Citizen Hughes - Michael Drosnin [74]
Sometimes it would all be ruined by a tired KLAS announcer who flubbed the carefully phrased introduction. That at least could be corrected. One night, the announcer referred to the “first swinging shift,” and Hughes quickly pounced:
“There should not be more than one Swinging Shift,” he immediately scrawled on his bedside legal pad. “If it should be necessary to refer for any reason to the first picture, then it should be identified as the ‘first movie on the Swinging Shift’—not the ‘First Swinging Shift.’ ”
Other problems proved more intractable. Hughes insisted on personally clearing all movies in advance. But often he could not make up his mind until the last minute:
“Please ask Stoddard if he will be able, without too much difficulty, to substitute Las Vegas Story and Sealed Cargo in place of Gang War and Great Jewel Robbery. Please apologize for it being so late.”
It became a nightly ritual: “If it will cause no confusion, it will be appreciated if he can substitute either Jeopardy or Inside the Mafia to replace Woman Obsessed at 4:30 AM.”
“You and Roy failed to remind me in time about the movies for tonight, and now I am faced with the situation at the last minute,” wrote Hughes on yet another occasion, this time blaming his Mormons for the lapse.
“Please ask Stoddard if, entirely without problems, he can substitute two pictures in place of the last two coming in the AM. Please say you will give him the names as soon as possible, and to assist in this, can he give you the synopsis on:
“Oklahoma Woman
“Fast and Furious
“Malta Story
“Great Diamond Robbery
“Also, principle cast, please.”
The sudden changes caused some complaint. “Obviously, the problems which have arisen have been questions from viewers as to why one movie is listed in TV Guide or the newspapers and a different one is shown,” explained the station manager. “If we continue to make unannounced changes certainly the questions are going to continue and eventually we could have a problem with the advertisers.”
Hughes was understanding. “Re: the future,” he replied two days later, “since the objectionable aspect of showing a program in conflict with the announcement was first called to my attention, I believe this is the one and only movie substituted at my request.
“I even permitted the showing of ‘Mudlark’, an absurd whimsy at 4 AM last nite, in preference to changing the program in conflict with the announcement.
“I will request as few changes as possible from now on.”
It was a promise, however, that Hughes could not keep. There was a limit to how many Mudlarks he would suffer in silence. The billionaire, on the other hand, had a simple solution—in the future, titles of the late movies would not be given in the published TV listings at all.
But one recurring problem seemed to have no solution. KLAS could not manage to come up with three films a night that pleased its owner. Even after the station started sending Hughes multipage synopses of available movies a month in advance, the problem persisted.
“This list of pictures is just simply zero as far as I am concerned,” Hughes complained. “Outside of ‘Hired Gun’ I dont see anything I would watch.”
A new set of proposed shows was sent, to no avail. “There are simply no pictures on this list that I consider satisfactory,” came the response from the penthouse. “I am familiar with every one of these movies—I even made quite a few of them—and there are not enough to fill out the package of 3 needed for tonight.”
Still Hughes made plans to upgrade the show. Secret plans, of course. “It is my intention that Hughes Resort Hotels will sponsor the entire Swinging Shift program with no commercial interruptions, but I want this kept very secret for now. My first request is that this matter be held in complete confidence from everybody until I am ready to announce