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During her teenage years, Elizabeth "Bette" Short also known as "The Black Dahlia," was a frequent visitor to the Medford Cafe. Many generations of Medford citizens were drawn to this centrally located restaurant right next door to 5 High Street. Although it has been closed for many years some of us still remember their famous baked macaroni.

Right next door to the Cafe was Liggett's Pharmacy and in the 1960's there was a pool room covering the entire basement. Medford Square Billiards was owned by Joe "Zag" Zagarelli and it was later purchased by Carl Stagliano. It is now occupied by Medford Community Cablevision TV3 and other offices. Congressman Ed Markey (D), Medford-Malden, occupies a suite on the first floor which is on the corner of High Street and Forest Street.

As you travel east on Salem Street and right in the heart of Medford Square is the site of the Medford Theater. Located at 32 Salem Street it too would have been a short walk from Bette's house on 115 Salem Street. Two houses away from Bette's house was 101 Salem Street, home of Mary Pacios, childhood friend and author of Childhood Shadows and the website blackdahlia.info. Both houses, and many others, were taken by eminent domain to make room for Interstate Route 93.

This original photo is from microfilm of the Medford Mercury from 1915 when the theatre opened. The microfilm is still available at the Medford Public Library on High Street in Medford and is the sole source of Medford's only newspaper back then as the originals have been destroyed.

Bette turned fifteen years old in the summer of 1939. There was no television and people would gather around the radio in the evenings and listen to the popular radios stations such as WEEI 590k which featured the U.S. Navy Band, the Chapel Choir, Amos 'n' Andy, and the Texaco Star Theater.

On WBZ 990k you could listen to the Swingtime Trio, the Esso News Reporter, News, Weather and Dance Orchestra. WCOP 1120k featured Dinner Music, Sports Scores and Hits and Hits. WNAC 1230k had the Guiding Light, Little Orphan Annie, Buck Rogers, and Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra. WORL 920k had the 920 Club, The World in Review and Supper Melodies. WAAB 1410k broadcast the Red Sox vs Chicago, Racing Results, and the Lone Ranger. And WMEX 1500k featured the Italian Radio Review, Harper's Varieties, Famous Americans, Ave Maria Hour and many other dance orchestras. SOURCE: Medford Mercury, May 17, 1939.

Many film buffs have declared 1939 as "The Best Year For Movies ... ever!" The Academy Award winner for Best Picture of the year was Gone With The Wind, and the other nominees were, The Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Nonotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach and Withering Heights.

Other films released that year were: Babes in Arms, Beau Geste, The Cat and the Canary, Destry Rides Again, Dodge City, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Four Feathers, Golden Boy, Gulliver's Travels , Gunga Din, Huckleberry Finn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, In Name Only, Intermezzo, Jesse James, Juarez, The Little Princess, Made for Each Other, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Oklahoma Kid, The Old Maid, On Your Toes, Only Angels Have Wings, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Roaring Twenties, Stanley and Livingston, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, The Three Musketeers, Union Pacific, The Women, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, and Young Mr. Lincoln.

Bette was so influenced at that tender age by all these magnificent movies it surely must have played a part in her quitting school and taking off to Hollywood the following year 1940.

The state-of-the-art Medford Theatre opened on October 18, 1915 with the play, "Seven Keys to Baldpate," and the following headline appeared in the Medford Mercury on July 21, 1915:

      Work is rapidly progressing on the new theatre building on Salem street on the site of the old Withington bakery. What was a very short time ago a large field in the rear of the bakery, is now encompassed by the ever-rising cement walls of the theatre. With almost incredible speed the work of construction has been pushed forward and next week the building of the roof will commence.
      Within the walls, swarms of workmen cling like flies to the high and intricate maze of staging, as they fasten the heavy roof joists in place and swing into position the massive steel girders, weighing over ten tons apiece. The air is filled with the sharp clatter and ring of the iron workers' hammer as perched high in the air, they drive home the hundreds of rivets and bolts. Every one from construction boss to hod carrier is busy every moment erecting this new $100,000 playhouse.
      Mr. Dyer plans to open the doors of the Medford theatre on Labor Day. The theatre will be devoted to feature motion pictures and high class vaudeville under the management of G.K. Hackett.
      The building is being constructed of fire-proof materials throughout. Every modern convenience of patrons will be installed. The orchestra, together with the boxes, will seat about 1,000 persons and the balcony about 400. One feature of the new playhouse is the location of the exits, which are arranged and planned so that the entire auditorium can be evacuated in three minutes.
      The stage dimensions are 35 x 52 feet with a prestigious arch 35 x 35 feet. The seats, of the comfortable opera chair type, will be placed so that one may see the stage and hear distinctly in every part of the house.
      The entrance foyer will be 50 feet long and 49 feet wide, with paneled ceilings and ornamented wainscott walls.
      The ventilation system will be of the most modern type, known as the "fan" system, insuring pure air at all times.The heating will be of indirect steam. Electricity will furnish the lighting facilities of the playhouse. The theater will have ample ladies' and men's rooms and toilet facilities.
      On the second floor of the building will be located a hall capable of seating 400 people. This hall will be suitable for lodge quarters and meeting rooms, banquets, etc. On this floor, also, there will be ladies' and gentlemen's rooms, toilets, checking and ante rooms. The entrance hall will be entirely independent from that to the theatre.
      Accommodations are being made for the two, large stores on the first floor, with large show windows.
      The exterior of the theatre will be of Colonial design and will be constructed of tapestry brick with limestone cornices. The playhouse will have a marble front. An illuminated iron and glass marquis will protect the entrance of the theater. The building itself will cover and area of 12,000 square feet. The architect who drew up the plans of the building is Mr. Dyer's son, Michael A. Dyer.

      Medford was aghast today at the tragic news from the Pacific Coast. For while the gruesome picture through the main news syndicate to all parts of the country bore the same story to harrow the hearts of parents everywhere, the story of the slaying of pretty Elizabeth Short is essentially that of a Medford girl, a girl who attended school here and played with Medford children before she grew to young womanhood and left the old home town for the glory and the glamour of the movies.

NATION SHOCKED
      Medford was a thoroughly shocked and saddened community today as the representatives of Metropolitan papers flocked into the city and the mother of the slain girl Mrs. Phoebe M. Short attempted to separate the real from the unreal and to awaken if possible, from this horror drenched nightmare as she sat in her home, 115 Salem street.
      Medford police too, had its burden to bear in having to notify the parent of what has been labeled by the Los Angeles police authorities, as one of the most sadistic murders in that city's history.
      The facts of the story are these: Mutilated in many respects, the body of Miss Short, 22 was found in a vacant lot in Santa Barbara by police on Wednesday. It was only after fingerprints had been taken that the identity of the victim was established police reported.

TORTURED BEFORE DEATH
      Belief was expressed that the young woman had been dragged into an isolated shack where she was killed after being tortured.
      According to the girl's mother, she had gone out to the Pacific Coast because of a health condition which made a change of climate necessary. In 1941, when she finished her sophomore year at Medford High School, she started working for a while in a Cambridge Restaurant in Harvard Square as a waitress and she went to Florida. She later arrived on the coast and was said to have played small parts in the movies after having worked in Camp Chad Army Post Exchange.
      Before leaving Medford High School, Miss Short was graduated from the Roberts Junior High School.