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In November 2008, I was contacted by Steve Hodel, the son of primary suspect George Hodel and the author of one of my primary sources for this essay, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. He provided me with the following corrections:
"My only real criticism would be that your article seemingly endorses the long perpetuated John Gilmore myth that
Elizabeth Short had an "infantile vagina" and was most likely incapable of normal sexual relations. She was not!
In my updated version of Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, (HarperCollins, July 2006) I have included two new investigative chapters which provide important information from the newly discovered DA Dahlia-Hodel Files. This information dispels the Gilmore Myth and documents: 1) Elizabeth Short was anatomically normal in all respects and 2) names six men who were sexually intimate with her. The DA Files further establish that my father, Dr. George Hodel and Elizabeth Short were dating in the months prior to her murder and provides tape-recorded transcriptions of admissions from Dr. Hodel as to committing the Dahlia murder along with payoffs to police and other crimes."
I had used a 2003 edition of Hodel's book in the preparation of this paper and was unaware of his added chapters in the 2006 edition that provided additional insight into the case, as well as debunking the myth of Elizabeth Short's "infantile vagina".
I asked Mr. Hodel if he could shine any light on the origin of myth of Short's "infantile vagina," and also on his thoughts on Marcel Duchamp's Etant Donnes and proposals by various theorists that he referenced the unformed genitals in the mannequin-like figure of this tableau. I asked him if he thought Duchamp knew of and believed the reports. Mr. Hodel responded with the following:
"The origin of the Elizabeth Short "infantile vagina" myth appears to have started with an admitted lie made by newspaperman, Will Fowler (son of famed screenwriter Gene Fowler) who was one of the first newspapermen to arrive at the Black Dahlia crime scene. Will Fowler, in a letter to Mary Humphrey Pacios (who was in the 1980s a co-Dahlia researcher with John Gilmore) wrote the following:
Feb. 25, 1988
Dear Mary:
Regarding my telling you Elizabeth Short had "infantile sex organs." That is untrue, and a ploy I use to shock all of faint
stomaches, and phony would-be biographers and article writers. I hope this helps you in some small way.
Best wishes, and good luck,
Will Fowler
"Mary Pacios would split from Gilmore and eventually write her own book (Childhood Shadows) about Elizabeth Short in which she makes claim that actor, Orson Welles was the possible Dahlia killer. It is not known why Mary Pacios never exposed her knowledge (and the letter) documenting the lie? We can only speculate that perhaps she maintained silence and allowed the lie to perpetuate because of her close friendship with John Gilmore? Obviously, Gilmore would have seen the letter and known the truth of it, but chose to go ahead and sensationalize the later claims in his book, along with trying to suggest that Elizabeth was 'a hermaphrodite.'
"As far as your question of do I belive that Marcel Duchamp knew or believed these false reports related to the 'infantile vagina' and included them in his work, Etant Donnes? I seriously doubt it. I think they came into the picture much later on in time. I do believe there is a good possibility that he did see and use the original crime scene photos which were floating around Hollywood in 1947. It is documented that Duchamp came out and visited Man Ray in Hollywood at that time and all the other connections made in Mark Nelson and Sarah Bayliss' book, EXQUISITE CORPSE. If Duchamp had access to the crime-scene photographs he would have seen all the cuts to the body including some to her private parts, which he may have decided to inlude or suggest in his finsihed work- Etant Donnes."
If Duchamp was not aware of any questions regarding the normalcy of Short's genital area, it contradicts any theories that Duchamp references them in Etant Donnes. It cannot be denied, however, that Etant Donnes presents a doll-like figure with inpenetrable sex organs that may still be regarded as a sequel to the sexual frustration referenced in Duchamp's earlier work, Large Glass.
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