0:01

A note to the listener. The following

0:03

story contains some adult content and language.

0:09

Welcome back to the podcast. Full

0:12

disclosure. Before we get started, I

0:14

want you to know that there's a lot of ground

0:16

to cover in this episode, a

0:19

lot of history, and I

0:21

promise it's all necessary, necessary,

0:25

because Marlene Marie Evans was a real

0:27

person, not just a

0:30

body found in a parking lot. So

0:35

I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as I did.

0:50

I already answered the detective's questions when they

0:52

went through all of the things. I'm just following up

0:56

to see if there's anything that cops may missed.

0:59

They've pretty thorough. Please

1:02

Glass, Yeah,

1:06

all right, but I gotta make it brief. All I can

1:08

tell you is what I know, all

1:12

right. She was a sweetheart, a bit of a neat

1:14

freak, always funcks him with her hair.

1:17

When she first moved in. She was a Shylottle brunette

1:19

girl who loved ile of Lucy.

1:21

She would never miss a Monday Night. She

1:24

got the biggest kick out of the little cartoon Lucy

1:26

and Daisy. Before every episode you

1:28

two together a line, No, I

1:31

mean day. She was at the doctor's office

1:33

at the jewelry counter bullocks. But

1:35

you had to come home at some point. You're

1:38

telling me you didn't see your roommate except

1:40

for Monday's No, not really. Why

1:43

is that she spent

1:45

a lot of time in her room. When

1:47

I asked her what she was always doing in there, she said, reading

1:49

plays and practicing addiction and stuff

1:51

like that. Six nights a week. Even

1:54

Jane Mansfield took a night off from diction.

1:56

Look, I don't know what to tell you, a buddy, glad don't

2:00

look over there. There's no one over there. Why

2:02

aren't you telling me, Gladys,

2:06

nothing looked

2:08

me in the eyes. Nothing looked me in the

2:10

eyes. And tell me that Marlene were part time

2:13

at a doctor's office during the day and was home

2:15

every night in her room, but you never saw

2:17

each other. She

2:19

didn't want a parents to know what. She

2:22

didn't want her parents to know. Didn't

2:24

want her parents to know what, Gladys. She

2:28

started working knights as a cocktail waitress

2:30

where Cereos, Cereals

2:34

Jazz joined up on Sunset. Yeah, I know what Cereos

2:36

is. It's a pretty swank nightclub. She

2:39

got it in the head. Will someone got it in her

2:41

head? That if she started sling and drink, she'd

2:43

have a better chance of getting discovered by some real high

2:46

role is her words, not mine.

2:48

I mean I told her she'd have to go to Vegas for those. I

2:50

think she meant big wigs, as

2:52

if some producer was going to see this cocktail waitress

2:55

as the next Marilyn Monroe and put her on the cover of

2:57

Life the next day. And around one

2:59

was that, I

3:02

don't know a few months before maybe

3:05

do you ever mention any trouble there, anyone

3:07

she had any problems with? But,

3:09

like I said, passing ships, which was

3:11

fine, I was tired of hearing all about Hollywood

3:14

talk all the time. You may be in

3:16

the wrong town for that. I just

3:19

part of me felt bad for her. How do you mean?

3:23

Look, I'm not trying to degrade this poor

3:25

girl. God rest the soul. I'm just pointing out

3:27

she was pretty, but nothing remarkable.

3:30

And the way she went on and on about what was filming

3:33

and when she was going to get a big break enough

3:35

that the star was born nonsense. Mm

3:38

hmm. I wish you would just have settled

3:40

down with it. A nice doctor that's

3:43

real stability, not not the one she worked with. Obviously,

3:45

but when was the last time you saw her? Two

3:48

days before they found her, my

3:50

girlfriend, Sylvia was moving back to Michigan with

3:52

her fiance Berry, and stopped over to say goodbye

3:55

before they hit the road. After that, I went to work,

3:57

and I assumed that's where Marlene was

3:59

going, because she said she was

4:01

working that evening She said she was

4:03

working, yeah, And the

4:05

morning after that I had the early shift, so I

4:08

assume she was still in a room when I left. Any

4:10

of this helping. I'm not in trouble,

4:12

am I she she didn't want to parents tonight. No

4:16

trouble. Thank you for

4:18

your help. Hey, how can we not

4:20

bringing any of this down? I

4:22

got a photographic memory. Well

4:25

that's it. You're real,

4:27

sweetheart. Gladys. You're

4:29

welcome from

4:37

Vot's Popula and the Los Angeles.

4:40

Harold, this is the Angel

4:42

of fine

4:48

ainking in no ground,

4:54

because my Angels.

5:02

There's a small town in southern Idaho between the Snake

5:05

River and the Albion Mountains with no noticeable

5:07

connection to Hollywood. A sign

5:09

on the edge of town reads Burley, a

5:12

great place to live. The

5:14

population of Burley has hovered around ten

5:16

thousand for many years now, but back

5:18

in the fifties it was just over half of that Interstate

5:22

eighty four had yet to be built, so the highway ran

5:24

right through main Street, making Burley quite

5:26

the thoroughfare for travelers needing rest.

5:30

On a stretch equivalent to two city blocks,

5:32

you had your choice of four restaurants, the Oregon

5:34

Trail Cafe, Boyd's, Nelson's,

5:37

or the Sportsman's Cafe. There

5:39

was the National Hotel, in Bank, the Idaho Bank

5:41

and Trust, right across the street, a thrift way

5:43

drug store, a Texico, and

5:45

at the center of it all the Burly Theater,

5:48

an old vaudeville house built in seventeen

5:51

and later converted to accommodate a screen and

5:53

projector. There was a perfect

5:55

little town that wrapped most evenings up by nine

5:57

o'clock seven o'clock on Sundays. But

6:00

if you had grandiose fantasies of fame and fortune,

6:02

or desired the kind of glamours shown on

6:05

the silver screen, Burley might not keep

6:07

you as entertained as it did the majority of its

6:09

residence. So

6:11

as soon as Marlene Marie Nudson was old

6:13

enough, she bought a one way bus ticket out

6:15

of her bustling hometown. She

6:18

headed to Hollywood, California, to make her dreams

6:20

come true as Marlene Marie

6:22

Evans and while you can

6:24

take the Girl out of Burley. When

6:26

the detective searched Marlene's apartment, what

6:28

they found stuck in the mirror of her vanity was a

6:30

photograph of a sea of people outside

6:32

of her hometown theater. The

6:35

caption read in celebration

6:37

of Shirley Temple's birthday circa

6:39

nineteen thirty six. Perhaps

6:42

she dreamt that one day all those people would be standing

6:44

on Main Street celebrating her. There's

6:49

only one way to keep warm, stripped

6:51

down to your painting suit, that is, if

6:54

you're a girl. Our first story

6:56

takes us to Idaho. Who we are fifty beautiful

6:59

girls up for the title of Miss

7:01

flash Bull. Let's see what develops

7:03

in this photographer's holiday. Here

7:06

are the ten best. Marlene

7:09

was one of the ten finalists for Miss Flashbulb.

7:11

She won a very small trophy, but

7:14

hey, a trophy is a trophy, right, I've never won a trophy

7:16

and she got to keep the Catalina swimsuits

7:18

she wore during the pageant that

7:20

was the only contest entry of hers that I could

7:22

find, but that's certainly not because there were a

7:25

shortage of them in Boca Raton,

7:27

Florida, a bevy of beauties

7:29

out for the title of Miss Bicycle of

7:31

nineteen fifty two, one of

7:33

the snappiest titles of the century.

7:38

Later that summer, the very first Miss Universe

7:40

took place in Long Beach, California. I

7:43

don't know whether or not the excitement of that event played

7:45

a role in her decision making process,

7:47

but the following year, Marlene headed

7:49

west. I found this clip at u

7:52

c l A's Film and television archive, but at this

7:54

point it's got to be somewhere on the internet before

7:59

we carry on with a program. How about some Harrington?

8:04

Why yes, I love some Harrington. There

8:09

really is more flavor and every spiritful.

8:16

And remember, with Father's Day just around

8:18

the corner, wouldn't it be nice to surprise

8:21

Dad this Sunday morning with a cup of

8:23

rich, smooth Harrington instant

8:25

coffee. That

8:29

was Marlene's first professional acting

8:31

gig, a live sponsor ad during

8:33

the Dewey Bowers Review Hour. She

8:36

turns to camera during the jingle, lift

8:38

the cup to her mouth and then with eyes and

8:40

a smile as wide as the lens. She delivers

8:42

her line. I'm sure it's a little cheesy, but it

8:45

was the nine fifties, the era of ah

8:47

Chucks and Gee Whizz. And

8:49

what you notice about Marlene immediately was

8:51

that she wasn't the girl next door type.

8:54

She was very simply put a girl

8:57

from next door, not play

8:59

by any strap, but definitely more of a Merry

9:01

Anne than a Ginger and

9:03

she was a perfect fit. This

9:06

clip was dug up by the press from the vaults of Classic

9:08

Pictures shortly after Marlene's death. It's

9:11

her screen test for a small role in the nture

9:15

Aimless Lute and Bally. Who can

9:18

you take a few steps forward for me? Um

9:22

without your hand in your pockets?

9:25

Right there? Okay, fell

9:28

us? Your name and are you're reading

9:30

for? My name is

9:32

Marley Marie Evans. I'm five ft

9:35

six and I'm reading for the role of Lady

9:37

Babcock. And where are you from?

9:39

Marley Early? I'd hill

9:42

tell me one thing you love about Early?

9:45

Oh there are

9:47

so many things. Just one is fun?

9:50

Okay. Well, my

9:52

my mother she used to take me to Nelson's,

9:55

her friend, and Net was the piano player in the lounge.

9:57

There we used to sit and listen to

9:59

ant A Gershwin for what seemed like ours.

10:02

It's wonderful was my mother's favorite? Was

10:05

that enough? Perfect?

10:09

Whenever you're ready, Pardons

10:12

to start the scene. Oh, of

10:14

course, I'm

10:16

so sorry. I

10:19

couldn't believe his character. I couldn't.

10:22

I couldn't believe his behavior. Yes,

10:25

dear, I thought that it was absolutely

10:28

dreadful, Yes, dear dreadful. Charles.

10:31

Are you listening to a word I'm saying? I

10:34

don't understand why we make the drive out here every

10:36

summer? Great? Please

10:39

thoughts your name again? Marlene

10:41

Marie Evans. Marlene

10:47

didn't get the role in Vali Who, but she did land

10:50

her first on screen role in another of classics

10:52

movies called Broadway Tangle. She

10:54

has two lines as a department store sales

10:56

girl regarding the price of a child's kaleidoscope,

10:59

opposite the film's lead Geane Hagen. Now

11:02

I'm not going to go into the entirety of Marlene's

11:04

resume here. I'm simply trying to paint a picture

11:06

for you. So many Hollywood hopeful as actors

11:08

and actresses arrived every day

11:10

by the bus load, literally to make their

11:13

mark to this day. They still do, but

11:15

where so few actually make

11:18

it. Marlene was already working. I'm

11:20

not saying that from a few lines in a commercial

11:22

and two speaking lines in a little known romantic

11:25

comedy. Marlene was destined for stardom,

11:27

but she was working. She

11:29

was doing exactly what she came to Hollywood

11:32

to do, and at the very least, she had a promising

11:34

future one cut tragically short.

11:39

It's just crazy to think that she would have does.

11:41

She'd be all but forgotten if not for your grandfather. Well,

11:44

we hope, yeah, hopefully. Yeah.

11:46

I have a lot of listening to do. This bottle

11:49

of blue label was extremely generous of you.

11:52

No, no, no, not at all. I please, I was I

11:54

was taught to never show up anywhere empty handed. Thank you.

11:58

No, I didn't. I didn't mean yet open it now, I not.

12:00

I think it's the perfect way to mark the moment. I'm

12:03

not gonna argue with you. Thanks.

12:10

So, do you

12:12

have any early memories of your family? Good

12:15

ones? No, they don't have to be No, No

12:18

I do. Uh.

12:22

He used to read me three little kittens, remember

12:25

that? Oh the

12:27

candy dish

12:29

so in between the club chairs, which I wasn't

12:31

supposed to touch. But come on, who leaves

12:34

an unattended candy dish in a house with kids?

12:36

That was my favorite thing about visiting Gigi.

12:39

See, I

12:41

clearly remember the recorder. Oh

12:45

interesting. So so he didn't buy them any phone

12:47

once he became a private investigator. Oh

12:50

no, he always had it. I remember

12:52

pressing the buttons and speaking into it,

12:54

and then he would play it back, and I thought

12:57

it was funny that my voice was coming

12:59

out of it. And

13:01

sometimes I'd see him talking into it, and

13:03

I'd sit in one of the club chairs across the room

13:05

and listen. Oh god,

13:07

those club chairs were the ugliest

13:10

color, color

13:12

of puke. Oh

13:14

they'd be worth a fortune. Now. G was

13:16

ahead of our time. He used to record

13:18

himself. He had his wingback

13:21

leather chair in the corner on the front room where

13:23

he'd sit when he read the paper. These

13:27

rituals of Hanks were some of my favorite

13:29

moments on his tapes. As

13:31

I began listening, I expected to hear this. I

13:34

don't know, Sam Spade, Humphrey

13:37

Bogart type serves me right for watching

13:39

too many movies. Instead, though, I

13:42

found a cop who loved to read poetry.

13:51

If you're up against the bruiser and you're getting

13:53

knocked about. Grin if

13:56

you're feeling pretty groggy and your lick beyond

13:58

a doubt. Rn. I

14:02

remember his police uniform.

14:04

The squad car was a big deal. Anytime

14:08

the squad car showed up, it was like Christmas.

14:11

He would surprise us during a shift and

14:13

he would put me in the driver's seat and put his hat

14:16

on my head and let me turn on the lights.

14:20

Don't let him see your funking. Let him

14:22

know with every clout, though your face

14:25

is battered to a pulpe, your blooming heart

14:27

is stout. Just stand

14:29

upon your pins until the beggar knocks you

14:31

out and grin. But

14:36

most of what I know about him is from my

14:38

mother. Such as he

14:41

loved being a cop. Nothing made

14:44

him happier. He would have done it for

14:46

free. It was all he used

14:48

to talk about. But

14:51

but, but, and

14:54

as happy as it would make him. She

14:57

was never happy about the fact that he was a cop.

15:00

I shouldn't say never happy, but it

15:02

clearly didn't help their marriage. M

15:05

Was it the hours and the danger. No,

15:08

not the danger, not on

15:10

the job anyway, and that was the fifties.

15:14

The danger was that

15:16

he would have won too many with the boys after

15:18

work, stay out all night, hitting on the girls

15:20

in dispatch. She

15:23

was a mother of two. That was enough

15:25

stress on its own, and it

15:28

only got worse when he started his own agency.

15:30

No red tape, no partner, no set

15:33

hours, no one to answer

15:35

to about that. Um.

15:37

How much do you know about the circumstances that led

15:39

to him leaving the l a p D. I

15:41

know some, but this is more her

15:43

department. I found

15:46

all of the newspaper clippings he kept. Wow,

15:51

So this is what the papers said.

15:54

And there are a couple of names to remember

15:56

to understand exactly what went down. First,

15:59

the Honorable Benton Francis Hughes.

16:02

He was a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court

16:04

at the time Hank was on the police force. The

16:06

other is Benton's son, Forrest

16:09

Hughes. Forrest was attending Dartmouth

16:11

majoring in finance with a minor in Russian,

16:14

probably two hits off his father.

16:17

Anyway, the the short of it is, Forrest

16:19

was home for a break during the summer. Hank

16:23

comes across a drunken forest one night while

16:25

he's off duty outside the King Eddie Saloon.

16:28

Apparently he'd beat the crap

16:30

out of Forest, broke his jaw,

16:33

fractured his eye socket for

16:35

no apparent reason. Right, But

16:40

mom, Hank's best friend,

16:42

Ed, a fellow cop, was with Hank

16:45

that night, and that's not in the paper. No,

16:48

it's not. They said Hank acted alone.

16:51

My mother said, my father swore

16:54

that he and Ed saved a girl that night.

16:58

He and Ed came out of the ball are and took

17:00

the alley. They heard a struggle and found

17:03

this guy trying to force himself on a young woman.

17:05

But there's also no mention of a girl anywhere

17:07

in the clippings. Just off duty

17:09

cop assaults judge's son and

17:12

no word. Nope. A

17:15

little background on ed Hess. At

17:17

that time, Ed was one of less than sixty

17:20

black officers in the l A. P D. It's

17:22

no question that he faced racism, both from

17:24

those he did his best to protect and serve and

17:27

also under a police chief who at that time

17:29

made certain that any officer of color faced

17:31

almost impossible odds when it came to being

17:33

promoted. While he's not in

17:35

the report from the following tape,

17:37

I do know that Ed was there that night, and

17:40

my best guess is that if Ed was in an off

17:42

duty altercation. It would have been

17:44

exponentially worse for him than for Hank.

17:47

Thank you. This is a big help. I

17:50

want to know exactly who I'm dealing with here. The

17:52

last thing I need is to track this guy down to find out

17:55

he's a gun runner for the mob. No, no, no, there's

17:57

nothing like that on his rap sheet. In a couple of

17:59

beanies talking us orderly,

18:01

and you got to get along the way. Hey, you know something?

18:04

You got funnier money,

18:06

still breathing down your neck? Hell,

18:09

I wish How do you mean there's

18:11

nobody around me? I had four

18:13

walls and in box and a filing cabinet.

18:15

It sounds like my office. You

18:17

got windows, of course they have windows.

18:20

And then it's not like your office. And

18:25

he luck with the girl nothing, she's

18:28

a ghost. Damn should

18:31

have stayed. What are you gonna do? Walker

18:34

bruised white girl into my hospital. I had my

18:36

back and two whiskeys. I had

18:38

no problem inmitting my part in it. It wouldn't

18:40

have changed the thing. Still

18:43

a judge's kid, Still

18:45

a judge's kid. Hell.

18:48

He wasn't even at the station long enough to make a damn

18:50

phone call. A little ship you

18:55

know death duties bad. The only time outside

18:57

has been with you. I could always use

19:00

the company on a steak out if you missed me so much,

19:02

sweetheart, No thanks, I need

19:04

my pension. Damn.

19:07

I'm sorry. Man. He

19:09

relax, and I know you didn't mean nothing

19:11

by it. But

19:14

I'll tell you what. Give me that apology

19:16

again, but this time louder. For the record.

19:19

I don't understand why you can't

19:21

just write it down like the rest of us. That

19:25

you can't write down the background noise of the way

19:27

a person stutters or pauses, and you

19:29

can't write down how somebody sounds like a liar.

19:32

Why would I lie to you? Not

19:35

you? It's just easier for me. Yet I can't

19:37

explain it. Yeah,

19:39

because you made a life of ship. What

19:41

if I just really love the sound of your beautiful

19:43

voice and just

19:46

stupid. After

19:49

I finished my first visit with Beth and Phillis

19:51

and returned to Los Angeles, I went to

19:53

one of the herald sources of the L A. T. D. To

19:55

see if they could find anything regarding Hank's

19:58

dismissal with the pulled

20:00

was his personnel file. As it turns out,

20:02

Hank Briggs wasn't fired.

20:05

Hank Briggs chose to resign from

20:07

the l a p D instead of putting his future

20:09

in the hands of a disciplinary committee of speers.

20:12

Had they decided to remove him from the force,

20:14

and let's be honest, there was a Superior

20:17

Court judge hanging over this whole thing, he would

20:19

have been fired. Had that happened,

20:22

Hank would have lost his ability to be a licensed

20:24

private detective. So by resigning,

20:26

he basically took a plea deal that allowed him

20:28

to keep doing what he loved. He

20:31

had this artist c for camera.

20:34

I never even heard of Argus before, but apparently

20:36

it was affordable and had a quick learning curve. This

20:39

was his business card, serving

20:43

Los Angeles in strict Confidence,

20:45

which he later changed to serving

20:47

Hollywood in strict confidence. He

20:50

kept clippings of certain cases. There's

20:53

corporate embezzlement, one about

20:55

an exoneration involving a witness. The prosecution

20:57

was hiding drugs being dealta

21:00

a studio A lot. I mean, all all these cases,

21:02

but he's not mentioned in any of them.

21:05

Ah, but that wouldn't exactly

21:08

have been serving in strict confidence. But it's

21:10

never mind. I answered my own question.

21:14

So the Briggs Detective Agency was born,

21:16

and Hank Briggs wasn't a company more. And

21:19

because he was no longer a cop, there was an entire

21:22

world of information and new methods

21:24

of collecting that information now available

21:26

to him, especially in some

21:28

of the cedier areas of Los Angeles

21:31

is underbelly where even a reliable informant

21:33

never told the police everything they knew.

21:37

And let's not forget that Hank also had ed offering

21:39

him help when he was able to. It

21:42

would seem that it was the best of

21:44

both worlds. Really, except

21:47

for one detail. Hank

21:49

wasn't a company. Moore m

21:57

artists It

22:00

okay, this

22:04

is the document the maiden voyage of the s.

22:06

S. Briggs makes.

22:09

She float m

22:19

There's nothing gained by whining, and

22:21

you're not that kind of stuff. You're

22:24

a fighter from a way back, and

22:26

you won't take a rebuff. Your

22:29

trouble is that you don't know when you have had

22:31

enough, don't give

22:33

in. If

22:36

fates you down, you just

22:38

get up and take another cuff. You

22:41

may bank on it that there is no philosophy

22:44

like bluff and

22:46

grin. The

22:59

Angel the Vine As a podcast produced

23:01

by Vox popular on behalf of the Los

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Angeles Herald. Thank

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you for listening to the Angel of Vine. If

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you'd like to support us, please leave us a

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review and tell your friends to subscribe it.

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The Angel of Vine is available on Apple Podcasts,

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Spotify, Stitcher, and all major

23:18

podcast apps. If you can't

23:20

wait for the next episode of The Angel of Vine,

23:23

episodes three through five are available

23:25

right now exclusively on Stitcher Premium,

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as well as Angel of Vine bonus episodes,

23:29

extended episodes, and add free episodes.

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Go to Stitcher Premium dot com slash

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Angel and use promo code Angel

23:37

to get your first month of Stitcher Premium free.

23:40

The Angel of Vine is directed by e Ryan

23:43

Martz, written by Oliver Vacare, story

23:45

about e. Ryan Marts, Jason Salwalt, and

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Oliver Vakare. Sound designed by Joel

23:49

Robbie. Produced by Vox Populi

23:52

in association with Forever Dog Podcast

23:54

Network. This episode's performances

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by Joe Manganello, Constant

23:59

Zimmer, Kamilla Luddington, Mike

24:02

Coulter, Rebecca Field, Travis

24:04

William Patrick, Eazel Ali

24:07

Ready, Tom Sibley,

24:10

Cree Summer, and Oliver Vacare.

24:12

Angelis is performed by Desy Dennis

24:15

Delon piano and arrangement by James

24:17

Harper, composed by Matt Dennis,

24:19

Lyrics by Earl Brent from

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downtown Los Angeles. This

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has been the Angel of Vine. You'll

24:28

hear more from us soon. Oh

24:37

is my a Joe?

24:41

Excuse

24:47

me while

24:53

lie deep

24:57

peace. It

25:00

is his is