Thursday, November 24, 2016

SHADOW OF A DOUBT?: A "Sexed-Up" Nymphet [Teen] Falsely Accuses Teacher


Harrison Judd’s Shadow of a Doubt? is about Neil Morrison, a LA based respected banker, who was charged with the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl. The nymphet was described as a “[…] pretty little thing, with light brown hair, still babyish in texture.” The key witness in the trail was Hal Griffith, a high school chemistry teacher. 

Chapter one of the paperback opens with 55-year-old Mr. Griffith being seduced by “[...] that sexed-up little sixteen-year-old kid named Vivian Hamby”. However, after Mr. Griffith rebuffed Vivian’s advances she “pouted”, “I don’t think you approve of me, Mr. Griffith.” Mr. Griffith replied:
“You’re an attractive little girl with an idea [that] it be intriguing to get an older man to make a pass at you. You’re obviously not small in measurement […] Now get out of here before I write ‘flunk’ after your name and notify your parents of your asinine behavior.”
However, Mr. Griffith couldn’t get Vivian out of his mind. “He did wish he could stop thinking of that [“uplifted breasts”] jiggling bit of fluff named Vivian. Why did there always have to be one like her every semester?” But, “[..] [c]ertainly, he thought, there was no mortal sin in thinking about the girl.”

Morrison used his power and influence to get Vivian to testify that Mr. Griffith looked at her like no other man had looked at her and that he had touched her breast and thigh. But Vivian confessed that she falsely accused her chemistry teacher after the defense proved that she also lied on the stand about being a virgin.  (Six high students whom Vivian had had sex with were seated in the courtroom.)

And I could not have related the following quote from the paperback any better:
"Teaching is the most vulnerable profession in the world for criticism of morals. They don’t even have to be remotely true before a teacher’s life can be a genuine hell.”
The French film noir Le témoin (1978) is based on Judd’s Shadow of a Doubt?.

No comments:

Post a Comment