Who Killed Thelma Todd?

[Andrew666]

Funny how the mind works. I was sat there thinking about Morecombe and Wise, the much-loved British comedy duo from the 1960s and 1970s and remembered that they had once said they had based their act as teenagers on the American comedy duo Wheeler & Woolsey.


Morecambe & Wise & Wheeler & Woolsey

I then remembered that I had only ever seen one Wheeler & Woolsey film which was Hips, Hips, Hooray! in which they invent a new flavoured lipstick - thus giving the guys the opportunity to kiss lots of girls - smart thinking guys! The film also starred Thelma Todd, a great comedy actress who also worked with the Marx Brothers and was full of zest and vitality (although it later turned out this was because she was full of amphetamines.)


Hips! Hips! Hooray!

Then I began to think about Thelma's tragic death. She was drawn towards gangster Lucky Luciano. She also ran a bistro-type club, the Sidewalk Cafe, with the guy she was living with called Roland West in the apartment upstairs. Lucky Luciano wanted her to let him use another room above the bistro as a gambling den and to invite her Hollywood friends to it - but she was holding him off. On the night of her death she went to a private party held by Stanley Lupino and his daughter Ida at the Trocadero, elsewhere in the city. She apparently got very drunk and had a bitter argument with her ex-husband Pat DiCicco. But she left the party in good spirits.


Thelma Todd

After leaving the party, she parked her car in the garage of the cafe. She tried to enter the apartment upstairs but Roland had gone to bed in a mood because she was late back - and had locked the door of the apartment from the inside. She was found the next morning dead in her car from carbon monoxide poisoning - not at the apartment, however, but in the garage of West's other home - a house a few miles away. Had she committed suicide? Possibly. Had she turned on the engine to keep herself warm and succombed to the fumes? Possibly. Had she been murdered? Possibly. There were spots of blood found on her mouth and the upholstery. These could have happened during a choking phase during asphyxiation - but the autopsy also showed a broken nose, several broken ribs and a dislodged filling - where did they come from? In her stomach were peas and beans, even though neither had been served at Ida Lupino's party.

The jury ruled suicide but there were hints of a cover up by the Hollywood star system. It's true, however, Thelma was a bit of a wild child, on drugs, in trouble with the IRS and had suffered bouts of depression. She was out of control.


Thelma was found dead in her car

On the other hand, there was no shortage of suspects for a murder rap. Her ex-husband; her lover Roland West, who could see her attraction to the charismatic Luciano; Lucky, himself, angry at her refusal to help him; West's ex-wife, whose apartment Todd and West still lived in: possibly even her accountant whom she had accused of pilfering the account. There's also a mysterious 'San Francisco businessman' whom Todd had confided to Ida Lupino that she was seeing quietly


Suave charismatic Lucky Luciano

1990 saw a great TV movie - White Hot - The Mysterious Death of Thelma Todd - with the lovely Loni Anderson in the lead role - but the story deserves a bigger canvas - I wonder if Megan Abbott might be interested?

[JCharles]

Thanks Andrew for an excellent overview of the strange case of Thelma Todd. In a fictionalized vein, I bring your attention to Max Allan Collins' short story The Perfect Crime, part of the Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe collection. Collins uses the bare bones of the Todd case, brings in a few fictional characters, and pens it through the eyes of Chandler's Private Eye. Including this story, it's an excellent collection with many different authors and well worth hunting for.

[Movie Memories]

Many questions surrounding Thelma Todd's death remain unaswered. Hint's of a Hollywood cover up are too strong to dismiss. The practice of covering up anything that would cast a dark shadow on Hollywood was all too common.

Todd also had a high blood alcohol level that was described as being enough to "stupefy" her. Also of interest is the fact that in order to reach the garage she would have had to climb a steep flight of outdoor stairs. When found she was wearing high-heeled sandals that were free of any dirt she would have had to walk on.

The closer one looks, the more one sees.

Thelma was far from alone in what would appear to be covered up scenerios. A short while ago I was given a book by a family member who is a friend of one of the authors. The title is Deadly Illusions. It concerns the murder of Jean Harlow's husband MGM producer Paul Bern. His death was ruled a suicide. The facts surrounding his death make this dicision laughable.

If you enjoy reading about this type of subject, I highly recommend the title.

[Guy Savage]

Try Hot Toddy: The True Story of Hollywood's most sensational murder by Andy Edmonds. Not a perfect book but still fascinating.

Todd had 2 broken ribs, a broken nose, and she's been whacked so hard, one of her fillings was knocked out.