Very interesting thing just came up!

Reddit user OkDragonfly5820 found this May 12th, 1965 article in a Banning newspaper detailing a play called The Firebugs that Ross Sullivan had a speaking role in! Here is the clipping:

I got curious and looked in the Tiger Times to see if they covered it and *drum roll* success! It is covered by the school newspaper!

May 13th, 1965

Ross is listed as playing Sepp Schmitz, a main character and arsonist.

Note the director says he wants to do interesting things with the play and the writer of the article invites the audience to a “terrifying” experience. In fact, the director, Dyer, said “It’s the type of play that people with weak hearts should not attend or come only with their nurse.”

Move forward to the next Tiger Times May 20th, and, low and behold, Ross’s performance was the masterpiece of the play according to the writer! I’ll let you read it yourself:

Concerning the play itself – it’s very interesting material, friends. Here is a write up from the April 29th Tiger Times

Here is what I wrote on Reddit about the play after I read it.

“Ok so Firebugs is very very interesting. It’s basically about how people will turn a blind eye in the name of charitableness to let bad things happen and ends with a crazy scene in hell with the protagonists speaking to different devils. It would be very easy to see Ross in the role of one of the two imposing arsonists. This is one excerpt from the beginning:

‘It is unworthy of God, unworthy of man, to call a stupidity Fate Simply because it happened. The man who acts so No longer deserves the name, No longer deserves God’s earth, Inexhaustible, fruitful and kind, Nor the air that he breathes, Nor the sun. Bestow not the name of Fate Upon man’s mistakes …’

From ‘The Confession Letter’:

‘Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb.’

EDIT: It’s also possible Ross specifically played Beelzebub or The Figure (some kind of devil) which is really eye catching. The Beelzebub speech at the end is flat out eerie: ‘My childhood faith! My childhood faith! What are they making of my childhood faith! I, the son of a charcoal burner and a gypsy woman, who couldn’t read but knew the Ten Commandments off my heart, I’m possessed by the Devil. Why? Simply because I scorned all commandments. Go to hell, Joe, you’re possessed by the Devil. I stole whatever took my fancy … And they feared me in every village, for I was stronger than all of them, because I was possessed by the Devil … ‘

Confession Letter

‘I am not sick. I am insane …’

EDIT 5/11/21 – After revisiting the play, it’s pretty clear that if the final act is actually performed, Schmitz is definitely in the Beelzebub role.

ALSO OF NOTE ABOUT THE PLOT: There is an after section of the play. In fact, the revised title reads something like “Biedermann goes to hell”.

I’m not entirely sure that the last section was always performed (the articles above imply that it was in some ways but don’t come right out and say it) but essentially the lead, Biedermann, wakes up in hell with his wife. In the end, the two arsonists come back as devils. It’s clear that the actors of the arsonists are to transition to the devil roles in the end section. The play takes a pretty big step away from dark comedy to just dark.

The gist of the devil’s conversation is dissatisfaction that hell is only filled with petty sinners while the big, powerful people who are doing terrible things to the world are making it much more of a true hell than the hell they run. The big shots go unpunished for it and seem to be absolved by heaven. The devils want to go on strike and go to earth where the true fun is at, which they do.

I don’t want to force a “slaves in paradise” kind of thing into this, and the Little List letter isn’t exactly apples to apples to it, but the gist isn’t too far away from the list of small offence people who are collected in hell in this section. Below is a screen shot of the “list” portion.

“Once again, nothing but teenagers.”

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Below is a smattering of text from the play just to give a feel for the language used in it.

The next 3 are a continuous section of the devils speaking. Pretty eerie if you ask me.

“… the fine people who never come to hell, I’m burning to serve them afresh! … Once again sparks and crackling flames, sirens that are always too late, the barking of dogs and smoke and human cries – and ashes!”

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While the content of the black humor play is rather interesting, the bigger take away is that Ross had familiarity with another building that was very close to where Cheri Jo Bates was killed.

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Edit 5/17/21

Here are a few more thoughts after having reflected on it for a few days:

1. The role of Sepp Schmitz and how it might relate to Zodiac.

Schmitz is a villainous character with an outwardly pleasant demeanor. He uses his charisma and the etiquette of his society to realize the violence he internally wants to unleash. From the writing of this character, it doesn’t come across that Schmitz hates the people he is harming. Schmitz simply wants to see the world burn. It gives him pleasure. This has some eerie parallels to the Zodiac killer, to my mind. Toying with the conventions of society through letter writing. Impersonal killing simply for the thrill it gives him. Playing “the game” and doing his “thing”.

The reviewer described the role in conjunction with the other arsonist as “comedy mixed with the fear (they) instilled”. It can certainly be convincingly asserted that Zodiac attempts to take a joking tone in his letters at times.

It doesn’t come off to me as a stretch to say that Zodiac might very well have had a Sepp Schmitz type of persona.

2. What this tells us about Ross Sullivan.

First, it shows Ross had more intimate familiarity with the CJB crime scene that we previously knew, and we already knew he likely had a lot. The Little Theater was next to the library annexes. CJB was killed about 10 feet from the corner of the Harvard annex, which puts her very close to Little Theater. The college papers and magazines (Tiger Times and Nighttimes) report and lament on the parking difficulties at the college, especially at night. There was quite a bit of construction throughout that time period. Anyone driving into the college would likely have to have up to date information about parking, traffic, and weekend student population to not only potentially park down that alley but, especially, to tamper with CJB’s car. The car tampering tells us a lot because it was a risky gambit. The killer HAD to know which was her car. He HAD to know her location during that entire evening, remarkable because that is something that no one else can seem to figure out with certainty in the investigation, and he HAD to know that she would stay well after library hours, or otherwise she would just walk to the library and bang on the door or go inside with someone letting her in to use a phone. He HAD to know he wouldn’t likely be interrupted in that alley. He HAD to know she would ask specifically him to help her with the car. If he parked in that alley, he HAD to know it was an option to park there. Tampering with the car was super risky because if he’s not the first one to get to her, whoever does will see the distributer wire was pulled and get very suspicious about what happened. It’s hard to imagine someone not familiar with the campus would have chosen this gambit. Ross being a part of the production ties him to intimate familiarity with several buildings in that alley CJB died. Where there’s smoke … ?

Next, we learn that Ross was not only smart enough to memorize a whole lot of lines and cues for those lines, he was able to artfully, theatrically execute those lines. His intelligence and artistry are solidified.

Generally people audition for specific roles in this kind of production but even if not it tells us something. Ross either wanted this role, the role of a monster disguised under pleasant protocol, smiles, and charm, who portrays a devil in the end, or the director saw this in him and thought he was right for it. Either tells us something about Ross. Several other productions happened around this one at RCC and it’s notable that none of them list Ross as a performer for them, even though he drew rave reviews here. This was the part for him.

The reviewer including Ross’s performance choice of a “low, wicked rumble delight” when the flame was lit has Ross portraying a villain who destroys simply because he enjoys it. She also calls the portrayal “crude, slovenly” which has some parallels to Hartnell saying his attacked was “sloppily dressed”.

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None of these things are smoking guns but they are very interesting and give us some insight into Ross. That insight, in my opinion, draws him closer towards a Zodiac persona, not farther away.

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