44. Inviting John Bennett Perry Author interview with John Bennett Perry.
45. Looking back, Podell recognized Author interview with actor Rick Podell.
46. Robert Cohen thought Ailes Author interview with Robert Cohen.
47. By staging a photo shoot Author interview with Frank Coombs.
48. Ailes made another plug Joe McGinniss, “The Resale of the President,” New York Times Magazine, Sept. 3, 1972.
49. Ailes also reached out Memo from Peter Flanigan to Starke Meyer, Oct. 11, 1972. “Leonard Garment has asked me to let you know about a new musical being produced by Roger Ailes, called ‘Mother Earth,’ ” Flanigan wrote. “Please let me know if you are interested.”
50. After the curtain Author interview with Robert Cohen.
51. John Bennett Perry got a call Author interview with John Bennett Perry.
52. In a savage review Clive Barnes, “Stage: ‘Mother Earth,’ a Rock Revue,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 1972.
53. “The second night” Author interview with Rick Podell.
54. Within a week Author interview with John Bennett Perry.
55. After just a dozen performances Clara Rotter (compiler), “Closing the Record Book on 1972–1973,” New York Times, July 1, 1973.
56. “My eyes” Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 30.
57. “The main discussion” Author interview with Paul Turnley.
58. “Don’t ever chase critics” Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 30.
59. As he would later tell it Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 30. When asked if Ailes scouted productions himself, Robert Cohen said: “Not that I know of. He depended on me. I was the guy who had to go find these things.” He went on: “The fact of the matter is, Roger wasn’t in the club.… Roger subscribed to every trade publication on earth and I would sit with a razor blade and I would be clipping out articles. You can do that forever but by the time it’s in the trade, it’s been picked up.” Cohen said that Ailes usually rejected his ideas. “There was Roger with his big Roger office. There was me in my little office, and I would get ahold of every agent in New York and read every play they would send to me,” Cohen recalled. “But the problem was the stuff I was interested in Roger wouldn’t go for at all. All this left-wing stuff about hippies and banning the war. I’d go, ‘Read this,’ and he’d go, ‘I don’t want to do things like this. I want to do American things.’ ”
60. He hired Author interview with Robert Cohen.
61. One day in February 1973 Author interview with Robert Cohen.
62. Lanford Wilson, a cofounder Circle Repertory Company Records, New York Public Library, http://archives.nypl.org/the/21737.
63. depicted a group Lanford Wilson, The Hot l Baltimore (New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1973), 7.
64. “I thought, My God” Author interview with Robert Cohen.
65. After the show Ibid.
66. The next day at the office Ibid.
67. a 299-seat venue Letter from Robert Cohen to Malt-O-Meal public relations, March 26, 1973.
68. Ailes committed to raising Certificate of Limited Partnership of Hot l Baltimore Company, March 16, 1973, Kermit Bloomgarden papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
69. he tapped Author interview with Howard Butcher IV.
70. Lanford Wilson and Marshall Mason Author interview with Marshall Mason.
71. Opening night came Wilson, The Hot l Baltimore, 4.
72. “Everything that went onto the stage” Author interview with actress Conchata Ferrell.
73. “The crazies” Walter Kerr, “The Crazies Are Good to Listen To,” New York Times, March 4, 1973.
74. A parade of notables Author interview with Robert Cohen.
75. He expressed keen interest Author interview with Robert Cohen.
76. graphic artist David Byrd Biography on David Edward Byrd official website, http://www.david-edward-byrd.com/biocontact-1.html.
77. Byrd did a graphic Image of the poster for Circle on the Square production of Hot l Baltimore on Byrd official website, http://www.david-edward-byrd.com/theatre7-4.html.
78. “They both complained” Author interview with Robert Cohen.
79. A few days after Letter from Robert Cohen to Malt-O-Meal public relations, March 26, 1973. Cohen mentions the Benson & Hedges and Coca-Cola arrangements in this letter.
80. While the hotel residents Wilson, The Hot l Baltimore, 32, 33.
81. “What a gorgeous” Author interview with actress Mari Gorman.
82. “We hardly saw Roger” Author interview with Stephanie Gordon.
83. Shortly after the show opened Ibid.
84. a pivotal scene Wilson, The Hot l Baltimore, 32, 33.
85. Making her way Author interview with Stephanie Gordon.
86. In 1973, Hot l Baltimore www.villagevoice.com/obies/index/1973/, http://www.dramacritics.org/dc_pastawards.html.
87. generated a profit Hot l Baltimore balance sheet, Jan. 4, 1976, Kermit Bloomgarden papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
88. ABC Wesley Hyatt, Short-Lived Television Series, 1948–1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003), 232.
89. Mari Gorman recalled Roger Ailes fondly Author interview with Mari Gorman.
90. Stephanie Gordon struggled Author interview with Stephanie Gordon.
91. Marshall Mason, who lives Author interview with Marshall Mason.
92. Conchata Ferrell, who went on Author interview with Conchata Ferrell.
93. In his own telling Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 30.
94. His new employee Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.
95. In December 1973 Louis Calta, “News of the Stage,” New York Times, Dec. 9, 1973. “It’s a women’s show,” Ailes told Calta, “and deals with the sexual freedoms of today.”
96. favorable review Howard Thompson, “ ‘Ionescopade’ Shifts to the Cherry Lane,” New York Times, July 28, 1973.
97. Ailes leaned on Kermit Bloomgarden papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (finance notes for Ionescopade).
98. Robert Kennedy Jr. Author interview with Robert Kennedy Jr.
99. A wealthy American businessman Ibid.
100. But a three-hour meeting Kiki Levathes, “Robert Kennedy Jr. at 21,” New York Daily News, printed in The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, Florida), Sept. 9, 1975.
101. “We joked about Nixon” Author interview with Robert Kennedy Jr.
102. After Kennedy signed Levathes, “Robert Kennedy Jr. at 21.” See also “A Kennedy in Africa,” Broadcasting, April 1, 1974. Broadcasting reported that Kennedy agreed to do an untitled wildlife series of twenty-six half hour episodes with Ailes, but only one TV special was made.