A Few More Samples
I would like to find and speak with a gent named Tony Miguel. Tony worked at the Starwood back in the day. If you know him or can find him on Facebook, please ask him to email John at the blog. Tony is a photographer. Years ago, he had been working on a photography book… Hollywood Starwood.
I would like to obtain some of Tony’s photos of Nash’s house, of L.A., and the Starwood. Thanks!
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The following samples are from an unpublished work…. my book! And will likely be titled:
Angels in the Smog
An Informal History of the Wonderland Murders
criticextraordinaire, 
Bobby, and 2 others are discussing. 
localarts 11:45 am on March 20, 2018 Permalink |
After reading Malice in Wonderland, I’m convinced Ron Launius was a complete psychopath. If a movie were to ever be made about him, it should be called “Silence of the Launius”
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criticextraordinaire 7:23 pm on March 21, 2018 Permalink |
Ronnie definitely played by his own rules and took no cr@p. He had a good run while it lasted.
I wish I could have partied with him and the gang, it would have been a great story to tell the kids. 😀
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John 8:54 pm on March 29, 2018 Permalink
I think a young Bruce Dern or Jan Michael Vincent would play a great Launius… and maybe, just maybe a 30-ish Jackie Earle Haley would be good too. Susan, of course would be portrayed by Jaclyn Smith or Linda Lavin.
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Bobby 10:22 am on March 23, 2018 Permalink |
Well apparently a movie about Ron was already made in 1978 according to that Jacobs book 😉 lol
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criticextraordinaire 12:55 pm on March 23, 2018 Permalink
Well then it is time for a sequel to that ’78 production. I always figures Mark Paul Gossalaar could be cast as Ronnie, although he’s far taller than Ronnie was. And maybe a decade ago, I would have cast Brian Dennehy as Bill Amerson, but I think Brian’s too old for that sort of role now. For the role of Diles I would cast Suge Knight, no doubt there. I’ll have to give some thought as to how I would cast a movie that shows how Ronnie, Eddie, and John’s parallel worlds ascended, merged, and then ultimately disintegrated.
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John 8:58 pm on March 29, 2018 Permalink
I saw tbat movie on Decades channel over the holidays. Who’ll Stop the Rain. It was great, and dark… noirish. I don’t like Nick Nolte but it was a surprise. Jacobs alluded to it in more of a tongue-in-cheek slight.
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John 7:12 pm on March 17, 2018 Permalink |
When Eddie passed in 2014 I was notified by a blog subscriber back tben who heard “whispers” of his death. That day, Ed’s wiki bio showed he had died. I checked one other place, and made a blog post trying to confirm it, and if ya’ll remember, I said I would take the post down, since nobody could locate an official record. This last fall, I noticed Eddie was on find a grave (same birth and name… how many Adel Gharib’s are in LA w that birthdate), and it was because a passerby cemetery guru, noticed the name and took a pic of the marker and posted it to find a grave. Anyway, RIP Ed you crazy guy. He was a larger than life persona who was born 100 yrs too late, and would have been at home in old NY, with John Kelly and those wild men.
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localarts 8:13 am on March 18, 2018 Permalink |
Oh yeah. It’s Eddie for sure. That name is unique for LA and like you said the birth date kinda seals it. All the principal players are now deceased…
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Bobby 5:22 am on March 20, 2018 Permalink
Yeah, sadly seems to be the case. Susan Launius would hold so many revealing insights into Ron’s personality and that of the rest of the Wonderland Gang too. I hope she was able to be interviewed for this book. Any word on that John, or will we just have to wait and see?.. 😉
Chuck Negron and his wife used to score dope at the house too. They must have a few decent stories to impart..
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localarts 6:28 pm on March 17, 2018 Permalink |
According to Tom Lange, NBC reached out to Nash’s ex-wife Jeanna in an attempt to contact him for an interview about Wonderland. The Oxygen network was putting together an upcoming episode of Mysteries & Scandals about the Wonderland murders. Jenna told the producer at NBC that Eddie passed away on August 9, 2014. He’s buried in a mausoleum at Cross Cemetary in Culver City, CA Adel Gharid Nasrallah 1929–2014 I can’t imagine someone like Tom Lange would include this in the book without doing some fact checking.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179096813/adel-gharib-nasrallah
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criticextraordinaire 7:30 pm on March 17, 2018 Permalink |
Man that really sucks. I was always holding out hope that Eddie would do an interview some day and fill in a few blanks. Nevertheless, Eddie was a survivor and outlasted most of his adversaries. It was Nash’s world and we all lived in it.
R.I.P., Eddie. 😦
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BurbankCA 4:56 am on March 18, 2018 Permalink
The true survivor was Susan and she outlasted them all.
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criticextraordinaire 7:46 pm on March 13, 2018 Permalink |
Can’t wait to read the details about David Lind and Morton Downey Jr. going at it.
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localarts 7:59 pm on March 12, 2018 Permalink |
Great stuff John! After Wonderland it seems Diles & Lind were living hand to mouth. I guess its no surprise they died prematurely. Holmes was made to wait in the losers red room? This must have been after Holmes was in debt to Nash.. Interesting!
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John 8:25 am on March 13, 2018 Permalink |
Yeah, Holmes fell down the rungs of importance with Nash, after owing him so much money. He became a sad joke at the house. Even the youngsters present thought so.
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localarts 10:46 am on March 15, 2018 Permalink
From what I understand, Nash use to formally introduce Holmes to all his guest. “I’d like you to meet Mr. John Holmes” I guess once Holmes line of credit ran out, so did the formal introductions as well as being relegated to the “loser’s lounge” Did Jerry Van pass away this past January? I was a bit surprised to learn Nash finally bit the dust back in 2014.
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criticextraordinaire 10:32 am on March 17, 2018 Permalink
Localarts, where did you see that Eddie passed away? Far as I have been able to research he is still very much alive and active.
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John 7:50 am on March 16, 2018 Permalink |
My mistake, Jerry Van is still around. He served over 20 years at Supermax Florence Prison. He was released on 6/23/15. He is about 71 and still lives in Vegas. I saw where he claims to have identified the shoe-bomber. He’s a character! I found he played football at Oakland Comm. College in Michigan in early 70s.
His real name is: GERARD JULIAN VAN HOORELBEKE
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criticextraordinaire 7:26 pm on March 17, 2018 Permalink
John, did you know that Jerry Van published a “memoirs book” back around 2005 or so? https://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Secrets-Jimmy-Hoffa-Vegas/dp/0932438474
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John 7:32 pm on March 17, 2018 Permalink
Yeah, I’m one of the goofs who purchased it. But its value is in the description of Nash’s personality, and the myriad characters with him. Do a search I posted some page samples from it. I only wanted to know about Nash, I was not a cop trying to build a case against him, or care about his ego boosting stories.
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