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

Two Black Widow Grannies turned the 1944classical comedy movie into a real life nightmare. Were they extremely cleveror mad?

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

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

Thetwo women used rubber stamps, onto which they had transferred the menssignatures, to sign the forms. The women then arranged for the two men to bekilled in hit-and-run accidents, in a dark alley.

Golayclaimed she was the fiance of both victims, while Rutterschmidt said she was acousin. The two women collected $US2.8 million, before their deadly scheme wasuncovered. The men, who had been only looking for food, water and shelter, gota lot more than they bargained for.

InJudge Wesleys closing comments he said, The two men you killed needed ahelping hand. They thought they were getting this from you. Instead theseunfortunate men were sacrificed on your altar of greed." The Judgesaid he had checked up on the word greed and found among other things, thedefinition, A selfish desire for money, not in order to purchase things, butjust to have it.

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

Theoriginal play, Arsenic and Old Lace, was a startling break-away from theusual run of the mill theatre of the time. The producers, like all successfulentrepreneurs, 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 wasnot a rip roaring success.

With1,444 performances, Arsenic and Old Lace stands amongst some of the longestrunning shows on Broadway, paying its backers 40 to 1. It has constantly rankedamong the most frequently produced plays of the last four decades, even incountries as far reaching as Brazil and Rumania. In 1986 it was reproduced onceagain on Broadway, costing a lot more than the original play.

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

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

Forunknown reasons some things become classics, like the 1934 song Blue Moon, orfilms such as Arsenic and Lace. Very few classics have the opportunity tobecome 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 thewidows were merely eccentric.

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