Dorothy Kilgallen Fans - Use Your Noggin!

[David Yarnell]

Let's clear up some myths about Dorothy Kilgallen.

First, her cameo appearance in a "beach party movie" in 1964 had nothing to do with her digging into the Oswald mystery. The name "Mike Shore" is NOT in the credits of that film. The screenwriter, Louis "Deke" Heyward, told me he gave Kilgallen the part because several years earlier they had had a friendly telephone conversation about a skit he wrote for one of Ernie Kovacs' TV shows broadcast live from New York. The skit made fun of Dorothy and her husband Dick. Dorothy enjoyed it.

Next, Mr. Simkin has attributed statements to Kilgallen's hairdresser Marc Sinclaire without contacting him. If he got the statements from Lee Israel's book, then he is remiss. Look carefully and you'll see that Mr. Sinclaire refused to cooperate with Ms. Israel. Look online and you'll find Mr. Sinclaire's address listed in Tampa, Florida.

Mr. Sinclaire will tell you of the visit that his boss Dorothy made to New Orleans approximately three weeks before she died.

Does anyone here live near Tampa ? If not, how about the following other cities where Kilgallen sources live ?

Columbus, Ohio, longtime home of Ron Pataky "the Out of Towner" John Simkins was right when he said Pataky was a newspaper critic trying to become a songwriter. Johnny Mathis did indeed record the Pataky composition "While Stephanie Sleeps," but it never appeared on an album.

Madisonville, Kentucky ? Longtime home of Katherine Stone Stevens.

In 1965 Ms. Stevens sold dynamite to coal mines and quarries in Kentucky. She was in New York City the night Kilgallen died to appear as a What's My Line contestant. Kilgallen determined what her line was. After everyone left the studio, Ms. Stevens saw Kilgallen very absorbed in conversation with Pataky at the Regenc Hotel. They were NOT drunk. They were discussing "very serious business" in the words of Ms. Stevens.

Anyone near Scottsdale, Arizona ? That's home to ex - cop John Doyle since 1980. Prior to that he operated a tavern / restaurant called Doyle's Terrace near LaGrangeville, New York. Lee Israel devotes two pages to him in the "epilogue" of her book. Lee told me by telephone that Doyle probably was dishonest during their 1977 interview. Consider that he claimed Kilgallen "was not long for this world, the liver being the way it was." Consider that four months after Kilgallen died, Doyle retired from the NYPD without a pension and opened an expensive restaurant in an expensive suburb near Vassar College.


Where do regulars in this group live ? Can anyone travel to these places ?

Edited April 15, 2015 by James R Gordon
deleted : threat of libel

[David Yarnell]

You live in Austin ?

A certain department of the large UT campus has the morgue of the New York Journal American. That's the only Austin connection to Kilgallen.

It's not much of a connection. You can read the Journal American on microfilm more easily than you can fiddle with the newsprint at the morgue.

Newspapers didn't make article indexes in that era. Only the New York Times did. Nobody has ever made a computer index of names that Kilgallen dropped in her column for almost 27 years.

Of course, Austin is a three - hour drive from Dallas. I don't even want to get into the stuff you can find in Dallas.

[John Simkin]

David. Thank you for this very interesting post. I have replied to your points here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2358

[Dawn Meredith]

You live in Austin ?

A certain department of the large UT campus has the morgue of the New York Journal American.  That's the only Austin connection to Kilgallen.

It's not much of a connection.  You can read the Journal American on microfilm more easily than you can fiddle with the newsprint at the morgue.

Newspapers didn't make article indexes in that era.  Only the New York Times did.  Nobody has ever made a computer index of names that Kilgallen dropped in her column for almost 27 years.

Of course, Austin is a three - hour drive from Dallas.  I don't even want to get into the stuff you can find in Dallas.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

_______________________David,

Have you, by chance, made such an index? Would such be it relevant to her life, death and this case?

Ya, Dallas is a city where you could spend a year and still be learning. I don't mean about Dorothy, and am not sure if you do either. Can you drop more hints?

Dawn

[Nic Martin]

Beaumont is a little over 2 hours away from me, maybe once my car gets out of the shop, I'll be able to drive there.

[John Geraghty]

See that is the difference between the States and Ireland, Nic is about the same age as I am yet she can easily get a car and I can't, insurance for me would cost €3,500 at least which is about $4,000.

Beaumont is a little over 2 hours away from me, maybe once my car gets out of the shop, I'll be able to drive there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Wim Dankbaar]

Anyone live near Beaumont, Texas ? Lamar University in said town has a videotape of the late attorney Joe Tonahill talking about his conversations with Dorothy Kilgallen. Tonahill was one of Jack Ruby's lawyers. Several photos exist of him with Melvin Belli. Kilgallen appears in one image as they ascend the staircase inside the Dallas courthouse. (It still exists.)

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I have a friend in Beaumont. What is there to hear on these tapes? Do you know?

Wim