Here we are the the finale game! Where did the month go? This one will be open a little longer than usual and will close at 8 pm Tuesday evening so that scores and final standing can be posted by the next morning (October 1). Although I don't think anybody is planning on doing an October Timeline, it's still nice to have things wrapped up promptly so the new games can begin (now that I resurrected Timeline, Bandstand and Primetime are next. Any takers?).
So, you've waited all through September, dreading the day when you were going to have to wade through a bunch of serial killers and whatnot. Well, fear not, no serial killer Timeline this month! Just some notable celebrity murders. But there's a difference this time. You're getting the a Year Well and a Victim Well! Nothing could be easier, right?
Well, not so fast. There are 14 names in the Victim Well, but only half of them belong to the clues. You'll have to come up with the other half on your own. No bogies in the Year Well, I figured you had enough as it was. Ha!
Scoring: 10 points per year
10 points per person in the Well
20 points per person on your own
50 total points in a 3 part bonus question
That's right, 400 possible points, yay!
Double Bogie Timeline - September 29
"Half and Half"
1. Silent film star who was beaten and asphyxiated (with a personal gift from Rudolph Valentino) by a pair of hustler brothers for what turned out to be $20.
2. This former Playmate and aspiring starlet's shotgun death by her estranged husband was made into a movie starring Mariel Hemingway.
3. Known as the Ice Cream Blonde, this comic actress was found in her garage, dead of carbon monoxide poisioning. Officially a suicide, the motor was off, gas was still in the tank and she had been hit in the head.
4. This Olympic skier was shot by Andy Williams' ex-wife Claudine Longet. Who received a 30 day sentence, which was served after she returned from a vacation with her defense attorney (and future husband). Which, for Aspen, is pretty hardcore!
5. Former child actor of Our Gang fame, he was shot trying to collect a $50 dollar debt stemming from someone losing his dog.
6. Mickey Cohen goon and abusive boyfriend of Lana Turner, he was stabbed on Good Friday by her daughter Cheryl Crane. It was ruled justifiable homicide and, according to Crane's autobiography, he turned around suddenly and ran onto a kitchen knife she was holding in the pocket of her nightrobe.
7. Gaining fame for his role as Plato in Rebel Without a Cause, he was stabbed in an alley by a pizza deliveryman. The motive is still unclear.
8. Character actor best known for him posthumous role in the Wild Bunch, he was found bound, gagged, handcuffed, blindfolded and strangled with obscenities written all over his body. Initially ruled a suicide (wtf?), it was later changed to 'accidental' (wtf?).
9. Noted actor and silent film director, his shooting murder is still officially unsolved, although the killer is widely believe to be Charlotte Shelby, mother of ingenue Mary Miles Minter (whose nightgown was found among his collection of conquest's lingerie).
10. Poltergeist actress and daughter of a writer, she broke up with an abusive boyfriend who then strangled her in the driveway of her home.
11. One of the most famous Hollywood crimes, this actress (who was expecting her first child with husband Roman Polanski) was murdered in her home along with four others.
12. Co-star of the television series "My Sister Sam", this actress was shot by a deranged stalker who got her address from the DMV records.
13. Wife of a former Heisman Trophy winner, she was stabbed on her doorstep. The killer is still out there, but her ex-husband is presumably still on a tireless search for the culprit.
14. The official cause of death of this writer/director was a heart attack, but Louella Parsons got a 'job for life' with William Randolph Hearst soon afterwards. Coincidentally enough, she was a passenger on his yacht when the death occurred.
Freebie: There are only 12 years in the Well. Two men in the list died in the same year, twice.
Bonus: This Hollywood murder has been the subject of numerous books, television shows and a few movies. The victim was an unknown who whose bisected body was found in a vacant lot. I would caution against looking this up (after answering, of course!), even if you turn off images, the details are pretty grisly.
10 points: By what name is the case and victim popularly known?
15 points: What year did it occur?
25 points: What was the actual name of the victim?
Year Well
- 1922
1924
1935
1958
1959
1968
1969
1976
1980
1982
1989
1994
Victim Well
- Nick Adams
Francis X Bushman
Pam Dawber
Albert Dekker
Thomas Ince
Franz Klammer
Barbara Parkins
Mack Sennett
Johnny Stompanato
Dorothy Stratten
Carl Switzer
William Desmond Taylor
Thelma Todd
Nancy Travis
) and draw up some new material. Ditto for Lyrically Speaking. I will at some point, I reckon.
