by Mark Shaw
On many programs, Richard and Dorothy described their exciting nightlife adventures at celebrity hangouts. These included the Copacabana, P. J. Clarke’s, and the Stork Club. At the latter, a large photograph of Kilgallen, queen of the fast-paced New York City newspaper scene as well as a heavyweight media star, hung near the entrance.
The radio program was a huge hit even while Kilgallen was receiving hate mail. Those who wrote felt that because of her right-leaning politics she was too strong of an advocate in her “Voice of Broadway” columns. Kilgallen reacted to the critics by increasing the volume of her attacks on anyone she felt deserving of a good verbal spanking.
9 Entertainer Bobby Short said of Kilgallen’s influence, “She was tremendously powerful. People would kill to be in her column.”
10 Journal-American columnist Maury Henry Biddle Paul’s connotation of the term “Café Society” was intended to describe New Yorkers who frequented tony night clubs and expensive restaurants.
CHAPTER 4
Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick” was front-page news in Broadcasting: The Weekly News magazine.
Beside a photograph of the cozy couple was the copy: “Kilgallen and Kollmar: They are headed for star heights as WOR’s Man and Wife Team in Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick.” Under the photograph were the words: “Even Radio’s magic can only create them only infrequently, a hit man and wife team is a station’s and sponsor’s dream…. It stars two people who make news on an intimate ad-libbed-from-home that makes sales.”
The cover story, paid for by WOR radio, insisted that the program had an audience of “300,000 home listeners” and “approximately 1,000,000 employed women.” The reason: “Dorothy and Dick are wise in the audience-attracting gimmicks of the radio, newspaper and theatre world.”
Extensive coverage of the New York City theatre scene in mid-1946 led to the designation of Kilgallen by Variety as “The First Lady of Broadway.” Never one to rest on laurels, she hosted a second radio program called “Dorothy Kilgallen’s Diary.” On the short-lived show, she interviewed Broadway stars.
During the three years that followed, Kilgallen’s star continued to shine. She had become a household word. When New Yorkers said, “Dorothy,” people knew whom they meant. “Dorothy and Dick” became a daily regimen during the morning hours. In the afternoon, the “Voice of Broadway” column was a must read.
Meanwhile, Richard made his movie debut in the 1948 film Close Up starring Alan Baxter and Virginia Gilmore. He played a ruffian in the thriller about a newsreel photographer caught in a web of intrigue when he unwittingly photographs a Nazi fugitive in New York City.
In 1949, Kilgallen, now 36, appeared on the syndicated television show, Leave it to the Girls, akin to today’s popular ABC television program, “The View.” Along with five career-minded women, Kilgallen bantered about female challenges in a man’s world. They delved into such touchy subjects as love, relationships, and business. Each connected to “the battle of the sexes.” Viewers were impressed with Dorothy’s drive toward winning, her need to succeed in every aspect of her life. Some viewed her demeanor and the tone of her newspaper columns as “bitchy.” Nevertheless, her popularity rose through the program exposure.
A year later, the national spotlight shone even brighter on Kilgallen. She became a panelist along with actress Arlene Francis, Random House co-founder Bennett Cerf, and a rotating guest panelist on the CBS television game show What’s My Line? 11 Each week, the panelists questioned contestants in order to determine their occupations.
Former radio personality John Charles Daly moderated as program host. A seven-story theatre on West 54th Street became the production site. Years later, it was the infamous Studio 54.
What’s My Line? stars: Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and moderator John Charles Daly.
The program’s openings varied from time to time. One show began with a series of question marks on the screen. The announcer then proclaimed, “Time now for everybody’s favorite guessing game, What’s My Line? ” At this point, one of the panelists appeared. Then he or she would introduce fellow panelists with a cute quip before Daly made his appearance.
The Emmy-Award winning program featuring Kilgallen aired on CBS for the next 15 years. At its height of popularity, the show had a weekly audience of 25 million people. The women wore fancy gowns, expensive jewelry, and gloves on occasion. The men dressed in dark suits and bow ties. When a celebrity appeared trying to stump the panel, each panelist wore a blindfold to keep from indentifying the celebrity. They included Gloria Swanson, Lucille Ball, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Bob Hope, Donald Duck, Walt Disney, John Wayne, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few. Many of the programs are available on YouTube. One, featuring comedian Groucho Marks, has hundreds of thousands of hits.12
On the show, Kilgallen often wore a lavish string of pearls to accentuate an expensive dress, one in tune with the latest 5th Avenue boutiques. Her hair was always perfectly coiffed. Most times, her personal hairdresser Marc Sinclaire handled the chore.
Kilgallen’s nails were brightly polished. Her make-up was just the right skin tone. It provided a steady glow to her facial features. “What’s My Line?” she said later, “is almost like a license to steal. I love to play games and its all fun. I get to the studio about 9:30 [p.m.] for make-up because my skin is so light they have to put on a darker base and draw some eyebrows or something and I have to use darker lipstick. We all take it seriously though Bennett has his puns and Arlene is very witty and has the personality that goes with it.”
As the series continued to terrific reviews, Kilgallen stood out since she was the tough questioner (some said she played “bad cop” to Arlene Francis’ “good cop”). She played to win. Viewers recognized her as the panel member with the sharp tongue. Fans across the country, especially women, adored her. They admired Kilgallen’s willingness to challenge male panel members and John Charles Daly. Comedian Steve Allen, who often appeared as a guest panelist, said of her, “Dorothy’s job on the panel was to ask impertinent questions. She probably guessed more people’s jobs than anyone else.” Friend and CBS producer Marlon Swing, who knew of Kilgallen’s prowess at charades, recalled, “Dorothy played to win but she was also a little girl playing games.” A New York Post Daily Magazine article stated, “She played the game like a relentless prosecutor.”
With Kilgallen’s popularity rising by the day, her influence increased and she became more involved in social issues. In July 1950, the right-wing journal Counterattack published an anti-Communist book, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. The pamphlet-style book named 151 actors, writers, musicians, broadcast journalists, and others of note. They were listed in the context of purported Communist manipulation of the entertainment industry. Among them were Edward G. Robinson, Burgess Meredith, Lillian Hellman, Orson Welles, and Pete Seeger.
In her “Voice of Broadway” column, Kilgallen denounced the blacklist. She wrote the allegations were not predicated on “evidence of Communist sympathies” but instead “rumor and innuendo.” At the same time, while defending the masses, she displayed her equal opportunity bashing skills. She criticized those with Communist leanings who keep saying they did not favor the party.
One column Kilgallen wrote alleged that Radio Free Europe was not “free” but instead influenced by subversive groups. This column triggered the CIA’s interest in her. A subsequent dossier documented Kilgallen’s less-than-cooperative attitude when contacted by CIA agents in search of a source for her column entry. She flatly refused.
During Kilgallen’s meteoric rise to true stardom, husband Richard developed a roving eye with the ladies. This and his reluctance to hit the Broadway social scene caused Dorothy Kilgallen to seek “friend” escorts for her nights on the town. Regardless, the epitome of the modern day woman balanced three professional careers with motherhood when
few, if any, professional women were doing so, spending as much time with her children as possible. Without question, Kilgallen, armed with a burning desire to succeed, had cracked the so-called “glass ceiling” before the term was even fashionable by overcoming any, and all, career obstacles a woman faced on a daily basis.
One escort she enjoyed was WML? producer Bob Bach, one of the originators of the program. He assisted with finding contestants and “mystery guests.” All were celebrities attempting to stump the panel. Bach, raised in high-society Westchester and a schoolmate of Joseph, Jr. and John Kennedy, became a steady “date” for Kilgallen. Within a short time, Bach and his wife joined Dorothy and Richard on a trip to Paris.
Soon after, Kilgallen sought additional male companionship besides Bob Bach. She noted that on Christmas, 1951, singer Johnnie Ray burst on the national scene. His songs “Cry” and “The Little White Cloud that Cried” were smash hits. The double-sided record was the first one in history to occupy the top two spots on the Billboard charts. Only Gene Autrey’s “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” rivaled Ray’s success.
With a continuing eye toward the entertainment world as January 1952 dawned, Kilgallen noted that “Please Mr. Sun” became another of Johnnie Ray’s hit records.13 She reacted to her appreciation for his music by mentioning the crooner in her “Voice of Broadway” column writing, “A simply awful thing had happened to me. How am I going to say it? Goodness, it’s too frightful really. (Steel yourself, girl. Get it off your bodice once and for all.) All right. Here it is. I’ve come to just love Johnnie Ray’s record of ‘Please Mr. Sun.’ Now will anybody ever speak to me again?” Ray and his manager were thrilled at the endorsement. Any mention in Kilgallen’s column was a home run for a celebrity.
While enjoying her continued visibility at NYC hot spots, Kilgallen decided to check Ray’s performance herself. In April 1952, Ray appeared at the high-society Copacabana along with the “Famous Copa Girls.” The billing also featured ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson, famous for his Nestlé chocolate commercials featuring Farfel the dog. Along with Kilgallen, celebrities who flocked to the Copa included Frank Sinatra, mobster Frank Costello, allegedly the Copa’s true owner through a front man, and J. Edgar Hoover.
A month later, Johnnie Ray made another appearance at the Copa. Kilgallen joined an SRO crowd including Tony Bennett, Ed Sullivan, Yul Brynner, Marlene Dietrich, and Ava Gardner, the new Mrs. Frank Sinatra. When Ray performed “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home,” Kilgallen cheered. In her column the next day, she described Ray as “Endsville. He held the town’s toughest audience spellbound (or maybe it was paralyzed with astonishment).”
As September 1953 dawned, Kilgallen, continuing to keep abreast of world events while soaking up the NYC nightclub scene, noted the marriage of John Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier and attended Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Wearing a tiara, Kilgallen looked stunning in a silver gown with 10,000 embroidered jewels and pearls encrusted at the scalloped neckline. A white mink cape lined with silver lamé completed an outfit truly fit for a queen. Kilgallen’s coverage of the coronation earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
11 According to producer Gil Fates, What’s My Line? “evolved from an idea from a program called Stop the Camera…the brainchild of Bob Bach with an assist from Martin Stone, the developer of TV’s Howdy Doody.”
12 Through the efforts of W. Gary Wetstein and the “What’s My Line? Facebook Club,” episodes of the program are featured on a WML Channel. Wetstein and his colleagues have also been responsible for preserving “lost” episodes of the show. A “Dorothy Kilgallen Facebook Page” also exists as a tribute to her.
13 “Please Mr. Sun,” “Cry,” and “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home,” Ray’s biggest hits, led to descriptions of his having what was called a “lachrymose, ranting style.” This inspired several nicknames, among them “Prince of Wails,” “Nabob of Sob,” and “The Atomic Ray.”
CHAPTER 5
Despite her own roving eye, one pointed in the direction of Johnny Ray, on March 19, 1954, Dorothy Kilgallen birthed her third child, Kerry Ardan Kollmar. The couple named him after a county seat in Ireland. In a column intended to tribute motherhood, she wrote:
It is sad to think that any woman should regard pregnancy as a dreary interlude rather than a heightening of the adventure of life, because an expectant mother ought to be a happy egotist. She is doing something only she can do…the burden of the miracle is on her. She is a dramatic figure, honored, privileged, blessed…
Two days later, Jill and Dickie appeared on What’s My Line? Kilgallen was absent. Panel members guessed the children’s identity when one of the questions dealt with Kerry’s birth.
That same year, with her “Voice on Broadway” column read by millions, Kilgallen was unwilling to restrict her notoriety to her society column and What’s My Line? appearances. Instead, she continued to write front-page stories featuring her favorite subjects, crime and criminal trials.
The headline-making case Kilgallen tackled involved the Cleveland murder trial of Dr. Sam Sheppard, on trial for killing his wife. He swore he was innocent and that a “bushy-haired man” intruder struck Mrs. Sheppard with a sharp metal object 27 times.
Prior to jury instructions, the judge asked to meet Kilgallen privately. They posed for photos while chatting. Later, Bob Considine, writing for the Hearst Syndicate, described Kilgallen’s star power:
Dorothy’s daily arrivals at the little courtroom in Cleveland where Sam Sheppard was on trial were not unlike the arrival at home plate of Mickey Mantle with the bases filled. All the girl wanted was to get on with the story, do her job, but the jury, judge, defense attorney, prosecution and warring families of the accused murderer and the deceased all seemed straining to get her autograph.
Dorothy Kilgallen at the Sam Sheppard Trial, 1954.
Kilgallen’s articles in the Journal-American were incisive as she honed her skills as a true investigative reporter. Listening to the evidence during the nine-week trial, she had doubts about Sheppard’s guilt. When the jury voted for conviction, the newspaper headline read, “Dorothy Kilgallen on Sheppard Trial, ASTOUNDED BY VERDICT SEES REVERSAL POSSIBLE.”
The accompanying story read:
The prosecutors for the State of Ohio did not prove [Sheppard] was guilty any more than they proved there were pin-headed men on Mars…. I have covered a score and more of murder trials. This was the first time I have ever seen what I believed to be miscarriage of justice in a murder case. It is the first time I have ever been scared by the jury system and I mean scared.
Having blasted the Sheppard verdict, Kilgallen returned to the entertainment world. Sweet on Johnnie Ray despite his being married, Kilgallen appeared puzzled by the star singer’s mindset. She wrote in her Spring 1955 column:
Johnnie Ray must be one of the most confused fellows in all Hollywood. During a recent singing engagement there, he spent most of his time in his bungalow at the Garden of Allah crying his eyes out and being just downright miserable…. He finally admitted he hatednightclub work and wanted only to sing at teenage benefits because it gave him a chance to be with kids his own age. Teenagers, his own age?
Meanwhile, Kilgallen’s star status earned her an appearance on television’s most popular interview show, Person to Person with Edward R. Murrow. To indicate the prestige Kilgallen enjoyed, guests on other programs had included then-Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline as well as Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, and Marilyn Monroe. Fidel Castro, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sammy Davis, Jr. also made appearances.
The interview, aired January 20, 1956, took place at the couple’s 22-room Neo-Georgian townhouse. Dorothy wore a low-cut, glittering dress complete with flashy large, rounded earrings. She and Richard showed the viewing audience around the home as Murrow, obviously a Kilgallen admirer, questioned her. He asked which of the circle of careers, television, radio an
d print, Kilgallen enjoyed the most. She chose the latter, telling Murrow, “I would have to settle for my first love, my true love, the newspaper business.”
Highlights of the program, (available at TheReporterWhoKnewTooMuch.com), aired in black and white, included showing the audience the Gone With the Wind-themed drawing room. It featured pale lavender walls and white bridal satin curtains. Above the fireplace was a large portrait of Dorothy.
The Victorian-themed dining room and the “Black Room,” one floor up, were also showcased. In the latter, the walls and ceiling were black with white draperies and a large Kelly green rug providing contrast. The “Americana” room was a true conversation piece. It featured Civil War relics including a Battle of Princeton painting, a lady cigar store Indian, and a lavish collection of eagles (17 in all) on walls, a lamp, and a drum table. There was also a collection of antique penny piggy banks (a trick dog, Punch and Judy, and a clown). They were on the mantle above another fireplace. Making appearances were Jill, age 12 and Kerry, 22 months.
To Murrow and the outside world, the family appeared happy and carefree. Unfortunately, unrest smoldered beneath the surface. Despite boasting about his Broadway exploits, Richard was experiencing a downturn driving him to drink excessively. Kilgallen, at the peak of popularity, enjoyed her celebrity status and sought companionship with men other than her husband. The two were married but there was little romance in the relationship as they drifted apart.