by Mark Shaw
While Richard wallowed in self-pity, Kilgallen once again displayed her star status. She covered the fairytale wedding of big screen goddess Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco. Meanwhile, What’s My Line? continued to be a television spectacle. One critic applauded Kilgallen’s “prosecutorial” skills.
When Johnnie Ray appeared on What’s My Line? Kilgallen was upset when she could not guess his mystery identity. Regardless, backstage the two chatted for better than an hour. In an article describing Kilgallen, a New York Post Daily Magazine reporter wrote:
Kilgallen is an attractive woman with a delicate, moon-pale complexion, dark brunette hair, a knock-out hourglass figure and no inconsiderable bustline…she [is] a scrupulously coiffed model of respectable high fashion style, her deportment and appearance bespoke of 400’s traditional veil-and-white sensibility with an added twist of enviably tasteful, up-to-date chic. She exudes class, grace and noble distinction. Dorothy is, viewed from the proper angle, quite a dish.
Apparently, Johnnie Ray agreed with the depiction, especially the “dish” part. Like other men pursuing Kilgallen, he must have been infatuated with her power. She was not a beautiful woman, not truly photogenic, but the power she wielded provided the aphrodisiac necessary for romance.
Surprising the famed columnist, Ray appeared at daughter Jill’s 14th birthday on July 16, 1957. To friends, Kilgallen said she was “impressed as hell” by the singer. To that end, Kilgallen invited him to escort her to the premiere of An Affair to Remember. The tearjerker starred Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Those that applauded the celebrity couple outside the theater didn’t know that the spark between Ray, a known bi-sexual, and Kilgallen, had ignited a torrid love affair that had been ongoing for some time. Johnny Whiteside, Ray’s biographer,14 wrote: “They found themselves in bed—a cascade of violent release and deep passion….”
Dorothy Kilgallen and Johnnie Ray photo with unidentified friend. Their love affair was the talk of New York City Society.
While Kilgallen enjoyed the budding romance, her “Voice of Broadway” column not only dealt with theatre and society news but the national political scene. She wrote, “Top ranking Republicans confidently talk of Thomas E. Dewey as our next Secretary of State succeeding John Foster Dulles when he is later appointed to the Supreme Court.” In another column, she pulled in the entertainment readers by writing, “Now that Hollywood has adjusted itself to such streamlined types as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, a whole new treasure trove of potential star material had developed: the fashion world.”
Meanwhile, What’s My Line? greeted millions of television viewers across America every Sunday night. On November 18, 1956, the mystery guest was Kilgallen’s father, Jim. He stumped the panel, which included Life of Riley television star William Bendix. At the last minute, Kilgallen finally guessed her father’s identity.
Interaction with guests, including her father, on the program symbolized another enviable Kilgallen character trait: a terrific sense of humor. She was lively, she laughed, she poked fun at others, and she enjoyed life to the fullest despite marriage turmoil.
The celebrity status of her What’s My Line? appearances stretched to her being covered when she covered an important event. Always assigned to the headline-making stories, Kilgallen wrote about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip’s 1957 visit to the United States. Her Journal-American colleague Bill Slocum described the scene: “Everywhere we went the crowds oohed about the Queen, aahed about the Prince and screamed ‘Hiya Dorothy’ when they saw Miss Kilgallen. Dorothy was only a little less regal than the royal pair, better dressed than any of her colleagues, or the Queen, and writing the best copy being filed on the trip.” The New York Post agreed with the “Dorothy look,” describing her as “tall, slim, unwrinkled, unruffled, fresh-faced, and dressed in a brown suit with a chinchilla beret” while reporting on the queen’s visit.
Without doubt, Kilgallen had become as big a celebrity as those she covered. Millions of fans admired her accomplishments. She was a true Renassaance woman in every sense of the word.
14 Jonny Whiteside is a noted entertainment writer with award-winning publications continuing to this day including articles in LA Weekly. Cry was originally intended to be Johnnie Ray’s autobiography. The two worked on the book before Ray’s death in 1990. Whiteside had access to Ray’s diaries as well as family members and friends.
CHAPTER 6
In late 1956, Dorothy Kilgallen made a deadly enemy when she began to carry on a public feud with Kennedy family friend and Mafia-connected singer Frank Sinatra. He was inflamed after she wrote a Journal-American series titled “The Real Frank Sinatra Story.”
In her articles, Kilgallen detailed Sinatra’s various romances with, among others, Gloria Vanderbilt, Kim Novak, Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. She added:
A few of the women, like Ava and Lana, were public idols themselves and priceless examples of feminine beauty. Many more, of course, have been fluffy little struggling dolls of show business, pretty and small-waisted and similar under the standard layer of peach-colored Pan-Cake makeup. [They are] starlets who never got past first base in Hollywood, assorted models and vocalists, and chorus girls now lost in the ghosts of floor shows past. Others belonged to the classification most gently described as tawdry.
In turn, Sinatra derided Kilgallen’s “chinless” appearance. She responded by writing about his Mafia connections. This included associating him with Chicago gangster Sam Giancana and L.A. crime boss Mickey Cohen. One evening, Sinatra walked by her at the Stork Club. Noticing that she was wearing sunglasses, he dropped a dollar bill in her coffee cup. Then he said to a friend, “I always figured she was blind.”
Sinatra’s antics irritated Kilgallen but she disregarded them to celebrate Richard’s 46th birthday hosted at New York City’s Plaza Hotel. Kilgallen surprised guests by accepting an invitation to dance with entertainer Bobby Short, an African-American cabaret singer and pianist best known for his interpretations of songs by popular composers of the first half of the 20th century.
Onlookers who objected to any interaction between the races were thunderstruck by Kilgallen’s audacity. She did not care. Bobby Short was a friend; she was ready to break down barriers; skin color made no difference to her.
During this time, Kilgallen was truly a household favorite. Various commercial opportunities abounded, and she took advantage of them. One involved print ads pitching her as enjoying flights on a particular type of airplane. The ad copy, next to a beaming photograph, read, “For business or pleasure, I fly DC-6.”
Kilgallen’s star power stretched to family members. Even though he did not bear the magic Kilgallen name, oldest son Richard hit the ad scene as well. Double Bubble bubblegum hired him to pitch its product to the younger set.
Despite Richard’s financial downturn, Kilgallen’s earnings from the commercials, What’s My Line?, the “Voice of Broadway” column, the “Dick and Dorothy” radio program, and other endeavors permitted the family to live well. Home was the lavish five-story townhouse located on the upper east side of Manhattan featured on CBS’s “Person to Person.” It featured an Otis elevator and front and rear staircases. There was a reception area on the ground floor next to a large powder room and a small mailroom. The bottom flight of the main stairwell was nearby. Gazing straight up permitted the view of a roof top skylight.
During the Christmas season giant snowballs, giant snowflakes, and colorful ornaments hung from the top over the staircase. In the room featuring furniture from the Gone With the Wind set, French doors, chandeliers, and expensive art completed the décor. There was only one electric light in the room with candles spread throughout.
Despite marital problems, Dorothy and Richard were truly society’s darlings. The couple hosted lavish parties. Entertainer Steve Allen said, “Everybody who was anybody was at Dorothy’s parties.” Guests included Jayne Mansfield and George Harrison of B
eatles fame.
During the holiday season, Dorothy and Dick hosted a fancy Christmas tree-trimming extravaganza and New Year’s Eve Costume Ball. Separate rooms became decorated nightclubs. When guests dressed as movie stars and other celebrities entered these rooms, they gasped. There Judy Garland, the Count Basie Orchestra and other friends of the Kollmar’s performed. One year, Dorothy dressed as Scarlett O’Hara and Richard as Rhett Butler. At these parties, Kilgallen was the champion at word games and charades.
All the while, Kilgallen’s love affair blossomed with sandy-haired singer Johnnie Ray, fourteen years her junior. Fellow columnist Liz Smith called the affair “peculiar” while adding, “Here was this white-gloved Catholic making out with a homosexual all over town.”
Kilgallen called An Affair to Remember, the film she and Ray had watched together, a winner. In her column, she wrote that the movie was a tribute to those “who are getting tired of pictures about dope addicts, alcoholics, unattractive butchers, and men who sleep in their underwear.” In contrast to the hard-edged persona Kilgallen was infamous for, Ray said of her, “She was probably the most feminine woman I’ve ever known. And I always thought she was a pretty lady—the softest thing you ever touched. All those people that made fun of her. That was just plain sick.”
Friend Hank Wesinger said of the couple: “[Kilgallen and Ray] were like two little kids…. They would go romping off and do their little silly things…. Together, they were like two children. They were in love.”
CHAPTER 7
Upping the stakes, Dorothy Kilgallen continued to use her “Voice of Broadway” column to attack Frank Sinatra. She did so in an unabashed, unforgiving style, writing:
Success hasn’t changed Frank Sinatra. When he was unappreciated and obscure, he was hot-tempered, egotistical, extravagant, and moody. Now that he is rich and famous, with the world on a string and sapphires in his cufflinks, he is still hot-tempered, egotistical, extravagant, and moody.
Striking back, Sinatra featured Kilgallen in his nightclub act. He told audiences she “looks like a chipmunk.”
Sinatra must have been jealous of Kilgallen’s extended popularity. Johnny Ray’s biographer Jonny Whiteside observed: “Rules must be followed. That was how they played it in Gotham. But Dorothy Kilgallen was in a position to change the rules anytime it suited her—everyone from the Mayor on down to [mobster] Frank Costello (who occasionally joined her table at P.J. Clarke’s) knew it.”
Whether changing the rules or simply disregarding them, Kilgallen had the freedom to do as she wished. Besides being a regular on the Broadway scene and appearing on What’s My Line?, Kilgallen guest-starred on many hit television programs. They included the popular Milton Berle show. She appeared in a funny skit with Berle and actor Mickey Rooney.
In Kilgallen’s “Voice of Broadway” column, Elvis Presley became a favored personality. She announced his pending release from the Army. In the same column, she mentioned another favorite subject, crime. NYC District Attorney Frank Hogan and his grand jury investigation of a harness-racing scandal caught Kilgallen’s attention.
During 1958, Kilgallen diverted away from media chores to enjoy special time with Johnny Ray. He hosted what friends called the “63rd Street parties.” These happened at his new address located at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 63rd Street. Kilgallen chose the wall paintings in the 2,000 square foot apartment. She gifted Ray a candle-burning crystal chandelier.
Visitors besides Kilgallen included Sophie Tucker, Yul Brynner, Ethel Merman, and Lucille Ball. On Sunday evening, everyone watched What’s My Line? Then Kilgallen joined the festive group following the program.15
In early 1959, Kilgallen used her celebrity status to jump into the deep waters of international politics. She criticized Jack Parr, host of NBC’s Tonight Show, for his support of Fidel Castro. Kilgallen opposed the Cuban rebel leader and wrote anti-Castro articles. Displaying her investigative reporter skills, and her refusal to back away from controversial issues despite the danger, she interviewed Cuban exiles in Miami. Kilgallen then wrote exclusively about their hatred for the Cuban dictator.
In July of that same year, six years and counting before Kilgallen died, she stunned readers with what observers called “A Kilgallen Exclusive.” Becoming the first reporter to allege that the CIA and organized crime were teaming up to eliminate Castro, she wrote:
If our state department heads in Washington deny they’re gravely worried over the explosive situation in Cuba and nearby Latin American countries, they’re either giving out false information for reasons of their own or playing ostrich, which might prove to be a dangerous game.
US intelligence is virtually nonexistent if the government isn’t aware that Russia already has bases in Cuba, and Russian pilots in uniform are strutting openly in Havana. Fidel Castro is the target for so many assassins they’re apt to fall over each other in their effortsto get him.
The Mafia want to knock him off. So do the Batista sympathizers, of course, and then there are his own disillusioned rebels, just for starters. He has machine guns and other ammunition mounted on every key rooftop near his base of operations, but the smart money doubts if any amount of precaution can change his status as a clay pigeon.
This Kilgallen scoop must have infuriated those in the State Department, whom she criticized for spreading “false information.” Members of the CIA and the Mafia who intended to keep their clandestine, cooperative operation a secret, also were offended. Certainly all three wondered who Kilgallen’s source was feeding her the secret information.
True to her credo of protecting sources, Kilgallen never told anyone who the mole was insisting Castro had become a “clay pigeon” ripe for elimination. As time passed, Kilgallen’s enemy list was expanding. Besides Frank Sinatra, it now included three dangerous foes: the State Department, the CIA, and those in the underworld who were cooperating with the government to kill Castro.
During this time, Kilgallen rarely visited the Journal-American offices. Instead, she used her “office” workspace on the fifth floor of her townhouse. She called it “The Cloop.” It featured chartreuse carpeting, embroidered Swiss curtains with tie-backs of taffeta ribbons with bows, floral wallpaper, and a bed. No one could enter “The Cloop,” not even family members including youngest son Kerry.
Dorothy Kilgallen and youngest son Kerry at townhouse.
Continuing to expand her power of influence into international affairs, Kilgallen covered Nikita Khrushchev’s September 1959 visit to the United States. Familiar with the famous columnist, the Soviet Premier waved at her when he arrived at Andrew’s Air Force Base. The Soviet leader met with President Eisenhower but was upset when denied a trip to Disneyland for security concerns.
Exposing her disdain for even the wife of a world leader, Kilgallen became embroiled in a media war. This happened when she described Nina Khrushchev in a Journal-American story bearing the headline, “Our Miss K says Mrs. K’s Clothes fit like a Slip Cover.” The article read:
The grisliness of her attire amounts almost to a demonstration of piety…. It would be difficult to find clothes comparable to hers in the waiting room of a New York employment agency for domestic help; in this decadent capitalistic republic, applicants for jobs as laundresses, chambermaids, and cooks usually are far more a la mode than Russia’s first lady.
Reader comments included one feeling “revolted,” and another “ashamed” of Kilgallen’s comments. Worse, now Kilgallen had offended the Russian government adding them to her enemies list.16
Such conduct triggered a later comment from an unidentified journalist: “From the late fifties until her death, [Kilgallen] grew more notorious than she had ever been popular.” Being notorious meant she was a target for anyone with a grudge to bear.
15 Johnny Ray biographer Jonny Whiteside quoted one party guest regarding Ray and Kilgallen’s saucy romance: “It was just part of the routine, th
at [Kilgallen] drug him out of the living room into the den, in which there happened to be a long leather couch. We would sit in the living room and listen to all the activity that was going on in the den. It was lust out of control. You could hear it. We used to go over to the keyhole and look into the room. It became a joke to us.”
16 Apparently embarrassed later with what she had written about Mrs. Khrushchev, Kilgallen told a friend, “Sometimes you sit at a typewriter and the words come out sharper and maybe a bit more unfair than you would want them to if took more time and thought it over.”
CHAPTER 8
In November 1959, thanks to Dorothy Kilgallen, Johnnie Ray remained a free man. She stood by him when Detroit prosecutors charged the popular singer for soliciting sex with men.
Kilgallen was certain her lover was “set up” by police. She did all she could behind the scenes to publicize Ray’s innocence. It worked: The all-woman jury acquitted the singer.
CBS producer friend Marlon Swing observed:
[Kilgallen] was a very powerful woman—people don’t have any idea of the contacts and power she had…. I was with her when she called the judge. And she put pressure on him—made sure [the case] was expedited and that Johnnie got fair treatment. Dorothy had favors she could call in from people all over the world. She made sure that Johnnie was exonerated.
Having saved Johnnie Ray from prison, Kilgallen was busy with yet another murder trial during the summer of 1960, five years before her death. In Los Angeles, prosecutors charged Dr. Bernard Finch and his mistress Carole Tregoff with the murder of Finch’s wife Barbara Jean. One witness against the two defendants was a worthless grafter. He had accepted money to kill Barbara Jean but never did so. Dr. Finch claimed shooting his wife was accidental. A jury, after two mistrials, convicted both Dr. Finch and Tregoff.