Manson and Me

The last time I saw “Squeaky” Fromme, she was 21 and squatting outside the courtroom in Los Angeles where Charlie Manson and his “family” of girls were on trial for conspiracy and murder. Next week, she will be paroled from prison for her 1975 attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford.

The last time I saw “Squeaky” Fromme, she was 21 and squatting outside the courtroom in Los Angeles where Charlie Manson and his “family” of girls were on trial for conspiracy and murder. Next week, Lynette Fromme will be paroled from prison for her 1975 attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, with an unloaded .45 pistol. A Secret Service man had grabbed the gun which had four rounds in it, but none in the firing chamber. She was dressed like a nun, spaced out on drugs, and supposedly anxious to discuss saving California redwood trees with the President. But it’s Charlie Manson that Squeaky Fromme is most remembered for. I covered the initial phases of the Manson trial in 1970. Is it really 39 years ago that Manson went on trial for murdering seven people - famously the pregnant movie actress Sharon Tate, the LaBianca family, and assorted individuals who got in the way of the rampaging Manson family? To call it a “circus” hardly does it justice. Squeaky was not involved in the murders, but was their cheerleader outside the courtroom, making no sense to those who tried to talk to her. She was blotto. In the court, Manson made a mockery of the prosecution. Mindful of a Californian Rasputin, he would glare menacingly at the packed court – aware that the media had noted his Messianic qualities. Periodically, someone in the court would rise and howl that Manson’s eyes had caught theirs and the devil was loose. He would also glare at his women charged with murder – Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian (as state’s witness). It was weird. Memory blurs, but what stands out is how bizarre the proceedings were amid tragic consequences. A surreal atmosphere of drugs and peyote (mescaline). The “family” lived at the movie ranch of George Spahn in Topanga Canyon, near Death Valley. I rented a car and drove out there – more surrealism. The ramshackle ranch was isolated and run down, off a rough road. It once was used for cowboy movie settings, and now was taken over by the Manson girls – those not in custody. Spahn was in his eighties, and apparently was looked after by the girls who afforded him sexual favours. I was made welcome, so long as I gave the girls $20 to chat. One of them nursed a baby.  All were on virginal behaviour. Fromme was especially solicitous towards George. She apparently got her “Squeaky” name because when he pinched her rump she gave a high-pitched squeak which amused everyone. I don’t really recall what the girls talked about, except that everything was disjointed. I remember one of the girls, Sandra Good, seemed almost demur. At the trial, I used to have lunch with movie actor Peter Falk (TV’s Detective Columbo) who, like many, was hooked on attending. I felt he was studying Manson in hopes of someday playing Manson in a movie – they were of a similar size and appearance, and it would have been appropriate casting. The trial was also the making of Vince Bugliosi, the assistant district attorney who was helpful to visiting media. His book on the Manson case, Helter Skelter, was the best selling true crime book in history with seven million sales. It launched him as a best-selling writer. As a prosecutor, Bugliosi won 105 of 106 felony cases and never lost a murder case. While Manson orchestrated the Tate-LaBianca murders, he was not on the scene for them. Svengali-like he sent his girls and male acolytes. After a nine-month trial he was sentenced to death, but the California Supreme Court ruled death was “cruel and unusual punishment” (since revoked) and the sentence was commuted to life. Manson will be 75 in November – the swastika he carved on his forehead during his trial still there, his Aryan Nation convictions probably as strong as ever. But Squeaky Fromme is free next week – a sad little person 40 years ago, she is still a sad figure today, but hopefully wiser at age 60.