Bonus ep. 4—FRISCO NOIR With Rachel Walther—The Maltese Falcon No.1 (1931) & No.2 (1941) and Dark Passage (1947)

by kbronson | Jul 24, 2025 | Episodes

TRANSCRIPT

Knox
(train chugging) (bell ringing) (horn blowing) Frisco: The Secret History, a podcast. (instrumental music) Hi, this is Knox Bronson at The Secret History of Frisco podcast, and we have a really great, uh, episode for you today. We’re talking to Rachel Walther, who, uh, is very involved in the noir, uh, community of film and history. Uh, Rachel, hi.

Rachel
Hi. Thanks for having me.

Knox
Thank you. Uh, do you wanna just tell us a little bit about your background and your book you have coming out and stuff like that?

Rachel
Oh, sure. I mean, I’ve been a, sort of an obsessive movie watcher for most of my life, and, uh, currently I write pretty regularly, uh, for the Film Noir Foundation’s magazine, Noir City, uh, about film noir movies from the classic period as well as more contemporary films. And, uh, for the better part of the last few years, I’ve been working on a book tracing the history of Dog Day Afternoon, both the making of the film and the crazy true life, uh, you know, true crime story that inspired it. And so, that’s due out from Head Press, a UK publisher, uh, next spring, and it’s gonna, it’s called Born to Lose: The Misfits Who Made Dog Day Afternoon. So, I’m just starting to sort of ramp up, um, working with publishers to promote that book, and, uh, just also to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The Secret History of Frisco

Elmer “Bones” Remmer

After running the Cal-Neva Lodge in the 30s, Bones came to San Francisco and took his mantle as the Bay Area’s the king of vice.

Jimmie Tarantino

Editor of the Hollywood Nite Life scandal sheet, extortionist, blackmailer, Jimmie was the prince of smears and innuendo.

Bill Wren

Managing Editor of the SF Examiner, Bill Wren ran the city, played the horses, and didn’t like to pay up when he lost a bet.

Bob Patterson

As Freddie Francisco, Bob was the biggest gossip columnist of all, also a convicted embezzler and thief. A great writer, too.

Shell Cooper

Bones Remmer’s lieutenant. Cooper and Varni’s bar was a feeder saloon to nearby brothels and filled with b-girls.

Sally Stanford

Sally ran the city’s high-end brothels, catering to the city’s power elite. She eventually became the mayor of Sausalito.

Frank Sinatra

Frank was an early investor in Hollywood Life magazine. After Jimmie shook him down for $8K, Jimmie had to leave LA.

Mickey Cohen

Mickey Cohen was Hollywood’s flamboyant gangster, the southern California equivalent to Bones Remmer

Thomas Lynch

San Francisco’s District Attorney. An ally of Bill Wren, he went after the purveyors sin in the city’s Tenderloin district.

Herb Caen

Gossip columnist at the SF Chronicle and creator of the modern myth of San Francisco, cool grey city of love.

Louella Parsons

Syndicated Queen of Gossip and screenwriter for William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper and radio empire.

Estes Kefhauver

The Senator’s committee revealde the extent and scope of organized crime’s influence over the United States.

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“Will Freddie Francisco, former inmate of Sing Sing, be permitted to sit arrogantly upon a throne of pen and ink and splash spiked words that cause tears and unhappiness to S.F. business men and their families?

“Freddie Francisco, alias Bob Patterson, once posed as a member of royalty. He assumed the title of a Count, under the name of Maximilian B.H.M. Carlton as the son of Marquis of Gahnst and a subaltern in the Black Watch regiment, and as such was arrested in Tucson, Arizona and on Jan. 27, 1928, was arrested for grand larceny by the Chicago Police. (Can you picture columnist Francisco as a count?)”—Jimmie Tarantino, Hollywood Life Magazine.

“It doesn’t take much to produce a good merchant of cash-and-carry love: just courage, an infinite capacity for perpetual suspicion, stamina on a 24-hour basis, the deathless conviction that the customer is always wrong, a fair knowledge of first aid, do-it-yourself gynecology, judo, and a tremendous sense of humor. Aside from these basic talents, a good madam must possess an understanding of female psychology (in the broadest sense), a knowledge of quick therapies for restoring drunks to a state of locomotion (out the door), and a grasp of techniques for the eradication of pimps. With these qualities, and a few others, you may develop into a self-respecting madam. —Madam Sally Stanford (allegedly ghost-written by Freddie Francisco himself)