by Mark Shaw
During the trial, Kilgallen used her celebrity status to secure an exclusive interview with Dr. Finch. In her Journal-American article, she wrote, “The doctor does not look like putty. He looks more like leather-encased steel but the legend of the siren who can make men strong is old and undying.” She added, “The trial is more than a whodunit, it’s a who’d believe it.”
Compliments for Kilgallen’s coverage of the trial abounded. A reporter for Time magazine wrote, “In Los Angeles, busy Dorothy Kilgallen sometimes attracted more attention than the trial. She posed for pictures with the defendant, signed scores of autographs for admirers, and received an orchid from an unidentified California Judge. Yet, for all that, her copy, rattled off on an electric typewriter in her hotel room, provided the best coverage of the Finch-Tregoff trial.” It was also reported, “Kilgallen posed for pictures with the accused and had dinner at the home of both the prosecutor and the defense attorney.”
Fresh off the trial, Kilgallen visited Los Angeles again. There she celebrated her lofty status as a media icon on February 9, 1960 with a ceremony awarding her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Meanwhile, an August 1960 six-page spread in the prestigious magazine TV Radio Mirror provided Kilgallen additional media exposure. The Price is Right and I’ve Got a Secret popular television host Bill Cullen appeared on the cover. Included were stories on Kilgallen, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, and American Bandstand’s Dick Clark. A full-page color photograph accompanied the article. Kilgallen looked radiant in a yellow, green and orange striped low cut dress.
The lead-in to the article was “Her line is Headlines—About other celebrities, that is! But Dorothy Kilgallen can’t help being a star herself, whether as TV panelist on What’s My Line? or as hostess in her own fabulous home.” Large photographs featured Kilgallen relaxing on a couch in the “Americana” room, in front of a typewriter in her home office, and nestled closely to son Kerry, age six, in the “Victorian” room. Interviewer Martin Cohen described her as wearing “a champagne-colored silk sheath and coral shoes, her only jewelry a multi-colored necklace. Her hair is reddish-brown, her skin delicate and translucent.” In a separate photo, Kilgallen wore the ostrich-feather gown displayed at the wedding of England’s Princess Margaret.
Kilgallen discussed both her private17 and business life. She called television, “an altogether different world. It’s wonderful. Suddenly, you have literally millions of friends, who recognize you wherever you go and call you by your first name.” Regarding What’s My Line? partners Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis, Kilgallen said, “Arlene and Bennett and I are there because we’re pretty good game players. It’s silly to say we aren’t—otherwise, they would have cover girls to play the game, and, instead of Bennett, there would be a rock ‘n roll singer.”
The extensive media exposure proved the relentless Kilgallen was a national personality with stature. She was someone of importance when she made a claim. Her first-rate reputation as an investigative reporter was solidified when she met privately with Cerf, Kilgallen’s fellow panel member on What’s My Line? He was also a co-founder of the publishing company Random House. Cerf hired Kilgallen to write a book about the famous murder cases she had covered.
A researcher assisted Kilgallen’s preparation to write the book with the working title, Murder One. Meanwhile, Kilgallen kept close tabs on the presidential primaries and countdown to the general election. She and millions of Americans watched the charismatic JFK burn Richard Nixon in the first debate, September 26, 1960. This happened when the Vice-President, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty. Kennedy, well rested, appeared calm and confident.
The debate became the turning point in the election. Kilgallen decided to make a prediction in her “Voice of Broadway” column. She wrote that JFK would win since:
[JFK] was adorable on television…his promises and connections would get him the labor vote and the machine Democrats…. Sammy Davis’ support would guarantee him the Negro vote…the majority of Jews would go to the polls for him, and no true [Frank] Sinatra fan would dare vote for anyone else.
Kigallen’s prediction was right. Asked after the election whether she would write about JFK’s dalliances with women, Kilgallen said, “No one could.” This was an admission that the president’s personal life was off base, for the time being.
All the while, Kilgallen continued to perpetuate the myth she had a solid marriage.18 She hosted a lavish surprise birthday party for Richard at their townhouse. Celebrity guests included Jayne Mansfield, Betty White and husband Allen Ludden (Password). Richard continued to drink heavily, a cause of concern for his wife and friends.
At the same time the marriage struggles continued, Kilgallen had to deal with an exposé in the New York Post Daily Magazine. The editors called it, “The Dorothy Kilgallen Story: A Post Portrait.” Released in unprecedented TEN full-page editions worthy of a woman at the height of a remarkable career unmatched by anyone of her era or perhaps any era, the stories alternated between dirt and devotion regarding the Kilgallen mystique. It also touched on her immense popularity in the entertainment world and beyond.
Furious with the series, Kilgallen struck back. She wrote a rebuttal including the following statement: “Newspapermen all over town were laughing over the fact that it takes five alleged reporters to set the facts wrong in the first sentence of a series running in New York’s most inaccurate gazette. And every paragraph that followed compounded the joke.”
Abandoning her crusade to dissuade the Post stories from being taken seriously, on January, 20, 1961, four-plus years removed from her death, Kilgallen covered the JFK inauguration ceremonies. She traveled to the nation’s capital on a cold, windy day in the style her fame required: a Silver Wraith Rolls Royce. During the swearing-in, Kilgallen sat in a position of respect, the fifth row beside columnist Bob Considine and a Life magazine representative with a clear view of JFK.
During the gala event for the 35th president of the United States, white-haired Robert Frost read his poem, “The Gift Outright.” JFK, coatless despite the cold weather, uttered his famous line, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” Despite a blizzard threatening the five inaugural balls, Kilgallen attended the “Rat Pack” gala. It headlined Frank Sinatra and his celebrity pals. Whether the mortal enemies exchanged insults was unknown.
Continuing to play by her own rules while blasting Sinatra whenever possible, in early June, Kilgallen flaunted her romance with Johnnie Ray as they frolicked at various New York hotspots including the infamous Copacabana. Husband Richard fumed. Regardless, he could not cool the affair.
Richard did attend a few social functions with Kilgallen but he missed Ernest Hemingway stopping by her table at the Stork Club. After his wife Mary left, Hemingway called Kilgallen “daughter” and told her she was “one of the greatest women writers in the world,” a compliment yet one she probably disapproved of since Kilgallen felt like she should be judged as a writer not a female writer. Regardless, she later wrote, “If I couldn’t be me, I would want to be Mrs. Ernest Hemingway more than anyone I [can] think of. It strikes me as a fine thing to live in a cool house, in a sunny place like Cuba, with a gentle and virile man, listening to good talk and being the first to read his writings.”
Dorothy Kilgallen and Ernest Hemingway at the Stork Club, circa early 1961.
After spending time with the legendary writer as 1962 dawned, Kilgallen decided to answer many of those who believed her marriage was falling apart. She noted in her column that she and husband Richard had been frequenting her favorite New York City nightspots. Kilgallen said they were also “attending Broadway openings.”
Regardless, Kilgallen’s star continued to shine bright with appearances on the popular game show, To Tell the Truth, and articles she wrote for Cosmopolitan Magazine. To date, she had now written more
than 6,000 “Voice of Broadway” columns—three and a half million words. She was without a doubt the most powerful female voice in the entertainment industry. Her fame extended into social and political life as well. If there had been a list of the 100 most influential women in the country, Kilgallen would certainly have been in the top 10.
Perhaps more importantly, Kilgallen was deeply in love with Johnnie Ray. Alan Eichler, who managed Ray during the latter years of his life, told this author it was a “genuine love affair, sexual in nature. Johnnie said he actually gave Dorothy her first orgasm.” Tad Mann, Ray’s personal manager for nearly 40 years, said, “Dorothy and Johnnie likened themselves to American royalty…. He was her Prince Charming.”
Kilgallen not only was Johnnie Ray’s lover but mentored the famed singer as well. She suggested career choices and personal habits. Many saw Kilgallen as a mother figure to Ray. He listened to her as she attempted to improve his image. The 14-year age difference (he was 35; she was 49) meant little to her. She was in love and cared less what others thought of the affair.
Meanwhile, now that JFK was president, he deserved a regular mention in Kilgallen’s Journal-American column. In July 1961, she rolled out another exclusive, writing, “Warner Bros. has given up the idea of using a big-name star to play President Kennedy in [the film] PT 109 based on JFK’s book of the same name.”
In the same column, Dorothy Kilgallen boosted the career of Marilyn Monroe. Kilgallen also exposed inside information about Marilyn’s various love affairs. Kilgallen was fascinated with Monroe’s sex appeal, her box office successes, and her numerous romances.
During this time, Kilgallen also arranged, through friendship with Presidential Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, a visit to the White House with son Kerry. When the eight-year-old redhead and his mother arrived, Salinger conducted the tour himself. While in the cabinet room, President Kennedy suddenly appeared. He invited Dorothy and Kerry into the Oval Office. While they sat and chatted, JFK looked at a bundle of letters Kerry had brought written to the president by Kerry’s third grade classmates.
JFK gifted Kerry a number of presidential souvenirs including a ballpoint pen with the presidential seal inscribed and a gold pin in the shape of PT-109 that the president placed on the youngster’s striped school tie. After reading Kerry’s letter, JFK said, “That’s very well written. Very well done.”
Then, while winking at Kilgallen, the president added, “…I don’t know whether Kerry is a Democrat or a Republican.” Kilgallen responded, “I bet he is a Democrat now.”
17 During the TV Radio Mirror interview, Kilgallen mentioned her children stating, “I get so gabby when I talk about the children. So stop me because I know it’s bragging.” She then lauded Dickie’s interest in music stating, “Right now, he’s immersed in thirteenth-century choral music and progressive jazz. He’s always had flawless taste in music.” Of Jill, Kilgallen mentioned her prowess as an artist and noted that Jill “had the Josephine Hill part in ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’” where she gave “a grand performance.” Regarding young Kerry, Kilgallen described him as a “husky, six-year-old with freckles across his nose who loves Dennis the Menace.”
18 Kilgallen’s friend Jean Bach said, “That marriage was a little fishy. Dick’s roving eye, his getting drunk and squeezing someone on the dance floor. Dorothy acted as if it never happened.”
CHAPTER 9
On August 3, 1962, two months before the Cuban missile crisis, Dorothy Kilgallen became the first journalist to reveal Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with “a Kennedy.” She cleverly wrote in her column:
Marilyn Monroe’s health must be improving. She’s been attending select Hollywood parties and has become the talk of the town again. In California, they’re circulating a photograph of her that certainly isn’t as bare as the famous calendar, but is very interesting. And she’s cooking in the sex-appeal department, too; she’s proved vastly alluring to a handsome gentleman who is a bigger name than Joe DiMaggio in his heyday. So don’t write off Marilyn as finished.
When Marilyn died in Hollywood two days later, a startled Kilgallen, three years separated from her own death, questioned the investigation. She wrote:
If the woman described as Marilyn’s “housekeeper” [Eunice Murray] is really a housekeeper, why was [Marilyn’s] bedroom such a mess? It was a small house and should have been easy to keep tidy.
Kilgallen also wondered:
Why was Marilyn’s door locked that night, when she didn’t usually lock it? If she was just trying to get to sleep and took the overdose of pills accidentally, why was the light on? Usually people sleep better in the dark.
Adding to her suspicions, Kilgallen asked:
Why did the first doctor [arriving on the scene] have to call the second doctor before calling the police? Any doctor, even a psychiatrist, knows a dead person when he sees one, especially when rigor mortis has set in and there are marks of lividity on the surface of the face and body. Why the consultation? Why the big time gap in such a small town? Mrs. Murray gets worried at about 3 a.m. and it’s almost 6 a.m. before the police get to the scene.
Continuing to question facts surrounding the Hollywood legend’s death, Kilgallen closed the column with the statement: “The real story hasn’t been told, not by a long shot.” In a tribute column to Marilyn, Kilgallen wrote, “Sleep well, sweet girl. You have left more of a legacy than most, if all you ever left was a handful of photographs of one of the loveliest women who ever walked the face of the earth.”
With her skepticism about the true cause of Monroe’s death squarely in view, Kilgallen wrote a “Voice of Broadway” column mentioning an author who would play an eerie part in her death. She wrote, “Novelist Robert Ruark [author of Honey Badger] and his wife were conferring with their lawyers preliminary to an amicable divorce. The decree will be sought in Mexico.” He was the same Robert Ruark who had written a scathing article entitled “Sinatra is Playing with the Strangest People These Days,” chastising the singer for hanging out in Havana with gangsters like Lucky Luciano, whom Ruark called “scum.”
Meanwhile, Kilgallen, expanding her coverage of high-profile cases around the world, flew to England in July 1963 to cover the explosive trial of Dr. Stephen Ward. He was an English osteopath (one patient was Winston Churchill), and a central figure in the “Profumo affair,” a British political scandal triggering the resignation of John Profumo, Minister of War. The scandal contributed to the defeat of the Conservative government one year later.
Displaying her prowess for prophetic prose, part of Kilgallen’s Journal-American column read:
There was a dinner party where a naked man wearing a mask waited on tables like a slave. The authorities searching the apartment of one of the principles in the case came upon a photograph showing a key figure disporting with a bevy of ladies. All were nude except for the gentleman in the picture who was wearing an apron. And this was a man who had been on extremely friendly terms with the very proper Queen and members of her immediate family!
Following the Ward case, in September, Kilgallen’s Journal-American announced President Kennedy would visit Dallas for a campaign stop in November. She barely noticed since Kilgallen faced a libel case in court filed by Elaine Shepard, a Broadway and motion picture actress.
Shepard’s presence in the press party during a President Dwight Eisenhower 1959 European tour triggered the action. Kilgallen wrote that “an actress” had an affair with a member of the White House staff” in one of the cities visited.
Shepard believed all signs pointed to her being the unnamed “actress” since she was the only actress present on the trip. Shepard was offended by Kilgallen’s use of the words, “lewd and unchaste” to describe the actress’ conduct. Shepard sued the famous columnist for three quarters of a million dollars, a huge sum in those days. Shepard’s supporters said Kilgallen’s nasty comments were another example of the muckrak
ing journalistic style permeating her columns.
At trial, Elaine Shepard called Kilgallen’s harsh words “humiliating and shocking.” Kilgallen countered by asserting her comments did not target Shepard. A jury agreed in a trial overseen by Judge Thomas Aurelio. Years earlier, the judge had faced disbarment charges due to his “friendship” with New York gangster Frank Costello. A wiretap exposed the true extent of the friendship, one pointing to the mobster’s ability to put judicial robes on obliging candidates. After Aurelio told Costello, “Thanks for everything,” Costello said, “When I tell you something is in the bag [fixed] you could rest assured.” Aurelio replied, “I want to assure you of my loyalty for all you have done for me. It is undying.”
Kilgallen never wrote about that case. However, she clearly knew that underworld figures, through bribes and influence, controlled many of the New York City politicians, judges, and police with speculation that corruption had seeped into several administrative agencies including the NYC Medical Examiner’s Office.
CHAPTER 10
Money never drove Dorothy Kilgallen’s ambitions. Nevertheless, her success as a nationally known newspaper columnist, television star and renowned investigative reporter made her rich by 1963. Through various media ventures, her income was estimated at two hundred thousand dollars a year—1.5 million today—a mindboggling figure for a woman during that time, reinforcing Kilgallen’s position as a true magnate without challenge. No doubt exists that if Time magazine had published a list of the highest paid females in the U.S., Kilgallen would have been near the top if not the very top.