Questions for Steve re the Black Dahlia Case

Questions for Steve re the Black Dahlia Case. In his book, Black Dahlia Avenger, Steve shows that his father was inspired by the art of Man Ray.

Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, (August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976), Man Ray was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. I wanted to know more and looked up some of Man Ray’s art in art books and exhibitions. I found some interesting pieces of work that are similar to the ones Steve used in his book (BDA).

On page 45 of the BDA. you see exhibit #7 with photographs of two women. It was believed that both were Elizabeth Short and both pictures came from George Hodel’s treasured mini-album. The style in which both women were photographed are clearly inspired by Man Ray. Just check out his “Noire et Blanche” from 1926. The woman there holds the same serene position with the head slightly tilted and her eyes closed.

Further confirmation that George Hodel was being inspired by Man Ray was found in an untitled self-portrait from Man Ray. In his photograph, Man Ray is adjusting the lens from his camera and his face is shown in profile. Now check out Steve’s book. Go to page 265. There are two photographs there from George Hodel. In the left photograph, George holds a Yamantaka. The photograph is used here to show that his father had a black-face military watch. However, notice George’s left hand. It almost looks like a copy of the untitled self-portrait.

The Twitter chat about Elizabeth Short  can be read on DCC and the following questions were sent in about the case, the Black Dahlia investigation, and other materials discussed in Steve Hodel’s books.

Again, a big thank you to Steve for being so generous to answer DCC readers’ questions!

1: Do you know a guy named Lloyd Richman?

2: Did George Hodel was ever friends with Mark Hansen or spent time at the Florentine Garden?

3: What do you think of the possibility, that Beth Short was murdered as a result of a perfect storm as I call it, of a convergence of interests in getting her killed, which itself at some point centers on George Hodel? On the yahoo e-group BlackDahliaBethShort there is such a lot of serious suspects, some of whom were very likely to have known George Hodel, because of their party lifestyles, interests, and geographic proximity (that link of the parties, and people incl. picked up girls who might turn someone on to Hodel’s party scene, could be important, and probably is to a lot of other matters, not Hodel related of course, but is the dark side of networking, think of this in relationship to other matters, legitimate and criminal) that I have come up with this theory. It would explain how George Hodel is so central and certain, yet some few others can’t really be eliminated either.

4: Was the Franklin House ever searched for bone granules?

5: Has any of the Hodel ex-wives ever commented on the book?

6: Have you ever heard back from anyone who served with George Hodel while in China?

7: Maybe a weird questions but … did the cops ever find out what brand lipstick was used on Jeanne French’s body?

8: Any reactions from William Ritzi to the book?

9: Aside from the cases of French and Kern, were there any others where white handkerchiefs were found?

10: Has the Donahoe family ever contacted you with what they think happened to Capt. Jack Donahoe? Have they responded to the book or ever
made a public statement?

11: How many people are innocent behind bars for crimes committed by George Hodel?

12: what do you do to break away from all this?

13: The suspect this site http://blackdahliasolution.org/index.htm offers up, Ed Burns, is the unidentified man in the photo booth pix found in Elizabeth Short’s luggage. According to the site, he committed suicide & confessed to the murder in his suicide note. Was he a real suspect?