Marlene

I already answered the detective's questions when they went through all of the things. I'm just following up to see if there's anything that cops may missed. They've pretty thorough. Please Glass, Yeah, all right, but I gotta make it brief. All I can tell you is what I know, all right. She was a sweetheart, a bit of a neat freak, always funcks him with her hair. When she first moved in. She was a Shylottle brunette girl who loved ile of Lucy.

She would never miss a Monday Night. She got the biggest kick out of the little cartoon Lucy and Daisy. Before every episode you two together a line, No, I mean day. She was at the doctor's office at the jewelry counter bullocks. But you had to come home at some point. You're telling me you didn't see your roommate except for Monday's No, not really. Why is that she spent a lot of time in her room. When I asked her what she was always doing in there, she said,

reading plays and practicing addiction and stuff like that. Six nights a week. Even Jane Mansfield took a night off from diction. Look, I don't know what to tell you, a buddy, glad don't look over there. There's no one over there. Why aren't you telling me, Gladys, nothing looked me in the eyes. Nothing looked me in the eyes. And tell me that Marlene were part time at a doctor's office during the day and was home every night in her room, but you never saw each other. She

didn't want a parents to know what. She didn't want her parents to know. Didn't want her parents to know what, Gladys. She started working knights as a cocktail waitress where Cereos, Cereals Jazz joined up on Sunset. Yeah, I know what Cereos is. It's a pretty swank nightclub. She got it in the head. Will someone got it in her head? That if she started sling and drink, she'd have a better chance of getting discovered by some real high role is her words, not mine. I mean I told her

she'd have to go to Vegas for those. I think she meant big wigs, as if some producer was going to see this cocktail waitress as the next Marilyn Monroe and put her on the cover of Life the next day. And around one was that, I don't know a few months before maybe do you ever mention any trouble there, anyone she had any problems with? But, like I said, passing ships, which was fine, I was tired of hearing all about Hollywood talk all the time. You may be in the wrong town for that. I just part of

me felt bad for her. How do you mean? Look, I'm not trying to degrade this poor girl. God rest the soul. I'm just pointing out she was pretty, but nothing remarkable. And the way she went on and on about what was filming and when she was going to get a big break enough that the star was born nonsense. Mm hmm. I wish you would just have settled down with it. A nice doctor that's real stability, not not the one she worked with. Obviously, but when was the

last time you saw her? Two days before they found her, my girlfriend, Sylvia was moving back to Michigan with her fiance Berry, and stopped over to say goodbye before they hit the road. After that, I went to work, and I assumed that's where Marlene was going, because she said she was working that evening She said she was working, yeah, And the morning after that I had the early shift, so I assume she was still in a room when I left. Any of this helping. I'm not in trouble,

am I she she didn't want to parents tonight. No trouble. Thank you for your help. Hey, how can we not bringing any of this down? I got a photographic memory. Well that's it. You're real, sweetheart. Gladys. You're welcome from Vot's Popula and the Los Angeles. Harold, this is the Angel of fine ainking in no ground, because my Angels. There's a small town in southern Idaho between the Snake River and the Albion Mountains with no noticeable connection to Hollywood.

A sign on the edge of town reads Burley, a great place to live. The population of Burley has hovered around ten thousand for many years now, but back in the fifties it was just over half of that Interstate eighty four had yet to be built, so the highway ran right through main Street, making Burley quite the thoroughfare for travelers needing rest. On a stretch equivalent to two city blocks, you had your choice of four restaurants, the

Oregon Trail Cafe, Boyd's, Nelson's, or the Sportsman's Cafe. There was the National Hotel, in Bank, the Idaho Bank and Trust, right across the street, a thrift way drug store, a Texico, and at the center of it all the Burly Theater, an old vaudeville house built in seventeen and later converted to accommodate a screen and projector. There was a perfect little town that wrapped most evenings up by nine o'clock

seven o'clock on Sundays. But if you had grandiose fantasies of fame and fortune, or desired the kind of glamours shown on the silver screen, Burley might not keep you as entertained as it did the majority of its residence. So as soon as Marlene Marie Nudson was old enough, she bought a one way bus ticket out of her bustling hometown. She headed to Hollywood, California, to make her dreams come true as Marlene Marie Evans and while you

can take the Girl out of Burley. When the detective searched Marlene's apartment, what they found stuck in the mirror of her vanity was a photograph of a sea of people outside of her hometown theater. The caption read in celebration of Shirley Temple's birthday circa nineteen thirty six. Perhaps she dreamt that one day all those people would be standing on Main Street celebrating her. There's only one way to keep warm, stripped down to your painting suit, that is,

if you're a girl. Our first story takes us to Idaho. Who we are fifty beautiful girls up for the title of Miss flash Bull. Let's see what develops in this photographer's holiday. Here are the ten best. Marlene was one

of the ten finalists for Miss Flashbulb. She won a very small trophy, but hey, a trophy is a trophy, right, I've never won a trophy and she got to keep the Catalina swimsuits she wore during the pageant that was the only contest entry of hers that I could find, but that's certainly not because there were a shortage of them in Boca Raton, Florida, a bevy of beauties out for the title of Miss Bicycle of nineteen fifty two,

one of the snappiest titles of the century. Later that summer, the very first Miss Universe took place in Long Beach, California. I don't know whether or not the excitement of that event played a role in her decision making process, but the following year, Marlene headed west. I found this clip at u c l A's Film and television archive, but at this point it's got to be somewhere on the internet before we carry on with a program. How about

some Harrington? Why yes, I love some Harrington. There really is more flavor and every spiritful. And remember, with Father's Day just around the corner, wouldn't it be nice to surprise Dad this Sunday morning with a cup of rich, smooth Harrington instant coffee. That was Marlene's first professional acting gig, a live sponsor ad during the Dewey Bowers Review Hour. She turns to camera during the jingle, lift the cup to her mouth and then with eyes and a smile

as wide as the lens. She delivers her line. I'm sure it's a little cheesy, but it was the nine fifties, the era of ah Chucks and Gee Whizz. And what you notice about Marlene immediately was that she wasn't the girl next door type. She was very simply put a girl from next door, not play by any strap, but definitely more of a Merry Anne than a Ginger and she was a perfect fit. This clip was dug up by the press from the vaults of Classic Pictures shortly

after Marlene's death. It's her screen test for a small role in the nture Aimless Lute and Bally. Who can you take a few steps forward for me? Um without your hand in your pockets? Right there? Okay, fell us? Your name and are you're reading for? My name is Marley Marie Evans. I'm five ft six and I'm reading for the role of Lady Babcock. And where are you from? Marley Early? I'd hill tell me one thing you love about Early? Oh there are so many things. Just one

is fun? Okay. Well, my my mother she used to take me to Nelson's, her friend, and Net was the piano player in the lounge. There we used to sit and listen to ant A Gershwin for what seemed like ours. It's wonderful was my mother's favorite? Was that enough? Perfect? Whenever you're ready, Pardons to start the scene. Oh, of course, I'm so sorry. I couldn't believe his character. I couldn't. I couldn't believe his behavior. Yes, dear, I thought that

it was absolutely dreadful, Yes, dear dreadful. Charles. Are you listening to a word I'm saying? I don't understand why we make the drive out here every summer? Great? Please thoughts your name again? Marlene Marie Evans. Marlene didn't get the role in Vali Who, but she did land her first on screen role in another of classics movies called Broadway Tangle. She has two lines as a department store sales girl regarding the price of a child's kaleidoscope, opposite

the film's lead Geane Hagen. Now I'm not going to go into the entirety of Marlene's resume here. I'm simply trying to paint a picture for you. So many Hollywood hopeful as actors and actresses arrived every day by the bus load, literally to make their mark to this day. They still do, but where so few actually make it. Marlene was already working. I'm not saying that from a few lines in a commercial and two speaking lines in a little known romantic comedy. Marlene was destined for stardom,

but she was working. She was doing exactly what she came to Hollywood to do, and at the very least, she had a promising future one cut tragically short. It's just crazy to think that she would have does. She'd be all but forgotten if not for your grandfather. Well, we hope, yeah, hopefully. Yeah. I have a lot of listening to do. This bottle of blue label was extremely generous of you. No, no, no, not at all. I please, I was I was taught to never show up anywhere

empty handed. Thank you. No, I didn't. I didn't mean yet open it now, I not. I think it's the perfect way to mark the moment. I'm not gonna argue with you. Thanks. So, do you have any early memories of your family? Good ones? No, they don't have to be No, No I do. Uh. He used to read me three little kittens, remember that? Oh the candy dish so in between the club chairs, which I wasn't supposed to touch. But come on, who leaves an unattended candy dish in a house with kids? That was my favorite

thing about visiting Gigi. See, I clearly remember the recorder. Oh interesting. So so he didn't buy them any phone once he became a private investigator. Oh no, he always had it. I remember pressing the buttons and speaking into it, and then he would play it back, and I thought it was funny that my voice was coming out of it. And sometimes I'd see him talking into it, and I'd sit in one of the club chairs across the room and listen. Oh god, those club chairs were the ugliest color,

color of puke. Oh they'd be worth a fortune. Now. G was ahead of our time. He used to record himself. He had his wingback leather chair in the corner on the front room where he'd sit when he read the paper. These rituals of Hanks were some of my favorite moments on his tapes. As I began listening, I expected to hear this. I don't know, Sam Spade, Humphrey Bogart type serves me right for watching too many movies. Instead, though,

I found a cop who loved to read poetry. If you're up against the bruiser and you're getting knocked about. Grin if you're feeling pretty groggy and your lick beyond a doubt. Rn. I remember his police uniform. The squad car was a big deal. Anytime the squad car showed up, it was like Christmas. He would surprise us during a shift and he would put me in the driver's seat and put his hat on my head and let me turn on the lights. Don't let him see your funking.

Let him know with every clout, though your face is battered to a pulpe, your blooming heart is stout. Just stand upon your pins until the beggar knocks you out and grin. But most of what I know about him is from my mother. Such as he loved being a cop. Nothing made him happier. He would have done it for free. It was all he used to talk about. But but, but, and as happy as it would make him. She was never happy about the fact that he was a cop.

I shouldn't say never happy, but it clearly didn't help their marriage. M Was it the hours and the danger. No, not the danger, not on the job anyway, and that was the fifties. The danger was that he would have won too many with the boys after work, stay out all night, hitting on the girls in dispatch. She was a mother of two. That was enough stress on its own, and it only got worse when he started his own agency. No red tape, no partner, no set hours, no one

to answer to about that. Um. How much do you know about the circumstances that led to him leaving the l a p D. I know some, but this is more her department. I found all of the newspaper clippings he kept. Wow, So this is what the papers said. And there are a couple of names to remember to understand exactly what went down. First, the Honorable Benton Francis Hughes. He was a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court at the time Hank was on the police force. The

other is Benton's son, Forrest Hughes. Forrest was attending Dartmouth majoring in finance with a minor in Russian, probably two hits off his father. Anyway, the the short of it is, Forrest was home for a break during the summer. Hank comes across a drunken forest one night while he's off duty outside the King Eddie Saloon. Apparently he'd beat the crap out of Forest, broke his jaw, fractured his eye

socket for no apparent reason. Right, But mom, Hank's best friend, Ed, a fellow cop, was with Hank that night, and that's not in the paper. No, it's not. They said Hank acted alone. My mother said, my father swore that he and Ed saved a girl that night. He and Ed came out of the ball are and took the alley. They heard a struggle and found this guy trying to force himself on a young woman. But there's also no mention of a girl anywhere in the clippings. Just off

duty cop assaults judge's son and no word. Nope. A little background on ed Hess. At that time, Ed was one of less than sixty black officers in the l A. P D. It's no question that he faced racism, both from those he did his best to protect and serve and also under a police chief who at that time made certain that any officer of color faced almost impossible

odds when it came to being promoted. While he's not in the report from the following tape, I do know that Ed was there that night, and my best guess is that if Ed was in an off duty altercation. It would have been exponentially worse for him than for Hank. Thank you. This is a big help. I want to know exactly who I'm dealing with here. The last thing I need is to track this guy down to find out he's a gun runner for the mob. No, no, no,

there's nothing like that on his rap sheet. In a couple of beanies talking us orderly, and you got to get along the way. Hey, you know something? You got funnier money, still breathing down your neck? Hell, I wish How do you mean there's nobody around me? I had four walls and in box and a filing cabinet. It sounds like my office. You got windows, of course they have windows. And then it's not like your office. And he luck with the girl nothing, she's a ghost. Damn

should have stayed. What are you gonna do? Walker bruised white girl into my hospital. I had my back and two whiskeys. I had no problem inmitting my part in it. It wouldn't have changed the thing. Still a judge's kid, Still a judge's kid. Hell. He wasn't even at the station long enough to make a damn phone call. A little ship you know death duties bad. The only time outside has been with you. I could always use the company on a steak out if you missed me so much, sweetheart,

No thanks, I need my pension. Damn. I'm sorry. Man. He relax, and I know you didn't mean nothing by it. But I'll tell you what. Give me that apology again, but this time louder. For the record. I don't understand why you can't just write it down like the rest of us. That you can't write down the background noise of the way a person stutters or pauses, and you can't write down how somebody sounds like a liar. Why would I lie to you? Not you? It's just easier

for me. Yet I can't explain it. Yeah, because you made a life of ship. What if I just really love the sound of your beautiful voice and just stupid. After I finished my first visit with Beth and Phillis and returned to Los Angeles, I went to one of the herald sources of the L A. T. D. To see if they could find anything regarding Hank's dismissal with the pulled was his personnel file. As it turns out,

Hank Briggs wasn't fired. Hank Briggs chose to resign from the l a p D instead of putting his future in the hands of a disciplinary committee of speers. Had they decided to remove him from the force, and let's be honest, there was a Superior Court judge hanging over this whole thing, he would have been fired. Had that happened, Hank would have lost his ability to be a licensed private detective. So by resigning, he basically took a plea deal that allowed him to keep doing what he loved.

He had this artist c for camera. I never even heard of Argus before, but apparently it was affordable and had a quick learning curve. This was his business card, serving Los Angeles in strict Confidence, which he later changed to serving Hollywood in strict confidence. He kept clippings of certain cases. There's corporate embezzlement, one about an exoneration involving a witness. The prosecution was hiding drugs being dealta a studio A lot. I mean, all all these cases, but

he's not mentioned in any of them. Ah, but that wouldn't exactly have been serving in strict confidence. But it's never mind. I answered my own question. So the Briggs Detective Agency was born, and Hank Briggs wasn't a company more.

And because he was no longer a cop, there was an entire world of information and new methods of collecting that information now available to him, especially in some of the cedier areas of Los Angeles is underbelly where even a reliable informant never told the police everything they knew. And let's not forget that Hank also had ed offering him help when he was able to. It would seem that it was the best of both worlds. Really, except

for one detail. Hank wasn't a company. Moore m artists It okay, this is the document the maiden voyage of the s. S. Briggs makes. She float m There's nothing gained by whining, and you're not that kind of stuff. You're a fighter from a way back, and you won't take a rebuff. Your trouble is that you don't know when you have had enough, don't give in. If fates you down, you just get up and take another cuff. You may bank on it that there is no philosophy

like bluff and grin. The Angel the Vine As a podcast produced by Vox popular on behalf of the Los Angeles Herald. Thank you for listening to the Angel of Vine. If you'd like to support us, please leave us a review and tell your friends to subscribe it. The Angel of Vine is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and

all major podcast apps. If you can't wait for the next episode of The Angel of Vine, episodes three through five are available right now exclusively on Stitcher Premium, as well as Angel of Vine bonus episodes, extended episodes, and add free episodes. Go to Stitcher Premium dot com slash Angel and use promo code Angel to get your first month of Stitcher Premium free. The Angel of Vine is directed by e Ryan Martz, written by Oliver Vacare, story

about e. Ryan Marts, Jason Salwalt, and Oliver Vakare. Sound designed by Joel Robbie. Produced by Vox Populi in association with Forever Dog Podcast Network. This episode's performances by Joe Manganello, Constant Zimmer, Kamilla Luddington, Mike Coulter, Rebecca Field, Travis William Patrick, Eazel Ali Ready, Tom Sibley, Cree Summer, and Oliver Vacare. Angelis is performed by Desy Dennis Delon piano and arrangement by James Harper, composed by Matt Dennis, Lyrics by Earl

Brent from downtown Los Angeles. This has been the Angel of Vine. You'll hear more from us soon. Oh is my a Joe? Excuse me while lie deep peace. It is his is