The Black Dahlia Message Boards

[SalvadorDalinian]

I have spent some time this past week reading through several surrealist and earlier influencing texts, researching possible sources for the 1944 "A Promise is a promise to a person of the world" telegram. I did not locate a reference using the entire verbatim quotation, but I did find some very interesting sources for the primary phraseology. The Marquis de Sade used the word "promise" heavily, literally over a hundred times in the three books I examined, an obvious tactic to charge up his perverted scenes. He also employs the phrase "of the world" whenever referencing his ideal female libertine in Philosophy in the Bedroom. Also, a famous Madame Paris from Italy was his role model for the main character in Juliette, his "queen of the world". I also found an interesting "enigma" reference in Sade's 120 Days of Sodom. His Duc characters sighs with this remark after a sadistic observation: "Oh, what is this glory, jest, and riddle of the world!" Finally, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes literature directly employs the "promise is a promise" phrase.

I also found an interesting reference to "the ideal person of the world" by Pavel Florensky (1882-1937), perhaps the greatest Russian theologian of the 20th century. Possessing a Renaissance genius, he was regarded by many as the Russian Leonardo da Vinci. His magnum opus was The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, a philosophic text published in 1914, written as a series of twelve letters addressed symbolically to Christ. Florensky’s tenth Sophia letter venerates woman as the guardian of creation and "the ideal person of the world". Russian orthodox religion was fixated on the female-as-muse theme.

When aggregated, the usage of "promise" and "person of the world" phraseology fits Dr. George Hodel's profile on many levels, including his Russian heritage. His parents were well-educated Russian emigrants. As they educated their brilliant son, there is little doubt he explored his Russian heritage. Florensky’s presence in their library is very probable. His mother insured his cultural education was complete, including study at the Montessori school in Paris, and even arranged a visit from Sergei Rachmaninoff during his musical studies. Then there is his obsession for enigma, a shared Renaissance genius, advocated libertine philosophy of Sade and underlying female muse theme. Needless to say, there is his lifelong association with the surrealists who also put woman at the center of their movement.

This single, mysterious sentence, "A Promise is a promise to a person of the world" possibly refers to a pledge made by Geroge Hodel to Elizabeth Short. Did Elizabeth treasure the Western Union wire as a romantic memento or did she safeguard it for another purpose, possibly to substantiate her obsessive admirer? Did she consider the promise an expression of true love or an ominous sign? Does the promise itself ultimately symbolize life or death? I suspect an initial promise of love eventually devolved into a gloomy warning of her tragic demise.