Dorothy Kilgallen Quotes

I am not a grammarian. Maybe my style is eccentric.

Justice is a big rug. When you pull it out from under one man, a lot of others fall too.

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Because she had not only observed him up close at trial on a daily basis but interviewed him twice providing great insight into Oswald’s killer. In addition, Kilgallen could check not only his background but investigate discrepancies in statements he made to the Warren Commission since she was the first reporter to read them, and since Ruby was still alive, the potential existed to interview him again. This strategy was unique, far afield from that conducted by any reporter or investigative body consumed with targeting Oswald as the key to unlocking the mysteries of the JFK assassination when Kilgallen believed he was not. In addition, after interviewing Ruby twice, Kilgallen had gained a soft spot for his plight, some sympathy for the man who shot Oswald. Whatever she heard during the twin interviews caused her to wonder if Ruby was a patsy, used and then discarded. Recall what she wrote after the second interview: “I went out into the almost empty lunchroom corridor wondering what I really believed about this man.” Kilgallen’s actions while pursuing the investigation indicated she had taken on the task of defending Ruby herself. She was standing up for him, demanding justice, becoming his paladin. She wondered if he had fair treatment, if his constitutional rights to a fair trial were honored. Armed with this mindset, Kilgallen was in fighting mode determined to leave no avenue of interest unturned. Kilgallen’s siding with Ruby’s defense team at his trial evidenced proof of Kilgallen’s focus on Ruby. She also attempted to aid the defense by securing more information from the FBI about Oswald. Then Kilgallen exposed only Ruby’s testimony at the Warren Commission before its intended release instead of the thousands of pages of pertinent information about others associated with the assassinations. It also appears likely she flew to New Orleans based

May 19: At 2:00 p.m., Marilyn arrives at Madison Square Garden for a brief rehearsal. She departs to have her hair styled by Kenneth Battelle at a cost of $150. Then she returns to her New York apartment for a $125 makeup session with Marie Irvine. Finally, her maid, Hazel Washington, helps hook Marilyn into her Jean Louis gown, and she arrives at Madison Square Garden approximately three hours before she is to perform. Introduced to an audience of fifteen thousand as the “late Marilyn Monroe” after she delays her entrance (all part of the carefully rehearsed show), Marilyn performs flawlessly as the last of twenty-three entertainers and is clearly the highlight of the evening. Columnist Dorothy Kilgallen describes Marilyn as “making love to the president of the United States.” Marilyn also attends a party at the home of Arthur Krim, president of United Artists. She is photographed in a group of Kennedy supporters watching Diahann Carroll sing. To her right is Maria Callas and Arthur Miller’s father, Isidore. She is also photographed with both Robert and John Kennedy, as well as presidential advisor Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Schlesinger and Robert Kennedy playfully compete to dance with Marilyn. Contrary to sensationalistic reports, Marilyn spends the rest of the evening in her New York apartment with her friend Ralph Roberts and James Haspiel, one of her devoted fans.

Cuban dissidents, and President Lyndon Johnson) are suspects.

January 15: Fox holds a press party for Yves Montand, who has been cast (at Arthur Miller’s suggestion) to replace Gregory Peck in Let’s Make Love. Marilyn seems in better health and ready to work. Group photographs are taken of Miller, Simone Signoret (Montand’s wife), Montand, Marilyn, and Frankie Vaughan, a popular British singer, and Milton Berle, who also appears in Let’s Make Love. Marilyn is photographed with producer Buddy Adler, gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, and director George Cukor. Marilyn and Miller join Montand and Signoret for dinner. The couples occupy adjoining bungalows in the Beverly Hills Hotel.

MARILYN MONROE WAS A TOP-BILLED ACTRESS FOR A DECADE, AND her films had grossed $200 million by the time of her death—the equivalent of over $2 billion in 2025 dollars.

James Patterson is a writer of fiction who is like a factory churning out title after title. His 2025 book on Marilyn is billed as a “true crime story.” Huge swaths of invented dialog and numerous fake scenes prove otherwise. Egregiously, the book promulgates the lies of fraudsters like Bob Slatzer and Jeanne Carmen. Despite packing it with obscure details that will impress readers, Patterson and his co-author Imogen Edwards-Jones have indiscriminately swept into their manuscript many false statements. Such as MM was “taking 20 Nembutals a day, downing the capsules with vodka or Champagne;” J. Edgar Hoover’s “suspicion that she is a Communist is confirmed;” there was “a trail of white pills scattered on the carpet” of her bedroom and “15 bottles of...knockout drops.” The authors use a quote from a manuscript by Ben Hecht, which has Marilyn supposedly saying, “Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand.” But MM had her lawyer threaten Hecht if his manuscript—which was “not accurate...not true”—wasn’t withdrawn. Patterson, who is reportedly worth $800 million, will get his massive book sales, but at the expense of Marilyn’s reputation.

ON MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1962, WHEN GEORGE ERENGIS, A 20TH Century-Fox security guard reported for work—as he later revealed—“I went into Marilyn’s dressing room on the Fox lot and it had been cleared out. Nothing, not a trace of her had been left. I was shocked. She had earned that studio a fortune but they didn’t waste any time trying to erase her memory.” All her personal effects had been removed, apparently during the night, probably because someone feared there might be something incriminating there that could link her to the Kennedys.