Confidential was a magazine published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953 and then bi-monthly until it ceased publication in 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip and exposé journalism.
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The first Confidential issue was dated December (released November) 1952 under the caption "The Lid Is Off!" Its circulation was 250,000 copies.[9] But when the breakup of Marilyn Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio was reported in the August 1953 issue ("Why Joe DiMaggio Is Striking Out with Marilyn Monroe!"), the circulation jumped to 800,000. The quarterly magazine then became bimonthly and was the fastest growing magazine in the United States at the time. Harrison would claim its circulation reached four million, and because every copy was estimated to be read by ten persons, it might have reached a fifth of the US population.
Contrary to the popular legend that the magazine double-checked its facts before publishing its articles, as well as being vetted by Confidential's lawyers as "suit-proof," the later 1957 court case would show otherwise.[28] Despite spending over $100,000 a year having a Manhattan law firm, "Becker, Ross, and Stone to vet each story,"[29] Harrison would still ignore the lawyers' warnings, as in the case of the article on Maureen O'Hara. But Harrison had further safeguards in place. In addition to articles being vetted by lawyers and sworn affidavits or photographic/audio proof of claims, Harrison compartmentalized both the printing and distribution channels. Though the editorial content was prepared in the New York offices, the magazine itself was printed in Chicago by an independent contractor (Kable Publishing of Mount Morris, Illinois).[30] The copies were sold before they came off the presses and neither Confidential Inc. nor the printer had any corporate connection to the chain of "distributors, wholesalers and retailers that provided Confidential to all those people who claimed they only read it at the beauty parlor or the barbershop."[31]
Harrison soon started making approximately $500,000 per issue. By 1955, Confidential had reached a circulation of five million copies per issue with larger sales than Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal, Look, The Saturday Evening Post or Collier's.[17] That year Harrison shut down all his men's magazines except Beauty Parade and Whisper. Beauty Parade would cease the next year and Whisper would continue as Confidential's sister publication, which recycled variants of Confidential's stories.
The five corporations listed in the indictments were Confidential Inc., Whisper Inc., Publishers Distributing Corp. of New York, Kable Publishing Inc. of Illinois and Hollywood Research Inc. of Los Angeles. But the magazines and main distributor were ensconced in New York state, and New York refused to let Brown extradite Harrison and the others to California. Illinois also refused to cooperate with the Attorney General. Brown eventually put Marjorie and Fred Meade on trial.
Rushmore, now the state's star witness, testified that the magazine knowingly published unverified allegations, despite the magazine's reputation for double-checking facts:[73] "Some of the stories are true and some have nothing to back them up at all. Harrison many times overruled his libel attorneys and went ahead on something." According to Rushmore, Harrison told the attorneys, "I'd go out of business if I printed the kind of stuff you guys want."[74] Rushmore even fingered Aline Mosby, who was in the press galleries covering the trial for the newspaper wire service called United Press. It was revealed that Mosby wrote more than 24 stories for Confidential. United Press replaced the disgraced Mosby with another reporter.[75]
But the Hollywood informant network was in a shambles, mainly due to Howard Rushmore's courtroom revelations. Characteristically of Harrison, he bore no ill will toward Rushmore, who by 1957 was reduced to writing occasional articles on hunting for outdoors magazines.[91] In December 1957, Rushmore chased his wife Frances and teenaged step-daughter Lynn out of their Manhattan home with a shotgun. While Frances was under psychiatric care since the East River incident, Howard himself was now under psychiatric care.
The once biggest-selling magazine in the United States plunged to a circulation of 200,000, smaller than its December 1952 début. The rights to Whisper and Confidential were sold off in May 1958[94] for $25,000.[90] The buyer, Hy Steirman, further toned down the content of both magazines. But Harrison remained in publishing. In 1963 he started a much smaller magazine called Inside News (in which he authored "Who Really Killed Howard Rushmore?"), as well as one-shot publications like New York Confidential. Harrison continued to live in New York City during the next two decades under an assumed name, while plotting a comeback.[95] But lacking the financial pressures that drove Harrison to create his previous magazines, he was essentially retired, living his remaining years at "the Delmonico Hotel, at 59th Street and Park Avenue."[29] Robert Harrison died in 1978 with his long-time mistress, Regi Ruta, at his side; that same year Confidential was shut down.[4]
Film historians usually assume that Confidential inspired the name of James Ellroy's novel L.A. Confidential,[119][120][121] although the magazine that is portrayed in the story is Hush-Hush. The novel became the basis of the film of the same name.
Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. A lifelong PC builder, he currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice. "}; var triggerHydrate = function() window.sliceComponents.authorBio.hydrate(data, componentContainer); var triggerScriptLoadThenHydrate = function() var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = ' -8-2/authorBio.js'; script.async = true; script.id = 'vanilla-slice-authorBio-component-script'; script.onload = () => window.sliceComponents.authorBio = authorBio; triggerHydrate(); ; document.head.append(script); if (window.lazyObserveElement) window.lazyObserveElement(componentContainer, triggerScriptLoadThenHydrate); else triggerHydrate(); } }).catch(err => console.log('Hydration Script has failed for authorBio Slice', err)); }).catch(err => console.log('Externals script failed to load', err));Alex WawroSocial Links NavigationAlex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. A lifelong PC builder, he currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (May 27, 2011) - Recent graduate Lindsay Sceats was featured in the latest issue of Sidelines magazine. A copy of article can be viewed by clicking here. It can be read in its entirety below.
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