Read Online Dish by Jeannette Walls - Free Book Online Page B

the gore quotient on the cover of his paper because the gorier it was, the better the sales. But he also continued to tinker with the mixture, and by the late 1950s, included other ingredients in his formula. One was heartwarming stories about common folks that made readers feel good about themselves. Pope also rediscovered celebrities. After
Confidential
folded, there was a void for stories about celebrities. Scantily clad women had long been featured in the
Enquirer,
but by the late 1950s, they were mostly starlets like Angie Dickinson and Gina Lollobrigida. “Wolf Whistles Are Music to Any Girl’s Ear,” Angie Dickinson supposedly told the tabloid for a July 5, 1959, cover story. “The ultimate purpose of a girl is to make a man feel like a man—all over,” Dickinson, said, adding that she “can’t understand why girls get angry when they’re referred to as a ‘broad.’ … Long as they talk about girls, what’s the difference?”
    That issue’s hodgepodge content revealed the paper’s transition from a hard-boiled men’s tabloid to a celebrity gossip sheet targeted at middle America: It included a ‘Who’s Sexier’ competition, based on an alleged feud between Jayne Mansfield and future
Gilligan
star Tina Louise; a series of photographs of a toddler getting his first hair cut; a racing column; a photograph of a blood-soaked woman crumbled on the floor of her mobile home after a game of dominoes turned ugly; a political column updating readers on Richard Nixon and Jimmy Hoffa; gossip columns telling about Cary Grant and Gina Lollobrigida holding hands and Fernando Lamas showing up nude at a party; a boxing column; and news of Liz Taylor’s outrage over a bootlegged film of her wedding to Eddie Fisher.
    The mixture, however odd, was working. In 1958, the
National Enquirer
was in the black and by 1959, it was turning a solid profit. Generoso Pope Jr. was well on his way to creating a publishing empire that would rival his father’s—but would turn him into a pariah in New York’s social and political circles.
    By then, Gene Pope’s eldest brother, Fortune, had emerged as a respectable and powerful figure in New York. He had inherited his father’s position—the one Gene had expected to—and was running the family business and overseeing the Columbus Day Parade. Fortune had brought Colonial public and was, according to press accounts of the time, both “fabulously wealthy” and “incredibly powerful.” “Fortune Pope is regarded by many in this country—and by nearly everyone in Italy—as the spokesman for the Italian-American community,” the
New York Times
wrote in 1960. “If you want to import Italian lace, or sell machinery to Italy, or just would like to have an appointment with the President of Italy while you’re there on a visit, Fortune Pope is the first person you go to see.”
    Meanwhile, the authorities were closing in on Gene Pope. Censors were trying to shut down the
Enquirer.
He was being investigated by the FBI. Pope’s mother blamed it on his continued association with members of the mob, especially Pope Sr.’s old friend, Frank Costello. “Some company you keep,” Catherine Pope told Gene when she heard that he had dined with Costellothe night the mobster was shot. “The sins of the father will be visited upon the children,” she warned her youngest son, “and your father has sinned so, therefore, you keep this up, and you’ll ruin your life as well as he did.”
    Catherine Pope’s prediction was directed to the wrong son. In July 1960, Fortune and Anthony Pope were indicted by a special grand jury. The twelve-count charge against them included allegations of corporate theft and fraud. The two brothers were accused of taking more than $375,000 from the publicly held Colonial Sand and Stone and diverting the money to their privately held companies. They were also charged with billing the city for $176,599 worth of rock salt that they never delivered. The two