Thelma Todd

If you are a new reader of this blog - welcome! I don't claim to be able to solve any of the cold-case crimes I spend my time working on (as anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm simply not that bright). I am just obsessed with researching cold-case crimes and taking photographs and videos of the crime scenes as they are today. My obsession with this is not because I am some salacious gossipy British gal who lives in Los Angeles and has nothing better to do. My own dear brother's death has never been officially determined to be either homicide or suicide, and so, although some of my writing is humorous in describing the antics I go through to get the pictures, I assure you, my research and travels all come from a very personal and heartfelt place...That said, let's talk about Thelma Todd, shall we?

Thelma Todd's life, and of course her death, has all the elements of a great Hollywood Scandal. Money, fame, love affairs and the mob. Dubbed the "Ice Cream Blonde", she was born to Jim and Bertha Todd in Lawrence, MA on July 29th 1905. She was a very bright child who had aspirations of becoming a school teacher, but in her late teens she entered numerous beauty pageants and was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout. The rest as they say, is history, and for Thelma, it was an untimely and tragic history.

Thelma began her movie career in silent films, where much was made of her incandescent beauty, but with the advent of the talking films, she was given the opportunity by Producer Hal Roach, to broaden her acting roles, appearing in comedies with some of the leading comedy stars of the day, such as Harold Langdon, and of course Laurel and Hardy. She appeared in numerous films between 1926 and her death in December 1935. Is it just me, or does the photo below look a bit like Drew Barrymore?

Thelma realized that she could not count on her looks in Hollywood forever, and decided to go into business with her on-and-off boyfriend, Director Roland West, and they purchased a plot of land on Pacific Coast Highway, and thus emerged "Thelma Todd's Roadside Cafe". Roland West was a celebrated director who had begun writing and directing vaudeville productions. His credits included "The Monster" with Lon Chaney Sr. He had received critical acclaim with "The Bat", a thriller starring Jack Pickford and West's wife, Jewel Carmen, and in 1931, he created one of the most hauting movies of all time "The Bat Whispers", starring Chester Morris. The success of "The Bat Whispers" led him direct "The Corsair". This film lead to the end of his marriage, and shortly after he and Jewel became estranged, West took up with The Corsair's leading lady, Thelma Todd. This is Roland West:

Todd had been married briefly to Pat DeCicco from 1932 to 1934. Thelma and Pat's main past-time together was outlandish and often violent drunken brawls. One of the brawls was so vicious that Thelma ended up having an emergency appendectomy in a local hospital.

Pat DiCicco deserves a blog all to himself. A first cousin of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli (of James Bond) fame, DiCicco was a bootlegger and a pimp, who described himself as an agent in Hollywood. (I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of typing the words "pimp" and "agent" in the same sentence). DiCicco was most widely known (and feared) as being mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano's right hand man. One theory that constantly gets injected into Thelma's mysterious death is that Luciano wanted Thelma's sidewalk cafe as a front for his drugs and money laundering operation. When Thelma allegedly told him she would not get involved, Luciano was very angry and had her killed. It is also alleged that they were involved in an affair and that Luciano "controlled' Todd through the use of amphetamines. Many theorists have dismissed the mob connection, but as you will see from a newspaper article I found (and post further down), the District Attorney at the time, Buron Fitts, had been given information "possibly linking underworld interests with an attempt to establish gambling resorts near Miss Todd's cafe...." (Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1935). The article doesn't mean that its true, it just means that it was not dismissed as a motive in her death.

In any event, the first video below gives you a good look at "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe".

The picture below shows you what the area looked like in its hey-day back in the early 1930s (photo from Los Angeles Library photo index).

And here is a picture I took:

Here is another short clip:

Little bit more of the location of the Sidewalk Cafe:

Here is a back-in-the-day photo of the overpass next to the cafe:

and here is a video from on top of the overpass, which was incredibly stupid on my part, as there were HIGH winds that day, and I don't like heights.

So the story goes that on Saturday December 14th, 1935, Thelma attended a party being held by British music hall star, Stanley Lupino, in honor of his daughter Ida. This is the Trocadero back in the day. Its no longer there, except for about 3 steps of the old entrance.

Thelma arrived at the party, and although former husband Pat DiCicco had asked to be seated next to her, he arrived with actress Margaret Lindsay and they then joined another table, which apparently infuriated Thelma. She got drunk and apparently fought with DiCicco. At approximately midnight, DiCicco made a phone call from the lobby of the Trocadero and he and Margaret Lindsay left. Thelma Todd left the Trocadero at approximately 2:30 in the morning, but before she left, she promised various guests that she would see them the following day at a party being given by a Mrs. Wallace Reid. Thelma also told Ida Lupino that she had been secretly dating a wealthy businessman from San Francisco (remember at this time she was still in a relationship with Roland West).

Thelma was driven home by her chauffer, Ernest Peters. (she had been involved in so many car accidents that the studios insisted she have a driver). Peters later gave testimony that he had pulled up at the Sidewalk Cafe at approximately 3:15am, and stated that although Ms. Todd had not seemed drunk, she did not seem herself, and that she had been very quiet during the drive home. In addition, he gave testimony that for the first time ever, Thelma turned down his offer to escort her to the door of the cafe. Roland West confirmed to the grand jury that he had locked the doors to the cafe at 2am as he always did, so it is certain that when Thelma arrived home, she could not have just walked in. Legend has it that unable to get into the cafe and so she trudged 271 steps up the side of the cafe to go to the garage where her own car was kept. Keep in mind, the garage was not part of the Sidewalk Cafe property. The garage is located at 17531 Posetano Drive, and was part of Roland Wests property that was owned by his estranged wife, Jewel Carmen.

Here is (courtesy of LA Library photo index) a diagram indicating the locations of the cafe, the steps and the garage:

Here is a closer view of the steps (which are no longer there):

There are a set of steps that wind up through these hills. I located the stairs at the end of the overpass, and here they are, but as stated earlier, not the original steps.

On the Sunday after the party, there are varying reports that Thelma was still alive. For example, a pharmacy worker claims that Thelma Todd came into his drugstore and asked him to make a telephone call for him, but left immediately. That same Sunday afternoon, various witnesses claim to have seen Thelma driving though the intersection of Hollywood and vine with a "dark haired man".

More strangely, Mrs. Wallace Reid claimed that around 4:30pm on that Sunday afternoon, Thelma telephoned her, using her nickname "Hot Toddy" and apologized for being late to Reid's party, but that she would be attending the party with a mystery guest. (I'll get more into this later).

Here is a shot from the top of the overpass looking down into the patio which fronted Thelma's apartment. The entrance to the balcony from the overpass is gated, and TRUST me, if it hadn't been, I would have SO gone down there and snooped around.

In any event, on Monday December 16th, at about 10:30am, her personal assistant, May Whitehead went to get Thelma's car out of the garage on Posetano Road. It was May's duty to drive Thelma to the Culver City Studios where she was supposed to finish working on a film with Laurel and Hardy. After opening the doors to the garage, she found Thelma, slumped at the wheel of her 1933 Lincoln Phaeton. Thelma was still dressed in her finery from the party on Saturday evening, and wearing $20,000 of jewelery. May Whitehead went back to the Sidewalk Cafe and summoned Charles Smith, who was not only the Cafe's treasurer, he was an assistant film director who had worked with Roland West for many years. What I found most interesting about Charles Smith is that he slept ABOVE the garage where Thelma was found dead, but never heard the car start in the early hours of that Sunday morning.

Here is the crime scene photo of the garage:

And here are a couple of shots I took of the garage at 17531 Posetano Road.

The police were summoned. A captain Bert Wallis, the then head of the LAPD Homicide Squad stated that "There were only 2 and one half gallons of gasoline in the 20 gallon car tank. The garage door was closed but no locked. The battery on the car was dead. This would happen if the motor had been running and stopped. The ignition still being on, the battery would have run down". Interestingly, there was a smudged handprint on the door of the car.

Here is how they found poor Thelma (photos from findadeath.com):

At her side, lay a small white party purse which contained her key to the outside door of her apartment in the Cafe. Her maid stated that she had given Thelma her key on her way out to the party that night, so was Thelma just so drunk she couldn't find it? Roland West testified that he had not just locked, but also bolted the cafe entrance door, which meant that even with her key, Thelma could not have entered the cafe.

Thelma's death was ruled an accident. It was declared that having been locked out of her apartment she walked up the steps to the garage and switched on the ignition to keep herself warm, and that drunk, had fallen asleep and been killed by the fumes. Many have speculated that West, annoyed at her partying, simply followed her up the stairs and locked the garage.

There are also speculations as to the varying degrees of blood and gore at the death scene. many claim there was blood everywhere and that Thelma had obviously been beaten. Others claim there was not a mark on her, nor was her makeup even smudged, but there was just a small trickle of blood coming from her nose. I have seen her autopsy pictures on findadeath.com Why not check them out for yourself and see if you think she looks beaten. I have gone ahead and ordered the 100+ page autopsy report and the moment it plops into my mail box, I'll read it and let you know what I think. I didn't really have the money to order it, but I just couldn't help myself. As thanks for my patronage, the nice folks at celebritycollectables.com are apparently sending me a free gift, which has something to do with Judy Garland. I have no idea what it is, but I'll be sure and share it with you, when it arrives.

Couple of other things about the death scene. Thelma's shoes were noted to be immaculate and clean, which is completely inconsistent with having schlepped up almost 300 steps ! In addition her death was confirmed by the LA County Coroner as having occurred between 5 and 8am on the Sunday morning. Alcohol and carbon monoxide were found in her system, as were peas. Yes, peas. Nothing interesting about peas, except that peas were not on the menu at the Trocadero at the party on the Saturday evening. So, is it possible that Thelma Todd WAS still alive all throughout the Sunday as various witness claim. Wherever it was she may have been, she certainly was served peas.

Although copyright ownership prevents me from reproducing entire articles from the LA Times that were published after 1929, here is a little snippet from an article that ran on December 19, 1935. As you can see the articles states that thelma was seen "Long after Death Hour", and what is intriguing about this is that the witness was none other than Jewel Carmen, estranged wife of Roland West!! It is Roland West pictured in the article below.

The above picture is from the public viewing held for Thelma Todd. Many sites claim her service and viewing was at Forest Lawn. There was a memorial service for her at Forest Lawn, but the above picture is located at 720 W. Washington Blvd at what used to be "Pierce Brothers Morticians". I recognized the building immediately as I have driven by it many times, but not realized the significance to Thelma Todd.

Having recognized the property, I decided to drive the exhausting 1.2 miles from my house and take a couple of shots, so that you can see what it looks like today. I tried to stand in the exact location where the original photographer of the above picture would have stood, but not wanting to stand in the middle of Washington Blvd and be squished by Saturday traffic, this was the best I could do. (and yes, driving 1.2 miles in Los Angeles IS exhausting).....I thought it was really sad to see the building all boarded up, and the chain link fence really ticked me off !!

I took some other shots too. Such a shame that such a glorious old building (and in fact the entire neighborhood) has become such a run-down place to look at. This is the side of the building - boarded up, the windows and original doors are all sealed shut and the bars on the window are breaking and rusty.

Here is a shot from across the street:

This is the window behind which Thelma Todd's viewing took place. I cannot begin to tell you the blood-curdling anger I felt seeing that graffiti on the window. Is NOTHING sacred in Los Angeles anymore? apparently not!

This is a photo of Thelma's viewing. (again, courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library photo index - they deserve a medal those library folks, they really do). I was determined to see if I could get in and find the room !

I walked around the side of the building and noticed an open door with a sign that suggested that I not enter unless I was someone official. To the normal individual, this sign would immediately send you scurrying on your way, but I decided (just like I do with Stop Signs), that it was merely a suggestion and not an order, and went inside the building anyway. It was pitch black, but I could hear music coming from somewhere. I made my way to where I figured the actual room where Thelma's viewing took place. I must admit, standing there in the dark (and it really was lights out) I felt myself shaking a little bit. I truly understand what it was like for Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" when she was in the dark with the gun and couldn't see anything, and Buffalo Bill was following her around wearing his night-vision-goggle-things. I took the following shot and hoped that the flash would work. It did, although its a little blurry, but compared to the original picture from the viewing above, its a pretty good "clutch" as a good friend of mine would say:-)

As I made my way out in the dark ("have the lambs stopped screaming Clarice"), I went down a little passageway and found another door that looked like it might go to the outside of the building. I turned the handle of the door and voila ! No, not the outside, but instead a very nice young Korean man, who could not have been more surprised to see me. Actually, I can't remember which one of us was more suprised at that particular moment. I explained that I was a blogger working on cold-case-Hollywood-crimes, and I THANKFULLY had brought along my printed-out version of the picture of the outside of the building from Thelma's viewing, which he immediately recognized as the building we were standing in. It turned out that Jason, a member of the Church that operates a few little functions there, was very intrigued by the whole notion (I have the luck of the Irish -- thanks Dad) and agreed to show me around. We went back to the room where I had stood in the dark and Jason switched on the lights for me. My sincere thanks to Jason, not only for showing me around and being so patient while I tried to figure out how to turn off the damn flash function on my camera, but also for not having me arrested for trespassing.

Here is another shot of the viewing room. You can see clearly that the window that was behind Thelma in the original shot is now covered by a white board, and if you look to the right, there are shuttered windows along the wall. These are the arched windows (that you can see on the exterior shots).

Well, theories and rumors have run riot over poor Thelma since 1935, and probably, the more that arise, the less clear we all are as to what happened. RIP Thelma Todd.

Thelma's mother pictured below quietly accepted the accidental death verdict. Why?

Did she really accept it? Why, in light of a possible second autopsy, did she choose to have her daughter cremated. Was her mother pressured by someone to "make it all go away"?
Thelma was cremated and her mother kept the ashes, with instructions that upon her own death, Thelma's ashes be placed into her coffin. They were and they are buried in a family plot in Massachussetts (picture below from findagrave.com).

I will post further updates on Thelma as I find additional information. Please feel free to email me with information, or photographs.