 --> 01:03:29.440 the wonder of a baby. You want you now, now, now, 693 01:03:29.599 --> 01:03:35.599 when hold on fast? Would this be the magic