Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The Past behind me- a new day. Paul DeGaston

The two sisters called me yesterday morning. A dealer in Escondido had recommended that I appraise a collection of prints that they had stored in their garage since time immemorial. Their parents had received them somehow, but the how, why, who and wherefore's had all slid into faded history.

They brought them up yesterday, in an old wood and copper box. There were fourteen of them, mostly drypoint, but some very competent aquatints as well. I suggested that they go get a coffee or go next door to Leslie's while I did some preliminary investigation work.

I have sold prints and works on paper, along with paintings, since the late 1970's. My first company was called El Flechador Del Sol and concentrated on works on paper. I am in no way one of the high echelon print dealers but I have been fortunate enough to have some very fine examples of printmaking pass though my hands over the years; Baumann's and Kloss's, Capps, Diebenkorn, Martin Lewis, Whistler, Rembrandt, Durer and many others. I was instrumentally involved in creating a few major print exhibitions and I would like to believe that I can recognize a certain level of quality when I see it. Even have tried my hand at aquatints myself. Enough of my bona fides.

Yoshida - Paul De Gaston

That is why I found it curious that I could find nothing about this particular artist, Paul De Gaston. Anywhere. I checked Artprice and AskArt. Nothing. Googled him, found one aquatint of the Nile that sold at some obscure auction for peanuts and a WWAR reference to an Ainu print pulled by the artist at the turn of the century.

It is highly unusual to find an artist this competent with such a paucity of historical record.

I called my friend Steve in Phoenix, a very well respected and versed print dealer and he didn't have a clue. Couldn't get a hold of Roger Genser. I started focussing on the name and not the artist and wasn't prepared for what I found next.

The first reference I found for a Paul De Gaston was for an abortionist connected with the infamous Black Dahlia murder case.


(17) Dr. Paul De Gaston:
DeCaston was identified as an abortionist who practiced under the alias, Dr. C. J. Morris in downtown Los Angeles. He was tried for murder in 1934 and served time for performing abortions. His name and address were found in Elizabeth Short's address book after her murder.


The next thing I found was a website written by DeGaston's son that threw a bit of light on his father:

Paul Robert De Gaston - Born June 28, 1902, Pakhoi (now Beihai), Kwangsi-Chuang (now Guangxi), China
Died December 12, 1956, Sunset Strip, Los Angeles County, California



    My father was a very sensitive, intelligent, musical, and handsome man. He was strong, and as a young man engaged in boxing. He was an artist, musician (even played violin with the Glendale Symphony Orchestra), part-time movie actor, and a pioneer in performing abortions. He loved and knew classical music and could play the violin very well, the flute well, and the piano OK. Unfortunately he used his abilities often in a selfish way to the hurt of others, and very much of himself too. At times he was quite generous. He did want to make his family in his third marriage with my mother work. That was a difficult task as mother was very headstrong though she loved him, and no man was good enough after my Dad. But my Dad could not keep an even temper, losing his temper at times, and going too far in corporeal punishment. This finally resulted in my parents divorcing.


    My Father was interred duing World War II, having been "denounced", but never proven [not even a trial], as having pro-German sympathies, in various concentration camps including North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and finally Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor. While my father was at Terminal Island mother took me and sometimes Cami to visit him. We used to ride the Red Car from the elevated terminal in downtown Los Angeles to San Pedro, and then take a ferry to Terminal Island. The Red Car was a real electric train, and went at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour down the right-of-way through south LA, Compton, and Watts which paralled and was next to Alameda Boulevard. While in concentration camp, my father met and became friends with a famous Austrian artist, Hovanetz. Hovanetz taught my father to paint. Some time later after the war, Hovanetz returned to Vienna because he was offered a commission to paint the dome (as I recall) of some important and/or historic building.


...It did seem improbable that Father was only 4 years and 11 months older than my mother. He looked a lot older. He "lied" that he had served in the World War I serving in France, and that war was from 1914-18 (for America it was 1917-18). My father had to have been at least 18, and probably more...as we might gather from the picture included below showing him boxing while still in China (but maybe that pic was post-China?  My mother was 49 at the time of Father's death. She didn't have a grey hair. My grandmother, Anna de Gaston, at 82 or so years of age still had partly almost black hair mixed with her grey hair. I don't believe that there was any premature greying in the de Gaston line, but my father lying in his coffin (whom I had not seen for years) had about 50 per cent grey hairs in the top of his scalp, and mustach, and the sideburns were predominantly grey.  I was rather taken aback. Father had always played games as exactly how old he was because he looked young for the age that he claimed, and liked to fool people. 

Old China, Chinese Mother 2/10 Paul DeGaston

The Supplicant - Sun worshipper - Paul DeGaston

Mending Nets, Old China - Paul De Gaston

Now, I am thinking this is probably the same guy. An artist, and born in China. Several of the prints have chinese themes. But where did he get his training in printmaking? Was he a student of the great Hiroshi Yoshida? I find reference to a 1934 National Geographic article on China written by a Paul DeGaston.

"My Father standing in his medical office in Seattle, Washington, about 1940.  My Dad was an entrepreneur, and quite intelligent as he did this without formal medical training, and specialized in abortions."

His son's website had this interesting picture of father in the abortion clinic. A doctor with no medical training? Very strange to say the least. 

I continued digging and found this government document from World War II authorizing the apprehension of DeGaston or whoever he really was. A nazi spy perhaps, with a string of alias's. Was he Teodore Herman Bach, the german alien sympathizer or agent from Washington? Or just an innocent artist with a string of pseudonyms wrongly fingered by the government? 

This has to be the strangest appraisal I have ever undertaken and has all the makings of a great George Smiley whodunit. I am going to do a little more searching and see what turns up. I have taken the prints on consignment. If you have any more information on De Gaston I would love to hear from you. I include pictures of the rest of the prints for your inspection. Paul Robert DeGaston, or whoever he actually was, was an enigma, but through all the intrigue and deception he was nonetheless a very talented printmaker whose artistic footprint seems to have largely vanished from this earth.

Great Dane 6/25 - Paul DeGaston

London Fog - Paul DeGaston

At Bay - Paul De Gaston

Aquatint sailboat - Paul DeGaston

Untitled - Paul DeGaston

Untitled - Paul DeGaston

Anti- aircraft, aquatint 1 of 5 - Paul DeGaston 

Cowboy Race - 5 of 25 - Paul De Gaston

From Douglas Frazer Fine Art- Bellevue, WA

My friend Doug Frazer at frazerfineart.com tells me that he has photographs of Huc M. Luquiens shot and signed by De Gaston and once owned a painting by the artist as well. 

***

10:44 p.m. 2/25/12

I got on Ancestry.com tonight and found a plethora of information on DeGaston and his several wives, Violet, Ruby, Leona. Birth dates always different but definitely maybe, probably not the same man. (See, The continuing story of Paul De Gaston and discover Paul Percy Degaston)  If you can figure the darn thing out, please let me know. Death cert shows him born in 1877, although he most often claimed 1891. His mother's maiden name was Bach so the FBI alias strikes a chord.  Worked for a period of time in San Francisco as a photographer. Lots of trips to Hawaii. I have reviewed the manifests. For some reason he engaged in a lot of misdirection, sometimes claiming to have been born in New Jersey and giving out the wrong middle name on occasion. Paul DeGaston was an artist, an abortionist, a photographer, a possible axis sympathizer and definitely a very complicated man.

I will keep looking.

Read Part II.

The odd story of Paul de Gaston and Paul de Gaston

Paul De Gaston circa 1933

I think that we can tidy up the Paul De Gaston tale finally. Put it to bed. Two separate men, two separate stories, both linked by not only a name but some very strange coincidences and congruities. Both men with a rather dark, if not sordid past.

 I got this letter from Paul Robert's daughter Gloria this week. Thank you Gloria. Not much else I can say about the entire matter, both families have their dirty little secrets, neither men exactly pillars of the community. Interesting tales, and more stuff in my brain that I am not at liberty or should I say, do not feel comfortable divulging.

The story to date can be found here. And here and here.

Message via your Google Profile: RE: PAUL DE GASTON FROM HIS DAUGHTER

I was sent your Blue Heron Blog from 2-25-12. The art is not from my father. Mine is the abortionist; he was interned during WWII because he was a loud-mouth blowhard who sought and got attention from his remarks about Hitler/Germany. But he wasn't a spy and since he served in the US Army Signal Corps he believed he was a citizen and only filed one set of papers, ignoring the 2nd set that was required at a later date. He did learn oils, chalks, charcoals, etc.as my brother states, but never was as talented as the art you are showing. If you are interested in why Germans in America were interned in WWII see: ( In 2000,Stephen Fox published Amrica's Invisible Gulag: A Biography of German American Internment and Exclusion in World War II: Memory and History ISBN 0-8204-4914-8. It has been replaced by Fear Itself: Inside the FBI Roundup of German Americans during World War II (ISBN 0595351689), which incorporates new information.) In addition, and incorrect, is the fact that my older brother didn't b other to include in his flowery description of our father (he has dates, etc. wrong) is that de Gaston isn't my father's real name. He was born with the last name "Bach". When his parents immigrated to the USA after WWI they changed the name to "Gaston". Later when my father, who wanted to be a movie star, came west he added the "de" because he thought it would look better on a marquee. There are de Gaston's in San Diego county, but are not related to the Paul Robert de Gaston who was the abortionist, practicing medicine without a licence. There was a photographer in S.D. county and I believe he did go to China; but I don't know if he was the artist. (the drawings, paintings...yes, photography is an art-form too.)

Thursday Housekeeping

I went to jury duty this morning. Got dismissed. Not for any major character defect or anti social proclivity mind you, they simply didn't need jurors today. Did you know that only ten percent of Americans report to jury duty, one of two duties required of citizens, the other being the requirement to pay taxes?

It was a yawner. Hung out for a couple hours and read. Laughed with the blind dude selling sundries who used to be on Overland in San Diego. I bought a hard boiled egg and he felt my dollar bill and gave it the real once over. Lost several hours of my life but it makes the whole legal system work so why not? Although I have a suspicion that things might be better if we went to a system of educated, professional jury rather than a so called jury of our "peers."

Mostly older cross section of potential jurors answering the call. Rasta white guy reading some weed magazine. I read a pulp crime novel from the Black Mask series. Nodded off. Performed my civic duty. Good to go for another year.

*

They cut down the magnificent ficus tree across the street today. Didn't want the liability of the funky sidewalk, I guess. Shame, it was so pretty. Big hole in the view now.

*
I have had some interesting letters recently that I think that I can share. First regarding the Paul DeGaston matter, I got this email  the other day. From a different Eric, from the other family. My DeGaston stuff is getting disseminated online again for some unknown reason, I need to create a one stop page with all of the information or write a damn book. Because the skeletons in both closets were so incredible, I feel like I have had to tiptoe a bit and might leave the writing thing for a more daring sort. Anyway here is the letter. It doesn't necessarily make things any easier because I was sure that there was two men and now I have a family member attempting to confirm my earlier suspicions that it may have been one guy leading a double life after all. But the pictures didn't jibe. The coincidences in the lives of the two DeGaston's are so incredible, the women named Violet that appear in both stories, the whole thing is just almost impossible to process. A family member is coming to visit soon who has put a down payment on a couple prints, maybe we sort it out.

I asked if I could publish this and never got a reply so here goes. Nothing too dramatic:

Hello

I see that the internet has become somewhat interested in my grandfather.   I don't really know if I can be of any help,  since I never had a reason (during childhood) to organize family stories into any meaningful order in my head.   Since I was born in 1978 to a 49 year old father,  most of his life stories were of no relevance to my young experience so I didn't spend much time thinking about them. 

Comparing the blog/article you've written with what I remember hearing from my dad (now deceased) and other family members, I'm going to suggest that all of the people you've identified as Paul de Gaston are probably the same person,  as just about everything you've uncovered sounds like a story I've heard.   It would appear he played his life as a very elaborate game.    According to my father,  his dad was 'the' Hollywood abortionist of repute for handling casting couch pregnancies that might affect young starlets' careers,  and the reputations of those casting directors who couldn't wait until the girls were 18.  

He apparently made decent money,  as one family story involves him buying a brand new Packard limousine,  driving to pick up his young sons,  loading the new vehicle with dynamite and pick axes and other prospecting supplies and then driving off to mine for precious metals (I don't recall where exactly, somewhere North of Los Angeles, perhaps Antelope Valley) with no regard for the pristine condition or high value of the vehicle.    Perhaps that's the story the way my dad remembered it,  and not the way it really happened.    

Paul de Gaston's father (my great-grandfather)  was August Hugo Bach de Gaston (apparently went by Hugh Bach sometimes)  and his mother was Anna Hermann 

My father was Raoul Hugh de Gaston(1929-2005) and his brother was Paul Robert de Gaston, Junior (deceased  around 1980) - they were children of Paul de Gaston, Sr.'s second (?) wife Grace.      Paul de Gaston, Sr's first wife was named Violet,  and they supposedly had a son who was also named Paul Robert de Gaston, Jr. (Raoul's older half-brother) - supposedly killed in action during WWII - but Paul Robert de Gaston, Jr. (Raoul's older full brother, died of lung cancer ~1980) also married a woman named Violet (deceased aorund 2001?) - and they had a son named Robert (living in San Jose, CA) and a daughter, Catherine.

So I don't know if I can be of any service to you.   My dad died 8 years ago and circumstances prior to that didn't exactly lead us to the closest of family relationships.    I don't really have much interest in any of the above information or people,  nor am I in any sort of regular or irregular contact with any members of the family beyond my sister and mother (Raoul de Gaston's only wife)  - but I'm willing to help with whatever questions you may happen to have - and if you have none, that's OK too.       Attached is a photograph of Paul, Sr's son Raoul from around 1977 (and my mother and sister)

Cheers

Eric de Gaston

http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/02/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy.html
http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/03/in-matter-of-paul-degaston.html
http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/06/odd-story-of-paul-and-paul-de-gaston.html
http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/03/continuing-story.html
http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/06/friend-of-paul-percy-degaston.html
http://www.blueheronblast.com/2012/12/paul-percy-frazier-degaston-revisited.html

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I got another letter regarding my link to the new study analyzing proto languages that I found quite interesting and powerful.

Robert,

After reading your last blog on the subject of languages and attempts by sophisticated programing to decipher sounds of protolanguages etc.  It reminded me of my encounter with "protolanguages" and I thought I should share this with you.

Several years ago while hiking in the Patagonia region of Chile I had a heart attack. Perhaps something that could have been handled more easily if I was at home and close to medical help.   As it was, and because of the remoteness of the area and the fact that no one (including myself) recognized the symptoms it took over 20 hours to get me to a clinic to the nearest city Punta Arenas located in the Strait of Magellan.  The only land beyond was the island of Tierra del Fuego and then the Antartic.

I was in critical condition with an effective ventricular ejection factor of about 18% ( normal is over 60%).  If I survived that first night at the clinic there was hope for recovery.  I clearly did survive and there was a dream I had that night  that maybe somehow had to do with the survival  and also how close I was at the edge of death...or maybe just on the other side of the edge.

The dream was in fact that I had a heart attack and I was in critical condition.  It was something I just knew but I could not say it or express it in any way  because language had not been invented yet, only a few words in english did exist and also few words in french but no way to connect these random words into a thought or a phrase, kind of a protolanguage or pre-language .  Since language did not exist then nothing existed.  I was consciously alive in an ancient past beyond the memory of mankind and before creation, all that existed was just BEING and nothing else.

Did I cross to the other side? Maybe, maybe not, but the dream has stayed with me all these years just as clear as that night.  When the morning
came I remember clearly understanding that I was back in the world where language exists, and it did feel a little strange to be alive.

If language does not exist, the world cannot be described, therefore the world does not exist.  (?)

E

*
I had a similar experience that I may have recounted once before regarding a post psilocybin dream where I seemed to contact a centuries old Cahuilla Indian tribe that existed outside of time. I can in no way reject the verity of E's experience. The Blue Heron Blast - Mining the holes in life's swiss cheese since that first 0range sunsh1ne trip in 1970. I looked around for the story and I must have pulled it. Bad for my image, I guess. Maybe I will give it to you one day over drinks at the Moose Lodge. There's a 40 year statute of limitations on these sorts of youthful indiscretion things, aren't there?

*

Got this from Hilo today. New Opening. Might be my secret Hilo correspondent in there somewhere but he hasn't been around the blog much lately. I'm betting top right. Am I right? Maybe it's the kid...

Hilo Fine Art Center is proud to present:

COOTS in CAHOOTS

Jim Rhodes and Joe Hampton

Jim Rhodes is an artist and patron to artists. He has been deeply rooted in the Hilo art community for some time and is roundly admired and respected. He will be showing photos from his Green Chair series, along with various Found-object and Assembled sculptures. Jim knows a thing or two about 2x4's.

Joe Hampton - a Graphologist so you don't have to be - is a treasure. Entertaining and thought-provoking, his works display his play with words and their concepts. Joe knows a thing or two about typeface. He is also shy, so please, no sudden movements.

The gentlemen have collaborated on a number of projects over time, and are pleased to finally exhibit together. Presented for your enjoyment.


Opening reception, Friday, March 1, 5:00 to 7:00 PM  @HFAC.
Music provided by Isaac Nahaku'elua. Slack key guitar, taro patch style.

Exhibit dates, Friday, March 1 to Saturday, March 23.
Gallery hours, Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 to 6.

E Komo Mai!

Hilo Fine Art Center
224 Kamehameha Avenue, Suite 104 (entrance on Haili St.)
Downtown Hilo
808-966-9995
gallery@hilofineart.com

Les Perhacs brought over some photos of his new sculptures. Incredible artist, Les. Student of Moholy Nage and Fuller, brilliant metalsmith. Been working on the chaos series for decades, top flight artist. Now at the Gerald Peters Gallery.


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Lena sent the following link:

These photos are incredible.
Extraordinary Photos From LAURENT SCHWEBEL
Sad loss of this special photographer.
French photographer Laurent Schwebel, 52 years old, was stabbed and killed and his camera stolen while he was taking pictures in Buenos Aires.
A naturalist photographer, he was born in 1959 in the Alsace region of eastern France and killed on February 8, 2012, in Plaza San Martin, Retiro,
Buenos Aires. He worked as a geologist, naturalist and photographer guide of a French travel agency specializing in travel naturalists.

Fotos de Laurent Schwebel by

Great photographer. Tragic. I have a few more things to say today, totally off topic but they are somewhat political so I think that I will wait for another post. I know how so many of you hate it so.

More from Paul Percy Degaston

I have written about a lot of curious things on this blog, by the way, this is the 10,150th post I have written in the past fourteen years, not to mention the many that got deleted along the way. Perhaps no post has been as unusual and mysterious as the whodunit story of Paul De Gaston, or should I say, both of the men who went by that particular name, both using an assumed name.

One was an artist and abortionist, a Nazi spy hooked up to the Black Dahlia murders, the other a photographer who apparently lived a life that some would say was equally sordid. Both men were artists who spent substantial time in China in the beginning of the twentieth century.

There were so many coincidences and so much intrigue to the story that for a very long time I thought we were talking about the very same man.

I ask you all to do a little review. This material may be new and intriguing to some of you.

1. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
2. Continuing story of Paul DeGaston
3. In the matter of Paul DeGaston
4. The odd story of Paul de Gaston and Paul de Gaston
5. Friend of Paul Percy DeGaston
6. Paul Percy Frazier DeGaston, revisited
7. Thursday Housekeeping
8. The story that never wants to end.

There were a few more posts regarding the subject and one which I significantly redacted after a physical visit from family members from the north who were unhappy that personal and rather nefarious information about their late family member was being disclosed online.

If you have read these stories and are still confused, you are not alone. I wrote them and it is all still very convoluted for me. A better writer than me could write a decent book on the subject, I am sure. 

I received a letter from a woman in Australia two days ago, Di. 

Hello there

I came across a folder of 25 mounted sepia photographs in a cupboard
after my husband passed away. They are beautiful, Asian in subject
mainly people, bridges and boats, and signed 'de Gaston'. They were
probably a gift decades ago when he was doing business in Hong Kong
before I met him.

I'm contacting you because I'm not sure what to do with them - whether
they are valuable in some sense and should be preserved in a gallery,
or if they are beautiful but fairly ordinary and it's ok for me to
frame and hang some.

I would be very grateful for your opinion, and look forward to hearing
from you.

Di

I wrote the nice lady back and asked her if I could see the work. I guess that by literary and academic default I have become the repository for all things relating to this subject, all matters De Gaston. It is assuredly the work of Paul Percy DeGaston, from his time in Shanghai, I assume.  

The work is wonderful from a photographic, historic and artistic standpoint. Hits the mark on every point. I appreciate Di allowing me to post it here as I think it is fitting since we have spent so much time trying to complete the puzzle. I did not answer her question about value but would think it perfectly acceptable to hang them and enjoy them. That is what photographs are for, not hiding away in a box or on a drive somewhere, unseen.

She took these photos with her iPhone. I have not attempted to process or alter them in any way. Not sure what will happen to them ultimately but am happy to share them with you here, now.

It is interesting to me that the other De Gaston did head studies in China that so closely resemble these photographs... But I can't keep thinking like that. It is two men, right?

Continuing Story of Paul De Gaston

Paul De Gaston - River Nile

The tale continues:

I got this letter the other day:


Regarding My Grandfather, Paul DeGaston, your enigmatic artist!


About My Grandfather, Paul DeGaston – Photographer and Artist

Dear Robert,

Well, we have quite a story to tell you and would love to talk with to clarify the life and history of my grandfather, Paul DeGaston, the photographer and artist.  I am preparing my own fine art photography website and asked my wife to find some of my grandfather’s photos on her computer and in the process she Goggled my grandfather’s name once again and found your website and story/questions about my Grandfather and his art.

The bottom line is my Grandfather made his living as a professional photographer and traveled as you said all over, especially to Hawaii, lived in San Francisco for a while and also had a studio in La Jolla—hence the Escondido connection.  The Black Dahlia DeGaston/abortionist is a different person which we discovered in doing our own background research on my Grandfather about two years ago. (What are the odds that we would see your blog about Paul DeGaston, asking about who he is, 4 days after you wrote it? That’s synchronicity for you.  I guess we “heard” your “call!”

We’re going to call you tomorrow, Thursday, March 1st and hopefully connect with you in person.  I’ll be happy to tell you everything I know about him.

With our best regards,

G

I wrote him back:


Thank you guys, it will be a pleasure to speak with you. Call me after 10 at 7xx-xxx-xxxx.


The nexus for me was that according to the ship's documents, I believe that the Paul De Gaston going to Hawaii had a spouse named Leona. The Black Dahlia man had a spouse named Cleona. With all of the subterfuge I figured slam dunk. But strange coincidences do occur occasionally in an infinite universe! In any case, my blog readership has been enthralled with the whole story so far so now we can tie a nice bow around it. (That is, unless your grandfather fooled you, too...)


Yours,


Robert


They called me yesterday and we talked. We filled each other in on information that the other did not have. He told me that DeGaston authored a book, I told him about a magazine article I had found. He says that his relative lived in La Jolla for a period of time. and never to his knowledge in the state of Washington. Friend of Ansel Adams. We agreed to continue to share information.


And I am still not totally convinced. There are so many strange oddities in the matrix. 
  

1925 S.F. City Directory

* He tells me that this grandfather, who he never met, had eight wives. The other DeGaston also had many multiple marriages.  We have Ruby, Leona, Cleona, Grace, Violet, Helen and who knows who else, so far...Could we have one of those cases of a man living with multiple identities, leading a double life?

From DeGaston.com (Black Dahlia)

* He says that his DeGaston's middle name was Percy. But Percy used multiple different middle names as well, including the initial f. Here is a San Diego directory from 1943 where Paul F, a photographer is with Violet, the name of the woman the other DeGaston was first married to and who he marries again 15 years later! It is all so confusing...Paul Robert is known as Paul R.T.B. DeGaston as well as the other known aliases. The DeGaston website says that Violet was his first wife, but this was prior to 1931. Why do we have a marriage certificate to Violet from 1958? Did he remarry a childhood flame, his first wife and love? Not to mention the fact that it was was two years after he was officially dead. (Figured this out. Gaston had two sons named Paul Robert DeGaston, first one killed in war, second one also married a woman named Violet. That's three Paul DeGaston's married to three women named Violet, in case you are scoring at home.)

World War 1 Draft Card

* Both men, if there were two men, were dissemblers about their age, using at various times, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1902 and 1904. The question begs to be asked, why the obfuscation on the part of both of these men, if in fact they were two separate people?
Why the multiple names?

*  The Black Dahlia DeGaston supposedly died in 1956. The second man, in Riverside in 1963. But the first one never had a social security number! Tell me, how can you live and work in this country for fifty years without one? And why is there a Nevada marriage license for Paul R DeGaston to Violet, two years after he had supposedly died? Curiouser and curiouser.

May 17, 1929 Passenger list to Honolulu - Sonoma

*The time lines certainly work. His DeGaston was supposedly born in Trenton, New Jersey, on November 27th, with a mother's maiden name of Presber. Black Dahlia, Nazi DeGaston's mother's maiden name was listed as Bach as was his german alias but his son's website says that her name was actually Anna Maria Hermann. The FBI papers say that DeGaston's real name is Teodore Hermann Bach.


My correspondent tells me that the names of a daughter or sister in both families were identical when they talked to Black Dahlia DeGaston's family. Perhaps it was Julia or Gloria, I forgot to jot it down. DeGaston the artist works in Hawaii in the mid thirties, Black Dahlia picked up by the FBI and incarcerated for unspecified period in 1942, Black Dahlia affair around 1946...H-m-m-m, it could all conceivably work for one individual.

Oakland Directory c. 1924

Could this whole thing be an OSS witness protection, cover scenario that I have stumbled upon? They provided sanctuary to a lot of sordid people with checkered pasts after the war.


I guess that my biggest question is why is there no record of Paul Robert DeGaston anywhere until he is picked up by the FBI and then later jailed in the Black Dahlia case. No social security, no war record (he claimed to have been in World War I), no city directory listings like we see with this other individual. A man who is said by his descendants to have lived a fairly normal life, even playing music in the Glendale Symphony but no records anywhere. How could he have not left any footprint? So who was he, really?

I am going through lots of records on Ancestry.com and elsewhere and will try to fill in the dots wherever they may lead. Feel free to pitch in.


*
Postscript 3/3/12


Found this blurb on Percy - apparently an innovator in the technology of night photography:

First Night Photography:

September 5, 1914:  Percy DeGaston, cameraman at Balboa, devised a new compound, providing enough actinic light to film night scenes.  The Balboa film, An Eye for an Eye, copyrighted January 1915, was the first movie in the world to use night photography successfully.

and

Percy De Gaston, inventor of the new chemical compound and apparatus
which furnish enough actinic light to film scenes at night, is a camera man
at the Balboa studios.  When a scene is being photographed at night, the
country is illuminated for several hundred feet distant, the violet-white
flame burning steadily for two minutes.
     Director (William) Taylor filmed seven camp-fire scenes by the new light, and is
said to have obtained excellent results.

Three new alias's for Paul R. DeGaston, Hoisch, Baker and Marsh. Apparently C.J. Morris was not an alias but a partner in the abortion clinic.