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Meet the Real John Dillinger
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Dillinger: A myth-maker even in death. (public domain)
Several years ago I wrote and produced an A&E Biography documentary on John Dillinger. So it is with fascination that I watch the hype for the new movie, “Public Enemies”, starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and directed by Michael Mann.
Johnny Depp is a great choice to play Dillinger because of his uncanny ability to morph and chameleon. The real Dillinger, even as the most wanted man in America, often chose to hide in plain sight. He’d attend baseball games at Wrigley Field, walk the streets of Chicago, often in some small disguise...different facial hair, perhaps a pair of glasses. He later had some plastic surgery to further allow him the freedom to roam in public
There are many myths about the real John Dillinger, and the movie inevitably perpetuates some of them.
First of all, there’s the name. “Dillinger” as known to the masses, was pronounced with the “g” making a harder “j” sound. In truth, Dillinger was pronounced with a softer “g”, like the “g” in “girl”. But newsreels and other accounts of the day got it wrong, so the mispronunciation stuck.
As the bane of J. Edgar Hoover’s existence, and the perfect foil to help build public awareness and appreciation for Hoover’s F.B.I., Dillinger was made out to be a cold-blooded killer. Rumors had him responsible for many deaths. In truth, Dillinger didn’t really care for violence, but let the reputation work for him by issuing lots of threats of violence. There was only one murder with any evidence that Dillinger pulled the trigger. While exiting a bank robbery in East Chicago, IN, guard Walter O’Malley was shot by the robbers. Dillinger did fire a shot in that robbery, and it may well have been the fatal one. Dillinger reportedly told associates that he had fired at the ground to back O’Malley off. Whether it is true, or if the bullet ricocheted up to hit O’Malley, no one will ever know for sure.
Another myth is that Dillinger escaped from the Crown Point, IN jail using a bar of soap carved into the shape of a gun. It actually was a piece of carved wood, and was painted with black shoe polish.
A slight alteration of history, the infamous “woman in red” who betrayed where Dillinger would be to federal agents, was actually wearing orange.
And one of the more amusing myths was that Dillinger was massively well-endowed. This arose from a morgue shot of Dillinger, in which rigor mortis had positioned his arm in a bent position. Under the morgue sheet, it appeared to be something, well, quite different. The rumor was born and spiraled into an urban legend that his penis was actually stored at the Smithsonian. Not true. But a great myth about a guy who had more than his share of them.
