The 39th Anniversary

Today is the 39th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Christa Helm. Every year there are numerous reports of cold case crimes being solved so hope springs eternal. 

R.I.P. 

J. Herbert Kerr, Jr.

Ran across this 1973 article about J. Herbert Kerr, Jr's appearance in BROKE. In 1972, he had a breakout role in the controversial A PLACE CALLED TODAY in which he took the lead--a radical black presidential candidate. IMDB lists only one other film credit beyond Christa's movie and that was in '77. IBDB lists him back onstage in 1978 but then nothing beyond that. Does anyone know whatever became of Herb?  

Frank Raiter in North Carolina

Double click to read this long 1978 piece on LET'S GO FOR BROKE's villain, Frank Raiter. Later a Broadway star, at this time, he had settled in as a local stage favorite in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

Newly Discovered Broke Ad

Proving what I've said all along--that LET'S GO FOR BROKE played for a full 2 weeks rather than the 4 days alleged by the TV documentary and picked up by others since--here's a variant ad highlighting the appearances of Raiter (who had headlined at the UC Repertory theater just a couple of years earlier) and Egan (who barely appears). Tickets for the run were $2.50 each, an increase of at least a dollar over standard pries at that time. For reasons I can't figure out, THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER did not review the movie at all in spite of its exclusivity to Cincinnati, nor did they cover the stars' appearance in town at all. The latter may be due to the fact that both Jack Benny and local TV legend Paul Dixon died that same weekend. Or possibly the fact that the CINCINNATI POST had promoted it in advance with a contest...although I don't believe they ended up reviewing it either!

R.I.P. Alex Stevens

Tim Lucas reports the recent passing of Alex Stevens, best known as the DARK SHADOWS werewolf. Sadly, I was never able to contact him about LET'S GO FOR BROKE. Below is what I wrote on Facebook:

Alex Stevens was also the original, uncredited director of Christa Helm's LET'S GO FOR BROKE, shot in Haiti. He and Christa reportedly met while he was recovering from the major accident he had on the set of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS. She recommended him to novice producer Stuart Duncan as director but when the production returned to the US, Stevens was replaced by Ron Walsh (a 2nd unit director on GODSPELL). Much of Alex's more serious footage was kept in the film while Walsh's new scenes were more lighthearted, making the whole picture seem schizophrenic.

New Photo Surfaces

This actually surfaced a couple of years ago on eBay in a group of negatives of photos snapped in 1973 at a party thrown by AFTER DARK magazine for Bette Midler. Christa had appeared previously in AFTER DARK with Lennie. Described on the back as "New actress Christa Helm (in 'Go For Broke') Not released yet. If this was 1973, however, it wasn't even done shooting yet. Was this perhaps during the holiday break where the cast returned to the US from Haiti before picking up again in Florida early in 1974?

New Christa Helm Podcast

Recently Rene and myself, along with our original co-author and researcher John O'Dowd, participated in a podcast regarding the life and murder of Christa Helm for Movie Geeks United. Christa's daughter, various friends and acquaintances also appear and there are some new revelations in the mix. Give it a listen!

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/moviegeeksunited/2014/10/29/tinseltown-tragedies-episode-2--who-killed-christa-helm