Downtown Tucsonan - January 2008 - (Page 27)

Historic Downtown Ellen Poulsen, A u t h o r o f D o n’ t Call Us Molls: Wo m e n o f t h e J o h n Dillinger Gang “ W e l l B e h av e d W o m e n D o n ’ t M a k e H i s t o r y ” The ‘misbehaved’ don’t always either by Jamie Manser he chasmal dichotomy between the genders may not be as blatantly pronounced today as it was in 1934, but it still exists as mainly evinced by anachronistic salary distributions, among other power struggles. these days, strong-willed intelligentsia feminists have created a force to be reckoned with - amid decades of backlash against the June cleaver zeitgeist of the 1950s. In the 1930s, however, women who didn’t acquiesce to Victorian mores were generally disdained. those who went as far as breaking the law made for attention grabbing headlines. the women of the John dillinger Gang were no exception, though the media circus that surrounded the gang’s criminal activity initially did not cover the women’s involvement. the molls were sloughed off as misguided harlots. as Ellen Poulsen wrote in the introduction of her 2002 book, Don’t Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang, “In the early stage of dillinger’s criminal career, the women were a shadow of the men. unknown save for the occasional description furnished by an informant, there were no pictures, no concrete images. People assumed she was a sexual creature. this libertine enjoyed freedom. she ran with gangsters, basking in a sordid yet beckoning glamour. “as the hunt for dillinger escalated, the arrests of their women dominated the front pages. “when news photographers were able to shoot high-speed photographs of women going into custody, their subjects hid their faces. designed to discourage later identification, these gestures were exploited by the press as physical acts of contrition – the aftermath of fear, shame, and modesty. this was comic book titillation at its best.” the women of the gang were propelled via print media into national awareness, and eventually were forgotten – save by dillinger experts. For the uninitiated, trying to conjure up the names of the “gun molls” – not to mention their roles in the gangland underworld - would be as easy as divining chicken entrails. there isn’t much published material on the topic. Poulsen’s aforementioned book is an exception. as the daughter of a new York city police officer, she became intrigued by dillinger in grade school when her father brought home a copy of John toland’s book “the dillinger days.” as a community college student, Poulsen said she had read all the published books about dillinger. the coverage of the gang’s “fairer” gender was sorely lacking. “the books were my favorites yet I felt that the women were stereotyped. I didn’t want to read shallow depictions of the women of this gang. I craved more information. “I became fascinated with the idea of learning more about the women of dillinger’s era, and decided I would write a book about them.” Poulsen began researching the book in 1988, during the days when research T meant legwork - going to libraries, writing letters and traveling to different cities to find the necessary materials. “It was a humble start. My big break came when I was able to locate Joe Pinkston, who was the curator of the John dillinger Historical Museum in Indiana. I wrote to Motorola based on biographical information contained on his out-of-print book, ‘John dillinger: a short and Violent Life.’ what a long shot that was! Imagine my surprise when I received a letter from the John dillinger Historical Museum. at that time, I didn’t even know such a place existed. It was a big step.” the author’s fact finding trips took her to the FBI building and the national archives in washington d.c.; chicago; Mooresville (dillinger’s home town); Indianapolis (Mary Kinder and Harry Pierpont’s home town); Florida and wisconsin. In wisconsin, Poulsen visited Little Bohemia where the FBI raided the lodge the gang was staying at; she also met the family of dillinger’s girlfriend Evelyn Frechette on their reservation. through her painstaking investigations, Poulsen unearthed the substantial work done by the gang’s mates. “the women played important roles in providing a structure to the desperado’s wayward movements across state lines. the women rented apartments used for hideouts. they opened safe deposit boxes to stash the loot. their job descriptions included sending telegrams advising other gang members of the locations; purchasing cars under assumed names, and visiting imprisoned gang members and smuggling in everything from guns to money. “they were not ladies of leisure. they rarely wore the gowns we see in the old Jean Harlow movies. they wore house dresses, plain coats and solid shoes. these women came from a poor background; they were used to working for little or no compensation. as gangster’s molls, they worked behind the scenes as accessories before and after the fact.” as an invited speaker for dillinger days on saturday, January 19, Poulsen said she is designing a talk and slide show on the lives of the three women who were arrested in tucson: Evelyn Frechette, opal Long and Mary Kinder. “I will try to include biographical information, with photographs that have not been seen before. “this topic does not include the rat-a-tat of blazing guns - but it adds some texture to the body of information about the dillinger gang that the dillinger days event seeks to develop. the female companions of Russell clark and Harry Pierpont were important members of the gang. Historian Joe Pinkston once told me, ‘Mary Kinder was not a moll. Mary was a gang member.’” Poulsen’s lecture takes place at 1pm in the Copper Hall at Hotel Congress. Ellen Poulsen currently lives in Queens, NYC and more information on the gun molls can be found at www.DillingersWomen.com. january.08. downtown tucsonan 27 http://www.DillingersWomen.com

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Downtown Tucsonan - January 2008 Contents From the Editor Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Restaurants & Cafes Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performance Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - January 2008

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