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Christa With Michael Sarrazin
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Lady J in Variety
Here finally we have a larger version of that ad we ran some time back from VARIETY promoting the re-edited version of LET'S GO FOR BROKE which was called LADY J. The ad makes it seem as though the film was in release but there remains no actual indication that it ever was shown to the public. The rest of the films here can be accounted for but not Christa's. This was nearly a year beyond the Cincinnati premiere of BROKE so presumably LADY J could also have incorporated the new scenes supposedly shot in Florida (not by director Walsh and without the participation of Chitra). Would have been interesting to see a rating here as Producer Stuart Duncan often said in interviews that BROKE was always intended to be PG and yet one can speculate that the new scenes might have been shot to make it an R for more exploitation release.
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Lady J Trade Report-1975
From late July of 1975, 7 full months after LET'S GO FOR BROKE premiered in Cincinnati, came this trade mag report regarding the revised LADY J version of the film. The "above" mentioned were the other films in the previously posted Joseph Brenner and associates ad. So at this point, then, Brenner had not only clearly picked up the film for distribution but was apparently planning on it being their major release of the time period. What happened, then, that it remained unreleased and Duncan was still trying to sell it 2 years later after Christa's death?
Note also the news that she had signed for a sequel. While it seems logical that Duncan would have kept an option on her for sequels if the initial release had gone well, why would she actually sign for a sequel to a movie that had not come out at all?
Always more questions.
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Broke in '73
Spotted this quintessential LET'S GO FOR BROKE image in THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR in August 0f 1973, a full 17 months before the film premiered in nearby Cincinnati and several months before it was even shot!
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1974 Christa Article
Click on this to read a surprisingly detailed article about Christa from nearly a year before the BROKE premiere. In fact, it sounds like this interview/audience was conducted after the shooting in Haiti but before Ron Walsh was brought in to finish the film in the US.The article not only namechecks Joe Namath (she got that a lot) but also Nicole, Gary and even Lennie.
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Christa Warning
There is a new "book" out on Christa Helm, self-published in April via Createspace. It's overpriced at $7.99 for a mere 44 pages but it also STEALS most of its contents from the above online bio of the murdered actress that John O'Dowd and I co-wrote ten years ago.
I'm not going to name the author but I am warning you now. No matter how interested you are in Christa's case, save your money, don't support thieves, and read almost the exact same thing online here:
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Booksteve Meets Nicole Clements
After 11 years of looking into the life and death of Christa Helm, today I was able to finally meet her daughter Nicole. Things are happening. Stay tuned for more details.
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"Krista" Lifts the Lid On Hollywood's Lovers-1975
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New Christa Trailer
Here's the trailer for the new Christa Helm documentary that premieres on the Oxygen Channel on Friday, Feb 2, 2018 at 9 PM ET.
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41 Years On
Today's the 41st anniversary of Christa Helm's vicious and still unsolved murder.
If you missed the recent Oxygen documentary, you can now catch it free on Vimeo!
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Christa in the Gossip Columns
Some newly discovered gossip column appearances about Christa including an early one from 1972, above.Interesting to note how often her picture made the papers even before she'd done anything!
The interesting revelations here include the fact that along with her new name, she was either claiming to be or just presumed to be Danish, she was preparing a nightclub act, and she was supposed to appear in the 1975 movie THE HAPPY HOOKER, which starred Lynn Redgrave.
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Unsolved Murders
Here's a new 2 part, 80+ minute podcast about Christa. Worth a listen if one is interested in the case but there's nothing new. In fact, large portions of it are lifted without any credit at all from this blog and from Jamey Duvall's podcasts of a couple years back.
The oddest part of this is that it features dramatized segments that have a ditzy blonde voice supposedly as Christa, with completely made up dialogue and speculation.
Repetitive, unoriginal, unethical, salacious, with lots of speculation, a whole bunch of stuff left out, a few mistakes, and a bizarre conclusion, but at least it keeps Christa's story circulating.
https://player.fm/series/unsolved-murders-true-crime-stories-2136394/e99-the-sex-diary-slaying-christa-helm
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The Unholy
I just found out that Christa's murder is referenced very briefly in bestselling author Heather Graham's 2012 novel, THE UNHOLY. Here's the passage.
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Hollywoodland Unsolved with Ansley Gordon
Found a new, recent, Christa Podcast. Rather than just lifting it as others have, this one actually credits my blog research as well as my original online article with John O'Dowd and both the CBS and Oxygen documentaries. I even get namechecked in the podcast itself. Repeats some of the mistakes we made, though. Still, a good summation.https://soundcloud.com/user-185163798/the-murder-of-christa-helm
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Cold Case
Just found out that both of the detectives who had worked so long on the Christa Helm murder case have now retired and no new investigators are currently assigned to the Cold Case.
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Ron Walsh and Alex Sheafe
A couple of trade ads here offer the info that Ron Walsh, before he replaced Alex Stevens as credited director, was Production Manager. Interesting to note that LADY J was here listed as a "big release" and yet remained completely unreleased.
Also of note above is that the cast list includes Alex Sheafe. He went on to a long career in TV soaps starting the year LET'S GO FOR BROKE was made but he does not appear to be in the final cut. His name appears nowhere in the film's final credits.
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Jackie Mayro 2020
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Kathy Imrie in Black Stars-1974
Here's an early 1974 article about LET'S GO FOR BROKE co-star Kathy Imrie which not only features some early publicity for the picture but also a couple of stills of Kathy with Christa. Of particular interest is that based on the way magazine dating works, this magazine would have been on the stands while the film was still in production!
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Frank Raiter R.I.P.
We just last night confirmed that actor Frank Raiter, co-star of Christa Helm's LET'S GO FOR BROKE and in Broadway's CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, has been dead since 2006, a year BEFORE I started investigating Christa's life and murder. This explains why he never responded to the several snail mail letters I wrote him between 2007 and 2016. R.I.P.
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"New" Christa Photos
These photos, discovered by Jamey Duvall, were all from the collection of famous '70s celebrity photographer Ron Galella. That's him in the bottom photo with Christa. The man with the glasses is Sid Luft, former husband of Judy Garland and probably a friend of Christa's BFF, Lennie, who had designed costumes for Judy's last shows. Judy's daughter Lorna Luft was also at this party, described as a "Go For Broke" party and held at Christa's NYC apartment in November of 1974, months after the final shooting on LET'S GO FOR BROKE, and a month prior to the film opening in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Does anyone recognize either of the two men with facial hair?
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