Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes. On December 31, 1936, Helen Wills Love stormed into the Del Mar Club in Santa Monica and shot her self-proclaimed husband, Harry A. Love, whom she felt was choosing his mother over her. Wills maintained that she was Love's "secret" wife because he had refused to share the news of his marriage with his mother, Cora K. Love, due to what Wills described as his "mother complex." Prior to her conviction in 1937, when she was sent to the California Institution for Women, also known as Tehachapi Prison, Wills fell into a coma, which was believed to have been induced by Will's overall anxiety and/or fear of prison or death by hanging. She applied for parole a couple of times, once in 1937 and again in 1938, but was denied. In 1938, she was told she would be eligible to apply again in two years; it is unknown when she was actually paroled. Wills, if counting her "marriage" to Love, had four spouses throughout her life. She died at 95 years of age on November 1, 2000. First photograph caption dated January 4, 1937 reads, "'It seemed like something you see on the screen--a motion picture death.' ...Mrs. Helen Wills Love, who killed her husband because she said his 'mother complex' interfered with his affection for her... told of the tragic climax to her struggle for love. She related how she went to the Del Mar Beach Club at Santa Monica where her husband, Harry Love, was being entertained by his mother, Mrs. Cora E. Love, on New Year's Eve. 'I don't remember exactly what happened. I remember having the gun in my hand and running after Harry and watching him die.' She's in the jail hospital waiting her preliminary hearing."; Second photograph caption March 2, 1937 reads, "Charged with murdering Harry A. Love at the height of a gay New Year's Eve party, Helen Willis [sic] Love came to court here today for trial. She claims that Love wed her in secret and refused to announce the ceremony because he feared his mother."
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Wills, Helen Murderers--California--Los Angeles Women murderers--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs Portrait photographs
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