Monday, October 21, 2019

Today's Blind Items - Old Hollywood - Mr. X

#1 - The permanent A+++ list singer and actress who was robbed blind by the agent, after she switched managers from her then husband to the aforementioned manager. The husband hired a tax auditor to look over her bank accounts, being that she spent money like crazy, and found that vast sums were disappearing. He went to confront the manager and his wife and was blocked from entering by goons posing as security guards. Of course the wife, being in an inebriated state, didn't believe a thing her husband was telling her and their marriage further eroded. Then, after a near fatal overdose in London, the manager threatened the iconic performer that he had photos of the star getting her stomach pumped in a hospital that he was threatening to sell to a tabloid... unless she gave him $50,000. Since she had a new TV project on the line, one that the manager got her, she forked over the cash. Several other similar incidents happened between the icon and the manager even after she dropped him.

#2 - Speaking of the iconic performer, her eldest offspring  was on the cusp of A-list stardom at the time when the previous BI occurred, and on her mother's advice she hired the manager too. Everything was going smoothly, until the manager called up the offspring and threatened to release photos taken at a party in Greenwich Village when she was very underage where she was clearly seen drinking, snorting what appeared to be cocaine and smoking pot.... unless she gave him $100,000. She had a potential career making Broadway musical on the line and like her mother she forked over the cash. However, she didn't get the part in that musical (after the manager told the producer of the play she was a liability) but eventually got to star in the film adaptation which she won many awards for.

#3 -  Many people forget that this alliterate A+++ list actress and sex symbol was a client of the manager. She indeed was, towards the end of her life. It abruptly ended after that Chicago mob boss had his goons, on order of the manager, take pictures of the actress drunk and passed out on a vomit-filled floor. The photos were taken a few days after the dalliance between the actress and the high ranking politician. Thankfully she had help in stopping the pictures from leaking. She placed a call to her singer/actor friend who was the owner of the resort she was staying at where the pictures were taken. He also hated the manager with a passion. He placed a call to the mob boss, and the photos were never leaked.


51 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. This isn't even a blind. This is literally in books about Marilyn, from decades ago. WTF is this shit?

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  2. Inez Melson for the manager

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  3. Anonymous10:12 AM

    #1 Judy Garland
    #2 Liza
    #3 Marilyn Monroe

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  4. @unknown has it all in one.

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  5. Manager can't be Inez since part 1 says its a man, but Inez was Monroe's manager for most, in not her entire career, I think.

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  6. Frank Sinatra for the one with connections to the mob boss

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  7. 1. Judy Garland
    2. Liza (with a z!)
    3. Marilyn Monroe

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  8. Interesting guess Sunspirit,

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Neva_Lodge_%26_Casino
    In 1960, entertainer Frank Sinatra purchased the Resort alongside Dean Martin and Chicago mobster Sam Giancana

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  9. There was a rumor she actually died at Sinatra's Cal Neva resort in Lake Tahoe

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  10. Any chance the manager is David Begelman - he managed Garland, and probably knew the kind of people in this blind, if you remember the check forging story.

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    1. yeah i think so. they are pointed out on the special

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  11. the Showtime special made by ex hubby Sid Luft is really good. these two crooked managers are responsible for her demise IMO.

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  12. From Garland's Wiki entry: "In addition, Begelman told Garland a photo existed of her, partially nude, having her stomach pumped in a hospital emergency room after a drug overdose in London, and that blackmailers were demanding $50,000 to turn over the picture and all negatives. As she was in negotiations with CBS at the time for her new television series, Garland paid rather than face the adverse publicity and potentially damaging the deal's prospects. Luft's attorney eventually determined that the check went to a holding company with a business address in New York City owned by Begelman, and was further traced to a personal account of Begelman."

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  13. 1) Judy Garland
    2) Liza Minelli
    3) Marilyn Monroe, either JFK or RFK, figure it was Frank Sinatra who called Sam Giancana to make sure the pictures did not see the light of day. Maybe the resort was the Cal Neva Lodge, which was owned by Sinatra, Dean Martin and Giancana, who of course ran the Chicago Mob (The Outfit)

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  14. Liza's play/movie in #2 is "Cabaret" - it debuted on Broadway in 1966, when Liza would have been 20, so everything fits.

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  15. #3 is def Monroe, and true, I saw this story in a documentary on her life on youtube from A&E or one of those mainstream network channels

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  16. the manager apparently sent a photographer everywhere his clients went.

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  17. Could have made a mint with manager disposal services back in the day.

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  18. 1) Judy and Begelman
    2) Liza and Cabaret
    3) Marilyn at Frank's Neva Lodge.

    I saw "Judy" last week, Renee truly did do an amazing job, in a very good movie. I almost wish it could have been a multi-year covering mini-series bc I was so sucked in. A talented, sad, but funny lady.

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  19. It's Judy Garland and Liza Minelli. 100%

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  20. Anonymous11:44 AM

    Times never really change.
    To be "A list", requires selling your soul. Addiction or early death are likely.
    1. Judy 2. Liza 3. Marilyn

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  21. Sam Giancana for the Chicago mob boss. Judy Garland, Liza Minelli and Marilyn Monroe for the others.

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  22. Holes and souls, one will serve you better in tinseltown.

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  23. Anonymous12:28 PM

    Judy Garland
    Liza Minnelli
    Marilyn Monroe

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  24. @Vita: I saw ‘Judy’ as well and thought that Renee was great!

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  25. So did Sinatra also have Norma Jean bumped off and her friendship with him and Peter Lawford was a convenient cover up? I wonder if the truth about her death will ever come out?

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    1. Anonymous4:25 PM

      Many also believe Sinatra is the one who covered up Natalie Wood's murder for Robert Wagner. That was the impression I got from Davern's book .

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  26. Aquagirl-- Yep!πŸ˜πŸ†

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  27. "Old Hollywood"?

    If it's not about real glamour, it's about real heartache.

    You're breaking my heart, Enty.

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  28. I love Judy Garland, just think what her life could have been.

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  29. I read a paperback book once by Judy's fifth and last husband "Weep no more my lady." I don't know if that guy ripped her off also. Judy was a train wreck mess from pills, booze and diets. What a tragedy. Liza basically walked in her mothers shoes and did everything Judy did as well. A shame.

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  30. Louis B. Mayer helped destroy Judy. MGM had her on diet pills to permanently lose weight, get energy, she added booze to the lethal mix, and she could never kick all that.

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  31. Is the cruelest scumbag David Begelman or Freddie Fields? No mercy for these evil bottom feeders.

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  32. Ok - seriously. Why are these “Blind Items”. It’s so obvious it’s Judy, Liza and Marilyn. So just write it as a gossip items mentioning their names. What - 2 out of 3 are dead... Liza gonna sue you, “Enty?”

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  33. @Studio54: RE: Judy’s last husband—he initially met her because he was her drug dealer, so there’s that. Even though they were only married for 3 months, he was in charge of her estate upon her death. She was buried in Westchester County, but was recently exhumed & moved to Hollywood Forever (I think 2018?) after his death. I think HF is a creepy place, but at least now her children are closer if they want to visit the cemetery. One would hope (or maybe it’s just me), that even if he was in charge, he would’ve done the right thing & buried her in CA in the first place.

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  34. @Studio: Besides Mayer, her mother gave her pills and totally controlled her. She was also starved throughout most of her life, living on little more than black coffee and chicken soup. Is it any wonder that pills, cigarettes, and alcohol became her diet of choice throughout the rest of her life? She never had a chance. So sad. Re: Liza, I have no idea whether this is true, but I would imagine that she may have been born an addict.

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  35. Liza is based in NYC. i am not sure where Lorna and her brother are. does anybody really go to cemeteries anymore?

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  36. @ Sd Auntie. Yes, people still go to cemeteries to pay their respects. And no, I don't live in Wy. :)

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  37. I miss the days when good old blackmail was innocent and free of Pedo-Blackmail blood oaths.
    Now it takes child snuff films and worse to get drugged up whores to play ball.
    This is why media whores and politicians need to be disposable.
    Or can we call it term limits from "manipulated" drug OD? Red scarf and a door knob is so old school.
    Have to admit that Blackmail is cost effective Human Trafficking. Which makes Pedo-Blackmail more valuable than human life.
    Remember boys and girls, involuntary suicide is the answer for Pedo-Blackmail.
    Because no one gets out alive...

    Have a beautiful day.

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  38. permanent A+++ list singer and actress = Judy Garland
    husband = Sid Luft
    eldest offspring = Liza Minnelli
    musical = Cabaret
    alliterate A+++ list actress and sex symbol = Marilyn Monroe
    Chicago mob boss = Sam Giancana
    high ranking politician = JFK (or RFK, either works)
    singer/actor friend = Frank Sinatra
    agent = David Begelman and/or Freddie Fields

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  39. 🎢 Someday, I wish upon a star 
    Wake up where the clouds are far behind me 
    Where trouble melts like lemon drops 
    Kick that handsy munchkin in the chops 🎢

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  40. I read, years ago, about those passed out Marilyn photos, only she was being raped by some mobster and of course Old Blue Eyes was there. If even a quater of the rumours about Sinatra are true, the man was filth in human form!

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    1. I knew someone who knew Sinatra personally through JFK. He said Sinatra was one of the most evil men he’d ever met. He hated him.

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