The Secret of the Chrome Eagle Obits
A major plot point of "The Secret of the Chrome Eagle" revolves around an obituary found in the San Diego Herald. The antagonist, Eleanor Swayze, gets a recent edition of the paper while in prison in Louisiana. She reads the obit of her partner in crime Howard Chalfin. The director of Simon and Simon inserted a copy of the obit column of the paper. I made a copy of the image at left.
I'm an ex-newspaper editor. The indentation of the obit jumped out at me. It didn't match the other obits. I saw that every other obit had a date in late April 1971. The problem was the series was set in 1983. As the story progressed we find Howard had died "two weeks ago."
Obviously, some person on Simon and Simon was told to mock up an obituary column with Chalfin's name. I guess they could have made up all the names, but the 1971 dates made me wonder if they just inserted a name in a real column.
I didn't find the original column, but I know it was in a paper in the San Francisco area and that the majority of the obits were real. The exact names and dates are easily found in the California Death Records. I also found a mention of Mr. Twomey here.
I'm posting this in case any family members look for information about their ancestor. They might find it interesting to know their family members obit was nationally telecast 12 years after death.
BURNS, MARIAN P - 05/23/1904 to 04/28/1971 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 545-05-7825
STANBRIDGE, DONALD H - 12/23/1905 to 04/29/1971 - SAN MATEO, CA - 557-05-5000
TWOMEY MICHAEL P - 03/23/1914 to 04/27/1971 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA- 556-26-9405
Other death notices listed but not shown in full:
HODGSON, MARGARET A- 10/08/1884 to 04/27/1971- ALAMEDA, CA- 553-20-3641
LEES, BESSIE - 08/29/1889 to 04/27/197 - MARIN, CA- 534-05-1238
NAGANUMA, LEO R -07/23/1904 to 04/28/1971 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 556-03-0644
REY, MOSES B -08/26/1896 to 04/28/1971 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 559-64-8453
UNGER, ELENA S - 12/29/1879 to 04/24/1971 - SONOMA, CA - 550-30-7409