THE BLACK DAHLIA - RELATED AUTOGRAPHS 

Once again, I must thank (blame?) Kenneth Anger for my discovery of a “gory story”, The Black Dahlia. Of course, her unsolved murder has intrigued many for generations, but that brutal picture of her bisected body in “Hollywood Babylon 2” led me to find out more about her unsolved murder and seek out books and movies about her (Elizabeth Short). James Ellroy’s novel is considered the fictional gold standard of her story; my collection includes his book along with other non-fiction attempts at unraveling her mysterious life and death.  

JOSH HARTNETT AUTOGRAPH 

Because I was such a big fan of "The Black Dahlia", I was there during opening night of the movie with Josh Hartnett. And it was bad.  Beautifully shot, but just not satisfying as a story about The Black Dahlia.  I wasn't really a fan of Josh’s acting, even though he's a good-looking cat with those heavy brows and interesting eyes. 

It wasn't until his recent resurgence as an alcoholic assassin in "Fight or Flight" and as the serial killer dad in "Trap", that I really became a fan of the more mature and assured Josh Hartnett.  Like a BIG fan! 

Thank you to my friend Mikey McGarbo for allowing me to purchase this great, autographed picture of Josh.  You can see the video where he is signing the photo, which is golden! 

JAMES ELLROY - MY SEATMATE 

It was my first time flying in business class in the late 90's.  I don't remember why or where to, but I remember I was in an aisle bulkhead seat.  

The older guy next to me was clearly a frequent flyer and immediately knew how to operate all the gizmos and perks of business class, slipped out of his shoes and put on the footwear provided by the airline.  I was watching him out of the corner of my eye to make sure that I wasn't missing any of the Magic Buttons and knew exactly what they did.   

This was the predigital era when people subscribed to newspapers. And I insisted on reading the newspaper from cover to cover. And keeping them until I eventually got through them. AND I brought a buttload of them onto the plane to catch up on news during the flight. What. A. Dork. 

So here I am reading through all these San Francisco Chronicle newspapers, occasionally tearing out a celebrity obituary or news piece and I'm sure the guy next to me thought "what the hell?", but I don't think we exchanged anything but brief niceties, if that. 

As I was finishing up with the last of my newspapers, having given the flight attendant many batches to discard, we were getting ready to land.  I had saved all the entertainment sections (Parade) to go through last.   

Lo and behold, I'm reading an article about James Ellroy, who I knew from writing The Black Dahlia, but never knew what he looked like.  And there right in front of me is a picture of the guy sitting to my right. Yes, I was reading an article about James Ellroy and sitting right next to him.   

“Black Dahlia – The Past That Shaped James Ellroy” 

I turned and looked at him, and he saw that I was reading the article about him.  We caught eyes for a second and then I looked down.  I didn't even think about asking him for an autograph.  It just seemed awkward. 

JAMES ELLROY AUTOGRAPH

Thanks to AI, I'm relieved to know that my memory is working and I did not just make that up! I just found out that the Parade Magazine I was reading was from November 3rd, 1996, and it promoted his book "My Dark Places" - which was about the unsolved murder of his mother and how his obsession with her murder led him to write The Black Dahlia.   

Years later, I'm at the Community Thrift Store in San Francisco and I see a signed copy of "My Dark Places" for $6.50.  His signature is pathetic, but I needed to buy it. Full circle serendipity.  

And P.S. the book is aptly titled, because it is VERY dark, brutal and unrelenting about his mother and his rough childhood.  So dark, I couldn't finish it.  You will note the picture of a dead woman on the back cover of the book (above the $6.50 price tag).  This is James Ellroy’s mother.  Brutal. 

P.S.  Lucie Arnaz starred as Elizabeth Short in the 1975 TV movie, “Who is the Black Dahlia?”  (Yes, I’ll cover my autographs from Lucie, Lucy and Desi and Desi, Jr separately)