The Incredible Lorre Coincidence

For four months in late 1977 to early 1978, a duo of men terrorized the Los Angeles community by kidnapping and killing your women from the age of 12-28. These two men were known as what the papers called them: "The Hillside Strangler". The men were called this because at the time, it wasn't known that the Strangler was actually two men. The term 'hillside' was used because this was the hills above Los Angeles where they found their victims.

This is a morbid, tragic event in Los Angeles history. There were two pieces of good news that come from this: one is the regular good news, and the other is the unique, which is why this story has made it into the expendablenlightenment lore.

For the first piece of good news. Both men (Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Biancha) were both captured. Buono was first captured, and Biacha escaped to Washington state before he was captured. Biancha tried an insanity plea, but it was obvious he was faking, so he plead guilty and testified against Buono. They both received life sentences.

Now for the second piece of good news, this is one of those pieces of information that your friends might find interesting. Did you know that one woman escaped from the Hillside Strangler? Her name was Catherine Lorre. In 1977, the two men picked her up. She needed a ride, they wanted to kill her. In the car, they talked and they found out who she was. Her father was a really famous actor who'd died in 1964. They were such huge fans of the actor, that they decided to let her go out of respect for the actor they loved to watch. She had no idea who they were until months later when it was revealed that the men had been arrested.

Who was the actor? You might heave guessed. It was none other than screen legend Peter Lorre. Peter Lorre was born in a town in Austria-Hungary (the town is now located in Slovakia) and starred in German movies before coming to the US to perform in movies. At first, he learned his English lines phonetically, having to be told what the lines were and memorizing the sound. Most known for his smooth, accented voice and his unmistakable eyes, Peter Lorre was an icon of the screen for many years before dying of a heart attack in 1964. His most famous roles were in films such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the German movie M.

Iconic image from the film M.
Peter Lorre sees himself.

If you are not familiar with Peter Lorre's career and filmography, then here's your coincidence moment of this posting. Before Lorre began appearing in English movies, he made the movie M in 1931, a German masterpiece of cinema. The movie is about a child serial killer that the police can't capture, so they enlist other criminals to help them. Peter Lorre played the serial killer. Perhaps Buono and Biancha appreciated Lorre for this performance? Or maybe it was one of the others? Either way, Catherine Lorre is lucky to be alive, thanks to the work her father did.

Chaplin Banned?

Charlie Chaplin, the man most known for his character the Tramp, was a man who you could say was filled with contradictions. He was a brilliant actor who portrayed feelings on screen that could evoke all sorts of emotions from the viewer, but he was also a creative writer and director who was able to be control of his films. On the other hand, he was known to be difficult at times. He was a man who rarely liked to be interviewed or filmed without his famous Tramp makeup and outfit on. In some ways, he liked the private life, and in others he was the most recognizable face in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he was not always far from scandal.

While his time in Hollywood, he was married four times, and was known to have affairs. One incident in particular involved a woman named Joan Barry with whom he had an affair in 1942. He soon ended it. She came back with a paternity suit, demanding child support for "their child". There was a paternity test conducted, but it came back negative for Chaplin. So, he may have been out of woods with Barry, but his career took a blow.

The biggest scandal of Chaplin's career ended with the US government revoking his visa and not allowing him to return to the United States. Dating back to the 1930's, some were critical of the star's views that were presented in his films. One of Chaplin's biggest hits was the film "Modern Times", released in 1936. Some pointed to this movie as Chaplin's propaganda film praising communism. J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, opened a file on Chaplin (as he did with many celebrities that he had issues with). Even though he made the highly satirical film "The Great Dictator" (satire on Hitler) in 1940 which was looked at as a uniquely pro-Allies movie, comments of his about the war raised eyebrows in the government. He attracted the attention of HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) and also Senator McCarthy, who was running his own investigations. HUAC threatened to subpoena Chaplin to get him to testify, but they never went through with it since Chaplin would easily lampoon through the questioning. There were documents showing that as early as the late 1940's, the government was trying to end his residency in the US.

A photo of Charlie Chaplin taken in 1952

In 1952, Chaplin left for his home country of England for the premiere of his latest film, "Limelight". Upon his return, Hoover and FBI had worked a deal out with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to pull his re-entry permit. Because of this, Chaplin was not legally able to return to the US. But did he know it was coming? Some say yes and some say no. Either way, he couldn't come back. He lived the rest of his life abroad, settling on Switzerland. The political climate of the 1960's took away any focus of Chaplin's politics and instead only showed on his work. But still he could not return to the US. He didn't make as many new movies and instead focused on re-releases of his older works. He continued working for as long as he could, but strokes limited his ability to work.

"Gloomy Sunday"

What if there was a song that could drive you to do things? What if this song made you take your own life? Is that possible? There is an urban legend that says there is a song that can do just that. In 1932, a Hungarian songwriter wrote what some have called to be one of (if not the) saddest songs ever written. But is it sad enough to make people who hear it commit suicide?

The time of 1932 was a rough time for Europe. The economic depressions of the 1920's were still raging in the early 30's, and then add in the spread of fascism (thanks to Mussolini and Hitler) and you are left with a bleak outlook of the future of the European countries. Hungary in particular was having difficulty making it through the times, and a struggling songwriter named Rezső Seress wanted to convey the mood of the Hungarian peoples in a song. He wrote a song called "Gloomy Sunday" with lyrics about the bleakness of the so-called modern society. A poet friend named László Jávor thought the lyrics weren't depressing enough, so he rewrote them. Jávor was getting over a breakup, so he changed the lyrics to a story of a man who is grieved over the death over his love and how he plans to meet her in the afterlife. There is some confusion over when some of the lyrics were actually written (since some parts of the lyrics were not copyrighted until 1946), but we do know that Seress had a hard time finding anyone to actually publish the music. By the end of 1933, it finally was printed with Jávor's lyrics. 

Rezső Seress on an Album Cover

This is the point when I should say that the brain reacts to music in interesting ways. Sometimes music can evoke sad feelings, or happy feelings, or angry feelings. Music has this ability to affect our brain signals in ways we are still trying to understand. Sometimes, the first time people hear something, it affects them more than someone who's heard similar things all their life. If someone in the 1800's had listened to music of Alice Cooper, they would have been greatly disturbed by it. On the other hand, someone who is listening to Alice Cooper for the first time in 2013 would find it utterly tame. The thing you have to remember here is that when "Gloomy Sunday" was written, there weren't any other songs quite like it in the world, much less Hungary. So when it was released, it was immensely popular in Hungary for the reasons that Seress wrote it in the first place: they could relate to its tone from their situations in life. 

That being said, there is an urban legend that states that an outbreak of suicides occurred after the song was released. Supposedly, in the 1930's, 19 suicides were linked (by press reports) in Hungary and the US. However, with a depression going on, increased famine likelihood, and higher illness rates, there haven't been any conclusive evidence to support the fact that the suicides were directly linked to the song. There were a few bodies pulled from the Danube River who were clutching at the sheet music for "Gloomy Sunday", but these could (and most likely are) exaggerations by the media at the time. So far, no one has been able to prove that the song itself drove people to suicide.

The song has, on the other hand, gained quite a popular following with all the "mystery" surrounding it, as well as the subsequent cover versions recorded of it. The most famous version of the song was recorded by Billie Holliday in 1941. This version was banned by the BBC to be too demoralizing in World War II. It was allowed to be played instrumentally without the words. Oddly enough, the BBC didn't stop banning it until 2002. 

In case you're wondering about Seress, his story ends oddly as well. He was known for being depressed and having some emotional issues. In 1968, he jumped out of a window in Budapest, trying to kill himself. He survived and went to the hospital, where he finally succeeded by choking himself with a wire. Naturally, this only added to the urban legend. 

Here is a link to the Billie Holliday version of the song. Although a sad song, there are far more depressing songs that have been written since. What makes it so much of a downer is the fact that it is written in the key of C minor, which contains three flats. This is what makes the song feel eerie and sad.

"Pepper" and the AAGPBL

Last Sunday, Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis died of natural causes in her Van Nuys home. Her name isn't a household one by any means, but I bet you know her. She was the real person that Geena Davis's character was based on in the movie "A League of Their Own." There has been little remembered and mentioned about this league since it ended. It was this movie that reminded America of its existence and importance in American life.

It was the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, or at least that's how we remember it today. Things changed quickly in the league, even the name of the league. It was founded in 1943 by Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley as an alternative to the male-dominated major leagues since World War II was taking so many players from the MLB. The original name was first named the All-American Girls Softball League, but was soon changed to the All-American Girls Baseball League. It was only in 1949 and 1950 that the league had its most famous name: the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. From 1951-54, it was simply known as the American Girls' Baseball League.

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League logo

The teams themselves weren't the most consistent teams around either. Out of the total of 15 teams that were part of the league between 1943-1954, only two were around the whole time (South Bend Blue Sox and Rockford Peaches). The other 13 teams were Kenosha Comets (1943-51), Racine Belles (1943-50), Milwaukee Chicks (1944), Minneapolis Millerettes (1944), Fort Wayne Daisies (1945-54), Grand Rapids Chicks (1945-54), Muskegon Lassies (1946-49), Kalamazoo Lassies (1950-54), Peoria Redwings (1946-51), Chicago Colleens (1948), Springfield Sallies (1948), Battle Creek Belles (1951-52), and Muskegon Belles (1953). Some teams were moved, and some only were around for a year or two. With the exception of Minneapolis and Chicago, the teams were typically in second or even third tier Midwestern towns. They were immensely popular in these towns, but they didn't draw from out of the towns much. Each year, the top two teams would play for the championship. The team with the most championships was the Rockford Peaches. The champions are as follows: Racine Belles (1943), Milwaukee Chicks (1944), Rockford Peaches (1945), Racine Belles (1946), Grand Rapids Chicks (1947), Rockford Peaches (1948, 1949, 1950), South Bend Blue Sox (1951, 1952), Grand Rapids Chicks (1953), Kalamazoo Lassies (1954).

It might surprise you that the AAGPBL wasn't the first instance of women playing baseball in organized teams. As early as 1866, the first known women's baseball team played at Vassar College. Later, from the 1890's-1930's, barnstorming women's teams played throughout the Midwest (these were called "Bloomer Girl" teams). And most surprisingly, there were at least three women players in the Negro Leagues (Toni Stone, Mami Johnson, and Connie Morgan).

The rules themselves of the AAGPBL were different than MLB in some ways and similar in others. The AAGPBL game was like a hybrid of baseball and softball (hence the reason it started out with softball in the league name and not baseball). Firstly, in the first season, the ball used was actually the size of a softball, but eventually shrank to the size of a regulation baseball. Secondly, the distance from home plate to the mound was only 40 feet (in baseball, it's 60' 6"), but eventually the distance went to 60'. Thirdly, the distance from base to base was 65', well short of the 90' in baseball. The path was eventually extended to 85'. Fourthly, pitchers threw underhanded for a number of years. Fifthly, the uniforms and treatment of the women. The uniforms were skirts (just like in the movie "A League of Their Own"), and also like in the movie, part of spring training involved evening charm school classes on etiquette, dress, makeup, hygiene, and mannerisms. The women in the league had to adhere to a strict 'Rules of Conduct' policy that included wearing lipstick all the time, no smoking or drinking in public places, and no short hair. Not following the rules involved a $5 fine for a first offense, $10 fine for a second offense, and suspension for a third offense. Fifthly, the rate of pay was much lower than the MLB's. Players were payed between $45-$85 a week in the early years, and in later years could be as high as $125. One major similarity to MLB was the grueling schedule: the AAGPBL played 120 games over only four months. That meant they played pretty much everyday and had double-headers on holidays and Sundays.

By the end of 1954, the league was in trouble and play was suspended for the 1955 season; it never resumed. Part of the reason was money, and part of it was the American way of thinking in the 1950's. The war had been over for almost ten years, and life had returned to its quiet, suburban, car-in-every-driveway, 2.5 children nuclear family way of life that we look back on. American society wasn't ready for women to be tackling the sport that had been for so long dominated by men. Even though they had been very supportive ten years earlier, that support came mostly from a fear that the war would never end, and the even bigger fear that there weren't going to be enough men in the MLB to sustain it. How quickly things change in a decade! Even though the AAGPBL had been run by men and founded by men, it was the women players that made it successful, and it was their determination to be judged as equals in the sport that made the league work for as long as it did. Even if the league had only been around for one season, it still would've been a success for woman equality in American society. The growing feeling of 1950's conservatism is the biggest contributor to the ending of the league. The first reunion of the AAGPBL was held in Chicago in 1982, and a player's association was formed in 1987 for the surviving members of the league.

"Pepper" Paire from her glory days

This leads us back to Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis. Unlike as portrayed in the movie, she never played for the Rockford Peaches, but to fit in her entire career (which lasted the league's timeframe) without explaining moves, it was easier to identify her with the most well-known of the teams (since they won the most championships). She won championships with three teams: Racine Belles, Grand Rapids Chicks, and Fort Wayne Daisies. She's remained a lifelong baseball fan, cheering for the Dodgers and Angels. She wrote about her adventures in the league in her 2009 book "Dirt in the Skirt". As she put it in 1995, "[I] can't honestly tell you I knew the history we were making back then; I can tell you we knew we were doing something special."