Cold-Blooded: The Saga of Charles Schmid, the Notorious "Pied Piper of Tucson"

by John Gilmore

Charles Schmid, "The Pied Piper of Tucson," something of a cross between Elvis Presley and Charles Manson, was charismatic, psychopathic, and totally bizarre. Stuffing tin cans in his boots to appear taller and smearing oil stains on his face to simulate a beauty mole, Schmid nonetheless won the hearts of teenage girls on Tucson's Speedway, and soon became the ultimate "ladykiller"... murdering the girls he no longer had any use for.
Cold-Blooded tells the entire story from a particularly privileged perspective. Author John Gilmore became acquainted with Schmid on the third day of his trial, and remained the only writer involved with him during that period of his life and the year to follow. All quotations attributed to Schmid are taken from his diaries, letters, memoranda and long conversations while Schmid languished on Death Row at the Arizona State Penitentiary.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and was raised in Hollywood. His mother had been a studio contract-player for MGM while his step-grandfather worked as head carpenter for RKO Pictures. Gilmore's parents separated when he was six months old and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. Gilmore's father became a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, and also wrote and acted on radio shows, a police public service (the shows featured promising movie starlets as well as established performers like Bonita Granville, Ann Rutherford, the "jungle girl" Aquanetta, Joan Davis, Hillary Brooke, Ann Jeffreys, Brenda Marshall and other players young John Gilmore became acquainted with. As a child actor, he appeared in a Gene Autry movie and bit parts at Republic Studios. He worked in LAPD safety films and did stints on radio. Eventually he appeared in commercial films. Actors Ida Lupino and John Hodiak were mentors to Gilmore, who worked in numerous television shows and feature films at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal International studios. During the 1950s, through John Hodiak, Gilmore sustained an acquaintanceship with Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood, then in New York, where Gilmore was involved with the Actors Studio, transcribing the lectures of Lee Strasberg into book form. Gilmore performed on stage and in live TV, wrote poetry and screenplays, directed two experimental plays, one by Jean Genet. He wrote and directed a low-budget film entitled "Expressions", later changed to "Blues for Benny." The film did not get general release but was shown independently. Gilmore eventually settled into a writing career; journalist, true crime writer and novelist. He served as head of the writing program at Antioch University and has taught and lectured at length.

Reviews

[Katherine Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

[loan--thank you, kind patron!]

This is an straightforward, bare bones account of the murderous career of Charles "Smitty" Schmid, who murdered Alleen Rowe because he wanted to know what it was like to murder someone, Gretchen Fritz because she was blackmailing him about the Rowe murder (and because he was tired of her and her drama: Gretchen & Smitty are basically a case of one sociopath consuming another), and Wendy Fritz because she had the bad luck to be with her sister. Gilmore's account is almost entirely testimony and interviews, which on the one hand is great because it's all primary sources and you do get an unpleasantly vivid sense of Schmid's personality, but on the other hand ends up feeling flat and unfinished--which may just be the effect of my personal taste rather than a problem with the book.

I think it *is* a problem with the book that it feels so disorganized. The straight chronological account with no kind of meta-narrative or assessment or exploration of contradictions is certainly verisimilitudinous, but while I look to my nonfiction reading for truth (or as close as we can ever get), this kind of chaotic quotidian verisimilitude is something my real life provides me plenty of. We find the truth of history not in replaying it like a cassette tape, as the tape gets thinner and thinner and finally breaks, but by analyzing what's on the tape. Or at least (and here my metaphor falls apart) by providing signposts to guide the reader through the disorganized facts.

This was interesting for what it was, but it could have been much more interesting if treated as history, there to be analyzed and questioned, rather than "objective" reporting.

[B.J. Swann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilmore is the true crime king.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one under the original title, THE TUCSON MURDERS. Really good. Written before writers forgot how to write and editors to edit. As much information from bystanders and the defendant himself as from the newspapers, for a change. Even-handed, thoughtful and hard to put down.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

highly recommended for anymore interested in true crime, Tucson history or just balls out sex drugs, rock'n'roll - and murder, of course.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an unusual true crime story about Charles Schmid who killed three girls in 1964-65 in Tucson, AZ and was called the "Pied Piper". The author was personally involved in the case and had access to Schmid's personal writing which is a mixed blessing reading his confused rantings. The last part of the book is boring as it elaborates on all the legal maneuvers in his two trials. ZZZZZZ,

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw the author of this book on Investigation Discovery's "A Crime to Remember", in which he was one of the people interviewed about the crime. The story was interesting in the TV show, and I wanted to read more about it.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the book. The copy editing was so bad that the last name of one of the principals in the book was misspelled twice on the same page. That is just one glaring example, though there are many others. That is the reason that I only give the book 2 stars.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

hilarious, except that people died.

[Jewels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating hometown read.