Nightmare Grannies Turned Classical Comedy Movie Into Real Life. Mad or Not?
Two women, from Los Angelos, originally natives of Hungary, have been named as the ‘Black Widows’. Helen Golay, 77 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, sat stony faced in court, as they were sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole. (Whatever that means to women in their late seventies.)
The duo were found guilty, after befriending two homeless men, aged 73 and 50, at an Eastern European church. They found somewhere for the men to live and then proceeded to take out insurance policies on the men, (insurance-with-intent-to-murder). The women had found an insurance company which would pay out, heedless of illness, or accidental cause. ‘No Hassle, No investigation’, said the company slogan.
The women transferred the men’s signatures onto rubber stamps, which they then used to sign the forms. Next they arranged to have the two men killed by hit-and-run accidents, in dark alleys.
Rutterschmidt said she was a cousin, while Golay claimed she was the fiancée of both victims. The women proceeded to collect $US2.8 million, before their scheme was revealed. The homeless men had been only looking for some neighborly assistance. Sadly they received a lot more than they anticipated.
In Judge Wesley’s closing comments he said, “The two men you killed needed a helping hand. They thought they were getting this from you. Instead these unfortunate men were sacrificed on your altar of greed.” The Judge said he had checked up on the word greed and found among other things, the definition, ‘A selfish desire for money, not in order to purchase things, but just to have it.’
What was it the two aged women were going to do with all that money? Even more alarming is the unanswered question of whether or not the women are responsible for other deaths, which involved six life insurance policies. These were not paid out, because of suspicious circumstances. Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid both died when accidentally crushed by cars, in 1999 and 2005. They were also insured by Golay and Rutterschmidt.
When ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ was first produced, it was a startling break-away from the usual run of the mill theatre of the day. The producers, Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Crouse, knew what all successful entrepreneurs know. One whacky idea can either make or break you. They were fully aware of the risk they were running. Either the play would be a rip roaring success, or they would be run out of town by outraged citizens.
With 1,444 performances, ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ proudly takes its place amongst some of the longest running shows on Broadway, paying its backers 40 to 1. It is one of the most frequently produced plays of the last four decades, even in countries as far reaching as Brazil and Rumania. Once again it was 1986 reproduced on Broadway. This time costing a lot more than the original play did.
The plot of the comedy centered around the Brewster sisters, who were renowned for their devotion to each other and their charities and their neighborly attentions, lavished on all who needed them. They helped put up to a dozen old men, who had no families, out of their lonely miserable existence. Their appointed task was to help the men attain eternal peace, thanks to the sisters’ delicious concoction of homemade elderberry wine, liberally dosed with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. The sisters buried the bodies of their victims in their cellar, giving them a proper funeral, complete with appropriate hymns, according to the religious preference of the victim. The graves having been dug by their unsuspecting nephew.
‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ was converted by Frank Capra, into the much admired movie, starring Carey Grant. The film script was considerably different to the original play script. It had a sugar-coating ending, where the play had a dark foreboding feeling to the comedy.
Down through the generations, thousands have enjoyed a good laugh watching the movie.
How many times was the movie watched by Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt before they copied it? Were their actions the actions of a lunatic, who has no use for logic, for everything a lunatic does, or discovers, confirms the lunacy. There are some who may have called the Black Widows merely eccentric. For the victims it was a movie plot gone wrong.
Very few things become classics, such as the 1934 song ‘Blue Moon’, or films such as ‘Arsenic and Lace’. It is rare that any of the classics become played out in real life. Either Golay or Rutterschmidt were two very clever old women, or mad. Maybe they are lunatics who have no logic, morons with twisted logic, or confused fools looking for entertainment. You be the judge.