by David Wilson
Mr. Mayer died on October 29, 1957, from the effects of leukemia. The one-time control freak, the man who had spent all of his adult life trying to dominate the film industry, left everyone wondering what he really meant by his last two words, “Nothing matters.” But sadly Mr. Mayer died like the mythological character in Citizen Kane, who upon uttering his last word, “Rosebud,” collapsed into unconsciousness, never to speak again.
• • •
In 1927, justice was swift. Less than a year passed between the day Mr. Hickman killed Marion Parker and the day he stood on the gallows. The official autopsy on Mr. Hickman reported he did not die of a broken neck, but suffered for several minutes until he died from traumatic asphyxia brought on by neck compression. Medically, this was the exact symptom found to be the ultimate cause of death for Marion Parker. It was reported that many who watched Hickman’s body twisting and turning for almost three minutes came to believe justice was singing, “An eye for an eye.”
The issue of whether or not Edward Hickman was affected by his prolonged exposure to the fantasy world of Hollywood was never fully resolved by the state-appointed doctor at San Quentin because Hickman was hanged so soon after his arrival. Eight decades have passed, and the bigger question facing the movie industry, television, and the makers of video games today is how the behavior of the general population is being affected by the ever-increasing violence seen in their respected media. Is the gratuitous violence depicted on the silver screen and on television having an adverse affect on the general population, or do violent images by their nature attract violent individuals and only reinforce their anti-social behavior? In today’s entertainment we often see excessive acts of violence driven by the storyline; even movies with superheroes sometimes solve plot-driven problems with individual acts of violence.
As in 1927, the federal government is getting involved in this issue as lawmakers question the industry regarding the effect films might be having on the nation’s children. Social learning can be defined as learning either values or behavior from role models encountered in one’s everyday environment. When an individual spends large amounts of their free time interacting with movies, television, and video games, their primary social environment becomes their media of choice and not their family or community. In the case of Mr. Hickman, his personal life took a turn towards isolationism, and his values developed according to what he saw on his daily visits to the theater. In his own words, he justified his violence against storeowners with the fact that it brought him the financial rewards critical to his survival and lifestyle. In his dealings with Marion Parker, Hickman saw violence as a means of resolving the conflict he was experiencing with Marion’s father. He felt no hatred towards Marion. This transference of hate and extreme violence by an individual towards innocent bystanders is repeating itself today.
On July 20, 2012, James Eagan Holmes was arrested and charged with killing twelve people, and wounding seventy others at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado during a midnight screening of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. Holmes confessed to the shooting. His reference to identifying with a film character called the Joker prompted the writing of this book.
• • •
When Mr. Hickman’s body was placed into the ground the only people present other than the gravediggers were Richard Cantillon and Jerome Walsh, Hickman’s two attorneys. No family members were in attendance.
Mr. and Mrs. Parker had their daughter’s remains cremated after the autopsy. A simple service was conducted at Forest Lawn Cemetery for family and close friends. All the headlines, all the public interest, all the efforts made to capture and punish William Edward Hickman were eclipsed four years later in March of 1932 by the crime of the century: the kidnapping of Charles A. Lindbergh’s child. Soon after the body of Lindbergh’s child was found, the Congress of the United States passed a law making kidnapping a federal crime. From that day forward the Federal Bureau of Investigation became the lead agency in all matters pertaining to kidnapping of American citizens.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following individuals for their help with this manuscript:
Gene Barbic
Kent Colwell
Steve McCambly
Earl Nash
Rita Zulpo Rancano
Juan Ruiz
Jerry Tripp
William Stubblefield
Sarah Masterson Hally
I want to thank Randall Klein at Diversion Books for supporting this project. I want to thank Sarah Jacobson for her tireless copyediting and the ability to see what I missed. I want to thank Chris Mahon for promoting the book, and I want to especially thank my agent, Rita Rosenkranz, b
oth for her guidance through the process and for her impressive attention to detail. May the good work of talented people in the world of publishing continue to provide us with the blessings of the written word.
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