60 Years Ago Today, Elizabeth Short Was Murdered

My favorite part of From Hell, Alan Moore's graphic novel based on the Jack The Ripper murders, is a lengthy epilogue in which Moore describes the history of Ripper theories, new crackpots emerging each generation to add their half-baked notions to the body of work from which the next generation will build. It's hard not to apply this idea to the Black Dahlia murder, especially when you consider that two seperate people have published books claiming that their own father was the murderer. How Freudian can you get?

The Black Dahlia is part of the central mythology of this city, and her image turns up in movies over and over. Consider that there have been three Black Dahlia movies released in the last year: Brian DePalma's disapointing theatrical release, a direct-to-DVD film I've seen on the shelves at the video store, and this one, which is having its world premiere tonight as part of a weekend-long tribute to all things Dahlia. And next week, as part of their Overlooked and Underrated festival, The Egyptian will be screening yet another Dahlia-inspired piece of fiction, 1981's True Confessions, starring Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall.