The coliseum games of ancient Rome had nothing on the “Hollywood Games” of 1925.
Here the contestants were American boys—hard-luck World War vets and lost cowboys who had reached the end of the range and just kept coming.
Each was as willing as any Roman gladiator to put his life on the line if there was money in it. And out in Culver City that foggy October morning, there was big money in it.
All of Hollywood had turned out to see the filming of the spectacular “Ben-Hur” chariot race. To guarantee excitement, production chiefs agreed to run the race for real.
Now the glamorous film stars up in the stands pick their favorites. The invited Los Angeles elites place their bets.
And suddenly the games are on!
But down on the track the stakes are life-or-death. A brutal competition from the dawn of time is about to be played out again. It will be burned forever into the memory of those present as the day of “The Ben-Hur Murders”
