Jimmy Fidler

Jimmie Fidler was an American columnist, journalist and radio and television personality. He wrote a Hollywood gossip column and was sometimes billed as Jimmy Fidler.

Born on August 24, 1898 (selective service and census records confirm this as his birth date, while other sources incorrectly state 1900 and even May 22, 1898) in St. Louis, Missouri, Fidler was a former Hollywood publicist who became a syndicated columnist with his "Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood" column in 187 outlets, including the New York Post and the Los Angeles Times. In 1933-34 his 15-minute NBC radio show, Hollywood on the Air, sponsored by Tangee lipstick, was broadcast from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. He was regarded in Hollywood as a genuine threat to gossip queen Louella Parsons, especially after he scooped her in November 1935 on a major story about Clark Gable, an incident so embarrassing to Parsons that she lied about it in her autobiography.

Fidler interviewed film personalities for the Hollywood segments of Fox Movietone News. Such was Fidler's influence that a negative comment by him could affect the box office drawing power of a star. According to Time, in January 1938 he was sued for libel by Constance Bennett for $250,000 after he reported she snubbed Patsy Kelly on a Hal Roach movie set and that studio workmen bought flowers for Kelly but none for Bennett.

In 1938 Fidler made a short MGM documentary film, Personality Parade, about actors making the change from silent films to talkies. It featured clips of more than 60 performers whose careers began in silent films.

By 1950, Fidler was earning more than $250,000 a year and was heard by 40 million listeners over 486 radio stations. During 1952-53, he hosted the live television drama series, Hollywood Opening Night on NBC.

For his contribution to the radio industry, Fidler has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6128 Hollywood Blvd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Fidler

16mm home movie by Jimmie Fidler and wife Dorothy Lee, 1930:

https://youtu.be/ngxpZhhvRR8

phonograph record of Jimmy Fidler broadcast ca. Feb. 4, 1944:

https://archive.org/details/podcast_grandpas-ipod-grandpas-ipo_jimm...

1954 (short) film of Jimmy Fidler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwQblBO2t1o

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“Gossip Is Still Music to Jimmy Fidler’s Ears”
Jackie Epstein

  Across the nation, families gathered ‘round their radios to hear the latest New York gossip as the staccato, rapid-fire voice of Walter Winchell battered them for 15 minutes. Then for the next 15 minutes, an onslaught of Hollywood gossip hit the air waves as the high-pitched voice of Jimmy Fidler shared glamor-city shenanigans of the stars . . .

   “THIS IS JIMMY FIDLER IN HOLLYWOOD . . . HENRY FONDA FLEW TO New York FOR THE BIRTH OF HIS FIRST DAUGHTER, JANE . . . HOLLYWOOD REPORTERS CHASED A WILD RUMOR THAT HOWARD HUGHES AND KATHARINE HEPBURN WERE SECRETLY MARRIED. THEY WERE NOT . . .”

  Today — 40 years later — 79-year-old Jimmy Fidler is still gossiping about Hollywood.

   Stick-thin, yet vigorous, Fidler sat erect in the white and mirrored living room of the luxurious Studio City townhouse that he shares with wife Kay. He discussed his long, successful and still ongoing career in gossip.

   “To set the record straight,” began Fidler’s familiar, over-the-fence voice, “I’m not retired! Never have been. My taped radio show, ‘Jimmy Fidler in Hollywood,’ airs three times every week.” The firm, lively voice belying his age continued,” I’ll be 80 in August, and as long as I’m around I’ll be doing what I love best — gossiping about Hollywood.

   “Lolly (Louella Parsons) always got credit for being the first Hollywood columnist, but it was me,” Fidler asserted. “I wrote the first column in 1920 for the Hollywood News, a four-page insert in the old Los Angeles Express, then sold the dummies to 17 newspapers for $10 a month. It was in print six or seven years before Lolly ever wrote her first column.”

   Fidler is a man of many Hollywood firsts: the first syndicated column, first radio interview, first talk show, first (and only) radio interview with Greta Garbo, first taped radio show . . .

           —

    Born in St. Louis, James Marion Fidler began his love affair with Hollywood while a marine during World War I.  Many viewings of films while in the service helped him decide he could act as well as “those guys up there on the screen” and he took off for Hollywood when he was discharged.

    After a hungry year of two jobs as an extra, he faced the truth, he couldn’t act. But he had a gift of gab, terrific imagination, a hunger for success, tenacity and energy. He went to work for Sid Grauman of Grauman Theaters, promoting Sunday afternoon concerts, then became motion picture editor of the Hollywood News where he wrote his first gossip column.

     Shortly after he became city editor of the News, a series of Hollywood scandals broke involved several of film land’s biggest stars: Fatty Arbuckle (girl found dead in bathtub during one of his parties); Mabel Normand (suspect in triangle murder case); Wallace Reid (accused of taking dope). Seeing his chance to increase circulation, Fidler initiated a “clean up Hollywood” campaign, writing scathing articles demanding that the studios fire scandalous stars.

   Readers here loved it. Circulation increased 10,000 in two months. But outside Hollywood, readers reacted differently. All 17 newspapers dropped his column. The reason: Hollywood was too dirty. Fidler continued his campaign and attacks. Studio heads were enraged as his shots struck their money-making properties. They tried legal measures to quiet him — and failed. They knew bribery was out because he was too moral, so they appealed to his vanity. He was 24 years old — and it worked.

   Famous Players - Lasky (now Paramount Studios) offered him a job as president agent for its No. 1 star, Gloria Swanson. He jumped at the chance — then he learned Miss Swanson’s previous five press agents had been fired because she didn’t like press agents.

    “The truth hit me like a bold of lightning.” Fidler grimaced as if the memory still disturbs him. “I was making it too hot for the studios and they knew they couldn’t get rid of me legally, so they wooed me away from the News and into a job where they knew I’d be fired. I was learning about Hollywood — the hard way!”

    But Fidler had that tenacity and gift of gab. He told Miss Swanson his story. She approved of his campaign and not only became cooperative during studio publicity, she became a lifelong friend.

   He established a most successful agency with a client list including top Hollywood personalities. Within a few years he because wealthy and invested heavily in the stock market. When the crash came in 1929 he not only lost his fortune, he also lost his health. He had a nervous breakdown.

    He decided never to return to the pressure of press agentry and began instead to write about his beloved Hollywood. His short stories appeared in slick and pulp magazines, and he became so prolific that at one time he had 23 stories in print at the same time in various publications. He probably would have continued to write had he not been asked to interview a young starlet, Dorothy Jordon, on NBC’s all musical radio show, “Hollywood on the Air.” “It had to be the worst few minutes aired on radio,” Fidler recalled. “We were both novices.”

   Yet it drew 2,500 fan letters. He offered to do a 15-minute talk show for NBC — without salary — to write the scripts, to invite and interview the stars. But with one condition. He would call anyone appearing on the show by their first name — and they must all call him “Jimmy,” suggesting that he was on an intimate basis with everyone in Hollywood.

   Fidler’s powerful radio voice, intimate interviews, skits, sermonized open letters to the stars, and four-bell movie reviews captured listeners.  The Jimmy mystique worked.

    “Every big star appeared on my show,” Fidler said.

    “We had super star names to work with in those days. A columnist never had to be mean to get attention. We didn’t have to be. I did get a bit sassy perhaps but never mean. Some of today’s columnists get unpleasant because they don’t have important names to work with. Who do they have? A Travolta? A Winkler? Sure, they’re popular but only with a small group of the moviegoers.

   “They don’t have a Grable or a Garbo to write about, so sometimes they are cruel just to capture the reader’s attention. We didn’t have to be mean because we had so many super stars to work with, we just had fun.”

   That fun contributed to the popular acceptance of his radio show, which brought him a contract with McNaught Syndicate for his column, of the same name, which appeared in 360 newspapers, including The Times. He also appeared weekly in 20th Century-Fox Movietone Newsreels in theaters and it was estimated he was seen or heard by 45 million people a week. Jimmy Fidler became one of the strongest forces in Hollywood during the ‘30s and ‘40s and was “Mr. Hollywood” to many.

   Though he spent most of his life divulging secrets of others, his has been a private life. His four-bell movie review system (one bell was a death toll at the box office) drew cries of anguish from the film industry — yet he is credited with being instrumental in strengthening Hollywood’s morality.  He preached against divorce — yet married six times.

   His name became almost as well known as many of the people he was talking about, yet by 1952 his radio show was canceled due to lack of sponsors and by 1954 few of his columns were left in print. He and McNaught mutually agreed to break their contract. The culprit was one that hurt many — the new medium, television.

   Even though he was financially secure through real estate investments — he was too smart to be burned again in the stock market — energetic Fidler revised to retire. He packaged the radio show himself with his first sale to a small outlet in California having three stations; Sacramento, Stockton, and Fresno. His fee — $15 weekly for each tape. “The money hardly paid for expenses, but that taped show was another Fidler first, and I still liked what I was doing.”

     —

    Doing what he likes has been a lifelong habit. Many happy hours spent outdoors golfing with such partners as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby or Howard Hughes at the renowned Lakeside Country Club in Toluca Lake are replaced by occasional games with his brother-in-law and with his German shepherd, Stormy.

   His days are full preparing the weekly 15-minute shows which are broken down (by his engineer) into 30 one-minute taped flashes (another Fidler first) which he then sells to 139 radio stations throughout the country. Besides taping and selling the show he handles all contracts and the multitudinous correspondence himself, but does find time to enjoy the company of his wife, three daughters and seven grandchildren plus play a little bridge (at which he has master points).

    Fidler’s residence offers no sign of memorabilia — and it took some searching to come up with even a few pictures of days gone by.

    He doesn’t like to “clutter up his life with yesterday . . . I’m interested in living and thinking about today — and tomorrow — and then sharing it with my listeners.”

    He picked up a script from a show and began reading aloud, his face becoming animated as that famous Fidler voice projected out to the unseen listeners . . .

    THIS IS JIMMY FIDLER IN HOLLYWOOD AND HERE ARE SOME QUOTES FROM YOUR FAVORITE STARS — CHARLES BRONSON SAID, QUOTE: I NEVER SEE MY OWN PICTURES BECAUSE I CRINGE WHEN I SEE MYSELF ON THE SCREEN. UNQUOTE, CHARLES BRONSON — HENRY WINKLER SAID, QUOTE: I WILL NOT MARRY SOON, BECAUSE AT THIS TIME, I CANNOT HANDLE BOTH A CAREER AND A MARRIAGE. UNQUOTE, HENRY WINKLER — SOPHIA LOREN SAID, QUOTE: HOW CAN A WOMAN BE INSULTED WHEN SHE IS CALLED A SEX SYMBOL? I CONSIDER IT FLATTERING. UNQUOTE, SOPHIA LOREN.  AND THIS IS JIMMY FIDLER, SAYING GOODBY FROM HOLLYWOOD TO YOU . . . AND YOU . . . AND I DO MEAN YOU! —

  Epstein is a Hollywood publicist and free-lance writer.

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