Book Review: Hollywood Kryptonite by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

This compelling book was the inspiration for Hollywoodland, a film that examines the mystery of the death of George Reeves, and uncovers a plot more sinister than any of Lex Luthor’s comic book scenarios. Here my take on the sad occurrences that led up to that fateful night.

George (Superman) Reeves was flying high in 1955. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was a smash hit, and the phrase, “Up, up, and away!”, delighted youngsters and red-blooded American women alike. One of them especially was the wife of M-G-M vice president Eddie Mannix, the man with organized crime connections whom the studio moguls used to crack the skulls of union organizers. Toni Mannix lavished her affections, as well as a house, car, and an extravagant lifestyle, on the handsome young leading-man in blue tights. (Hey, krypTONIte, George should have stayed clear of her.) She gave him the key to Hollywood’s high society, and he gave her a strong arm to escort her.

Many reporters and stars wondered about the wisdom of blatantly having an affair with the wife of M-G-M’s most feared and dangerous executive, but like his television counterpart, George feared nothing. Well almost nothing.

It was in a department store during a promotional appearance for his television show that George, dressed in full superhero regalia, did get a taste of fear. Scores of the 16,000 children in attendance decided to test Superman’s invulnerability. George fought back the tears caused by a barrage of kicks to his shins by his giggling fans. Maybe this was Karmic “payback” for all of those children who maimed and killed themselves imitating their hero by trying to fly out of high windows? But things got much worse for George when a young boy produced his father’s “World War II” memento, a loaded .30-caliber German Luger, and pointed it directly at the big red “S” on Superman’s chest. The boy wanted to have a slug than had been flattened from Superman’s dense skin as a souvenir of their meeting. Before the tike could squeeze the trigger, George convinced the lad that someone could get hurt when the bullet bounced off him then grabbed the pistol away from the youth. The boy took home a signed 8x10 glossy, and George kept the gun.

Then in 1957, just like his television counterpart, George’s world exploded. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was canceled. He thought this could be the opportunity to take other film roles. Unfortunately, nobody was offering them to him.

June 16, 1959, in the early morning hours, a drunk, naked, depressed Superman sat at the foot of his bed. His affair with Toni (and her money) had soured. His answering machine tape was filled with her frequent harassing calls, in which she threatened to expose his bisexual tendencies. (Did Superman like men? It would explain the red go-go boots.) But Toni was definitely not “all talk and no action.” Six months prior, she kidnapped his pet schnauzer from his parked car and killed it. Maybe it was her, using Eddie’s influence, that kept George from working in the film business.

Downstairs, the new love-of-his-life, Leonore Lemon, entertained some of the local ginhounds. There was always free booze at George’s house and the party raged on. George needed his sleep. Tomorrow he would pick up a small piece of change in a two-round exhibition boxing match with prize-fighter Archie Moore. Moore would badly bruise him just like the kids did at those Superman personal appearance tours so many years ago. On the dresser was a .30-caliber Luger. His mind raced faster than a locomotive.

Leonore Lemon amused her inebriated guests by making the comment, “He [George] is getting the gun now, and he is going to shoot himself.” Chugging drinks and laughter was their only response. The booze stopped flowing when a shot was heard from the bedroom. Was Leonore physic?

The next morning the most ironic thing happened. A message was left on George’s answering machine offering him the chance to produce, direct, and star in a movie about witchcraft. It would have been the only professional work for George since his show was canceled, and the chance to restore his self-esteem.

Incidentally, every SUPERMAN comic book reader knows that the only thing besides kryptonite that can kill Superman is magic. If George would have waited 24 hours before squeezing the trigger, magic (or in this case, witchcraft) would have saved him.

Book Review: In The Belly Of The Beast by Jack Henry Abbott

With the recent passing of Norman Mailer, literary great and native New Yorker, I was compelled to re-read ITBOTB and share with you what Paul Harvey would call, “the rest of the story.”

TBOTB is a cold stark look into the everyday reality of life of a maximum security prisoner, written by one who knows. Jack Henry Abbott, a career criminal whose crimes range from forgery, bank robbery and murder, tells tales of life inside the Big House with a heavy emphasis on how the prison system is designed to crush a man’s soul and render him the equivalent of a caged animal. With maudlin, yet poetic, comments like, “When they talk of ghosts of the dead who wander in the night with things still undone in life, they approximate my subjective experience of this life”, Abbott mythologizes his existence until he is completely transformed into a hypocritical version of Marley’s Ghost, a phantom that blames his unearthly torment on the evils of capitalism and not his own personal greed.

Every violent offense Abbott commits in prison is rationalized by him as a blow against a corrupt and morally bankrupted system of prison rule and regulations described in this quote: “Imagine a thousand more such daily intrusions in your life, every hour and minute of every day, and you can grasp the source of this paranoia, this anger that could consume me at any moment if I lost control.” Judging by his prison record, he lost control many times -- including fatally knifing a fellow inmate.

One part true crime, three part propaganda, Abbott’s book is an interesting read; a self serving testament that shows us why the word “con” is the first three letters in convict.

And now the rest of the story.

While Mailer was writing The Executioner’s Song, he receives a letter from a convict named Jack Abbott. Yearly, the author would obtain hundreds of letters for people all claiming that their life would be an interesting subject for his next book – but this letter intrigued Mailer. Abbott, after reading in the newspaper that Mailer was in the process of writing a book about prison violence and convicts, offers to help Mailer by sharing his true-life experiences. Mailer takes the con up on his offer, and in rapid succession a stream on letters floods the author’s office, each one more intense, more thought provoking on the subject of the flaws of the State’s penal system. So enamored by Abbott’s prose and radical beliefs, Mailer got some of his letters published in the New York Review of Books. Shortly afterwards, Mailer convinces his publisher to print the letters in book form with an introduction by him. ITBOTB is published and quickly becomes a national bestseller. Using Abbott’s new found literary talents and celebrity as a reason for early parole, Mailer petitions the board and wins Abbott’s release. When question by the Press if he thinks Abbott is still a risk to society, he states, "Culture is worth a little risk."

Six week after his release, Abbott stabbed to death a waiter named Richard Adan when Adan told him that he would have to use the restroom in the store next to the restaurant because their toilet was backed-up. After lambing-it for a few months, he was captured, charged with murder and sent back into what he refers to as "the belly of the beast. "

Richard Adan's widow successfully sued him and receives all the money from the book's sales, so pick up two copies today!

Book Review: The Badge by Jack Webb

The quintessential 1950s icon of law and order made flesh, Jack Webb, at the height of his Dragnet fame authored The Badge, a 310 page wet kiss to LA’s “boys in blue” and their never ending war on crime and immorality. Its ten chapters, each detailing a different police division or department, highlight the dangers, heartaches, and bloodshed an officer must face at the hands of the insane, perverted and/or criminal. Once this volume was a prized collectible, one that many a true crime buff would gladly spend hundreds of dollars to obtain. But thanks to Thunder Mouth Press (a division of Avalon Publishing), anyone with the meager sum of $14.95 can possess this new printing which includes an introduction by that jive-talking, retro-crime writing hipster, Mr. James Elroy. When Mr. Elroy was a young boy, his father bestowed The Badge on him for an 11th Birthday gift. The effect on the boy was similar to the first meeting of Nitro and Glycerin. With his mother the victim of an unsolved sex-slay the prior year, the young James, now wise beyond his years, became obsessed with Webb’s white-hot descriptive narrative of some of the most brutal crimes in LA’s history. One of the chapters he found particular intriguing contained the torso murder of Beth Short, the Black Dahlia – and as the saying goes, “the rest is history.”

The Badge is like a R-rated extended Dragnet episode with out the names changed--- because nobody in this blood-soaked tome of murder, mayhem, and vice is innocent. So be advised to “pick up and detain” your copy today. That is all.

Book Review: The Shadow Over Santa Susana by Adam Gorighty

Adam Gorightly, self-professed “crackpot historian” and former zine writer, does a Herculaneum task of assembling all of the shadowy theories and speculations about Charlie’s family (and why “Helter Skelter” went down—or seven different versions of it) into one cohesive and enjoyable tome. It’s all here, true crime and conspiracy buffs, all of the allegations, painstakingly researched (and footnoted), that the other Manson books only hinted at. Topics include: the Church of Satan, MK ULTRA and LSD mind control projects, S&M Celebs, snuff videos, the Son of Sam, the RFK hit, ONI, New Age messiahs, the Process Church, the Mob (was Charlie a hitman?), Race Wars, Kenneth Anger, Scientology, the Zodiac Killer, Rock Stars, a national murder cult, drug and kiddie porno rings, and more witchy teenage girls and speed-freak bikers that you can shake a buck knife at! It is not Mr. Gorightly’s intention to make you believe that Manson was a key figure in all of the purported criminal and satanic activities laid out in his book, but merely to inform the reader how much of a true crime icon Charlie Manson is to have writers and historians try to link this little twitchy piece of nothing to every sinister event in the sixties and beyond. Also included is a photo index of Manson family members and a list of contact information.

Book Review: Conspiracies, Cover-Ups & Crimes by Jonathan Vankin

There is a saying among conspiracies buffs: "Cui bono?" The term was coined by Roman Senators before the birth of Christ to analyze the complex schemes and duplicities of posturing politicians and generals of the Empire. "Cui bono?"--- Italian for, "Who benefits?"

The year is 1963. JFK is traveling in a motorcade in Dallas. The stage is set and the cast includes: the Vice President, anti\ pro Castro Cubans, the mob, a lone Marxist, ONI, G2, CIA, FBI, three hoboes, and a man with a black umbrella. Shots ring out-- the curtain drops.

Why was President Kennedy assassinated? Was it because he was soft on Communism, or maybe because of his opposition to the Vietnam War? Who benefits most from the death of the President?

Do you believe in UFOs? If so, do you believe that the extraterrestrials are superior to humans? Did they visit earth throughout the centuries and influence world history? Did they create our religions? Are we just an alien breeding experiment?

If you believe so, who benefits from your line of thought? Can unseen powers create the belief of an alien overseer in order to keep the population in line?

A terrorist plot to bomb a US airliner is discovered by CIA agents. After further investigation, the agents discover the time and target. After notifying their superior, they are ordered to do nothing to prevent the bombing. December 21, 1988. Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland. The incident fuels the rift between the Arab controlled Middle East and the West. Who benefited most from the bombing?

These are just a few examples of conspiracies covered in Mr. Vankins 's newest book, CONSPIRACIES, COVERUPS & CRIMES. Some other topics include: the truth about the Jonestown massacre, CIA drug deals, mind-controlled assassins, partnerships between the mob, big business and the Nazis, Votescam, presidential candidate Linden LaRouche, those men of mystery-the Free Masons, and much, much, more.

Who benefits from CONSPIRACIES, COVER-UPS & CRIMES? If you are curious about the shadowy goings-on in this big world of ours, the answer is ... you do!

Book Review: Hellcats, Vixens & Vice Dolls edited by David Jacobs

Violence and heartache on display on lurid detective magazine covers at the candy and cigar shops. Exploitation disguised as news designed to entertain and titillate the atomic generation with the exploits of axe murderesses, high-class call-girls and sex-crazed dope fiends. It worked then and it works now.

Hellcats, Vixens & Vice Dolls is a white-hot compilation of vicious retro crimes committed by the fairer sex so vivid in their detail of blood and perversion that they will leave the reader with the sensation of being worked over by a girl gang armed with a sack of nickels.

The no-nonsense, just the facts approach to this book reminded me of a spinning newspaper headline from a B&W crime movie or a radio announcer who interrupts the broadcast with news of a brutal crime. Because of it’s retro-reporting the vibe is pure noir with all the trappings, desperation and pathos of a sex-slay at Lovers Lane. Fetish and crime collide!

The man responsible for this ample lineup of doped-up and desperate dames is David Jacobs, true crime author from the popular Court TV paperback book series, and among the 50 true crime tales he selected are: Bloody Barbara, She Sawed Off His Head, The Sex Party Racket, and One Thousand Thugs and a Girl, She-Devil Running Wild, I’ll See You in Hell!, and Gateway to White Slavery.

If you are a true crime reader who likes your stiffs cold and your babes hot, be on the lookout for Hellcats, Vixens & Vice Dolls!