Today's Blind Items- Blackmail - Old Hollywood
This reporter was one of the most respected reporters of her time. She landed some interviews that are still considered important a half century later. Some of the interviews she landed were just being in the right time in the right place. Her Hollywood interviews though were her knowing more than everyone else and using that information to get exclusive interviews.
1. There was this permanent A+ list singer who blew off an interview with her. One week later after she told him she would release the story of him having sex with a 13 year old he gave the reporter an interview and gave her a dozen other interviews over the course of his career.
2. She knew all about this closeted permanent A list singer. The singer would always sue people if they hinted he was gay. The reporter had audio recordings of the singer talking to several different men and offering them money for sex. She used that for access and also to keep him from testifying against one of her employers at a libel trial.
3. She launched the career of this permanent A+ list mostly movie actress and in return was privy to every actor and actress in Hollywood who hit on the permanent A+ lister. The reporter is also who introduced her to a permanent A+ list celebrity who would ultimately be her downfall.
Rona Barrett?
ReplyDelete1-Elvis
Hedda Hopper or Louella Parsons
ReplyDeleteAlthough people were more scared of them than anything else
ReplyDelete2-Bobby Darin?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of respected female reporters, I got to reading Nellie Bly's undercover piece on mental wards at the turn of the century. She was really the bombdiggety.
ReplyDeleteLet's throw Baba Wawa in there just to cover the bases.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds right because half a century ago is only 1966.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how she could be respected if she used blackmail and threats...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, first thoughts..Frank Sinatra, Wayne Newton, Natalie Wood..or Monroe...
Wasn't Rona always on Merv Griffin?
ReplyDeleteI like Natalie Wood for #3
ReplyDeleteOMG, she's still alive!
ReplyDeleteShe was on a lot of talk shows. She was a pretty big name and looked halfway decent too
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking Hopper, she was really despicable.
ReplyDelete2.Liberace?
ReplyDelete3. Marilyn and JFK?
ReplyDeleteMarilyn with JFK for #3. Either Sinatra or Elvis for #1.
ReplyDeleteShe was one of an army of teeny-tiny, brittle, birdlike women, probably on "diet pills".
ReplyDeleteYes, she was more visually attractive than Totie Fields, but her voice was horrible.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/05/liberace_sues_c.html
ReplyDeleteSecond the Rona Barrett guess. Google Rona and Anne Helen Peterson for a great article/interview with Rona from a bit earlier this month
ReplyDeleteVery likely her.
ReplyDeleteoops, I missed the 50 years ago part.
ReplyDeletePlease don't remind me of that.
ReplyDeleteThere was a pbs program about her, I think one of their American Experience series ..really interesting..one brave cookie
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
ReplyDeleteWriter for Confidential, Aline Mosby
ReplyDeletehttp://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-aline-mosby.html
When Elvis choose Randolph Scott over Aline Mosby, he may not have been aware of her lofty reputation in the entertainment press. When she angrily stormed out of Las Vegas, the city’s writers foresaw “explosive repercussions” for Elvis
Totally forgot about Rona Barrett.....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.metv.com/stories/what-ever-happened-to-rona-barrett
Great guess!
not Walters because of the "was", she is still a reporter and is still respected.
ReplyDeleteMore likely than Rona who wished she was respected,but I think she was too close to the celebrities to gain respect.
ReplyDeletethx!
ReplyDeleteMe too : (
ReplyDelete100%- According to the Wikipedia page for the gossip column Confidential (which she wrote for) Liberace dropped his lawsuit against it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, she interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald so that's legit.
ReplyDeleteLike these guesses.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Walters is respected by the public. Professionally she has a reputation for being a viper.
OT: For a great read about "old Hollywood" and "old Los Angeles" read West of Eden by Jean Stein. Lot's of juice about Jack Warner, Jennifer Jones, and others. One take away from the book is that you will be happy you have relatively dull, drama free lives. You will not want to trade places with any of these people.
ReplyDeleteThe aces Luella had up her sleeve was the fact her husband was the OB-GYN to the starlets. She was the second to know when an actress was 'infanticipating' and the first with the scoop. Hedda, on the other hand, was ruthless and totally professional. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteDorothy Kilgallen
ReplyDelete1) Sinatra
'2) Johnny Ray
Totie Fields!!! I haven't heard that name in decades...I totally forgot about her. Was she part of the permanent Match Game crew? Or was she Hollywood Squares?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the journalism in any of this? She sounds like a filthy blackmailer with low morals to me. Why is Enty celebrating her? What kind of scum doesn't expose a paedophile for the sake of an interview?
ReplyDeleteOh, man....I don't remember. I'm thinking Match Game.
ReplyDeleteI thought she was married to a comic - at least they appeared together a lot on Griffin - but her Wikipedia page says she was married to George William Johnston. Now my ancient brain is befuddled.
Marlin & JFK for #3
ReplyDeleteRona Barret does makes.
ReplyDelete1- Elvis. I have heard that he had a fascination with preteen girls.
2- Liberace. For years he fought off rumors he was gay.
3- Natlie Woods. This does make sense; but so does Marilyn Monroe.
Liberace was NOT a singer. He flamboyantly played the piano and told jokes really well.
ReplyDeleteTotie Fields,Phyliss diller and Truman capote were my favorites on Merv Griffin. Ellen and company are boring as hell..
ReplyDeleteim too young to know who this is.
ReplyDeletehow about Johnny Mathis?
ReplyDeleteJohnny Mathis or sir Elton and his marriages two marriages ?
ReplyDeleteThe definition of talk show has changed dramatically - and not for the better. Everything's so bland & dull.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing. She knew he had sex with a 13 year old and successfully blackmailed him for her own gain? Wow. Sounds like a peach.
ReplyDelete#3 Elizabeth Taylor (Richard Burton)
ReplyDeleteI remember Truman being on the Merv Griffin show after he wasn't invited to the Oscars for writing "La Cote Basque, 1965." He was BITTER!
ReplyDelete70s daytime names keep coming to me - Charles Nelson Riley, Brett Somers, Joey Heatherton, Paul Lynde, Joann Worley...
Miss Rona got her start by chasing Eddie Fisher all over NYC before he became a household name. She was the president of his fan club, as well. When he became famous he was really horrible to her and she wrote about this sad episode of her life in her autobiography. Am I completely wrong about the singer? Wasn't it Eddie? Or was it Bobby Darin? Anyone out there as old as I am who can confirm this? The memory (what memory?) is the first thing to go. After the boobs fall to your knees.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall Elvis ever giving Rona Barrett any interview.
ReplyDeleteBarbara is retired. That said, this probably is Rona.
ReplyDeleteBy all accounts, Jack Warner was a monstrous asshole.
ReplyDeleteNipsey Russel
ReplyDeleteThe timing is right for Gloria Steinem, who of course was a reporter and then later an editor for years. John Lennon was one of her first big celebrity interviews.
ReplyDeleteHoly shite, y'all. This conversation was like in the early days of CDAN. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteYou obviously know nothing about Gloria Steinem.
ReplyDeleteGreat guess! I hadn't heard of her but I looked her up and she fits for all of these (if the guesses are correct for those)
ReplyDeleteGreat guess!
ReplyDeleteBased on this, https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/all-the-dirt-on-rona-barrett-the-forgotten-gossip-girl?utm_term=.gg0GaMY1gB#.gg0GaMY1gB
ReplyDelete1 Frankie Avalon
2 Cary Grant or Rock Hudson
Was Rona the one who always said, "Hello to all of you from Hollywood?"
ReplyDeleteShe always posed in a 3/4 shot and I remember her talking about some celeb having cancer, calling it "the big C." I thought that was pretty nasty.
The Natalie/Barbara time line doesn't fit. Natalie was a child star already in the '40's. I don't think Barbara could have been the one to launch her career she would have been in her teens when Natalie was starting out. Natalie was the top child star in 1947 and Barbra didn't really get any interviewing clout until the '60's
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late but nobody mentioned the Gabor sisters or Jayne Mansfield. Yes I'm old too.
ReplyDeleteOmg, yes, great call. Yeah, it's sad when you're the one saying, "remember when..."
ReplyDelete1.) any girl who slept with Elvis was in heaven at having been picked by The King, and would never testify against him.
ReplyDelete2.) if he somehow got setup or the girl's parents wanted to prosecute (if they found out) Elvis' record label or studio would pay them off, while Elvis sent her a personally autographed new album.
There is no heroine who saves the day by exposing the filthy entertainer who seduced a 13 yr old. Everyone already knows, except the adoring fans.
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