Jimmie Fidler (August 26, 1898 – August 9, 1988) was an American columnist, journalist and radio and television personality. He wrote a Hollywood

gossip column A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...

and was sometimes billed as Jimmy Fidler. Born James Marion Fidler in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, Fidler was a Hollywood publicist and advertising man who became a highly successful syndicated columnist with his "Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood" column in 187 outlets, including the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. In 1933-34 his 15-minute

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

radio show, ''Hollywood on the Air'', sponsored by Tangee lipstick, was broadcast from the

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. It opened on May 15, 1927, and is the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles. History The hote ...

. He was regarded in Hollywood as a genuine threat to gossip queen

Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and su ...

, especially after he scooped her in November 1935 on a major story about

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

, an incident so embarrassing to Parsons that she lied about it in her autobiography.

Films

Fidler had brief experience in movies before he became a columnist. Winning first prize in a contest in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, took him to Hollywood. Once there, he was an extra before he "worked his way to semi-important roles." Fidler interviewed film personalities for the Hollywood segments of ''

Fox Movietone News Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 1970 ...

''. Such was Fidler's influence that a negative comment by him could affect the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

drawing power of a star. According to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', in January 1938 he was sued for libel by

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

for $250,000 after he reported she snubbed

Patsy Kelly Patsy Kelly (born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly; January 12, 1910 – September 24, 1981) was an American actress. She is known for her role as the brash, wisecracking sidekick to Thelma Todd in a series of short comedy films produced by Hal Ro ...

on a

Hal Roach Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...

movie set and that studio workmen bought flowers for Kelly but none for Bennett. Fidler won the case, with the judge ruling that remarks against a public character, even if false, are not libelous if made without malice. In 1938 Fidler made a short MGM

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, ''Personality Parade'', about actors making the change from

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s to

talkies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

. It featured clips of more than 60 performers whose careers began in silent films.

Television

By 1950, Fidler was earning more than $250,000 a year and was heard by 40 million listeners over 486 radio stations. During 1952-53, he hosted the live television drama series, ''

Hollywood Opening Night ''Hollywood Opening Night'' is an American anthology television program that was broadcast on CBS in 1951-1952 and on NBC in 1952-1953. The NBC version was the first dramatic anthology presented live from the West Coast. Episodes were 30 minutes ...

'' on NBC."Obituary: Jimmie Fidler," ''The New York Times'', August 12, 1988.
/ref> Fidler continued his radio program in independent syndication until his retirement in late 1983, at the age of 85. For his contribution to the radio industry, Fidler has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

at 6128 Hollywood Blvd.

References

External links

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fidler, Jimmie American male journalists American radio personalities American television personalities American gossip columnists Jewish American writers Writers from St. Louis 1898 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American Jews

Films

Television

See also

References

External links