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Movie Columnist-Producer Sidney Skolsky has given many a big Hollywood star a thrilling twinge of envy: he once bit Louella Parsons on the arm.
Sidney was an established movie columnist in 1936 when he went to work for Hearst's King Features Syndicate. "In the very first column," he recalls, "I had an item that Garbo would not marry Leopold Stokowski. Little did I know that on the front page of the paper was a Louella Parsons story that Garbo was marrying Stokowski. Parsons got sore as hell, and she started putting in words with Hearst." By and by, Sidney was out of a job.
A few months later, he ran into Louella in a restaurant. After a short chat, says Skolsky, "Parsons said to me: 'You're a nice feller. I didn't know you were such a nice boy.' I'd been boiling for some time about her, and I couldn't punch her. The only thing I could do—I was angry—I leaned over and bit her hard . . . We're friends today."
Sidney, now 48, writes a cheerfully cynical column ("Don't get me wrong—I love Hollywood") which is syndicated in some 20 papers. Dark, small (5 ft. 3 in.) and intense, he is something of a character, even in a town where characters are common. For one thing, he is mortally afraid of driving a car. He has solved this problem by getting the stars to chauffeur him from studio to studio (where, unlike most of his colleagues, he is permitted to roam freely). Among his more constant chauffeurs is Marilyn Monroe, whom he knew before her calendar days. "I pinch-hit for Joe DiMaggio," he says. "Anytime he's out of town, Marilyn calls me and I go out with her . . . I'm the kind of guy [stars] feel comfortable with . . ."
Skolsky's first try at producing a picture (The Jolson Story) was a smash financial success. Unfortunately, he made "very little" for himself, since there was never any signed contract on the deal. With The Eddie Cantor Story, Skolsky has made sure of his cut: the deal is on paper. He hopes this film will make money. Anyway, he says, "we did an honest job. There are some truths in this picture. We wanted to show what made Eddie run."
Sidney has no plans for chucking his column for the sound stages and a producer's plush office. "Dont get me wrong," he says, "I love them both."