WEBVTT - Alexander Pantages "The Beast" 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.440 This show contains mature content and adult themes. It may 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:12.919 not be suitable for young audiences. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.919 In twenty seventeen, Harvey Weinstein was outed as a serial 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.240 sexual abuser. Many brave women came forward and told their stories. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.000 They exposed one of Hollywood's most powerful mobiles as a 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:31.800 vicious sexual predator who operated horrifically and seemingly without consequences. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.239 But Weinstein was standing on the shoulders of monsters. For 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.479 so many years, those monsters remained unchecked in Hollywood, shielded 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.240 by the millions of dollars they made for their studios. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.519 Sex for fame is not new. In fact, it's as 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.800 old as Hollywood itself. This is Variety Confidential, the secret 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.440 history of the casting couch. Today's episode is the Beast. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:59.240 Alexander Pantages will go back nearly one hundred years ago 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.720 in the variety of archives to tell what one might 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.759 call the origin of Me Too, about an early Hollywood 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.720 mogul named Alexander Pantages. He loomed large over the entertainment 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.559 scene of the nineteen twenties and thirties in ways later 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.200 emulated by hit makers slash sexual predators such as Don Simpson, 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.800 Harvey Weinstein and so many others Pantages used his money 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:27.039 and power to behave horrifically. He successfully escaped justice thanks 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:29.800 to an attorney who set the pace for lawyers made 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.959 rich by clients who regularly abused vulnerable young men and 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.959 women who were drawn to Hollywood by its promise of 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.560 riches and fame. This season, we look at the secret 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.160 history of the casting couch. Episode one, The Beast from 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:50.680 Variety in iHeart Podcasts. I'm Tracy Patton. Sitting next to 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.760 me is Matt Donnelly, Variety's senior Entertainment and media writer. Hi, Matt, Hi, 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.000 Thanks so much for having me. It's great to have 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.920 you here. So today we're focused on what we're calling 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.160 character assassination. It's a frequently used tactic used against me 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:09.960 too accusers in Hollywood, also known as victim shaming. Harvey 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.000 Weinstein was an expert at this absolutely. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:14.840 I think that, you know, time will prove that this 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.480 is what Harvey really excelled at as opposed to making 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.239 in marketing films. And he also took it to such 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.239 an incredible extreme. You know, Harvey, as Ron and Pharaoh 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.120 deeply reported employed x maussade agents to stalk victims tap 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.480 phones and also really work the press to inspire as 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.160 much doubt as he could in his accusers. 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.560 And of course Harvey Weinstein wasn't the only accused abuser 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.959 who used this tactic. Who were some of the others, Matt. 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:40.720 I mean, this practice is sort of as old as 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:42.600 the town itself. But if you know, some of the 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.160 things that we've been looking at recently at Variety include 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.880 the incredibly distressing allegations against Sean Combs better known as 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.240 Diddy or puff Daddy, And even if you go back 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.960 a couple of years ago to the scandal at Warner 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.440 Brothers involving an actress named Charlotte Kirk that ensnared the 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.679 head of the studio, Kevin shu Jahara, and especially I 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.359 think in terms of that case, really dissecting a woman's 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.000 social media, how she positions herself in the world. It's 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.120 quite disturbing, but it's quite a frequent practice. 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.919 Well, using the media to smear an accuser is not new. 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.480 A lot of people don't know this, but for much 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.799 of the last century, a victim's sexual history was allowed 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:23.200 as evidence a trial. It became legally admissible after a 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.000 state Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one. 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.720 It's actually stunning how many actresses and models have been 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.120 subject to this practice. And it's something that started one hundred. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.080 Years ago, Yes, and it was pioneered in the case 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.760 we're talking about today, which brings us back to Alexander Pantages. 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.680 The case before the court was the trial of a 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.240 Hollywood theatrical producer who was accused of statutory rape. His 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:49.120 accuser was a seventeen year old dancer who wore a 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.120 red dress to an audition, making her look older than 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.560 she was. The court ruled that her sexual history was 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:01.480 fair game at trial. That ruling negatively impacted women's lives nationwide. 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.640 This was the first case that made this well known, 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.600 and it happened right here in Hollywood. So here's what happened. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.560 The California Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one was 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.800 the result of a high powered, well funded effort to 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.560 protect one of Hollywood's biggest names. Had it failed, that 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.160 man would have spent the rest of his life in prison. 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.040 His name was Alexander Pantages. Before the Roaring twenties, he 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.360 had created a circuit of vaudeville theaters that numbered almost 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.760 one hundred. He booked vaudeville acts that played between film screenings, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.720 a format Variety dubbed vaud film. The live acts included 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.240 family entertainment along with what Variety called cheap girl flash acts. 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.239 He was a very powerful guy. He was also famous 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.760 for something else, his romances. It became clear to Alexander 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.880 Pantages that movies would replace vaudeville sooner or later. Talkies 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:02.000 were in transition. His theaters catered to both. Alex had 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.640 money and he was decently handsome. The affairs came easily, 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.080 but they also got him into trouble. You could often 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.040 see alex with women in dark corners of speakeasies. His wife, 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.160 Lois was nowhere to be seen. One affair went public 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.920 after a bloody fight over a dancer. His arrest made 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.760 the front page of the Los Angeles Times, and it 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.400 was a woman, or actually a teenage girl, who led 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:32.360 to his ultimate undoing. On August ninth, nineteen twenty nine, 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.240 he was charged with assaulting a seventeen year old dancer 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:41.839 named Eunice Pringle. Eunice Pringle studied dance and took acting 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.919 classes in high school. She attended the University of southern 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.479 California for a year, but dropped out to pursue a 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.440 career as a dancer. In early nineteen twenty nine, she 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.359 met a Russian writer and actor named Nicholas Dunyeev. He 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.680 was dark, handsome, and forty five years old. It was 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.359 Dunieev who set up an audition with Pantages Vaudeville. Axe 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.960 earned between one hundred and two hundred dollars a week 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.640 that's about twenty five hundred dollars today. Despite her years 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.200 of preparation in weeks of rehearsal, the audition on May one, 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.800 nineteen twenty nine did not go well. Instead of moving 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.039 on to the next audition, Eunice and Nick persisted in 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.240 trying to get Alex to hire them, and this is 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.640 where things got strange. Over the spring and summer of 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.080 nineteen twenty nine, Unis tried to get in touch with 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.279 Alex Pantages at least twelve times that's once a week 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:37.120 for three months. Eventually, Alex offered Unice a one time 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.320 booking at his theater in Fresno. He also offered her 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.600 a gig and a review, but she said no. Finally, 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.520 he simply gave her the brush off, but she ignored it. 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.599 Late in the afternoon of August ninth, nineteen twenty nine, 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.000 Eunice Pringle went to see Alex for what would be 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.200 the last time. She wore a red crape dress with 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.480 a short red velvet jacket. She was shown up to 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.880 the second floor and the waiting area outside Alex's large 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.000 corner office. He was busy and invited her to watch 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.200 a movie in the theater downstairs while she waited. She 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.640 went down to the mezzanine, slipped in through the balcony entrance, 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.880 and found a seat in the theatre's top row. She 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.160 waded through the entire last half of Melody Lane, Universal 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.800 Studio's first movie musical. Alex eventually found her and escorted 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.520 her back to the mezzanine, up a short flight of stairs, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.560 and into a utility room which was secluded from both 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.720 the theater below and the offices upstairs. After a few 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.120 minutes in the room alone with Alex, Eunice swung the 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.800 door open and started a scream. Men from Pantage's office 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.400 rushed downstairs to the mezzanine room. She pushed past them, 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.360 fled down the stairs, through the theater lobby and out 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.520 to Hill Street. She returned within minutes with a policeman 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.880 a traffic cop in tow. They went to the small room, 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.000 but Alex was gone. She knew where to find him. 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:02.600 She led the policeman upstairs to Alex's corner office. There 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.640 he is, she said, the beast, the brute. Don't let 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.240 him get away. Because she was under age, Eunice was 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.840 taken to juvenile hall. A female officer found bitemarks and 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.920 abrasions on her neck and upper torso. Afterward, a staff 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:21.960 doctor performed a thorough medical examination. Later, Eunice, accompanied by 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:26.360 her mother, gave her statement to detectives. Variety reported what 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.040 she said in a story titled A Very Nasty Mess. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:34.000 Quoting here, she stated she had been promised work by 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.840 Alexander Pantagas for almost a year and had frequently visited 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.960 his office. She alleges Pantagus told her to wait for 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.960 him in the theater. Upon his return, she claims he 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.720 invited her into a small room and closed the door. 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.600 She told police Pantagus started edging toward her, and when 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.560 she protested, he suddenly struck her. Then, she said, she 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.880 started a scream. Pantagus put his hand over her mouth 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.080 and she fainted. She didn't remember what happened next. After 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.440 his arrest, Pantages was taken in handcuffs to the Central 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:10.160 Police station. He was interrogated for five hours. Alex told 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.640 the detectives that after declining to book unics, he offered 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.079 to help her find gigs in minor vaudeville houses up north. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:22.120 According to Variety, he claimed he was framed. The girl 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.480 was the aggressor. She ripped her dress, dropped to the 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.439 floor and started a scream. He said it was an 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.000 extortion scheme. He could book her act and pay her handsomely, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.920 or she'd accuse him of rape. The detectives didn't buy it. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.080 They booked him on suspicion of statutory rape. Alex had 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.360 his mugshots and fingerprints taken. He spent hours in a 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.080 cell waiting for his lawyer to bail them out, but 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:53.960 no such luck. Alexander Pantages, theoter magnate and Hollywood power player, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.840 spent the night in jail. While he was behind bars, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.240 his life was turned upside down. News of his arrest 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.800 went out over the wire services. The scandal blew up 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.040 nationwide overnight. He was famously no friend of the press, 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.120 especially the trades. He despised their negative stories about his 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:17.400 business practices. Variety's nickname for him was synonymous with a 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:19.079 bad review. Pan. 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:21.120 That's an incredible nickname. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:21.640 You know. 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.719 It's my experience in doing these kinds of stories of 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.719 Variety that when anytime an accused mogul wants to call 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.480 his coverage negative, he should probably change his own actions for. 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:36.080 Well. Meanwhile, with help from Nick Duniev's lawyer friend Theodore Gottstanker, 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.160 Unus sued Alex for five hundred thousand dollars about seven 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.120 and a half million dollars today. If he was found 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:47.480 guilty of statutory rape, he would probably die in jail. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.720 Alex's trial began on October third, nineteen twenty nine, two 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.120 months after he was arrested. He was accompanied to court 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.600 by his daughter and two sons. The courtroom gallery was 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.280 filled to capacity, including in the front rows about a 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.280 dozen newspaper men. The press was out for blood, and 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.480 so was the prosecution. Before the proceedings got underway, the 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:16.760 prosecution petitioned the court to prevent testimony about Unice's sexual history. 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.599 After a lengthy debate, the judge ruled Unice's sexual experience 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.160 was inadmissible. It shouldn't have been a close call. The 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.240 charge was statutory rape. The prosecution needed to prove just 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.760 two things, one that Unice was under age and two 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.240 that Pantages had sexual contact with her. If both were true, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.600 he was guilty. Her sexual history was irrelevant. It was 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:45.840 that simple, or it should have been. In District Attorney 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.679 breen Fitz's opening statement, he depicted Eunice Pringle as a 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.600 young and innocent girl. Alex Pantages, on the other hand, 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.000 was a millionaire theater owner old enough to be her father. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.440 He had led her on by falsely promising he would 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.479 book her act. He then lured her to a secluded 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.640 room in his office building, where he quote attacked and 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.560 debauched her. The defense opened by claiming that Eunice had 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.960 ensnared Alex in an extortion scheme. The attorney zeroed in 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.000 on Nick Dunyev after dropping Yunis off at the Pantages 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.760 building on August ninth. Daniev had waited nearby at the 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.760 law offices of Theodore Gotstanker, the same mister Gottstanker who 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.880 filed the lawsuit against Pantages the next day. The lawsuit 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.319 was part of the scheme. The attorney said. Unus staged 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.840 the so called assault with Duniev as an accomplice. It 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.040 was an attempt to frame Pantages and force him to 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.040 pay them five hundred thousand dollars. In the afternoon, the 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.520 jury traveled six blocks south to the former Pantagous building. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.760 It had been recently sold to Warner Brothers. They were 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.559 taken to the scene of the crime, the odd little 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.720 room off the mezzanine. The purpose of the tour was 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.840 to set the stage for us. Unus's testimony the next day. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.320 She took the stand that morning dressed like a schoolgirl. 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.680 Because of the high profile of the case, Beeron Fitz, 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:13.160 the district attorney, questioned Unus himself. Fitz was a minor 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.720 political celebrity in California, a former lieutenant governor who liked 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.480 prosecuting the rich and famous. After preliminary questioning, Fitz asked 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.920 Unus to take the jury through what happened in the 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.960 mezzanine room on that August afternoon. We spoke of the 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.120 hot weather, she said, and then of my act. And 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.280 then I slipped off my little red coat. He took 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.880 off his coat after asking if I objected. We were 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.600 both seated, and he pulled his chair over and took 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.280 my hand. Then he slid his arm along the back 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.320 of my chair and along my shoulder. He said he 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.240 wished I would be his sweetheart. He went on and 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:53.920 on and said that he was crazy about me. He 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.800 told me that he hated his wife. He would give 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.000 me anything I wanted. I told him I was not interested, 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:04.240 and I wished he would please be a gentleman. In 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:09.120 American Zeus, author Tasso g. Lagos wrote about how Pantages 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.320 pulled her to him and rose to his feet. Eunus said, 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.960 trying to kiss her. She turned her head. He struck 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.240 her on the chin. She recoiled and tried to get away. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.600 He pulled her to the floor and pinned her down, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.200 all the while whispering seductively. She begged him to let 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.800 her go. When he wouldn't, she tried to scream. He 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.880 clapped his hand on her mouth to stifle her. He 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:39.240 kissed her throat. The kisses turned to bites. Da Fits 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:43.120 asked Eunus to show where Pantages bit her. She touched 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.080 her left breast and then her left shoulder, but stopped 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.560 in mid gesture. She couldn't go on. She began to cry. 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:57.400 Unus composed herself. She'd fainted, she said. When she came to, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.320 they were on the floor. His pants were on buttoned, 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.320 her dress was ripped. Eunice pushed him off and staggered 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.720 to her feet. She noticed a spot on her dress, 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:11.480 a dark, wet stain. She opened the door and started 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.680 to scream. In the afternoon, Unice was cross examined by 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:20.520 Pantaga's lead attorney, Jerry Geesler. The Pantagous trial was his 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.440 first big case, but he will become one of Hollywood's 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:30.520 most successful fixers. Decades before private investigator Anthony Pellicano went 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:36.240 to prison for helping top Hollywood attorney's fix problems, Geesler 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.880 practically invented the practice. Over the years, his client list 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.160 would include Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin Bugsy, 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.720 siegeal Errol Flynn, and many others. But it was this case, 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.680 the Pantage's rape trial, that put him on the map. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.200 You know, the archetype of the Hollywood fixer is very 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.320 fascinating to me, and I think everyone at variety. It's 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.400 a certain set of skills, and God knows people like 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.840 Maril Monroe had problems that needed to be fixed. But 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.520 I'm very curious to see how he implemented his practices 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.720 and especially in terms of this case. 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.920 Well true to form. Geesler focused the jury on Unus's clothing. 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.960 He asked the judge to make Unus change into the 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.080 red dress she wore on August ninth. The prosecution objected, 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.760 but the judge agreed to it. He called a recess 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.680 while she changed clothes. When she returned to the witness stand, 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.680 she was wearing the red dress, velvet jacket, and red pumps. 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.520 Geesler asked her to model her outfit for the jury. 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:43.240 After another heated debate, the judge allowed that too. Unus 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.800 stepped down and made a simple pass in front of 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.520 the jury box. Geesler asked her to remove the jacket. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:54.080 She slipped it off, revealing the form fitting, sleeveless dress 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:59.680 that accentuated her cleavage. Geesler had made his point. Decades 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.000 of day faming and blaming the victims of sexual assault 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.040 essentially began here. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.280 It's so interesting, how you know someone like Gesler is 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.320 using the principles of show business to sway a jury right, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.720 Like it's literally trotting someone out and doing this sort 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.240 of seduction in a way. But what I can't help 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.840 thinking of is what you mentioned earlier about what the 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.560 defense had said, is that the only two things that 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.479 mattered were was Unus underage and did he have sexual 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.600 contact with her? But here we are with this, like 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.399 you know, this ridiculous circus in the court. 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.719 Room, Geesler questioned her about her training as an actor, 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.480 implying that her emotional breakdown earlier had been a performance. 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.679 He also challenged her on the mechanics of the attack. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.639 How could Pantages hold your mouth shut with his right hand, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.720 pin down both your arms, and then somehow remove your 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:52.080 underclothes and unfasten his pants. Why didn't you fight him off? 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.960 When it was over, Eunice left the stand shaken and unsteady. 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.439 The final prosecution witness was the forensic guy who'd analyzed 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.600 the stain on Unus's dress. His answer was unprintable in 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.880 those days, presumably it was semen. After he stepped down, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:14.840 the prosecution rested as its first witness. The defense called 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:19.119 the defendant, Alex Pantages. He complained that Eunice's visits that 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.320 summer were annoying. When they sat down in the mezziting 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.240 room the day of the attack, he claimed she surprised 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.000 him by grabbing his tie and pulling him toward her. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.239 He tried to get away. They struggled and ended up 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.720 on the floor. She screamed and started ripping her clothes. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.160 He shoved her off, then claims that she ran off 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:42.080 down to the lobby. During the cross examination, Alex shut 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:46.159 down under the DA's unfriendly grilling. He answered questions with 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.840 a stubborn yes or no. On October twenty sixth, the 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:56.240 jury announced its verdict to a packed courtroom. Guilty as charged, 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.760 Alex was sentenced the next day to fifty years in 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.040 stea Quentin. He was in his fifties, so this was 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.560 a life sentence. Two days after the verdict, the stock 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:10.240 market crash, setting the stage for the Great Depression. The 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:15.400 crash prompted one of Variety's most famous headlines, Wall Street 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.080 Lays and Egg. Meanwhile, Jerry Giesler's team completed the appeal 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:24.200 of Alex's conviction. The brief was twelve hundred pages and 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:29.399 focused on the judge's banning testimony about Eunice Pringle's sexual history. 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.399 While the appeal was in the works, Pantages was held 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.160 in County Jail. Out of the Blue, Alex was granted 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:41.920 parole on one hundred thousand dollars bond, but trouble found 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.359 him again. On October thirtieth, on a business trip to 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.280 San Diego, a couple of his colleagues were partying at 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.600 the El Cortes Hotel. They also hired a couple of 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.760 girls from Hollywood to liven things up. Supposedly, these girls 0:19:55.800 --> 0:20:00.040 were underage again. Four months later, on March tenth, in 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.439 nineteen thirty one, Alex and his wife Lois crossed the 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.800 border for a little r and r at the Agua 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.760 Caliente Hotel south of Tijuana. But then Alex's lawyer showed 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.800 up unexpectedly with some bad news. The San Diego District 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:19.080 Attorney planned to arrest Alex within twenty four hours. The 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.960 charge was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, along 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.200 with a related conspiracy charge. The accusers were the girls 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.680 he partied with in October. One of them, Lydia Nitto, 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:36.000 was sixteen years old. Alex admitted to the partying, but 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.399 said he didn't touch Lydia Nitto. Or anyone else. He 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.800 claimed he was being framed again in an attempt to 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.800 ruin his chances for a retrial. In the Pringle case, 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.800 the girls had been procured from a trafficking operation called 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:54.640 a lovemart. Its specialty was providing underage girls for wealthy men. 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.360 When the love Mart's supply of girls was low, police 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:03.080 said they kidnapped girls from orphanages. Because of this, the 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:08.520 press dubbed Alex's new scandal the love Mark Case. Alex's 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.240 life took another upswing a few weeks later, on April second, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.400 nineteen thirty one, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:20.320 of his appeal. The court agreed with Jerry Geesler that 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:26.520 Eunice's quote previous acts of unchastity should have been presented. 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:31.359 They became relevant, the justices said, because the prosecution made 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.720 her virginity an issue. The court ordered a retrial on 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.440 the Pringle charges. In a statement to the press, Geesler 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:44.040 predicted that the reversal would quote establish precedent and authority 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.080 not only in California but throughout the nation. He got 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:52.280 that right. The ruling would set back rape victims' rights 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:56.720 for decades. In early June nineteen thirty one, the pantageous 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:00.760 love Mark case went to trial in San Diego. Prosecution's 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:05.119 first witness was Lydia Nitto, Alex's accuser. She gave a 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.560 tearful account of an orgy at the El Cortes in October, 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:13.679 but under cross examination by Jerry Giesler, Geiesler produced an 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:17.720 affidavid proving that she was born in nineteen oh eight. 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.159 She was twenty two at the time of the lovemart orgy, 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:25.560 not sixteen. The judge dismissed the statutory rape charge, but 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.119 let stand the conspiracy to corrupt charge related to the 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.680 other girl. Testimony continued for two more weeks. The jury 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:38.120 deliberated for two days but then deadlocked. A retrial was scheduled, 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.720 but it never happened. Alex Pantages had dodged a second 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:46.400 life in prison verdict. The retrial in the Pringle case 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:49.879 began in the late fall. Because of the Supreme Court ruling, 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:52.920 the defense was free to flip the tables and put 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.520 Eunice on trial. They did it with the testimony of 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:00.760 new witnesses. The most important new witness was the physician 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.960 who examined Unis on August ninth, According to the La Times, 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:09.280 the doctor quote expressed disbelief in miss Pringle's account of 0:23:09.320 --> 0:23:13.199 her life prior to this time. In other words, the 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:17.280 doctor found that Unice had been sexually active before the incident. 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:22.600 She was not a virgin. The jury deliberated for sixty 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:29.920 four hours. Their verdict reversed the previous jury not guilty. Later, 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.399 Uni spoke to reporters. The verdict shows the value the 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:36.840 state of California places on its girls, she said. It 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.440 shows me that a person who gave the best ten 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:42.879 years of her life fighting for justice is lost. It 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.160 convinces me that the state will not protect its women. 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:49.440 I can't get over how profound that statement is and 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:52.560 how so relevant it is today and even sort of prophetic. 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:56.320 What an incredible woman who, unfortunately I deciphered through all this. 0:23:56.640 --> 0:23:59.720 After the second trial, Eunice Pringle settled her one point 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:04.160 five five million dollar lawsuits against pantages for three thousand dollars. 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.880 She changed her name and her career. She married well 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:10.760 and moved to La Jolla, an upscale seaside suburb of 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:15.280 San Diego. Known there as Tony Worthington. She lived out 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:19.040 her life in comfortable obscurity, She died in nineteen ninety 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.240 six at the age of eighty four. The scandal did 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.800 not bankrupt Alex Pantages. He had millions in the bank 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:28.840 and millions more from the sale of his theaters. He 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:32.520 announced plans to build new theaters in November nineteen thirty five, 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:35.840 but it was not to be. He died in his 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:40.000 sleep on February seventeenth, nineteen thirty six. He left a 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:45.199 lasting legacy. However, his last theater, the Hollywood Pantages, is 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:49.480 still in business and remains one of the premier theatrical 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.520 venues in the country. The Pantagous trials have a legacy too. 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:59.119 Jerry Geiesler's prediction came true. The California Supreme Court ruling 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:03.680 became a p nationwide. Defense attorneys used it to put 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:07.920 their client's accusers on trial. Over time, courts ruled that 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:12.560