IV-ish: Ellroy, Biscailuz and Bigfoot

[Charles Albert]

Shows up as Sheriff Petersen ( A Dane) in The Long Goodbye.

love,
cfa

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 3:16 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> I've been reading My Dark Places -- James Ellroy's autobiographical book.
>  It's pretty riveting stuff, and like his fiction (which I haven't read,
> though I've seen LA Confidential) it's all about LA.  One thing caught my
> attention (and forgive me if anyone's brought this up before):  Sheriff
> Biscailuz, who was the Sheriff of LA County from 1932-1958.  He certainly
> seems like an inspiration for Bigfoot's western paraphernalia obsession.
>
> From Ellroy:  "Biscailuz sponsored the Sheriff's Rodeo.  Uniformed deputies
> sold tickets all over the county.  The rodeo usually sold out the L.A.
> Coliseum.  Biscailuz appeared in western garb, replete with twin
> six-shooters. ... [Biscailuz] gave his constituents the Wild West as Utopian
> Idyll.  It got him re-elected six times."
>
> Ellroy contrasts the Sheriff's faux-western style with the austere Dragnet
> mentality of the LAPD.
>
> Laura
>
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