LINK: INTERVIEW WITH CASTING DIRECTOR, ERIC DAWSON & AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT MOIRA

Check out this interview with American Horror Story Casting Director, Eric Dawson -- explaining how they decided on each of the main characters -- including the Moira's.

Apparently, Frances Conroy was in an accident and wears a contact normall because her eye is cloudy -- they decided to write it into the story because when she auditioned she offered to keep the contact out.

Cool fact!

RECAP: EPISODE 9 "SPOOKY LITTLE GIRL" (PART 1)

An old school yellow cab pulls up on a residential block. Black pumps step on the sidewalk and a beautiful woman steps out; she looks up at none other than the Murder House. She's there to Dr. David Curan, a dentist new to her and to the rest of us. She's dressed all in black with a white dhalia highlighted in her shiny black hair. It's 1947.

They enter his office and she explains that she hears he helps girls without a lot of money, she makes an advance for a mutual unofficial arrangement, putting a mask on her, Dr. Curan says "Just breathe."

-- Cut To Credits --

Well, at least we didn't have to wait to see Mena Suaveri in the episode. We cut back to present day: Ben walks into the bedroom where Moira is making the bed.  He asks her to make a sandwich for Violet and she just starts talking... and he just starts looking. She tells him that she misses Viv, they became close, makes a few advances at him in between.

"Don't worry your secret's safe."
"What secret?" Ben replies, bewildered.
"The way you look at me, the way you fantasize about me. You have a diseased mind, Ben, must be why you become a therapist."

They go back and forth taking shots at eachother, Ben gets loud and Moira walks away to make Violet's sandwich, muttering "It's only a matter of time, the mind is unwilling but flesh is weak." (I think!)

We cut Constance (so glad to see her again) painting in her kitchen. Ironically enough it's looks like a demon thing, maybe the devil, with an apple and a naked woman, presumably Eve.  Her young beau comes in and she starts talking to him like he's absolute garbage-- meanwhile she's committing an ultimate crime: smoking his last cigarette. He elects to run down to the store to grab a carton (chain-smokers?!) with the dog -- on his way he runs into a very clever Hayden.

She's hanging on the fence of the house as he walks by and strikes up on a conversation. Hayden suggests that the lady next door seems a little old for him and is a royal b*tch, he suggests they should run away together.

They have a grand old time -- Hayden gives him some advie on his relationship with Constance -- leave her alone for a bit and she'll miss ya, basically. He says he's in love, then asks her story, how she lives there -- Hayden confesses she doesn't yet, but she will soon be moving in -- her and Dr. Harmon are in love.

The next morning presumably, there's a ring at the doorbell. Ben goes to answer it -- apparently it's Hayden's sister and the missing person's police officer, that Ben creepily recognizes. Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Hm? Hm?

They start harassing him -- bringing up things like how Ben was digging around the time Hayden went missing on her master plan to move to LA and get him to take care of her and their baby. Ben's starting to sweat, when to his surprise, Hayden walks in and acts like the world is just peachy keen.

Cut to Hayden cleaning up after guests like a good wanna-be wife, when Ben walks in declaring she has ten seconds to give him some answers. Hayden plays apologetic -- saying she was a crazy hormonal pregnant bitch when she came here last. But she's always been there for him, and she had the abortion -- just so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Right. What an actress of a ghost!

Cut to the woman from the opening scene, obviously the Black Dahlia, in Ben's office, unexpectedly. He's insisting she needs an appointment, she sits on the couch and starts talking about a dream that she can't wake up from. Ben makes her an appointment for the next day, and she offers herself as payment -- Ben has a vision that he succumbs to her, but then snaps out of it when his phone rings. It's the OBGYN, she declares that she doesn't want to have to tell him and not Viv, but the twins have two different fathers.

WOW. Rubber Man and Ben?

Ok, I just needed to acknowledge that, as I guessed something crazy like that was coming, but what a twist. And what are the consequences of this? Is this evil baby of Tate's going to eat Ben's good baby or something? Creepy.

Now, I want to note that the during their little 'session' -- the woman tells Ben her name is Elizabeth Short -- doesn't that ring a bell to him with her appearnace and all?

Anyway, our next scene is with Moira and Constance -- Constance is convinced it was Violet that fooled around with her beau and dog-walker, Travis the other night, but Moira insists that Violet wouldn't do that. Afterall, she's 'in love' with Tate. Moira then spills the beans that Viv is pregnant with two different men's babies and declares Violet won't believe in love so more when she finds out the truth about that.

Constance rushes down to the basement, calling out to Tate -- who appears looking quite timid this time around. Constance asks if what's she's heard is true. I thought it was interesting that Constance says they finally have someone to help him - how does Constance think Ben's therapy is going to help Tate cross over? It's hard for me to believe that Tate doesn't come to grips with the fact that he's a ghost, how else does he think he gets away with the things that he does? Appearing in a flash, for instance.

Also, I thought that the house held all of the souls that died there, or are we not being told something? Why else would Constance have told Violet she needed her help in getting Tate to 'cross over'? It seems like Moira is pretty with it though and understands what the deal, why can't she cross over? Or Beau? Why is he just a tortured soul in the house? Maybe Hayden doesn't have it all figured it, because Constance seems hell-bent on this issue of freeing Tate.

Could be that it's not to free Tate of the house, but free Tate of his violence actually. Anyway, back to the recap.

Upstairs, Ben walks in on Miss Short and Moira getting kinky -- they ask if he wants to join, Ben is drawn to them, has a mini-fantasy about it and then demands they leave. Moira retorts, Ben fires her and walks out. The Black Dahlia starts crying and exclaims, "You told me this was what he wanted!" and that she needed the help. Hayden appears: "She's using you."

Hayden sits down to chat. She explains that her selfish dreams about coming famous will never come true. We see a softer side of Hayden, ask if she knows who she is -- Elizabeth Short. Hayden starts to explain that she is famous -- we cut back to 1947.

Dr. Curan is having some fun with a passed out, now dahlia-less girl. He takes the mask off her, to begin the dental procedure (way to pretend to be a good guy!) and realizes that she's unresponsive. He panics and brings her down to the basement and man startles him -- who just so happens to be none other than Charles Montgomery. He assures him he will take care of it and goes to work.

He ends up cutting the body in half, and draining it of blood for easy, traceless transporting. Apparently, he also thought her face looked so sad, so he gave her a creepy, creepy smile. Cut back to present day, Beth is saddened that she was found naked and dead. Hayden comforts her with the fact that she was on the covers of newspapers for 2 months. Beth realizes that she finally did become famous.

Next we join Ben on a visit to the insane asylum. We learn from a nurse that Viv had be restrained because she attacked one of the workers after he offered the theory that the rubber man rapist was a sexual fantasy. Ben walks in and Viv seems overly enthused. Not. She won't even look at him, when he goes off on this tyrade about how everything was a sham this whole time and she played him out worse than he did her. Blah Blah Blah. I thought it was a low blow how he started the monologue, "You're probably thinking 'Thank God' he's here to get me out of this terrible place -- it's like hell."

Speaking of their were a ton of Catholic references in this episode -- including Ben's reference to Viv being in hell here. As well as Constance's weird painting -- more on that in a separate post.

-- End Part 1 of the Recap, my fingers are tired! --

The Black Dahlia Murder

So we learned from the preview and various interviews with the cast and Ryan Murphy that this episode is going to feature a very special guest star -- Mena Suvari as Elizabeth Short. (Check out an article announcing this here.)

I thought it would be interesting to explore a bit of the back story of the Black Dahlia before tonight's episode, so here goes nothing. **Note: Credits are at the bottom, if you'd like to do further reading on the subject!**

Elizabeth Short
Short was born on July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park, MA to Phoebe and Cleo Short -- she spent most of her childhood in MA. In 1929, her father dissapeared -- many ruled it a suicide as his car was found abandoned at the foot of a bridge. Years later he sent a letter to his wife apologizing for dissapearing, but she refused to let him back into the family.

Apparently Beth matured quickly and enjoyed going to the movies with her mother growing up. It was there she decided she wanted to be an actress, so at 19, Beth moved to Vallejo, CA to live with her father -- who soon kicked her out for being lazy and staying out too late.

Beth moved closer to Santa Barbara, where she was eventually arrested for underage drinking -- the police urged her to return home to MA. Apparently, she had listened to them, but soon returned to CA to continue to pursue her dream of being in the movies.

Many have labeled her a tease, manipulative playgirl, but it is apparent that Elizabeth Short, was immortalized by the media as an American girl, with a dream to be in the movies, who came to Hollywood and became "the pin-up girl of Los Angeles Noir." (Source: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/dahlia/index_1.html)

Beth was last scene mid-January of 1947, it is said that she was to meet a gentlemen at the hotel but after leaving, she was never seen alive again. Her body was found, severed in the Crenshaw District on January 15, 1947.

The Murder
"On January 15, 1947, a passerby spotted her nude body in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Grass had reportedly been forced into her vagina, and she had reportedly been sodomized after death. Rumors of henna in her hair and BD carved into her body, as of yet to this outlet, have not been verified." (Source: http://www.bethshort.com/the-murder.php)

Apparently many came forward (a figure quoted around 50) to confess to the murder of Elizabeth Short, coined "The Black Dahlia" for her black hair and attire by the press, but none could be confirmed.

"So, what is it? Murders happen every day, everywhere. What makes Elizabeth Short any different?
First, she was a small town girl who reportedly wanted to make it in movies. Other peoples dreams are a huge factor in why we become interested in a case. She was considered, at times, a drifter. Couple that with her beauty -- yes, the appeal factor of both a female victim and suspect play a role. Then add the fact that she was severed in half, hacked, brutally murdered. The headlines were shocking, and the descriptiveness in the news stories even more so. Take note that the crime scene images published in 1947 were far more graphic than what we'd see in any city newspaper today.
Not to mention the hordes of people who admitted to the crime. More than 50 "confessing sams" attempted a claim to fame in this case." (Source: http://www.bethshort.com/the-murder.php)

NOTE: The girl who comes into the house, pretending to be a patient of Ben's explains that she keeps having a dream where she is cut in half by an elevator -- later that night during the Home Invasion -- she is essentially almost cut in half by Tate. The police later tell Ben/Viv that she was found a few blocks away, severed in half -- the police offer the explanation that maybe since the crew's re-enactment in the Murder House went awry, they decided to go Black Dahlia on one of their own. Also to note, in the murder of the Black Dahlia is noted everywhere that her body was drained of blood (Ice Truck Killer anyone?) -- we also know that the Infatata feeds off blood, relation?

Further Reading/Sources:
The Black Dahlia Website -- here.
The Black Dahlia story on TruTV's website -- here.
Wikipedia -- here.

Have to say that TruTV's breakdown of the Black Dahlia murders was the best I read -- I'm really interested to see how this plays out on tonight's episode. Think the references to cutting in half from earlier episodes will be interesting. Also I've read in various places that this episode shows a relationship between Moira and the Black Dahlia -- I wonder how that will play out.

What do you think about the draining of her body? Could this relate in anyway? Apparently from the article I linked to at the beginning of the post, it has been suggested that tonight's AHS episode will provide it's theory on this unsolved murdery mystery.

LINK: Interesting interview with Alexandra Breckenridge, Young Moira

This article written by Lesley Goldberg is a bit old -- posted after the third episode on The Hollywood Reporter.

Check it out here.

Interesting to read nonetheless, Young Moira gives us a little insight to why the ghosts are the house -- hinting that this will be explained later this season.

"There's a reason the spirits, including both versions of Moira, continue to haunt the joint. "Essentially if you pass away on the property and your body remains there, you're stuck in the house," Breckenridge offers. Adds Conroy: “The explanation of everyone and why they’re there is quite moving -- and why the house is revealing so much -- it’s a deep, deep story and you learn a lot.""

Can't wait to find out why the spirits can't leave the house!

Constance's Family Tree

Thought it would be interesting to break down what we know about the former Madame of the house and her relationships with the characters we have met thus far.

We learned in an early episode that Constance has four children -- she explained that three had down syndrome, but one was born okay, but she lost him to other things.

Tate -- Son, Ghost. We can assume that maybe he is the normal one lost to other things, but with this show, who knows! Tate is also the father of Viv's unborn twins and Violet's boyfriend. There has got to be a ton to this relationship that we haven't learned yet -- Tate references his mother as a ****sucker in the pilot episode and frequently mentions his mommy issues. Constance waves to him standing in a window of the house when she passes by in an earlier episode and she is ignored. In episode 7, Constance comes to find him after his session with Ben and Tate really gives her the cold shoulder, explaining they are really getting to the root of his problems -- his mother.

Beau -- Son, Ghost. Beau is the big kid we met in the attic in episode 8 who was killed by Larry the Fire Guy.

Addie -- Daughter, Passed on. Addie was in her mid-30's when she was hit by a car on Halloween. Constance seemed to torture Addie with the fact that she was ugly (cue the mirror filled closet!) and a handful, but yet seemed so tortured by her death. Constance alluded to some strange things during the Halloween episode when she finds Addie in the kitchen reading with her boytoy.

Viv -- Next door neighbor and feeder of all things raw. Gross.

Moira -- Her former housekeeper that she caught having relations with her husband and shot in the eye.

Ben -- Next door neighbor and mother of one his patients -- now we know that Ben actually had someone to call in the episode where he tells Tate he can no longer treat him!

Hugo -- Husband?, Ghost. Was this Constance's husband for sure? Didn't Tate say that his father left when he was young? Was Hugo not Tate's father?

Larry -- Previous lovers? Alive. Larry and Constance's relationship is an interesting one that we definitely are going to find out more about. It seems as though Larry was in love with Constance beginning in 1994, I'm assuming after Tate's massacre -- Constance was living next door and Larry fell in love with her and broke things off with his wife. After killing Beau, Constance's son, as she demanded. Larry's family is in a room filled with flames -- however, we haven't met their ghosts yet -- which suggests they may have not died in the house. Denis O'Hare alludes to this in an interview found here.

"I wanted to talk about the first basement scene where Larry tells Constance that he loves her, and she says to him, 'Look what you did to yourself, look at what the house did to you.' And then he responds, 'The house didn't do this to me, you did this to me.' So she seems a little disgusted, and he sort of seems to blame her for his physical condition. Can you share with us more details about what this is all about?

Denis O'Hare: All I'll tell you is all will be revealed in, I guess it's Episode 9. There's an explanation of that, and I would be irresponsible if I said anything more. I love their evolving relationship, and I love the information we get. There's some great stuff in Episode 9 that comes out. We call it nine, sorry, that would be your ten, I think. But there's some great information that comes out about Constance's' life with Larry and Larry's attempts to become part of the family, which are sad and disturbing."

Seems as though the upcoming episode is going to tell us alot about Constance -- what she knows about the powers of the house, which I think will be telling on how she may have used/abused it.