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I still think Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered.


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  • 6 months later...
WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Born in Chicago, she became a New York journalist and popular game show panelist.

But her mysterious death still troubles a legion of fans who won't forget this remarkable woman....

Excellent article, but I wish it had also mentioned Dorothy's friend and confidente, who also "committed suicide" I believe two days later. I seem to recall that this woman was alleged to have had Kilgallen's notes on the Kennedy assassination, which of course, were never found. This was all covered in some detail a few years back on the forum.

Dawn

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WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Born in Chicago, she became a New York journalist and popular game show panelist.

But her mysterious death still troubles a legion of fans who won't forget this remarkable woman....

Incredible article; thanks Mike.

Details on Kilgallen's investigation into President Kennedy's murder that I've never seen before, and a lot of info on the beyond suspicious Pataky.

"Sinclaire said that Dorothy Kilgallen called him on Saturday, Nov. 6, 1965, her final weekend alive. "We talked for about an hour," Marc maintained. "Her life had been threatened..."

Does anyone have any further info on the threat to her life she mentioned to Sinclaire?

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WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Born in Chicago, she became a New York journalist and popular game show panelist.

But her mysterious death still troubles a legion of fans who won't forget this remarkable woman....

Quote from Midwest Today article:

"One of the biggest scoops of Kilgallen's career came when she obtained the 102-page transcript of Ruby's testimony to the Warren Commission. Readers were shocked at the hopelessly inept questioning of Ruby by Chief Justice Warren, and by Warren's failure to follow up on the leads Ruby was feeding him. Attorney Melvin Belli called Dorothy's scoop "the ruin of the Warren Commission." Incidentally, John Daly, moderator of "What's My Line?", was married to Chief Justice Warren's daughter, Virginia.

The FBI sent agents to Dorothy's townhouse to interrogate her and an FBI memo reported that "she stated that she was the only person who knew the identity of the source and that she 'would die' rather than reveal his identity."

Now CIA/Time ragazine's spin:

"As exclusives go, however, the leaked transcript fell somewhat short of perfection. It presented few, if any, surprises: much the same ground had been covered during Ruby's lengthy trial in Dallas. Moreover, most of its thunder had been stolen by the Dallas Morning News, which, only three weeks after the Warren Commission's June session with Ruby, front-paged a copyrighted paraphrase of the same testimony."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,876102,00.html

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  • 3 months later...
WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Born in Chicago, she became a New York journalist and popular game show panelist.

But her mysterious death still troubles a legion of fans who won't forget this remarkable woman....

Excellent article, but I wish it had also mentioned Dorothy's friend and confidente, who also "committed suicide" I believe two days later. I seem to recall that this woman was alleged to have had Kilgallen's notes on the Kennedy assassination, which of course, were never found. This was all covered in some detail a few years back on the forum.

Dawn

The reason the Midwest Today article does not mention Florence Pritchett Smith (the "friend and confidante") has to do with an interview that the magazine's researcher conducted with Ms. Smith's son Earl. He said, "My poor mother died of cancer." He wants the fantasy about his mother having secret information on Oswald / Ruby to stop. She was bedridden for months before she died. She was not given the cancer in a manner similar to how Jack Ruby supposedly got it. Florence got sick and died, that's all.

At the end of her life she planned her own funeral, including who the pallbearers would be. This was reported in Jack O'Brian's column in the New York Journal American on November 22, 1965. If you're in the New York area, find that on microfilm at the public library with the lions in front of it. The University of Texas at Austin also has it.

Dorothy Kilgallen could have had dangerous secrets about the assassination, and she could have been murdered. Florence Pritchett Smith could not have, and she could not have been. :up

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All you have to do to get the truth is to compare what Dorothy Kilgallen said on November 29, 1963, with what J. Edgar Hoover said on that very same day.

The truth is really simple, as long as the truth-tellers are not constantly targeted.

Thank you for providing the link to Kilgallen's article about Oswald. It was obvious she knew then that there were 2 Lee Harvey Oswalds. And/or his photos didn't all look like him. Two different men? Or trick photography? Did Ruby tell her about 2 Oswalds? Offhand, I forget the date she spoke to Ruby.

Kathy

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WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Thank you for posting this article. It is good to know that the case is still alive. I think it is the first time the traditional media has identified Ron Pataky as the "Out of Towner" in Lee Israel's book. Some will remember Lee's discussions with me on this forum where she was originally reluctant to confirm this information that I had posted on my website. This information had come from David Herschel who had tracked down Pataky when he was a student studying journalism. He could not get the article published so he posted it on the internet in the 1990s.

Excellent article, but I wish it had also mentioned Dorothy's friend and confidente, who also "committed suicide" I believe two days later. I seem to recall that this woman was alleged to have had Kilgallen's notes on the Kennedy assassination, which of course, were never found. This was all covered in some detail a few years back on the forum.

It was the great Penn Jones who first told the story of Kilgallen's friend who died at the same time as her. It appeared in Forgive My Grief (1967):

Tom Howard knew too much from Ruby and he knew too well how the Dallas power structure and Police Department worked. Howard had to die.

At the Ruby trial in Dallas during March of 1964, Dorothy Kilgallen had a private interview during one of the noon recesses with Judge Joe B. Brown. This was immediately followed by a thirty minute private interview with Jack Ruby in Judge Brown’s chambers. Even Ruby’s bodyguards were kept outside the Judge’s chambers. Joe Tonahill and others thought the meeting room in the jail was “bugged,” but it is doubtful if the Judge’s own chambers would be bugged. Judges have the power of contempt of court for such irregularities.

This then, was the second person Ruby had talked to who could know for whom Ruby was acting; therefore Miss Kilgallen had to be silenced along with Tom Howard.

Shortly before her death, Miss Kilgallen told a friend in New York that she was going to New Orleans in 5 days and break the case wide open. Miss Kilgallen 52, died November 8, 1965, under questionable circumstances in her New York home. Eight days after her death, a ruling was made that she died of barbiturates and drink with no quantities of either ingredient being given.

Also strangely, Miss Kilgallen’s close friend, Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith, died two days after Miss Kilgallen. Mrs. Smith’s autopsy read that the cause of death was unknown.

Many skeptical newsmen have asked: “If Miss Kilgallen knew anything, surely as a journalist wouldn’t she have left some notes?” This is a legitimate question. Possibly Mrs. Smith was the trusted friend with the notes. No one will ever know now.

Unfortunately, Penn Jones, was unable to find out who Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith was. Her name was Florence Smith, the wife of the ambassador to Cuba when Castro seized power. Professionally, she always used the name Florence Pritchett. Penn Jones would have been fascinated by the fact that Florence Pritchett had been having an affair with John Kennedy since 1943 and was still going on at the time of his death. It was Florence who introduced Dorothy to JFK. Florence was also one of her important sources on JFK. Kilgallen was also well informed about Cuba (she was the first journalist to break the story that the CIA and the Mafia were working together in a plot against Castro).

It is indeed puzzling that Sarah Jordan does not mention Florence Pritchett in her article. She clearly knows about the story as she must have visited my web pages on Dorothy Kilgallen (it is number one at Google when you type in her name). She also has visited this forum because she quotes Lee Israel's online statement about Ron Pataky that appeared on the forum on 20th December, 2005.

John Simkin: Does Florence Pritchett’s son object to his mother being named as the long-time mistress of JFK or by the suggestion that she might have been one of Kilgallen’s sources?

Lee Israel: Yes. He says his mother lay dying of leukemia for months so she couldn't have been Kilgallen's source on anything but side effects of medication that was scarcely available then.

John Simkin: In your book you do not mention that Pritchett was JFK’s mistress. Is that because you did not know or was it a case of you protecting her privacy?

Lee Israel: It was totally irrelevant. I didn't drop the name Judith Campbell Exner, either.

John Simkin: You do not mention that Pritchett was married to Earl E. T. Smith, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba (1957-59). Did you know that at the time you wrote the book? Is it not possible that Pritchett passed on information to Kilgallen as a result of her relationship with her husband and JFK?

Lee Israel: Yes, I did know that. I also knew that when Kilgallen visited New Orleans and Dallas, the poor ambassador was preoccupied with his dying wife.

John Simkin: In your book you make a lot of Kilgallen’s relationship with the man you call the "Out-of-Towner". In fact, you imply that he was in some way involved in her death. Is it correct that the man’s name is really Ron Pataky?

Lee Israel: Yes.

John Simkin: Did you find any evidence that Ron Pataky was working for the CIA?

Lee Israel: No. Only that he dropped out of Stanford in 1954 and then enrolled in a training school for assassins in Panama or thereabouts.

John Simkin: Do you believe that Ron Pataky murdered Dorothy Kilgallen?

Lee Israel: He had something to do with it

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKkilgallen.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsmithF.htm

I just want to say: Be wary of Penn Jones. He would get dates wrong, etc, and this served to make the subjects he "researched" trivial. For instance, he couldn't get the name of this woman, Smith. How did he find out about her and did he exaggerate too? A lot op people have such awe regarding Penn Jones, Jr. I've yet to see why.

Also, how old was Ron Pataki when he was going out with Kilgallen?

And: Kilgallen's husband, I've read, killed himself in 1970. Any connection?

Kathy

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  • 1 month later...
WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Thank you for posting this article. It is good to know that the case is still alive. I think it is the first time the traditional media has identified Ron Pataky as the "Out of Towner" in Lee Israel's book. Some will remember Lee's discussions with me on this forum where she was originally reluctant to confirm this information that I had posted on my website. This information had come from David Herschel who had tracked down Pataky when he was a student studying journalism. He could not get the article published so he posted it on the internet in the 1990s.

Excellent article, but I wish it had also mentioned Dorothy's friend and confidente, who also "committed suicide" I believe two days later. I seem to recall that this woman was alleged to have had Kilgallen's notes on the Kennedy assassination, which of course, were never found. This was all covered in some detail a few years back on the forum.

It was the great Penn Jones who first told the story of Kilgallen's friend who died at the same time as her. It appeared in Forgive My Grief (1967):

Tom Howard knew too much from Ruby and he knew too well how the Dallas power structure and Police Department worked. Howard had to die.

At the Ruby trial in Dallas during March of 1964, Dorothy Kilgallen had a private interview during one of the noon recesses with Judge Joe B. Brown. This was immediately followed by a thirty minute private interview with Jack Ruby in Judge Brown’s chambers. Even Ruby’s bodyguards were kept outside the Judge’s chambers. Joe Tonahill and others thought the meeting room in the jail was “bugged,” but it is doubtful if the Judge’s own chambers would be bugged. Judges have the power of contempt of court for such irregularities.

This then, was the second person Ruby had talked to who could know for whom Ruby was acting; therefore Miss Kilgallen had to be silenced along with Tom Howard.

Shortly before her death, Miss Kilgallen told a friend in New York that she was going to New Orleans in 5 days and break the case wide open. Miss Kilgallen 52, died November 8, 1965, under questionable circumstances in her New York home. Eight days after her death, a ruling was made that she died of barbiturates and drink with no quantities of either ingredient being given.

Also strangely, Miss Kilgallen’s close friend, Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith, died two days after Miss Kilgallen. Mrs. Smith’s autopsy read that the cause of death was unknown.

Many skeptical newsmen have asked: “If Miss Kilgallen knew anything, surely as a journalist wouldn’t she have left some notes?” This is a legitimate question. Possibly Mrs. Smith was the trusted friend with the notes. No one will ever know now.

Unfortunately, Penn Jones, was unable to find out who Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith was. Her name was Florence Smith, the wife of the ambassador to Cuba when Castro seized power. Professionally, she always used the name Florence Pritchett. Penn Jones would have been fascinated by the fact that Florence Pritchett had been having an affair with John Kennedy since 1943 and was still going on at the time of his death. It was Florence who introduced Dorothy to JFK. Florence was also one of her important sources on JFK. Kilgallen was also well informed about Cuba (she was the first journalist to break the story that the CIA and the Mafia were working together in a plot against Castro).

It is indeed puzzling that Sarah Jordan does not mention Florence Pritchett in her article. She clearly knows about the story as she must have visited my web pages on Dorothy Kilgallen (it is number one at Google when you type in her name). She also has visited this forum because she quotes Lee Israel's online statement about Ron Pataky that appeared on the forum on 20th December, 2005.

John Simkin: Does Florence Pritchett’s son object to his mother being named as the long-time mistress of JFK or by the suggestion that she might have been one of Kilgallen’s sources?

Lee Israel: Yes. He says his mother lay dying of leukemia for months so she couldn't have been Kilgallen's source on anything but side effects of medication that was scarcely available then.

John Simkin: In your book you do not mention that Pritchett was JFK’s mistress. Is that because you did not know or was it a case of you protecting her privacy?

Lee Israel: It was totally irrelevant. I didn't drop the name Judith Campbell Exner, either.

John Simkin: You do not mention that Pritchett was married to Earl E. T. Smith, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba (1957-59). Did you know that at the time you wrote the book? Is it not possible that Pritchett passed on information to Kilgallen as a result of her relationship with her husband and JFK?

Lee Israel: Yes, I did know that. I also knew that when Kilgallen visited New Orleans and Dallas, the poor ambassador was preoccupied with his dying wife.

John Simkin: In your book you make a lot of Kilgallen’s relationship with the man you call the "Out-of-Towner". In fact, you imply that he was in some way involved in her death. Is it correct that the man’s name is really Ron Pataky?

Lee Israel: Yes.

John Simkin: Did you find any evidence that Ron Pataky was working for the CIA?

Lee Israel: No. Only that he dropped out of Stanford in 1954 and then enrolled in a training school for assassins in Panama or thereabouts.

John Simkin: Do you believe that Ron Pataky murdered Dorothy Kilgallen?

Lee Israel: He had something to do with it

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKkilgallen.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsmithF.htm

I just want to say: Be wary of Penn Jones. He would get dates wrong, etc, and this served to make the subjects he "researched" trivial. For instance, he couldn't get the name of this woman, Smith. How did he find out about her and did he exaggerate too? A lot op people have such awe regarding Penn Jones, Jr. I've yet to see why.

Also, how old was Ron Pataki when he was going out with Kilgallen?

And: Kilgallen's husband, I've read, killed himself in 1970. Any connection?

Kathy

Ron Pataky was born May 21, 1935. Dorothy Kilgallen was born July 3, 1913.

No, there was no connection between Kilgallen's husband's death and the conspiracy. His name was Richard Kollmar, and he died on January 7, 1971 of a massive drug overdose two days after fracturing his shoulder. He suffered emotionally from living in Kilgallen's shadow for the 25 years of their marriage. You can see that on the kinescope of Edward R. Murrow interviewing the couple on CBS television's Person To Person on January 20, 1956. You also can see Kollmar suffering on four episodes of What's My Line?.

In 1967, a year and seven months after Kilgallen died, Kollmar married a famous American fashion designer named Anne Fogarty. If he married her thinking he could start a new career for himself, he was wrong. He tried to start an antiques business, but it failed. Anne Fogarty became even more famous in 1968, 1969, 1970 as secretaries, schoolteachers and mothers wore the latest Fogarty dresses to stave off the new trend of women's slacks and hippie garb. Now Richard Kollmar was living in the second wife's shadow. He became a lost man. This comes from an ophthalmologist who rented office space from Richard and Anne during this period. The doctor says Anne did all the talking when they discussed landlord / tenant issues. The doctor adds that Kollmar spent most of his time boozing at the Madison Avenue Cafe at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 69th Street. It is no longer there.

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  • 4 months later...
WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN?

By Sara Jordan

Midwest Today Magazine, October 21, 2007

Thank you for posting this article. It is good to know that the case is still alive. I think it is the first time the traditional media has identified Ron Pataky as the "Out of Towner" in Lee Israel's book. Some will remember Lee's discussions with me on this forum where she was originally reluctant to confirm this information that I had posted on my website. This information had come from David Herschel who had tracked down Pataky when he was a student studying journalism. He could not get the article published so he posted it on the internet in the 1990s.

Excellent article, but I wish it had also mentioned Dorothy's friend and confidente, who also "committed suicide" I believe two days later. I seem to recall that this woman was alleged to have had Kilgallen's notes on the Kennedy assassination, which of course, were never found. This was all covered in some detail a few years back on the forum.

It was the great Penn Jones who first told the story of Kilgallen's friend who died at the same time as her. It appeared in Forgive My Grief (1967):

Tom Howard knew too much from Ruby and he knew too well how the Dallas power structure and Police Department worked. Howard had to die.

At the Ruby trial in Dallas during March of 1964, Dorothy Kilgallen had a private interview during one of the noon recesses with Judge Joe B. Brown. This was immediately followed by a thirty minute private interview with Jack Ruby in Judge Brown’s chambers. Even Ruby’s bodyguards were kept outside the Judge’s chambers. Joe Tonahill and others thought the meeting room in the jail was “bugged,” but it is doubtful if the Judge’s own chambers would be bugged. Judges have the power of contempt of court for such irregularities.

This then, was the second person Ruby had talked to who could know for whom Ruby was acting; therefore Miss Kilgallen had to be silenced along with Tom Howard.

Shortly before her death, Miss Kilgallen told a friend in New York that she was going to New Orleans in 5 days and break the case wide open. Miss Kilgallen 52, died November 8, 1965, under questionable circumstances in her New York home. Eight days after her death, a ruling was made that she died of barbiturates and drink with no quantities of either ingredient being given.

Also strangely, Miss Kilgallen’s close friend, Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith, died two days after Miss Kilgallen. Mrs. Smith’s autopsy read that the cause of death was unknown.

Many skeptical newsmen have asked: “If Miss Kilgallen knew anything, surely as a journalist wouldn’t she have left some notes?” This is a legitimate question. Possibly Mrs. Smith was the trusted friend with the notes. No one will ever know now.

Unfortunately, Penn Jones, was unable to find out who Mrs. Earl E.T. Smith was. Her name was Florence Smith, the wife of the ambassador to Cuba when Castro seized power. Professionally, she always used the name Florence Pritchett. Penn Jones would have been fascinated by the fact that Florence Pritchett had been having an affair with John Kennedy since 1943 and was still going on at the time of his death. It was Florence who introduced Dorothy to JFK. Florence was also one of her important sources on JFK. Kilgallen was also well informed about Cuba (she was the first journalist to break the story that the CIA and the Mafia were working together in a plot against Castro).

It is indeed puzzling that Sarah Jordan does not mention Florence Pritchett in her article. She clearly knows about the story as she must have visited my web pages on Dorothy Kilgallen (it is number one at Google when you type in her name). She also has visited this forum because she quotes Lee Israel's online statement about Ron Pataky that appeared on the forum on 20th December, 2005.

John Simkin: Does Florence Pritchett’s son object to his mother being named as the long-time mistress of JFK or by the suggestion that she might have been one of Kilgallen’s sources?

Lee Israel: Yes. He says his mother lay dying of leukemia for months so she couldn't have been Kilgallen's source on anything but side effects of medication that was scarcely available then.

John Simkin: In your book you do not mention that Pritchett was JFK’s mistress. Is that because you did not know or was it a case of you protecting her privacy?

Lee Israel: It was totally irrelevant. I didn't drop the name Judith Campbell Exner, either.

John Simkin: You do not mention that Pritchett was married to Earl E. T. Smith, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba (1957-59). Did you know that at the time you wrote the book? Is it not possible that Pritchett passed on information to Kilgallen as a result of her relationship with her husband and JFK?

Lee Israel: Yes, I did know that. I also knew that when Kilgallen visited New Orleans and Dallas, the poor ambassador was preoccupied with his dying wife.

John Simkin: In your book you make a lot of Kilgallen’s relationship with the man you call the "Out-of-Towner". In fact, you imply that he was in some way involved in her death. Is it correct that the man’s name is really Ron Pataky?

Lee Israel: Yes.

John Simkin: Did you find any evidence that Ron Pataky was working for the CIA?

Lee Israel: No. Only that he dropped out of Stanford in 1954 and then enrolled in a training school for assassins in Panama or thereabouts.

John Simkin: Do you believe that Ron Pataky murdered Dorothy Kilgallen?

Lee Israel: He had something to do with it

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKkilgallen.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsmithF.htm

I just want to say: Be wary of Penn Jones. He would get dates wrong, etc, and this served to make the subjects he "researched" trivial. For instance, he couldn't get the name of this woman, Smith. How did he find out about her and did he exaggerate too? A lot op people have such awe regarding Penn Jones, Jr. I've yet to see why.

Also, how old was Ron Pataki when he was going out with Kilgallen?

And: Kilgallen's husband, I've read, killed himself in 1970. Any connection?

Kathy

Ron Pataky was born May 21, 1935. Dorothy Kilgallen was born July 3, 1913.

No, there was no connection between Kilgallen's husband's death and the conspiracy. His name was Richard Kollmar, and he died on January 7, 1971 of a massive drug overdose two days after fracturing his shoulder. He suffered emotionally from living in Kilgallen's shadow for the 25 years of their marriage. You can see that on the kinescope of Edward R. Murrow interviewing the couple on CBS television's Person To Person on January 20, 1956. You also can see Kollmar suffering on four episodes of What's My Line?.

In 1967, a year and seven months after Kilgallen died, Kollmar married a famous American fashion designer named Anne Fogarty. If he married her thinking he could start a new career for himself, he was wrong. He tried to start an antiques business, but it failed. Anne Fogarty became even more famous in 1968, 1969, 1970 as secretaries, schoolteachers and mothers wore the latest Fogarty dresses to stave off the new trend of women's slacks and hippie garb. Now Richard Kollmar was living in the second wife's shadow. He became a lost man. This comes from an ophthalmologist who rented office space from Richard and Anne during this period. The doctor says Anne did all the talking when they discussed landlord / tenant issues. The doctor adds that Kollmar spent most of his time boozing at the Madison Avenue Cafe at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 69th Street. It is no longer there.

I must profess, a little bit of ignorance regarding the fact that it was only recently that I discovered Dorothy Kilgallen's book Murder One was actually released. I had always been under the mistaken impression that the book was never released due to her tragic death.

Murder One

By Dorothy Kilgallen

Published by Random House, 1967

304 pages

The title refers to the toughest rap in murder cases and the author is the late TV panelist, radio chatter, purveyor of gossip via syndicated column, and Hearst reporter, who, like a perfumed vulture, descended on sensational murder ... more » trials across the country for over a quarter of a century. Miss Kilgallen may have been a Hearstling but her style was strictly Daily Newsy; to equal parts of murder and mayhem add a double portion of sex, flavor with leaden innuendo and cover the intellectual gap with big pieces of the trial record. Two of the cases covered here in the retrospective completed before her death are from the era when Hearst gave Kilgallen star billing at trials along with the defendants--the Finch-Tregoff case, where the doctor and his receptionist thoroughly bungled the murder of the doctor's wife, and the Sheppard case, wherein the Cleveland osteopath was sentenced for the murder of his wife. (According to the author's foreword and a publisher's note, this book was held up until after the Sheppard appeal. D. K. supplied Dr. Sam's lawyer with an affidavit that questioned the impartiality of the presiding judge at his first trial.) Four other cases are dismal dredgings of the '30's. Miss Kilgallen never achieved more than the gossip level in these reports and her lip-smacking approval of the death penalty whenever it was rendered jolts like the chair. The reader-potential, however, is up there around the circulation of the Daily News--biggest in the country. « less

Kirkus Reviews Copyright © VNU Business Media, Inc.

http://books.google.com/books?id=2pz5GAAAC...rothy+Kilgallen

As a child I watched What's My Line, and was fascinated by not only the concept of the show, but the very classy manner in which Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis and Dorothy carried themselves.....

I am sickened by the fact that the media references facts about her death, as "those rumors about the Kennedy Assassination."

The review above, is just one persons opinion, Ernest Hemingway considered Dorothy as one of the greatest journalists in the United States, and if America was the country it should be there would be something called The Dorothy Kilgallen Courage Award, to be awarded to journalists who break the facade of official versions of history......

Bennett Cerf, also had an interesting life, in his own right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Cerf

The URL below provides some very interesting comments regarding Dorothy and her life

http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/show/5501/...41453/msgs.html

If anyone has a copy of Murder One it would be interesting to know if there is anything in it that references the JFK Assassination, Dallas, Texas and/or Jack Ruby........

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  • 2 months later...

quote name='Robert Howard' date='Aug 20 2008, 05:27 AM' post='153108']

[quote name=Kathleen Collins'

If anyone has a copy of Murder One it would be interesting to know if there is anything in it that references the JFK Assassination, Dallas, Texas and/or Jack Ruby........

No, Mr. Howard, Murder One does not refer to JFK, Oswald, Ruby or the assassination at all. Your local library might have it. Ebay sometimes sells a copy. Amazon.com is tougher. I have read it. Published in 1967, two years after she died, the most recent case in it is Sam Sheppard. It includes news from 1966 about him getting a second trial.

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Sorry that I never got around to thanking you for the information, I did indeed, check with my local library but with no luck. But I was able to find out some additional information, regarding Dorothy Kilgallen at a website listed below....Rather interesting I thought.

Here is their Dorothy Kilgallen biography.....

http://www.tv.com/dorothy-kilgallen/person...p;om_clk=biopph

Married to Richard Kollmar, 3 Children

Father: James "Jim" Lawrence Kilgallen Mother: Mae

Sister: Eleanor

Married: Richard Tomkins Kollmar (Actor) on April 6, 1940

Children: Jill Ellen Elizabeth Kollmar

Richard "Dickie" Tomkins Kollmar II

Kerry Ardan Kollmar

Education: Erasmus Hall High School, Chicago

College of New Rochelle (Sept. 1930) attended one year.

Began work at the Evening-Journal after one year in college. The paper was part of the William Randolph Hearst syndicate. It did not hurt that her father, Jim was an important reporter for the International News Service also owned by Hearst. Covered crime stories for the paper.

In September 1936 took part in a "race around the world" against fellow newsmen Bud Ekins of the World-Telegram and Leo Kieran of the New York Times. Dorothy left at 11pm on the Hindenburg, hoping to make it round in 21 days. During that time she covered her travels with a laptop typewriter. Dorothy made it in a little over 24 days, coming in second to Ekins. This "race" launched her as a celebrity. Every house on her block was decorated with American Flags and her picture. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to congratulate her. Her reports were put together in book form as Girl Around the World. A song was also written about her: "Hats off to Dorothy".

The book was turned into a screenplay entitled "Fly Away Baby". She went to Hollywood with the screenplay and also appeared briefly in MGM "Sinner Take All" in 1936.

In November 1938, Dorothy was moved to another Hearst paper, the New York Journal-American in order to take over the column she would write until her death, "The Voice of Broadway". Here she covered the comings and goings of shows, celebrities, etc. in New York. This column represented the social elite, the famous people, the ones who ate at the fanciest restaurants, saw the greatest shows and cocktailed the night away. Also information she deemed appropriate would be passed to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI in Washington.

800 guests, among them; Thomas Dewey, Tyrone Powers, Ethel Merman and Milton Berle attended her marriage to actor, Richard Kollmar in 1940. "Reuben's Restaurant" in New York named a sandwich after her. The Dorothy Kilgallen was $1.10.

In April 1945 WOR Radio brought Dorothy and her husband on board to do a daily morning radio show. "Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick" aired live Monday through Saturday from 8.15am until 8.55am. The show was prerecorded for Sunday's broadcast from 11.30am till Noon. The show was live from their own apartment dining room. Here they would discuss news items, have coffee, talk with the children and mention shows or performers in the area.

February of 1950 saw the beginning of one of TV's longest running shows, "What's My Line?" The first episode featured John Daly as the host and a panel consisting of: Dorothy, Louis Untermeyer (who later left the show because of rumored Communist connections), Harold Hoffman, and Dr. Richard Hoffman.

In 1953, Dorothy covered the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II for Hearst. Dorothy also reported on the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder trial (on which The Fugitive is based).

In 1956, at the age of 43 she began an affair with singer Johnnie Ray, age 29.

Jack Ruby requested Dorothy for an interview; there she began her file on the President Kennedy assassination. She wrote several articles on the murder and pointed out inconsistencies about the whole affair.

Dorothy was last seen alive at 1am. She was found around noon, sitting up in bed dead. The large file she had accumulated (and was planning a book on) was not found in her apartment. Officially she died of an overdose. The conspiracy theorist in me says it was something else. Apparently, Dorothy had something of importance in that file.

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No, Mr. Howard, Murder One does not refer to JFK, Oswald, Ruby or the assassination at all. Your local library might have it. Ebay sometimes sells a copy. Amazon.com is tougher. I have read it. Published in 1967, two years after she died, the most recent case in it is Sam Sheppard. It includes news from 1966 about him getting a second trial.

The part of the manuscript that dealt with the JFK assassination was never found. It seems the murderer took it with him. Dorothy Kilgallen had financial problems at the time and was expecting the material on the JFK assassination to make it a bestseller.

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