DOROTHY KILGALLEN's AFFAIR IS ALL THE GOSSIP IN NEW YORK : EXALTED LOVE OR JUST ONE MORE FOR JOHNNIE?

More notes and excerpts:
 
"Their relationship, whether locked away in Johnnie's bedroom or sharing a table at The Colony or the Plaza, was extremely physical. One evening at El Morocco, Johnnie was seen to remove Dorothy's shoe and his her foot..." (page 226)

"When Johnnie turned 30 in 1957, Dorothy spent days arranging a "Progressive Party," with reservations for dozens of guests at seven different clubs and restaurants... (page 226)

"She had the bus decorated, and everyone was served cocktails between stops.  The first course was served at the Colony, the second at Le Pavillon, and then the St. Regis, only the best...  "And at every spot, there were place cards that she had gone over and arranged that day, so you would be sitting next to a different person at every place we went to... (page 227)

"The delicacy of carrying on the affair was a complex matter of masquerade and reliance on high society's basically hypocritical amoralism and strictly nominal discretion.  The only aspect of the subterfuge that bothered Dorothy was reconciling it with her faith's restrictive dogma. No problem, with Johnnie in on it.  "We came to terms with the Catholic problem, he said, "Once we decided to ahve some kind of commitment, it resolved itself, though it didn't resolve itself in terms of her mother finding out." 

(page 227)

Sadly, while continuing to perform at the hottest clubs in the country, Johnnie also had surgery to repair his long-damaged hearing.  The surgery was a total failure, making him even more deaf, but was promoted as a success, and he went on without a hearing aid and fooled the public. (But what a horror that had to be!)  Johnnie persevered.

The couple did have friends who acted to keep the affair discreet but as the two of them drank to excess, they began to be less careful.  Was it an unashamed display of love and passion or the alcohol? One friend said he saw them both passed out in a doorway...  Yet, Dorothy Kilgallen was also known for her professionalism, for showing up ready to work and doing a great job. So, one wonders, did she work with terrible hang-overs or were the stories of their drinking exaggerated?

As Johnnie aged, his management sought to find ways to invest and preserve his money, Johnnie also honored his professional commitments. His relationship with Dorothy may have been what preserved him in his personal life.

"This chicanery was primarily wool to mask Kollmar's bloodshot eyes.  The situation, however, was not that simple -- Dorothy did her fair share of looking the other , and ignoring Johnnie's "With Love From Your Little Man" ID bracelet was the least of her worries. Throughout their affair, Johnnie had several concurrent male lovers, a number of whom actually shared the 63rd Street apartment (his place) with him. (page 246)

Dorothy's heath began to fail, it is supposed because of the alcohol, and she was hospitalized or had to take time out of her work more than once. These hospitalizations may have been rehabs or nervous breakdowns. Johnnie's physical and mental health were also jeopardized and he began to look a bit skeletal.  He was being pulled in several directions.

She had thought Johnnie needed new management and had a number of suggestions that were meant to be helpful. New management came with Bill Franklin, who then became Johnnie's lover.

"They fell for each other hard, initiating what became the most intense and long-lived relationship with another man Johnnie ever undertook.  The situation was strange.  Slipping around behind Dorothy's back was not so extraordinary; doing so as she recovered from a breakdown caused by Johnnie's refusal to commit was rather unsavory," (page 291-292)

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All RIghts Reserved including Internet and International Rights.

CLARK GABLE SUGGESTS THAT NELSON EDDY BUY GENE RAYMOND OFF - NELSON TRIES ONCE MORE FOR JEANETTE

Commentary by Missy (notice my notes!) :

When Jeanette MacDonald would not call off her wedding to Gene Raymond, a marriage that Louis B. Mayer expected of her, Nelson Eddy and the famous actor Clark Gable became drinking buddies.  The two sometimes went missing for a couple days.  Nelson's mother Isabel Eddy was called in to control him.

To think that these two stars in 1936 were in their early thirties and the studio had their mothers controlling them like they were teenagers!  (They would also call in Gene Norman's mother!)

Filming scenes in which they had to sing romantic and heartbreaking songs almost Jeanette and Nelson in.  They could not pull it off without crying and were eventually threatened with pay suspensions if they didn't stop the crying and get the scene right. The scene used in the film, 'Maytime,' is the result of many takes and many edits.

This image is from 1937 per Wikipedia

Excerpt: Page 173  On filming 'Maytime.'

The "Will You Remember? (Sweetheart) number was a nightmare to film.  Nelson, resigned at last to losing Jeanette forever, could not sing and look at her without crying.  ....

As the year 1936 drew to a close, Nelson made another attempt to get Jeanette back.  He'd never forgotten Clark Gable's brilliant idea about 'buying Gene off. So one Sunday, he impulsively called his banker, and insisted on meeting him to pick up a suitcase of cash - all the money he could get his hands on immediately. Nelson went to see Raymond and offered him $250,000 not to go through with the wedding. (That's in 1936 dollars, According to the U.S. Inflation Calculator in 2022 it would be $5,170,935.25!) To his amazement, Gene agreed. Some funds exchanged hands, with the condition that the rest would be paid after an official announcement came from the studio that the marriage was off.

(Gene returned the money saying that because of Mayer the wedding could not be called off.)

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved Including Internet and International Rights

A RUSSIAN WOMAN WHO WAS RAPED MARRIED AN AMERICAN WHO WENT TO PRISON FOR ABUSING HER

CHAPTER : IT'S NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

UNNAMED WOMAN from Sevastopol, Russia, a Black Sea port.  She came to the United States and married a man who abused her and who she escaped from.  He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Page 240)  SHATTERED DREAMS BROKEN PROMISES is C 2007 Michael Viner Phoenix Books

"Most mothers were very careful not to let their daughters out of their sights.  We were counseled to never get in any man's car even if the ride was offered during a rainstorm or heavy snowfall.  Gradually, as a couple years passed, after school, my girlfriends started talking about sexual experiences.  They told frightening stories of being raped by men, all sorts of men: clerks at the grocery store, teachers after class, truck drivers along the highway, a group of boys out for a joyride in their parent's car.  The stories were plentiful and awful. More than a third of the girls grew up with this shared fate.

There was no one to complain to.  When a girl tried to report anything, she was ridiculed by the police and usually blamed for having provoked the situation.  In fact, for some off us, this came to be considered a rite of passage.  Almost all of us were raised by our moms with little or no help from our fathers, who usually traded in a wife every ten years or less for a newer, younger model.  In a country where the woman outnumbered the men fifty-five to forty-five percent, there was little choice for the women,.  And Soviet women outlive their male counterparts by an average of twenty years, so most women spend their later years without anyone to chop the wood..."

Page 253)

"It happened that Mark, although American, didn't know the immigration laws of his own country.  He had threatened me.  After I improved, the hospital sent me to a shelter for homeless people.  They gave me a place to sleep and food to eat.  Half the women in the shelter like me, all victims of domestic violence...  It was important for me to be among people who understood me and cared.  I was a zombie.  I couldn't think about anything.  I felt nothing.  It was just very comfortable and secure with all those strong women.  They tried to help me very much.  They were kind to me... The Office of Immigration and Naturalization drew up papers under the battered' wife's law, which allowed me to remain in the country and to apply for immigration papers without an American husband.... Recently, my free government lawyer filed an application Form I-360 for me.  It gives me the right to get a green card because I was a victim of domestic violence.  We attached a copy of the police report, the medical records, and a psychological evaluation from the Women's Center of Albany."  ..."

THE MOB

DECLARATION FOR MISTRESSES - Acceptance of What Is

"I will get out of mistressing if I'm becoming bitter."  

How do you know you're bitter?

Do your best friends (the friends who want you to be happy and as a result have not abandoned you when they found out you were mistressing) mention to you that you sound bitter?

Do you attend a wedding and feel sorry for yourself?

Do you know you're no longer in love or know that you're putting up with a relationship because you don't think you can do any better?


Think about it.


Bitterness is a killer.