I recently learned more about some rather Noir history in my own family regarding my fathers second wife,
Betty Jane Pettit, seen here (the blond), in the 3 Stooges short, "Listen Judge"(1952).
courtesy 3 stooges fan club
I was contacted by a 3 stooges fan club on the east coast trying to find out more about her. We discovered that she had previously been married to screenwriter Wilfred Pettit, who committed suicide (accidentally?) in 1948 by hanging himself on his yacht wearing a blue polka dot dress.(I never had known about this)
article from Long Beach Independent 12/15/1948
Betty marrried my Father in 1955, writer/director
Bernard Girard, who wrote and directed Alfred Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, Medic, You are There, the Virginian, and many 1950's Golden Age of TV shows. He is pictured here about that time with
Fred Astaire on the Paramount Lot,
After they divorced in 1966, I eventually lost track of Betty, but she ended up in a building very much like the one
ethereal reality got out of (in the nick of time! lol) at
649 South Burnside Avenue (also, the last house on the block before Wilshire)
google Streetview retouched
In 1996, we were informed that she had (accidentally?) committed suicide by rolling off the roof in a drunken state and was impaled by the iron fence below.
She danced in Danny Kaye musicals, had numerous small parts in films, including The Robe, was married to successful directors and writers, lived in Beverly Hills, even helped raise 3 kids, but in the end, her LA story is a sad one. She was, however, a wonderful person, if not a tragic one.