Was Man Ray’s 1926 Experimental Surrealist Film “Emak Bakia” an Inspiration for Dr. George Hodel’s Black Dahlia “Masterpiece”?

November 29, 2024
Birch Bay, Washington

In Black Dahlia Avenger and my follow-up books, BDA II and III, I present strong corroborating evidence that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, was paying homage to his decades-long (1940-1950) close friendship with and to his fellow surrealist, Man Ray. Below is a short clip (thirty seconds) taken from Man Ray’s sixteen-minute film Emak Bakia, released in the U.S. in 1927.  Judge for yourself.

Man Ray self-portrait circa 1927

Was the below 30-second clip from Emak Bakia the inspiration for George Hodel’s 1947 kidnap/torture murder and surgical bisection, and subsequent public posing in the Minotaur position of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short?  Was this 1947 murder an homage to his good friend Man Ray on the 30th anniversary of the film’s release (1927) in the U.S.?

Below is the original version

Emak Bakia (1926) 16 minutes. 

UPDATE 11/30/2024

Once again, major KUDOS to a reader.  Note in the “Comments Section” from Eliza White Sawyer the following observation:

“I was struck by the iconic coincidence of him including a dahlia in the film.”

Truthfully, I totally missed it. I haven’t watched the full version in decades, and below is the short clip from what Eliza was referencing.

We see Kiki’s face (Kiki was Man Ray’s lover at the time) transform into a flower, but not just any flower, it is a DAHLIA.
As Eliza says, “coincidence,” well, maybe. However, there is another possibility. The general public thinks of the name “Black Dahlia” as being bestowed on the victim, Elizabeth Short, post-murder. NOT SO.  Esteemed and much-loved Los Angeles journalist Jack Smith, as a young newspaperman, got a tip that the victim frequented a soda fountain in Long Beach. He called the location and in speaking with the proprietor, learned that Elizabeth Short frequented the location, and the regular patrons gave her the nickname of the “Black Dahlia”, which was sourced from a noir film that was released in the U.S. in March of 1946 called, “The Blue Dahlia” which starred, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.  (The release was ten months before Short’s murder.)

From the secret Hodel DA Files and witness statements, we know that George Hodel and Elizabeth Short “were acquainted and dated.” (In addition, I present evidence that George Hodel and Man Ray likely knew the victim as early as 1943, where she modeled for Man Ray’s L’Equivoque painting.)  It is certainly conceivable that during that period (Spring/Summer 1946) that Elizabeth could well have jokingly informed George of the nickname given to her at the soda fountain. “They call me the Black Dahlia.” Speculative, YES.  Possible, YES.

18-second clip from Emak Bakia showing Kiki’s face transforming into a Dahlia flower.

The Blue Dahlia noir film was released in March 1946

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