Hollywood’s King of Sleaze Lived in La Crescenta

Most everyone has heard of Ed Woods, creator of the film “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” He was immortalized in the Tim Burton Movie “Ed Woods” as having made the worst Hollywood movies ever. But Ed Woods’ title as worst filmmaker pales when compared to the lesser-known 1930s career of Crescenta Valley resident Dwain Esper. He is considered to be the “Father of the Exploitation Film” and he produced an astounding array of terribly made “shocker” films about sex, drugs and violence during his 15 years in La Crescenta.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Bishop Estate, which in 1966 was seized by eminent domain to become Mountain Avenue Elementary School. The grand mansion on five landscaped acres was built in 1923 but, in 1929, it was bought by Dwain and Hildegarde Esper who moved in with their two young kids.

Dwain Esper was a smooth-talking conman who, after working as a motorcycle stuntman, had made a fortune as a contractor in the 1920s. Hildegarde had grown up a “carny” following her drug-addicted uncle through the sideshow circuit, and was displayed nude to attract a crowd.

Dwain and Hildegarde both had sleazy pasts. Dwain was said to be one of the best conmen ever and often conned people out of money at dinner parties staged at his La Crescenta mansion. In 1930 Dwain foreclosed on a loan and obtained a small film production studio in Hollywood. He realized he could make a fortune making “shocker” films featuring nudity and debauchery and distributing them himself, outside the bounds of Hollywood’s Hays Code, which would have banned movies like his.

And so a sort of twisted La Crescenta “mom and pop” business was run out of the Espers’ home on Mountain Avenue. They formed a company, Road Show Attractions. Hildegarde wrote the scripts. Dwain made the horrible movies, sometimes directing, sometimes producing, sometimes merely taking an existing movie and inserting “nudie” clips. Dwain and Hildegarde occasionally acted in them. Then they would take their film on the road.

Dwain, along with hired men, barnstormed the midwest and south, renting out movie houses and burlesque theaters, even setting up tents. They plastered the little towns with posters that trumpeted “adults only.” They came up with gimmicky items to display in the lobby such as John Dillinger’s gun or the famous mummified body of bandit Elmer McCurdy (who eventually ended his traveling career at the Pike funhouse in Long Beach). The shows were often promoted as educational, and Hildegarde would accompany the movie with a lecture about the dangers of drugs and sex.

But the films were the real stars. Here are just a few: “Sins of Love,” a cautionary tale about venereal disease. “Narcotic,” a cautionary tale of drug addiction that incongruously featured footage of a Caesarian birth. A heroin-addicted medical student is reduced to selling drugs in a carnival sideshow. Hildegarde wrote the script based on her own experiences working sideshows with her addicted uncle.
“Sex Maniac” had nothing cautionary about this tale; it was made simply to shock. Mad doctors, zombies, rape, murder, insanity and animal cruelty. This movie is cited by several film critics as the worst movie ever made. But, to be fair, it did come with a lecture by Hildegarde as advertised: “Hear dynamic sex lectures! Plain facts about secret sin!” So, yeah, still educational.
“Marijuana, The Weed With Roots In Hell.” The title tells it all.

Two other instructional films were “How to Take a Bath” and “How to Undress in Front of Your Husband.” The latter was remarkable in that it starred two minor female movie stars, one of them Mrs. John Barrymore. Techniques for undressing as seen through the eyes of a Peeping Tom.

Dwain Esper also reissued existing films, popularizing them with his own brand of showmanship. “Reefer Madness” and “Freaks” were two that, thanks to him, remain cult classics today.

From 1929 until 1944 when the Bishop family moved in, La Crescenta was home to the king and queen of sleaze – an unusual family for quiet La Crescenta, and an unusual legacy for the Mountain Avenue School site.