The Black Dahlia murder shocked postwar America and ignited a media frenzy that reduced her to pulp headlines and grotesque speculation. The LAPD’s bungled investigation faded into silence, until the incest trial of George Hodel thrust the Dahlia’s specter back into the spotlight.
In episode 3 of This Body - The Black Dahlia, we trace a line from Elizabeth Short’s depersonalized body in Leimert Park through Tamar Hodel’s testimony, and into the next generation of Hollywood daughters: Michele and Chynna Phillips, Mackenzie Phillips, and Bijou Phillips.
From Chinatown to Lolita, from the Mamas and the Papas to Scientology, this is a story of how Los Angeles devours its daughters, and how some live to tell the tale.
