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Hollywood & Crime

Wondery

Elizabeth Short was a star-struck young woman whose body was found completely severed at the waist in January 1947 in Los Angeles. She would be forever remembered as the Black Dahlia, and her murder remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world to this day. But few people know that more than a dozen women died in similar circumstances in Los Angeles around the same time. In this ground-breaking serialized docu-drama, host Tracy Pattin investigates these sensational cases, uncovers new evidence, and immerses listeners in both the glamour and the underbelly of 20th century Hollywood.

Elizabeth Short was a star-struck young woman whose body was found completely severed at the waist in January 1947 in Los Angeles. She would be forever remembered as the Black Dahlia, and her murder remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world to this day. But few people know that more than a dozen women died in similar circumstances in Los Angeles around the same time. In this ground-breaking serialized docu-drama, host Tracy Pattin investigates these sensational cases, uncovers new evidence, and immerses listeners in both the glamour and the underbelly of 20th century Hollywood.

Location:

United States

Networks:

Wondery

Description:

Elizabeth Short was a star-struck young woman whose body was found completely severed at the waist in January 1947 in Los Angeles. She would be forever remembered as the Black Dahlia, and her murder remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world to this day. But few people know that more than a dozen women died in similar circumstances in Los Angeles around the same time. In this ground-breaking serialized docu-drama, host Tracy Pattin investigates these sensational cases, uncovers new evidence, and immerses listeners in both the glamour and the underbelly of 20th century Hollywood.

Language:

English

Episodes

Coming soon: Hollywood & Crime S.2

9/15/2017
The ground-breaking serialized docu-drama returns September 29th.

Duration:00:03:38

20 | Noir L.A. – Hollywood and Vice with Special Guest Tere Tereba

9/15/2017
Tere Tereba (Author of Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.'s Notorious Mobster) discusses all aspects of vice that ran rampant in Los Angeles in the 1940s – with Hollywood & Crime host Tracy Pattin. Featured stories include movie star extortion (courtesy of Jimmy Tarantino and Hollywood Night Life), illegal gambling in Burbank at the conveniently located Dinkara Stock Farm, prostitution with Vice Queen Brenda Allen, and several big stars on the fringes of mob influence, including...

Duration:00:33:21

19 | Noir L.A. – Hollywood and Headlines with Special Guest Joan Renner

9/8/2017
Historian Joan Renner (Author of The First with the Latest!: Aggie Underwood, the Los Angeles Herald, and the Sordid Crimes of a City) discusses the news media, the relationship between the Press and the Police in Los Angeles in the 1940s, and three women who not only wrote the headlines, but also made them – with Hollywood & Crime host, Tracy Pattin. Featured stories include Aggie Underwood, ace reporter and first female City Editor of a major newspaper; Florabel Muir, a journalist...

Duration:00:33:59

18 | Noir L.A. – ​ Hollywood and Scandals ​ with Special Guest Martin Turnbull

7/7/2017
Martin Turnbull (Author of The Garden of Allah series of novels) ​discusses three headline-making Hollywood Scandals from the 1940s with Hollywood & Crime host Tracy Pattin. ​The featured stories include the statutory rape trial of screen star ​Errol Flynn​, the pot bust and trial of bad boy actor, Robert Mitchum, and the shocking affair of three time Academy Award-winning actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.​ New to Hollywood & Crime? Subscribe here:...

Duration:00:29:56

17 | Stunning News

5/12/2017
In this fifth and final special Hollywood and Crime episode host Tracy Pattin sums up these five fascinating cases with FBI Profiler and Real Crime Profile host Jim Clemente and Hollywood crime historian and author of website Deranged LA Crimes Joan Renner. They give their assessments and insights on who the murderers or murderer could be, coming to very different conclusions. Jim Clemente shares his astounding analysis—one that has never come to light until now. New to Hollywood & Crime?...

Duration:00:37:14

15 | High Risk Behavior

4/28/2017
In this third special Hollywood and Crime episode we analyze and dig into the horrific details of the most famous unsolved murder to date; that of Elizabeth Short, who will forever be known as ‘The Black Dahlia.’ Host Tracy Pattin is joined by former FBI profiler and Real Crime Profile host Jim Clemente and Hollywood crime historian Joan Renner, author of the popular website Deranged LA Crimes. Once again, Jim applies his 21st Century behavioral analysis and puts together a profile of the...

Duration:00:36:28

13 | Death Ride

4/14/2017
In this first of five special episodes, Hollywood and Crime profiles the Black Dahlia Murders. Applying 21st Century behavioral analysis to our Season One murders, host Tracy Pattin examines each of our five 20th Century crimes with this modern twist. Joining Tracy are guest experts: former FBI profiler and Real Crime Profile host Jim Clemente and Hollywood crime historian Joan Renner, author of the popular website Deranged LA Crimes. New to Hollywood & Crime? Subscribe here:...

Duration:00:34:54

12 | Man Crazy

3/17/2017
In late March 1947, while police in Los Angeles hunted a serial killer, FBI agents in Pittsburgh interrogated the latest prime suspect in the Black Dahlia case. An Army sergeant recounted the romantic 24 hours he’d spent with Elizabeth Short in September. He marveled at how she’d been treated like a celebrity in a Hollywood nightclub – and revealed that she was surprisingly unresponsive in bed. After the sergeant’s interview, the LAPD’s murder investigation into the Black Dahlia and the...

Duration:00:42:26

11 | Kiss of Death

3/10/2017
After midnight on March 10, 1947, a railroad worker happened upon a woman’s body sprawled near the tracks in Downtown Los Angeles. Assuming she was drunk, he tried to kiss her – and to his horror realized that the woman was dead. Nine hours later, another dead woman turned up on a riverbank 15 miles away. Both had been beaten and strangled. Both had dark hair. The first victim was identified as Evelyn Winters; the second woman as Mae Preston. Theirs made the third and fourth murders of...

Duration:00:39:30

10 | Dream Killer

3/3/2017
A month after the trail went cold in the Black Dahlia case police were retracing the steps of Lipstick Murder victim Jeanne French, hoping they would lead to her killer. What they found instead was another brutal murder. The victim this time was an elderly man. The killer had knocked him unconscious, butchered his body into six pieces and carefully packed the body parts into boxes. Meanwhile, as that case unfolded, Black Dahlia investigators were confronted with a series of promising...

Duration:00:41:53

9 | The Lipstick Murder

2/24/2017
On February 10th a woman’s body was found lying in the weeds in a desolate area called “the Moors.” Her face had been beaten to a pulp, and the killer had slashed her face across the mouth from ear to ear – a gruesome reminder of Elizabeth Short’s murder. Police suspected the same person might have killed both women. This latest victim was Jeanne French, once a celebrity known as the Flying Nurse. Her husband, Frank French, was instantly the prime suspect. Then a corporal at Fort Dix, New...

Duration:00:40:40

8 | Werewolves

2/17/2017
“Werewolves Leave a Trail of Women Murders in L.A.” Only eight days after Elizabeth Short’s body was found Herald-Express reporter Agness Underwood connected the Black Dahlia with an ever-growing list of high profile cold cases, including those of Georgette Bauerdorf and White Gardenia victim Ora Murray. Then a package arrived at the city post office containing Miss Short’s personal effects and a message made up of words and letters cut out of newspapers. “Here is Dahlia’s belongings....

Duration:00:44:39

6 | Black Dahlia

2/3/2017
Homicide detectives and reporters retraced Elizabeth Short’s steps prior to her body being discovered in Los Angeles on January 15th. Her mother, back in Massachusetts, told investigators that “Betty” had been living in San Diego. She was also traced to Long Beach, where regulars at a drugstore called her the Black Dahlia, because of the way she dressed and wore her hair. The Black Dahlia nickname captured the public’s attention and stuck. Betty was last seen on January 8th leaving San...

Duration:00:40:06

5 | Jane Doe

1/27/2017
January 15, 1947: The body of a young woman was found in a vacant lot south of Hollywood. Mutilated, completely sliced in two at the waist and drained of blood, her face was slashed into the infamous “Glasgow smile.” The head of Los Angeles’ Homicide Squad called her murder one of the most brutal killings in the city’s history. It took a search of FBI fingerprint files to identify her. She was Elizabeth Short, a star-struck twenty-two-year old from Massachusetts. Although not famous in...

Duration:00:40:03

4 | Vampire Slayer

1/20/2017
Two women are found mutilated and murdered in downtown Los Angeles. One woman’s body was lying in the doorway of the closet at the Barclay Hotel. Her leg had been hacked off at the knee; her ankle and foot tossed aside. A few hours later the second woman’s body was discovered at the Joyce Hotel. Her left breast had been severed and she had been sliced open from throat to abdomen. An APB went out for a tall thin man, whom the press would dub the Vampire Slayer – for good reason. New to...

Duration:00:41:50

3 | White Gardenia

1/13/2017
Early one morning, a young boy and his dog stumbled upon the body of a woman lying on a golf course. Her name was Ora Murray, and she’d been strangled and mutilated – a white gardenia corsage still pinned to her tattered dress. In Los Angeles to visit family, Ora had gone out dancing one night at the Zenda Ballroom with her sister Latona. There they met a good-looking, friendly man, who offered to take the sisters on a tour of Hollywood in his car. Latona went home to her husband. Ora...

Duration:00:42:47

2 | Generous Georgette

1/6/2017
After young oil heiress Georgette Bauerdorf was found raped and strangled in her Sunset Strip apartment, police turned their attention to the famous Hollywood Canteen, where she volunteered as a junior hostess. A soldier referred to as the Jitterbug Dancer quickly became Suspect #1. But he was just the first of many suspects. Although hostesses were strictly forbidden to socialize with servicemen, it turned out Georgette allowed dozens of men to sleep over and that she'd been generous with...

Duration:00:40:49

1 | Bathtub Murder

1/6/2017
When beautiful young heiress Georgette Bauerdorf was found dead in her luxurious Sunset Strip apartment, police assumed it was just a tragic accident. The housekeepers discovered her body submerged face down in the bathtub with the hot water tap still on. Her father in New York speculated her heart had failed, and she drowned in the bath water. But after a delay of thirty hours, the autopsy report told another story. New to Hollywood & Crime? Subscribe here: smarturl.it/hollywoodandcrime...

Duration:00:42:48

Coming Soon

12/19/2016
From Wondery, a new true crime series will immerse you in both the glamour and the underbelly of Hollywood in the 20th century. In season one, Tracy Pattin reopens the murder of Elizabeth Short, also known as the Black Dahlia, and seven other similar cases around the same time. Premieres January 6th. Subscribe today on smarturl.it/hollywoodandcrime

Duration:00:04:57