Classical Comedy Movie Given New Life Through Black Widows. Mad or Not?

Two women, from Los Angelos, originally natives of Hungary, have been named as the ‘Black Widows’. Helen Golay, 77 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, sat stony faced in court, as they were sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole. (Whatever that means to women in their late seventies?)

The duo were found guilty, after befriending two homeless men, aged 73 and 50. They found accommodation for the men to live in and then took out life policies, (insurance-with-intent-to-murder). They had found an insurance company which would pay regardless of illness, or accidental cause. The company slogan is ‘No Hassle, No investigations’.

The two women used rubber stamps, onto which they had transferred the men’s signatures, to sign the forms. The women then arranged for the two men to be killed in hit-and-run accidents, in a dark alley.

Golay claimed she was the fiancée of both victims, while Rutterschmidt said she was a cousin. The two women collected $US2.8 million, before their deadly scheme was uncovered. The men, who had been only looking for food, water and shelter, got a lot more than they bargained for.

In Judge Wesley’s closing comments he said, “The two men you killed needed a helping hand. They thought they were getting this from you. Instead these unfortunate men were sacrificed on your altar of greed." The Judge said he had checked up on the word greed and found among other things, the definition, ‘A selfish desire for money, not in order to purchase things, but just to have it.’

What were women in their late seventies going to do with all that money? Even more alarming is the unanswered question of whether the women are responsible for other deaths, involving six life insurance policies, which were not paid out, because of suspicious circumstances. In 1999 and 2005 Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid were crushed by cars. Both of these men were also insured by Golay and Rutterschmidt.

The original play, ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’, was a startling break-away from the usual run of the mill theatre of the time. The producers, like all successful entrepreneurs, knew it takes only one whacky idea to either make or break you. Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Crouse were fully aware of the huge risk they ran.  They knew they would be run out of town by outraged citizens, if the play was not a rip roaring success.

With 1,444 performances, ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ stands amongst some of the longest running shows on Broadway, paying its backers 40 to 1. It has constantly ranked among the most frequently produced plays of the last four decades, even in countries as far reaching as Brazil and Rumania. In 1986 it was reproduced once again on Broadway, costing a lot more than the original play.

The plot of the comedy centered around the Brewster sisters, who were renowned for their devotion to each other and their charities and their neighbourly attentions, lavished on all who needed them. They helped put up to a dozen old men, who had no families, out of their lonely miserable existence. Their appointed task was to help the men attain eternal peace, thanks to the sisters’ delicious concoction of homemade elderberry wine, liberally dosed with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. The Brewsters buried the bodies of their victims in their cellar, giving them a proper funeral, complete with appropriate hymns, according to the religious preference of the victim. The graves for the victims were dug by the sisters’ unsuspecting nephew.

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ was converted into the much watched movie by Frank Capra, starring Carey Grant. The film script made considerable alterations to the original script. It included a sugar-coating ending, whereas the original play had a definite feeling of blackness to the comedy. Down through the years, thousands have enjoyed a good laugh watching the movie, which has been carefully preserved and copied.

For unknown reasons some things become classics, like the 1934 song ‘Blue Moon’, or films such as ‘Arsenic and Lace’. Very few classics have the opportunity to become real life. Did the Black Widows, Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt, watch the movie many times, before they copied the plot? Some may have thought the widows were merely eccentric.

You be the judge of whether Golay and Rutterschmidt are extremely clever, or plain mad? Perhaps they are lunatics, who have no logic, morons with twisted logic, or fools who were simply confused and only looking for entertainment.