◆ SpookStack

| |! | 7 | i as paid $150 by Hollywood esearch, Inc., Confidential’s ‘local listening post, he said. But, he added, the result- ant article, “Open Letter to Sonny Tufts,” contained “a lot of things I never knew about Sonny.” Jerry McCarthy, Los An- geles newspaperman, said he was contacted by Harrison to check out a story that Joan Crawford “was mean to her children.” But, McCarthy said, he found no truth to the allegation and quit cold ‘‘be- cause I was getting a little sick of the whole thing.” Former Boy Friends It was Howard Rushmore, former editor of Confidential, , who brought in the names of Kim Novak and Anita Ek- berg. In both cases, he said, former boy friends sold sto- ries which alleged indiscre-|. tions. Rushmore said he learned at the Confidential office that it was Private Detective Fred Otash who supplied details of his asserted earlier ro- mance with Miss Ekberg. ' And, said Rushmore, a i male actor got $750 from Mar- ' jorie Meade of Hollywood Re- search for the article about Kim Novak. “He wanted to!— be known as one of Novak’s early lovers,” N of the u ing wil) that his picture was to be used in the layout.” That story was _ titled, “Kiss and Tell,” he said. Wrong-Door Raid Rushmore said it was Pri- vate Detective Barney Rudit- sky who supplied missing de- tails of the famous wrong- door raid involving Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe after one of Ruditsky’s operatives appar- ently sold the original infor- mation. Following that, Rushmore said, Ruditsky returned to Hollywood and subsequently sold Confidential information about Mickey Rooney and Bandleader Charlie Barnet. He said Ruditsky worked through Marjorie Meade, ziniece of Harrison, and her husband Fred. Rushmore said Francesca de Seaffa, ex-wife of Actor Bruce Cabot and now in Mex- ico, . Supplied 90% of our Hollywood material over a two-year period.” Resulted in Lawsuits Three stories she turned in, he told the jury, resulted in lawsuits—Robert Mitch- um, Errol Flynn and Doris Duke. When questioned by Confidential’s attorneys id Rushmore, Miss De Scaffa ad- said Rushmore, and-. itranscript, ‘|Francesca—wha has twice at- Marjorie . . . was/mitted she wasn’t certain of her facts. Rushmore, according to the estimated that tempted suicide in Mexico City since her indictment-— made “$30,000 to $40,000 from Confidential.” Fired Ronnie Quillan He testified that he fired Ronnie Quillan as a source when she offered him a story that “nauseated” him. He said he was sent to Los Angeles by Harrison to set up a West Coast bureau and that he hired Columnist Florabelle Muir and her hus- band, Denny Morrison. But, he remembered, their articles “were too well docu- mented.” Harrison did not like their stuff. Also Got Fired “He bawled me out. He said, ‘You-went out there and spent a lot of money and came up with... a couple of people that are writing sto- ries that the Dail¥ News or would use!’” Rushmore said Harrison fired Miss Muir and her hus-! band after three months. | Rushmore said that when he told- Harrison he didn't, trust the sort of informant) who would sell information, about former girl friends,! Harrison retorted, “That is. the kind of stuff we need!” | Walter Winchell, Rush-; more testified, had no finan-: cial interest in Confidential,’ but gave it several boosts “be- cause Harrison was shrewd! enough to defend Winchell! against the left-wingers and! pro-Communists who at-| tacked him,” Of the 11 persons and five] corporations indicted by the grand jury as a result of the) testimony, only the Meades have surrendered on bench| jwarrants to date. (rou! the New Yors-TTires