DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: HERE LIES NATALIE WOOD (Issue #18)

Coming soon.

COMING SOON: JAYNE MANSFIELD (A MOSTLY TRUE STORY)

πšπ™΄π™Ώπ™Ύπšπšƒπ™΄πš: π™·πš˜πš  πš–πšžπšŒπš‘ πš•πš˜πš—πšπšŽπš› 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚘𝚞 πšπš‘πš’πš—πš” 𝚒𝚘𝚞 πšŒπšŠπš— πš‹πšŽ 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚑 πšœπš’πš–πš‹πš˜πš•?

π™Ήπ™°πšˆπ™½π™΄ π™Όπ™°π™½πš‚π™΅π™Έπ™΄π™»π™³: π™΅πš˜πš›πšŽπšŸπšŽπš›, πšπšŠπš›πš•πš’πš—πš.

Fisher and Sons Funeral Home

The Auguste Marquis Residence in West Adams in Los Angeles was the setting for the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in the HBO series β€œSix Feet Under.” On the show , the funeral home its supposedly located in North Hollywood. I lived in NoHo for four years and at the end of the street sat a funeral home. I can’t count how many times I walked my dog past throngs of hysterical mourners half expecting to see Nate or Rico comforting a widow or talking to their dad’s ghost. (Instagram: Deadinhollywoodzine)

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Deathiversary: Harry Houdini (October 31, 1926)

Magician Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix. He was 52. His last words before dying: "I'm tired of fighting." Witnesses to an incident in Houdini's dressing room at the Princess Theatre in Montreal speculated that a McGill University student, Jocelyn Whitehead, caused Houdini's death. Whitehead repeatedly struck Houdini's abdomen after asking the magician "if he believed in the miracles of the Bible" and "whether it was true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him." Whitehead then delivered "some very hammer-like blows below the belt" to Houdini who winced at each blow before stopping Whitehead in the midst of a punch. He had not expected Whitehead to strike him so suddenly and forcefully. Houdini performed that evening in great pain. He was unable to sleep and remained in constant agony for the next two days but did not seek medical help. When he finally saw a doctor, he was found to have a fever of 102 Β°F and acute appendicitis and was advised to have immediate surgery. He ignored the advice and decided to go on with the show.

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Breaking... Juan Romero Dead (Oct 1, 2018)

The LA Times is reporting tonight that Juan Romero has died of a heart attack at the age of 68. Romero was the busboy seen cradling the head of a mortally wounded Robert F. Kennedy in the iconic photograph taken shortly after Kennedy had been shot in the head by an assassin's bullet. Romero was forever haunted by what happened just after midnight on June 5, 1968, when he was on duty as a busboy at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd. near Koreatown in Los Angeles. Romero was just 17 at the time. Romero was in the habit of leaving flowers at that monument each year to mark RFK’s death. He said he often felt we as a nation were moving further politically from what he saw as a Kennedy legacy of tolerance and compassion.

Jean Harlow (March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937)

…Harlow, Jean. Picture of a beauty queen. Jean Harlow (March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) is famous for her roles in movies like β€œHell’s Angel,” "Dinner at Eight,” and β€œSaratoga.” Harlow dies at the age of 26 during the filming of β€œSaratoga.” On May 29, 1937, Harlow is shooting a scene in which the character she is playing has a fever. Harlow is clearly sicker than her character, and when she leans against co-star Clark Gable between scenes, says, "I feel terrible. Get me back to my dressing room." Harlow starts feeling better on June 3rd and her co-workers totally expect her back on set June 7th. Gable, who visits her during her time off, later says that she was severely bloated and that he smelled urine on her breath when he kissed herβ€”both signs of kidney failure. On June 6th, the day before she is due back on set, Harlow is taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where she slips into a coma. The next day at 11:37 am, Harlow dies in the hospital at the age of 26. In the doctor's press release, the cause of death is given as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure. Hospital records mention uremia - the condition of having β€œurea in the blood.” Urea is one of the primary components of urine. One of the MGM writers later says, "The day Baby died there wasn't one sound in the commissary for three hours.” Spencer Tracy writes in his diary, "Jean Harlow died today. Grand gal." MGM closes on the day of her funeral, June 9. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale in the Great Mausoleum in a private room of multicolored marble. 

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L.A. Zine Fest

L.A. Zine Fest was a blast. I brought 200 copies of Dead in Hollywood with me and I sold out! How did that even happen?!?! A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our table and a humongous thank you to the good folks at L.A. Zine Fest. I am overwhelmed by the support! Tabling at LA Zine Fest was a goal of mine when I started Dead in Hollywood exactly one year ago and I did it! I'm feeling so inspired. I can't wait to see where the next year takes us!