Our resident receptionist/jazz saxophonist Igor also happens to be one of the finest writers I know. Each day here at work, he writes up an email summary of who's out of the office, and at the end of the email, includes brief bios for some of the famous and infamous folks who were born that day. I thought his musings today on the life of Walter Winchell were especially good.
1897 - Walter Winchell - Winchell was a mere reporter who, through a whole lot of conniving, backstabbing and betrayals, became one of the most powerful forces in entertainment.
His daily gossip column was read by millions across the country. With just a word or two, Winchell could make or break some poor dumb actor's career. So everybody played nice with Walter. He took to the airwaves in the thirties with a radio version of his column and reached new heights of fame and power, ruining more lives and careers in the process. His rapid-fire, staccato delivery was often imitated by his rivals, but never duplicated with the same nasal-tinged flair. As time went on, Winchell began injecting his commentary with rabidly anti-Communist and rah-rah pro-Uncle Sam political views. Instead of just reporting lightweight news items, he was trying his best to shape opinion. His Waterloo of credibility came during the McCarthy Era when he made allegations against many political and entertainment figures that were later found to be untrue. He tried to make the switch to television, but his not-so-good looks and violent way of talking frightened many viewers. As his audience shrank, he used what what left of his star power to land a role as the narrator the TV series, The Untouchables. For each show, he collected a whopping $25,000, making him the highest paid guy on TV, even though he never really appeared on TV. That's not bad for half an hour's work even in this crazy day and age! After the show went off, Winchell continued for a time in the gossip/news factoid business, but with the demise of the old studio system and the rise of those dirty hippies, he was pretty much washed up. Over the decades, his machinations had earned him scores of enemies, including most people who had once counted themselves as his friends. When he died in 1972, only his crazy daughter, Walda, attended his funeral. It's not that big of a deal. Winchell's life wasn't about everybody loving him and attending his funeral when he croaked. It was about having power, which he abused as he saw fit. But if you subtract all that, you'll just find a vain and petty man with no real talent trying to feel that he part of things. These days they call those people pundits.
emphasis mine