A Family Tragedy that Made Headlines
A Family Tragedy Became National News
On December 6th, 1959, Harold Perelson bludgeoned his wife, Lillian, to death with a hammer, attacked his daughter, then took a fatal dose of pills.
The story was printed nationwide in over a hundred different newspapers. The tragedy of a wealthy doctor living in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills going crazy and committing such a crime, was too interesting for the papers not to print.
But Who Were the Perelsons, Really?
Harold Perelson, the child of immigrants, wanted the American Dream, and at any cost.
Court documents show that when the Perelsons purchased their dream mansion on Glendower place in 1956, it wasn’t exactly an expense they could afford. Harold was consumed with debt, a fact that was not immediately apparent from his lavish lifestyle. From the brand new car he bought his daughter, Judy, to the medical practice he had opened that was not turning a profit, Harold was way in over his head.