One of the more interesting bits in the recent 5 part History Channel series, was the revelation that Sullivan was part of a film crew/cast which had a brush with law enforcement because they were staging scenes which alarmed citizens, prompting one to call police. The film was directed by "Allan Silliphant."

Question: Is Silliphant related to Dirty Harry scribe and renowned Hollywood screenwriter Sterling Silliphant? He evidently entered the industry successfully in the camera department, and is credited with directing B level films up to and including 2017!!

The weirdness quotient of this case never dissappoints…

They gleaned that little tidbit from this site. Here’s where it was discussed…

http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=1441&hilit=Silliphant&start=860

I see the newspaper article depicted in series there, yes that was a great find by Averly, have read many of his posts. The article says Allan Silliphant is Sterling’s brother, however Sterling is son of Stirling, the writer, that would make Allan also his son (which would make sense given relative ages). Stirling’s wiki however says he had two sons Sterling and Dayle and a daughter Lauren, they grew up in Glendale where the half hour film was made. Perhaps Allan is a stage name Dayle took.

This has the potential of being a good break for you guys because in addition to getting a copy of that film from it’s still living director, witness testimony from the other filmmakers is sure to be of some help. I like this angle a lot.

More info on this topic here:

viewtopic.php?f=106&t=3481

I see the newspaper article depicted in series there, yes that was a great find by Averly, have read many of his posts. The article says Allan Silliphant is Sterling’s brother, however Sterling is son of Stirling, the writer, that would make Allan also his son (which would make sense given relative ages). Stirling’s wiki however says he had two sons Sterling and Dayle and a daughter Lauren, they grew up in Glendale where the half hour film was made. Perhaps Allan is a stage name Dayle took.

This has the potential of being a good break for you guys because in addition to getting a copy of that film from it’s still living director, witness testimony from the other filmmakers is sure to be of some help. I like this angle a lot.

Allan was Sterling’s brother. There was a 20 year age difference, so they likely had different mothers. Sterling took in Ross and Timothy for a little while after their mother died in 1958. Allan and Ross were in the same class at Glendale High School (1959) and were in some film troupe together. They were good friends. We have already spoken to Allan. Allan stated he may still have the film, but probably no sound, but he could not locate it.

Thanks for clarifying guys, interesting!

I actually spoke to Stirling’s widow a few times. Very nice woman and a talented actress. She told me that she did not recall Stirling ever mentioning the Sullivan bros to her. It was still worth asking and striking up a good conversation about the film industry. His widow was also Bruce Lee’s very first female student.

Of note, Glendale HS is alma mater of several renowned thespians and other film and TV industry standouts. The annual talent show at the John Wayne Memorial Theater has been something of an infamous local feeder event for new talent coming out of the valley for decades.

The first year Ross enrolled, transferring from Binghamton NY during the 1957-58 calendar, his group’s skit landed one of ten chosen spots out of more than two dozen others who vied, with Ross was cast as the lead…

The lead in ‘Deja Vive’ then followed.

James Dean would have been Ross’ contemporary big screen male icon of the day.

Couple of minor tidbits I ran across today.

Deja Vive is about a Beatnik. I discovered today that the originator of the term "Beatnik" was Herb Caen.

There is an Allan Silliphant on IMDB credited with directing a documentary on Apache Code Talkers. I think it could very well be the same Allan who directed Deja Vive and who later used the name Al Silliman Jr. to make B movies.

Has a Zodiac Beatnik angle been talked about much? I only found a few scattered posts discussing it. Here are some quotes I found on Wikipedia that are interesting.

* "Beat" was slang for "beaten down" or downtrodden, but to Kerouac and Ginsberg, it also had a spiritual connotation as in "beatitude."

* Critics highlight the artist Wallace Berman as the main representative of the direction. In his work concentrated many of the characteristic features of hipsters, especially in his collages made on photocopied photographs, which are a mixture of elements of pop art and mysticism.