119. On April 27 Journal entry (decree of divorce), Judge Bruce Henderson, April 27, 1960. That Donna J. Ailes was a senior in high school, see the amended petition.
120. Joseph Urban Entry for Joseph Urban, created by his stepson Robert Ailes Jr., on Findagrave.com.
121. “He could speak German” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
122. “I never found my stamp collection” Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”
123. As a freshman Author interview with Frank Youngwerth. See also Chafets, Roger Ailes, 22. That Ailes’s mother was born in Parkersburg, see entry for Donna Marie Cunningham (Ailes) Urban, created by her son, Robert Ailes Jr., on Findagrave.com. Lisa Chase, daughter of the late David R. Chase, confirmed that Marjorie was engaged to her father.
124. “Dave was a big man” Author interview with Frank Youngwerth.
125. A talented broadcaster Author interview with Lisa Chase, daughter of David R. Chase. See also “Fates and Fortunes,” Broadcasting, Feb. 20, 1978, 64.
126. “Roger stole her away” Author interview with Donald Hylkema.
127. At 11:30 a.m. on August 27, 1960 Original logs of Galbreath Chapel, Ohio University Archives.
128. After the wedding According to the 1960–1961 student directory, they lived at 49 Stewart Street. Ohio University Archives.
129. Marjorie taught Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
130. “Here’s a guy” Author interview with Frank Youngwerth.
131. “Maybe that’s why” Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”
132. After graduation Ailes mentions the Columbus radio job in his interview with Hodson at 17:20.
133. He had applied Cablegram reported in 1962 that “Roger E. Ailes, son of Robert E. Ailes, Depart. 551, will be graduated this June from Ohio University where he majored in radio-television. Upon graduation, he will assume a position as an associate director at KYW-TV in Cleveland and will work in the program department and assist in the production and direction of television shows.”
TWO: “YOU CAN TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF ANYTHING”
1. After deciding to acquire For 1955, see Val Adams, “TV Variety Show Faces Time Cut,” New York Times, May 18, 1955. For Eyewitness, see archive.wkyc.com/company/about_us; for Barnaby, see Tim Hollis, Hi There, Boys and Girls! America’s Local Children’s TV Programs (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001), 217–18.
2. Chet Collier Radio Annual and Television Yearbook 1962 (New York: Radio Daily Corp., 1962), 803. Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. Collier died in 2007.
3. “Roger!” Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.
4. Westinghouse was preparing Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. For date of syndication, see Gil Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication,” Billboard, Aug. 17, 1963.
5. Forrest “Woody” Fraser Mike Douglas, Mike Douglas: My Story (New York: Ballantine, 1979), 209. For Hi Ladies!, see Mike Douglas, Thomas Kelly, and Michael Heaton, I’ll Be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest Talk Show (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 17. For Club 60 and Adults Only, see Douglas, Mike Douglas, 202–3.
6. Newman was the first Ibid.
7. Together, Fraser and Newman Mike Douglas, Mike Douglas, 211. Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.
8. “All they came up with” Ibid.
9. One afternoon Mike Douglas, I’ll Be Right Back, 21, 203. Douglas tells a different version of the anecdote in My Story, 212.
10. it was Kyser Douglas, My Story, 6. There are many variations on the story of how Douglas got his stage name. Page 82 of the Harry Harris biography, Mike Douglas: The Private Life of the Public Legend (New York: Award Books, 1976), has two: Douglas says that “Mike Dowd” sounded too much like one of Kyser’s friends. Kyser says that “Douglas” had a softer sound and more rhythm than “Dowd.” Page 168 of Douglas’s My Story has another: Douglas says that Kyser changed the name from “Michael D. Dowd Jr.” to “Michael Douglas” because the former sounded too “fancy,” like the name of a Supreme Court justice.
11. buying and selling real estate Douglas, Kelly, and Heaton, I’ll Be Right Back, 16.
12. “A million to one” Ibid., 23.
13. Westinghouse signed him Ibid., 18, 23.
14. “His geniality” Harris, Mike Douglas, 100.
15. “You’re going to work” Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. Ailes joined The Mike Douglas Show circa 1962–63. On March 11, 1963, Broadcasting reported that “Roger Ailes, associate director of Mike Douglas Show on KYW-TV Cleveland, [was] promoted to staff producer-director.”
16. Starting out Harris, Mike Douglas, 122.
17. “He would usually be gone” Author interview with Marjorie’s sister Kay Luckhardt. She lived with them for a month in 1964. According to the 1964 Cleveland City Directory, they lived at 17400 Euclid Avenue, Apartment 221. It was a commercial street, predominantly developed in the 1920s, a short walk to the train tracks. For Euclid-Green neighborhood boundaries and facts, see http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/cwp/districts.php?dt=dist6&dn=green.
18. “He was very intense” Author interview with former Mike Douglas producer Deborah Miller. At the time she went by the name Debbie Miller.
19. When Cleveland native Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. See also Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication.”
20. One time a singer Author interview with a former colleague of Roger Ailes.
21. For a young producer Harris, Mike Douglas, 108. See also Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication.”
22. “You didn’t know” Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.
23. “He used to come into work” Author interview with former Mike Douglas producer Larry Rosen.
24. He rarely invited Author interviews with Mike Douglas colleagues.
25. Roger did cast her Author interview with Marjorie’s sister Kay Luckhardt.
26. “I felt like” Author interview with former Mike Douglas producer Rift Fournier. He died on October 6, 2013.
27. “He was always joking” Author interview with Deborah Miller.
28. “He’d come in” Author interview with Larry Rosen.
29. One time, instead of Ibid.
30. Fraser created drama Douglas, I’ll Be Right Back, 28.
31. Fraser said, “The most” Harris, Mike Douglas, 108.