for a shorter period, and encountered no resistance in making the arrest,” said a story in the Los Angeles Times. “Lights were burning in the living room of the house at 8443 Ridpath Drive when the raiding party arrived. The house, a well-appointed home with a built-in bar, is ideally suited to be a ‘reefer resort,’ Inspector William Craig said. It is perched on a hillside, with no near neighbours, and well-screened by shrubbery.
The 31-year-old Mitchum was separated from his wife at the time of the arrest, but she came back to Los Angeles with their two kids to stand by his side. Leeds was engaged to Lana Turner’s ex, Stephen Crane, but he fled to Europe to avoid the scandal. “Now it’s a well-known fact Hollywood people are jaded. They’ve tried everything. The only way they can get any stimulation is to indulge in ‘reefers.’ It’s the only way they have left to get any thrill out of romance.”
On Sept. 28, Mitchum’s lawyer, “the famed Jerry Giesler,” tried to get the indictment dropped because its language was “indefinite, uncertain and unintelligible.” The judge was amused, but denied his request, and the case went to trial in January 1949. He kept his sense of humour is the big house, telling reporters his fellow prisoners had voted him “Mr. Cement Block of 1949.” He was released after 50 days for good behaviour, and his studio, RKO, put him right back to work.