You Did What__ Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters - Bill Fawcett [86]
Robertson was pissed. His wife, Dina Merrill, put Robertson in touch with Katharine Graham, the legendary publisher of the Washington Post. He gave the first in a series of interviews, shining an unwelcome spotlight on the institution. “There is a spreading cancer of corruption in Hollywood,” he told the Post, “of which the Begelman incident is but one example.” To the Associated Press, he said, “Wealth and power create a kind of atmosphere of fear. I think they begin to believe that they are above the law.”
Additionally, by this point the board also learned of other irregularities, such as the $35,000 charged to Tommy for acoustical work. It turns out the work was done by an architect not for the rock opera but for Begelman’s home screening room.
Entertainment columnist Liz Smith dubbed the event Hollywoodgate in honor of the recently finished Watergate scandal that forced a president to resign. People couldn’t get enough of the story and media outlets were only too happy to provide whatever tidbits they could find.
Ray Stark, a producer who had close ties to Columbia’s board, approached Robertson and asked him to keep quiet. He even hinted that Begelman might commit suicide if the pressure was not removed. Robertson remained steadfast in his convictions.
By now there was enough ink devoted to these goings-on that the Securities and Exchange Commission was forced to open their own investigation. Suddenly, the studio was being dragged through the mud, which annoyed stockholders as their stock value dwindled and tarnished Hirshfeld’s reputation. It cost them performers who refused to go near the studio. The board had seen enough, and at the July 1978 meeting voted not to renew his contract. It was felt that a clean break was needed for the studio’s own good.
David McClintick provided the most sobering coverage in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Lynda Obst, who became a successful Hollywood producer, was editor of the New York Times’s Sunday magazine at the time. She first heard about problems with the Columbia board at a cocktail party. She concluded there was an interesting story about the Hollywood–Wall Street connection and hired Lucian K. Truscott IV to write the story under her supervision. Truscott proved to be unreliable, with a history of problems, so the story, which hit on February 26, 1977, caused a stir. Its errors led to threats of lawsuits, and three months later the Times printed its lengthiest retraction of all time — at least until 2003 with their own internal scandals. One of Obst’s sources was producer Jon Peters, who later went on to run Columbia. When she moved to California, he hired her.
Begelman had little choice but to resign his post, forfeiting $1.25 million in stock warrants. The DA decided to prosecute in 1978 and Begelman pleaded no contest and repaid his former employer the $63,000. His sentence was three years probation, a $50,000 fine and three years of community service. Begelman talked this down to one, which resulted in the anti-drug documentary Angel Dust.
During this time, Robertson, for refusing to keep quiet about the check, wound up blacklisted in Hollywood and didn’t work for four years. Begelman, though, one of the Hollywood insiders dating back to 1948, was handed an independent production deal with his former studio — the usual parting gift for studio execs.
Begelman shrugged off the scandal and wound up back as president and CEO of MGM/UA. His five-year contract was generous, but his performance was lackluster. The studio lacked major hits outside the James Bond franchise, which was showing signs of age, and Begelman was at a loss. In 1982, during his tenure,