The Black Dahlia Message Boards

[llvsummer]

Since the author actually knew Beth,you would think that would give this some credibility.All I can say is,"Wow!Orson Welles!"

Just like the other books,the author does make a good case.Even if it is Orson Welles.

[Autumn]

It was a good book in that it gave some interesting tidbits on Beth Short but I TOTALLY write off Orson Welles as having committed the murder!

[BigCatfish]

I think "Childhood Shadows" is the only Black Dahlia book where the reader really gets to MEET Elizabeth Short, her family and neighbors...and get to know her before she made that fateful decision to "go Hollywood". With the picture Mary Pacios paints of "Betty" in Medford, Mass., it makes one wonder what happened to her psychologically between leaving home and ending up in a field on 39th and Norton.

...as for Orson Welles...I think I'd flip out too if Rita Hayworth divorced me.

[blackfrancis]

I was thinking the same thing, the book put a human face on Beth Short which I think some of us forget vicitims of long ago crimes still have families and people who remember them.

That said I nearly soiled myself when I read Orson Welles was her suspect.

[JAWS]

She made a credible scenario, but John Gilmore, her former partner -- today dismisses poor Mary as a crackpot. If you will note, he dedicated SEVERED to Mary Pacios.I think that the Dahlia existed on the fringes of Hollywood, being hoodwinked and misled by con-men and small timers. Probably the biggest "celebrity" of note that she ever crossed paths with was Mark Hansen.

[babygurl]

I honestly didnt know that much about this case until I came upon this site, today. I have spent all day reading the forums, and honestly I am very intrigued by this story, as others I am sure.

I think I will start my reading on this with this book by Mary!

Then work my way up.

Just again WOW, this poor women, being portrayed as a "whore" and come to find out couldnt even have intercourse, I apologize for my going on.

But I am sure this book will be a good read

[Le Artiste]

She's such a sweet sad lady, still missing her friend after all these years. I think she did her best to do some detective work to try to find out who killed her friend, and I think her discoveries leading to George Orson Welles, make sense. I also think Larry's discoveries make sense. I'm skeptical of writers with theories and or books, that are too pushy and arrogant in their insistence that they have the answer. I noticed that Larry has a couple of charities listed on his site that people can donate to in Elizabeth Short and some other murdered women's names. I think that's a good and constructive thing to do. I think that going by that Occam's razor school of thought that someone mentioned on here, that if only someone knew who the people were who were after Elizabeth when she ran inside of some restaurant and a police person came to her aid, that he or they may have been the person or persons to check out. I also agree with guest, that it is cruel to write novels / make movies sensationalizing this poor girl's murder. They SHOULD at least give a pretty good percentage of money made to charities that help battered women. I had never seen Pamela or Larry, and she looks a lot like I thought, except much younger. I see in Larry a resemblance to a young Mr Rogers, the hero of little kiddom. He has the same kind of looks and smile. Someone was asking about Elizabeth's family. Her niece, Valerie Reynolds appeared on one or two talk shows about fifteen years ago, when there was some publicity about the murder. It's too bad that there are no saved DNA samples to check any viable suspects out. Brian Carr said in the interview that they don't have any of that. It has been sixty years. I wouldn't mind if someone made Mary's book into a movie, and did it in a dignified way, that would give tribute to Elizabeth's family, and show Elizabeth as the person she really was.

[Ro]

[JAWS]

[tjt517]

I am going to order this book online. My local bookstore has most of the books discussed on this site with the exception of this one. I like Mary's website. I wrote her an email the other day and I liked the email that she sent me back. Based on that, I will probably like her book also. I have developed an interest in this and I am more interested in finding out who Elizabeth Short was than the murder.

[tjt517]

I just got her book in the mail today .

[Enigmatic]

I guess my thoughts on the whole Orson Welles theory boil down to this: As a result of 'Citizen Kane', William Randolph Hearst personally hated Welles with such a burning passion that I can't imagine him not joyously running with this story if it made even a shred of factual sense. I do see a coincidence in the images, but I guess that's all I see. But hey, I may be wrong.

[Briar]

I tend to be skeptical of Orson Welles being the actual killer, I have NO PROBLEMS imagining that the killer was inspired by those mannequins.

Bri.
_________________
We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek. ~Barack Obama

[tjt517]

I have finished over half of the book and so far I think that it is a very good book.

[Ro]

I cannot wait to read it. One of my dad's friends sent home a book on the cold war for me to read, so that trumped Childhood Shadows for a while
_________________
I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[GreatfulRed]

I really liked this book, i found it hard to put down.

[Ro]

I gotta slog my way through that Cold War book, The Historian and The Fourth book of the Sisterhood of the travelling pants (young adult lit that I have to read as a teacher) before I can dive into that one.
_________________
I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Jam Tart]

I just finished Mary's book the other day, and I really enjoyed it for the most part! She certainly put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it, and while i wish she had explored certain things a bit more, or cited some things a bit more explicitly/clearly, her text gave me a much better insight into one person's experience researching the case, which was so valuable. And in the end, she even made some of the murkier aspects of some other author's accounts clearer.
_________________
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...the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand.

[GreatfulRed]

[Ro]

I just started this book yesterday as my "school" read. I had a hard time putting it down to do grades, or anything else for that matter. I honestly think that from a reference standpoint into Beth's life, this is our best snapshop of who Beth was and how she took Matt's death etc. I am completely engrossed in this book. I have to finish The Historian so I can read "Shadows" at home and get through it. I reccomend this book to anyone that wants to know Beth better. Mary's view is so very good!
_________________
I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[ProffFuzy]

[Ro]

She is so honest in the book. I do not think she just wrote it as a gamble or to make money. Mary cares a lot about Beth. You can hear it in her words.
_________________
I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[JAWS]

[ProffFuzy]

[JAWS]

Hearst DID put the kibosh on Aggie Underwood's further investigation into the Bauerdorf murder, because he was friends with the victim's father -- and he didn't want any details unearthed, that may have suggested that Georgette was less than virginal.