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Episode 5 is now posted online. See video at this link and fast foward to the 29:00 minute mark:==> https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6bm9e7

Interview with Roger Pierson, Lamplighters Musical Theater, Orpheum Theater

Pierson was a Lamplighter performer from 1968-2002

* Pierson claims The Mikado was showing in 1969, including the night of Paul Stine's murder.
* Main character of The Mikado is The Executioner.
* Zodiac quotes The Mikado in letter.
* Pierson: "We as performers always had a meet and greet. And so we'd get to see the people that'd come to the show again. You'd get to know them by name and recognize them. In fact, afterwards when we were like through with the meet and greet and we were taking off our costumes, someone said: "Did you see that weirdo?" We had this one guy that would come, and he would have a different costume on each time. His favorite costume seemed to be leather. It kind of gave the girls the willies. I remember he was a big guy, probably over six foot, well built...stocky I would say."
*Sal: "But someone who does fit that description perfectly is our other suspect, Ross Sullivan."

marienbad wrote:

solvethemystery wrote:

Tahoe27 wrote:Some guy remembered a guy who looked like Ross from a 1969 Mikado performance?

I know it sounds lightweight. But basically the employee interviewed in the History Channel series claims he was an employee of the theater way back in 1969. The theater was within an approx 3 mile radius of the Stine murder. He said he remembers The Mikado was running during the 1969 Z murders in the San Fran Theater District. And he remembers that there was a "meet and greet" with the audience that used to occur after the shows. And one guy made an impression among the cast for attending multiple performances and wearing odd leather costumes. Supposedly he may have resembled known descriptions of Ross. I don't recall the exact language in the interview but one gets the impression the guy stood out like a sore thumb and he gave The Mikado cast the creeps. We should be skeptical, but I suppose History Channel will show more interview footage with the guy in Season 2.

Yeah, but a few minutes before (or after) that they were all excited because Kane lived 3 miles from the murder scene. And as for the guy remembering stuff from performances in 1969 - wtf? Seriously? And yeah, they could have shown him pics of the two suspects. I did wonder if they had other evidence of this weird guy going to the performances dressed in leather, and just got him to say it as it made (in their opinion) good TV.

The guy dressed in leather probably came from The Blue Oyster Bar in the Castro district.

As for season two it all depends how they did with the ratings of season one.

Quicktrader wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbt-sx5MDc

Funny! But Pierson says the tall stocky guy gave the girls the willies. Given this is San Francisco were talking about (and the Theater District), I don't imagine they would have gotten the willies from seeing gay dudes in biker gear. That was probably a common sight. Joking aside, the guy in the audience who attended multiple The Mikado shows and "meet and greets" creeped out the cast. Of course this is anecdotal evidence only based on a someone's recollection. But it does stand to reason if Zodiac lived in San Fran area and was fascinated with "The Executioner" in The Mikado he may have gone to see the production multiple times. I don't think Pierson's recollection should be ridiculed and dismissed out of hand.

Additionally, we know that Zodiac fashioned an Executioner's costume for the Lake Berryessa slay. Hartnell observed that the Zodiac symbol had been affixed to The Executioner's hood with great care.

solvethemystery wrote:

Quicktrader wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbt-sx5MDc

Funny! But Pierson says the tall stocky guy gave the girls the willies. Given this is San Francisco were talking about (and the Theater District) I don't imagine they would have gotten the willies from seeing gay dudes in biker gear. Joking aside, the guy in the audience who attended multiple shows and "meet and greets" creeped out the cast. Of course this is anecdotal evidence only based on a someone's recollection. But it does stand to reason if Zodiac lived in San Fran area and was fascinated with The Mikado he may have gone to see the production multiple times. I don't think this guy's recollection should be ridiculed and dismissed out of hand.

The show didn't play in the Theater District. It was over at the theater by USF. *Closer to Tim Sullivan's place.

Info about this is deep in one of the Ross threads. I also recall the yellow book claiming that a rehearsal happened on 10/11/69.

Don't know who is correct. It is worth looking into.

*The Presentation theater, where The Mikado played in 1969. (Yellow Book pg 156)

Should be easy enough to pin down if someone has access to research old San Fran publications online. Print ads, reviews etc in old publications would list the location and dates of The Lamplighters performance of The Mikado.

Thing is though, Zodiac was quoting the Groucho version of the Mikado...word for word. --Minus his obvious mispronunciation of some of the words. We discussed this quite a bit during the documentary interview, but they were concerned about licensing.

Chances are he was a loner sitting at home in his basement listening to the LP. Not that that would rule out Ross.

Be it Ross or not, I don’t see why it seems unreasonable that he wouldn’t remember a well built, stocky guy over 6 feet tall that came to multiple shows in costumes who freaked everyone out. That seems like something you’d remember for the rest of your life, especially given they were in SF during the Zodiac’s reign and he quoted that same play in his letters. His face would be burned into my memory honestly. When I was a kid, a guy we called Cookie Monster that lived down our street killed the old man he lived with. I’ll never forget every last detail of him quickly walking by us with a bag full of crap. I would imagine his memories are about the same.

Is there going to be a second season of the show on the History Channel?