Sidney Skolsky

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Sidney Skolsky
Movie producer
Radio personality
NationalityAmerican
SpouseEstelle Lorenz
(1928-1983; his death)
Children2

Sidney Skolsky (May 2, 1905[citation needed] – May 3, 1983) was an American writer best known as a Hollywood gossip columnist. He ranked with Hedda Hopper (with whom he shared a birthday) and Louella Parsons as the premier Hollywood gossip columnists of the first three decades of the sound picture era.

Skolsky was a radio personality in addition to having his own syndicated newspaper column, he was a

Academy Award[citation needed] and was credited for the introduction of the use of the word beefcake.[1]

Biography

Skolsky was born to a Jewish family,

Sam Harris, and George White. When he became the New York Daily News gossip columnist in 1928, the 23-year-old Skolsky was the youngest Broadway gossip columnist plying his trade on the Great White Way. He also had a Sunday column, "Tintypes", profiles of actors, directors and other production personnel and Hollywood creative types, that continued in print for 52 years, until a couple years before his death.[citation needed
]

He moved to Hollywood in 1933, where he moonlighted as a story editor for

United Features syndicated his column to other newspapers. He also had a regular column in Photoplay, the country's premiere movie magazine. His Photoplay column was bylined "From a Stool at Schwab’s", the Hollywood drugstore he made famous.[citation needed] He helped promulgate the myth Lana Turner had been discovered there, when it actually had been another Sunset Boulevard establishment, The Top Hat Cafe, which was closer to Lana's alma mater, Hollywood High.[4] He helped champion and was very close to Marilyn Monroe.[5]

Marilyn Monroe walking from Santa Monica courthouse with her attorney, Jerry Giesler, and gossip columnist and friend, Sidney Skolsky, after divorce from Joe DiMaggio
Jerry Giesler, Marilyn Monroe, and Sidney Skolsky

While Skolsky might not have created the nickname "Oscar" for the Academy Award, he is the first person to use the nickname in print for Hollywood's premier award, in his 17 March 1934 column.[6] In 1946, he became a movie producer with The Jolson Story (1946), which was nominated for several Academy Awards. He followed it up with 1953 bio The Eddie Cantor Story. Starting in 1954, KABC-TV Los Angeles featured him in his own TV show, Sidney Skolsky’s Hollywood. He wrote five books about Hollywood and the movies, including a 1975 autobiography, Don’t Get Me Wrong, I Love Hollywood.[citation needed]

Skolsky died in 1983 from complications due to Parkinson's disease and atherosclerosis. He was married for 54 years to the former Estelle Lorenz, with whom he had had two daughters.[citation needed] His writings are part of the permanent collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library.[7]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1932 The Sport Parade Newsman Sid Uncredited
1933 Hallelujah, I'm a Bum Minor Role Uncredited
1934 Hi Nellie! Skolsky Uncredited
1934 Gift of Gab Movie Magazine Columnist Uncredited
1941 Tom, Dick and Harry Photographer Uncredited
1947 The Corpse Came C.O.D. Himself
1950 Sunset Boulevard
1958 Teacher's Pet
1961 The Right Approach Newspaper Columnist Uncredited
1967 Don't Make Waves Reporter Uncredited
1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare Himself

References

  1. ^ p.120 Hofler, Robert The Man Who Invested Rock Hudson Carroll and Graf 2005
  2. ISBN 9780252078545
    .
  3. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  4. ^ Wilkerson, W.R. 3rd (1 July 1995). "Writing the End to a True-to-Life Cinderella Story : Remembrance: The facts of Lana Turner's discovery at a soda fountain have changed through the years, but the legend remains". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 September 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Scott (2 March 2010). "Daughter of Famed Hollywood Columnist Sidney Skolsky Passes". Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  6. ^ "The 6th Academy Awards Memorable Moments". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Sidney Skolsky Papers". Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

External links

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