Photograph by Tony Rivetti Jr. / Universal Pictures
Above, Colm Feore as Police Chief James Davis, "Changeling," set in 1928.
Los Angeles Times file photo
Above, Police Chief James Davis, 1926.
Northcott signs confession.
I don't care much for the press passes in the reporters' hats (at top), in fact they make me cringe, but costume designer Deborah Hopper did a nice job on Chief Davis' uniform, taking a small liberty to show a bit more of his tie.
At left, Gordon Northcott admits killing five boys, including Walter Collins. Northcott says he made Walter kneel at an improvised altar before killing him and kept his body around the house for several days. Northcott later told Christine Collins that he didn't kill her son.
Below, Northcott's mother is given a life term in the killings.
"I kept his body around the house for three days before I buried it."
"The old fool is crazy! There aren't any bodies!"
"My boy never had anything to do with the murders.... It was all my fault."
"It is only because you are a woman that I do not sentence you to be hanged."
Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."
Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.
The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.
Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.
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Geez, the photograph by Tony Rivetti Jr. is out of focus!
Couldn't Universal Pictures have found a sharper frame out of his take?
Terry Thomas
Stills Photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
www.TerryThomasPhotos.com
www.imdb.com/name/nm1669504/
Posted by: Terry Thomas, stills photographer / Atlanta, Georgia | October 29, 2008 at 09:08 AM