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The Howard Hughes Biography Hoax | Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century (TV) — Transcript

by Calamine Waffles · 3,168 words · 595 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:02[Music]
0:08[Applause]
0:11[Music]
0:14so
0:23[Music]
0:36during 1971 the united states attempted
0:39to hand over primary responsibility for
0:41offensive action in south vietnam
0:43to local forces
0:45[Music]
0:48they found a going tough
0:52lieutenant william kelly was found
0:53guilty at a court-martial
0:55of killing vietnamese civilians at milai
0:59[Music]
1:05anxious to forget vietnam president
1:08nixon welcomed japan's emperor hirohito
1:10to the united states
1:13on his first trip away from his homeland
1:15the emperor went on to britain
1:19while in france mick jagger seemed
1:22confused by the press at his wedding to
1:25can't do bianca can you do that
1:30you think it's better that they go away
1:35on the 7th of december the literary
1:37world of manhattan was astonished by the
1:39news that reclusive billionaire howard
1:41hughes
1:42had agreed to tell his life story to an
1:44obscure writer named clifford dervy
1:46previously best known for a book called
1:48fake
1:53less than a month later there was even
1:55more surprise as the legendary aviator
1:57producer and entrepreneur protested via
2:00sound only press conference
2:02that the proposal was a hoax
2:05but at irving's house on ibiza he
2:07assured reporters that the billionaire
2:09had met him many times
2:10and the voice at the press conference
2:12was not that of howard hughes
2:14basically it was his money and he could
2:15do what he wanted with it i met howard
2:18hughes
2:18he talked to me he gave me the material
2:20and i have it do you believe the book
2:21will
2:22still be published oh that's a big
2:23question uh
2:25i believe it'll be a crime if it's not
2:26published because it is the
2:29autobiography of howard hughes
2:32and as far as i know he wants it
2:34published
2:36the book was ready to go and sure to be
2:38a massive best seller if it truly
2:40revealed the mind of one of the most
2:41extraordinary men of the century
2:43who had suddenly disappeared from sight
2:45after a life of adventure
2:47at 18 he inherited the 10 million dollar
2:49hughes tool company
2:51an oil drilling business with exclusive
2:53patents
2:53[Music]
2:56he ran it himself and at 21 moved to
3:00hollywood
3:00divorcing ella rice the girl he had
3:03married when he was 19.
3:04[Music]
3:06soon a successful producer he dated the
3:08stars
3:09including ginger rogers
3:13english actress ida lupino whom he
3:16helped to become one of the few female
3:17directors
3:21ava gardner who during a row hit him
3:24over the head with a bronze statue
3:27jean peters his second wife whom he
3:30tried and failed to make into a major
3:31star
3:33and jane russell for whom he designed a
3:35special bra
3:36when she acted in his most successful
3:38movie the outlaw which he directed
3:40himself
3:44but his first love was aviation and
3:46breaking records
3:47in 1934 he flew across america in a
3:50record nine and a half hours
3:53he twice broke the world air speed
3:55record reaching 352 miles per hour in
3:581935
3:59and bettering that in a specially
4:01converted male plane in 1937
4:04a year later in 1938 he set his sights
4:07on the round the world record of 7 days
4:0918 hours
4:10achieved by wiley post five years before
4:14his twin engine lockheed landed at
4:15brooklyn on the 14th of july
4:17he and his three-man crew had shattered
4:19the world record by taking only three
4:21days 19 hours and 17 minutes
4:23they traveled via paris moscow amsk
4:27in siberia alaska and minneapolis
4:31a crowd of more than 30 000 people had
4:33gathered to greet them
4:34and hughes and his crew were mobbed as
4:36they emerged from their aircraft
4:40everyone was delighted by the modesty of
4:42their new hero
4:44all i can say is that this crowd will
4:46frighten me more than
4:47anything else
4:53then came the official welcome and a
4:55ticker tape parade down fifth avenue and
4:57wall street
4:58only slightly marred by the injury of
5:00two women hit by a motorcycle outrider
5:02who had been struck by a heavy roll of
5:04unfurled tail
5:07new yorkers threw 1800 tons of paper
5:10some 200 more than on lindbergh
5:13honored with a congressional medal
5:15hughes paid tribute to his fellow pilots
5:18any one of the airline pilots of this
5:20nation
5:21with any of the trained army or navy
5:23navigators and competent radio engineer
5:26in any one of our modern passenger
5:28transports could have done the same
5:30thing
5:31but not all his flying was as successful
5:33he was his own test pilot
5:35crashing four times and was once written
5:37off for dead
5:38emerging with a crushed chest nine
5:41broken ribs and a lacerated skull
5:43he was so badly scarred that he grew and
5:45kept a moustache
5:46to hide the burns
5:49when the second world war broke out he
5:51started hughes aircraft with the aim of
5:53once more becoming a pioneer
5:55this time with advanced flying machines
5:57his most ambitious project was a giant
5:59flying boat
6:00more than twice the size of any other
6:02plane of its day and more than the third
6:04larger than today's 747 jumbo jet
6:07because of wartime shortage of metals he
6:09built it of wood
6:11hughes called it the hercules h4 but his
6:13detractors had other crueler names for
6:15it
6:16some called it the flying lumber yard
6:18others the flying coffin
6:20but the name that stuck was the spruce
6:22goose the big question was
6:24would it fly it was 1947 and the war was
6:27over before that question was answered
6:29hughes said he would prove it could but
6:32few others thought it could ever lift
6:34off as the spruce goose moved forward
6:36the thousands of spectators held their
6:38breath
6:40it seemed stuck to the surface then it
6:42appeared to be straining upward
6:51it was flying
7:04after one mile the spruce goose hit the
7:06water again
7:07and that was the end of its flying
7:09career the monster was put into
7:11mothballs in a hangar at long beach
7:13california
7:14whereas the largest aircraft ever built
7:16it became a tourist attraction
7:21hughes was called before a congressional
7:22committee to explain why the spruce
7:24goose had cost u.s taxpayers 18 million
7:26dollars for a white elephant
7:28but he shrugged it off as he did another
7:31committee hearing the same year about
7:32his airline transworld airways
7:35and the battle with its rival
7:36panamerican
7:39twa was a triumph for hughes he had
7:41built it up for nothing
7:43and made it into one of the largest
7:44airlines in the world and a symbol of
7:46american strength and technical prowess
7:49pioneering some of the most modern
7:50airliners of the day such as the
7:52lockheed constellation
7:54in front of the senate he revealed some
7:56of the pressures he had been put under
7:58to amalgamate with pan am
8:00during that luncheon the senator
8:04in so many words told me that if
8:08i would agree to merge twa with pan
8:12american airways and go along on his
8:14community airline bill
8:16that there will be no further hearing in
8:17this map
8:19in 1966 he sold twa to profit of 500
8:23million dollars
8:24but by then he had already been a
8:26recluse for many years
8:28having disappeared into self-imposed
8:29purdue in the desert in the early 1950s
8:35he added to the mystery surrounding him
8:37by buying up a hundred million dollars
8:38worth of real estate in las vegas
8:40and investing 300 million dollars in its
8:43gambling industry
8:47as peripatetic as he was secretive he
8:49was spotted all over the world
8:51in london at the inn on the park in park
8:53lane
8:55then in the bahamas first hidden in
8:57another top floor hideaway at the hotel
8:59xanadu
9:00in nassau
9:05and then settling for a while at another
9:07bahamas hotel the britannia beach
9:10hughes ran his vast empire by remote
9:12control through a trusted accountant
9:13named noah dietrich
9:15he worked closely with hughes for 32
9:17years until they suddenly fell out
9:25then dietrich decided to use the
9:27scribbled notes with which hughes
9:28communicated his wishes to his
9:30executives
9:30as the basis of his own autobiography
9:35growing ever more eccentric howard
9:37hughes now believed to be the richest
9:39man in america
9:40hit his face completely when moving in
9:42and out of hotels
9:43the only people who ever saw it were his
9:45five mormon bodyguards
9:47his bizarre lifestyle made him easy
9:49pickings for carmel
9:51who offered false photographs interviews
9:53and memoirs
9:57he could afford to pay for his privacy
10:00did you see the fella that brought out
10:02through the lobby
10:08we were told that you didn't have howard
10:10hughes up there and uh who was that
10:11fella up there in your presidential
10:12suite
10:13we don't tell anything about that
10:15information hard hughes is not here
10:17that isn't howard hughes who is that
10:20that we don't give up so it was not
10:24surprising that many people suspected
10:26another scam
10:27when they saw the headlines
10:30but mcgraw-hill could argue that
10:32clifford irving was a known author who
10:34had arrived with letters from howard
10:35hughes confirming that he would
10:36collaborate in the production of the
10:38autobiography
10:42irving produced further letters from
10:44hughes urging publication
10:46and expressing surprise at any delays he
10:49claimed to have had more than a hundred
10:50meetings with the recluse
10:52and it was not surprising that
10:53mcgraw-hill executives led by publisher
10:55albert leventhal grew increasingly
10:58excited by the prospect of a massive
11:00coup
11:05they had few doubts about signing a
11:06contract with irving and hughes
11:08and accepting instructions apparently
11:10from hughes to send checks to clifford
11:12irving
11:13for sums which eventually totaled more
11:15than six hundred thousand dollars
11:18[Music]
11:22irving himself received an initial
11:23twenty five thousand dollar advance
11:25and the remaining money was paid in
11:27checks made out to hr
11:29hughes these were soon cashed
11:31[Music]
11:40on the 13th of may 1971 a flight landed
11:43at zurich airport
11:44[Music]
11:47on board was a woman in a wig and dark
11:49glasses
11:52she quickly made her way to the offices
11:54of the swiss credit bank
11:55in bahnhofstrasse
11:58[Music]
12:01there she opened an account under the
12:02name of helger rosencrantz hughes
12:07[Music]
12:09swiss banks are world famous for
12:11discretion they're seeing no reason to
12:13query her swiss passport and identity
12:15card
12:16and her modest deposit of a thousand
12:17swiss francs
12:19over the next seven months the account
12:20fluctuated as large american checks were
12:23paid in
12:24and the lady withdrew equally large sums
12:26of cash
12:28[Music]
12:32by early december helga rosencrantz
12:34hughes had withdrawn all the money in
12:36the account
12:37in cash leaving the bank holding
12:39photostats of the mcgraw-hill checks
12:41counter-signed on the back hr hughes
12:44the signatures matched the one she
12:46signed on her original bank account
12:47signature card
12:52on the 7th of december mcgraw-hill
12:55announced the book
12:56and almost immediately howard robard
12:58hughes denied any part in it
13:00on the 7th of january he gave his first
13:03press conference in 14 years
13:05by telephone from nassau to an audience
13:07of seven selected journalists in a
13:09conference room at the sheraton
13:10universal hotel in los angeles
13:13they sat fascinated as his voice emerged
13:15from the loudspeaker on a table in front
13:17of them i mean this episode is just so
13:22fantastic that uh
13:24it practices your imagination to believe
13:28that a thing like this could happen
13:30i take it sir you do not know a man
13:32named clifford irving then
13:34i never saw him i never even heard of
13:36him until uh
13:38a matter of days ago when this thing
13:41first came to my attention
13:43do you think it's possible that there's
13:45been a man going around rep
13:46representing himself as howard hughes
13:48and his dupe this author
13:52yeah into thinking it was talking to
13:54howard hughes
13:57no that doesn't seem possible to me
14:01i mean it seems to me the author has
14:03ample motivation
14:04for doing this thing without being duped
14:08i understand he got paid three hundred
14:09thousand dollars advance for the book
14:12that's what i've been told and that's
14:13what we're trying to run down because uh
14:16that's the one thing that uh i don't
14:18understand here in other words
14:20there's got to be a bank record
14:22somewhere of this transaction
14:24it is so fantastic and so
14:28utterly beyond the bounds of anyone's
14:30imagination that uh
14:33i i simply haven't any idea what uh
14:38well obviously uh the motive for irving
14:41could be money but
14:44behind this thing thank you very much
14:46sir
14:47hughes also signed two affidavits
14:50rejecting the book's authenticity
14:52all seven of the questioners had met him
14:54in the past and all agreed that it was
14:56his genuine voice
14:58[Music]
15:02a recording was rushed to a laboratory
15:05and dr lawrence kirsten compared it with
15:07hughes voice at a senate subcommittee
15:09hearing
15:09in washington uh from the result of our
15:12analysis this afternoon it
15:14must be my opinion that it indeed was
15:16howard hughes's voice
15:17[Applause]
15:19but irving and his publishers still
15:21insisted theirs was the genuine article
15:23returning to the united states with his
15:25wife edith and their son
15:27he asked reporters if mcgraw-hill and
15:29time life would conceivably have parted
15:31with such
15:31massive sums unless they were certain
15:33they were buying the real thing
15:37publisher harold mcgraw unconditionally
15:40backed irving
15:40at a press conference and produced his
15:43company's checks with apparently genuine
15:45endorsements
15:45[Music]
15:53to him the evidence seemed irrefutable
15:55so forth
15:56personally handwritten letters
15:58personally signed
16:01contracts endorsed checks which you've
16:05just seen
16:06and then the the manuscript itself
16:10and edited in his handwriting
16:13on good many of the pages handwriting
16:16experts backed him up
16:18yes this also is a genuine signature of
16:21howard hughes in my opinion
16:25and incidentally i uh
16:29so far as i know clifford irving was not
16:32in
16:33in las vegas at the time is will turned
16:35up so
16:37that eliminates one possibility for it
16:40not being authentic
16:42but by the end of january 1972 serious
16:45doubts were creeping in
16:46and irving emerged from new york's
16:48chelsea hotel to confront skeptical
16:50reporters who were asking if it were
16:51true
16:52that the swiss credit bank had called in
16:54the police and that mcgraw hill had
16:56suspended publication of the book
16:58events were now speeding up and on the
17:0031st of january
17:01two grand juries were called to see if
17:04there was fraud
17:05[Music]
17:11the irvings were called to testify then
17:13on the 10th of february
17:15mcgraw-hill admitted they had been
17:17fooled it was a hoax
17:20[Music]
17:21separately edith was accused by the
17:23swiss police of passing herself off as
17:25helga r hughes
17:30now it emerged that when irving had said
17:32he was with howard hughes
17:34he had really been off with other women
17:36one of them was scuba instructors anne
17:38baxter who did little to back up his
17:40story
17:41the other was singer and danish countess
17:43nina van pallant
17:44of nina and frederick fame whose
17:46evidence was damaging
17:48did you talk to the grand jury about
17:50your
17:52visit to mexico with clifford irving and
17:54did you confirm to them what you said in
17:56europe
17:56which was that he never saw howard
17:58hughes
18:02not in my presence now he didn't see
18:04howard hughes in your presence
18:06and he lied when he said he saw him when
18:07you were visiting he can't say he lied
18:09she's on the video
18:17was to come as the source of irving's
18:19basic information was revealed as
18:20stanley mayer
18:21a hollywood wheeler dealer he had
18:23supplied a draft of noah dietrich's
18:25memoirs about his years with hughes to
18:27irving
18:30with the dietrich diaries to work on
18:32irving and his friend richard suskind
18:34had got the inside information they
18:36needed to produce an authentic looking
18:38manuscript which bamboozled mcgraw-hill
18:45charges were immediately filed and these
18:47were spelled out in detail by assistant
18:49district attorney
18:50robert morvillo investigation conducted
18:52by the
18:53office of the district of county
18:54attorney for the county of new york
18:56and the office of the united states
18:58attorney for the southern district of
18:59new york
19:00uh indictments were filed in both the
19:02state courts and in the federal court
19:04today
19:05charging mr and mrs clifford irving
19:08and mr david suskind uh mr richard says
19:12kind
19:12with crimes in connection with uh the
19:15so-called
19:16authorized autobiography of howard
19:18hughes
19:19reporters listened intently as the
19:21prosecutors spelt out where irving had
19:23got the model for his forgeries of
19:25howard hughes writing
19:26after seeing the dear chester bill
19:29letter
19:30in its entirety in life magazine he
19:32realized
19:34that his first effort in simulating uh
19:37the writing uh of uh mr hughes
19:41it was faulty and that uh on subsequent
19:44subsequent occasions he uh redid
19:48having explained the sources of the hoax
19:51the prosecutors were able to detail the
19:53precise method the two men had used to
19:55give the manuscript such apparent
19:56authenticity
20:00well the indictment the indictment
20:02covers that and uh and simply states
20:04that that's what happened that in july
20:06and august on the isle of ibiza
20:08uh the book was written uh in tape
20:11recorded sessions
20:13uh between mr irving and mr suskin and
20:15as i stated before
20:17uh what would happen is that uh on one
20:20day mr irving would pretend that he was
20:22mr howard hughes and mr susscon would
20:24ask him certain questions based upon
20:26their research
20:27and on the next day mr susskind would
20:29pretend that he was mr howard hughes
20:31and uh and mr irving would ask him
20:33questions based upon their research and
20:35then those tape recordings were
20:36transcribed
20:39because the book uh that was eventually
20:41given to mcgraw-hill
20:43was a transcription or a purported
20:45transcription of conversations between
20:47clifford irving
20:48and howard hughes the hoax had gained
20:51worldwide publicity
20:52but reporters were anxious to know
20:54whether financially it really had been
20:56such a big fraud how about mr bavillo on
20:58that one
20:59well because there is an indictment
21:01still pending and there hasn't been any
21:03plea i can't
21:03i can't give you too broad an answer
21:05with regard to that but i can say that
21:06in our securities fraud unit on a daily
21:09basis
21:09uh we get crimes of a much greater
21:11magnitude uh in the area of security
21:14swindles
21:14market manipulations and things like
21:16that i think
21:18this particular case just has a
21:19combination of factors which makes it
21:21irresistible
21:22to follow
21:27the game was up and on the 6th of march
21:29the irvings confessed
21:30that the autobiography of howard hughes
21:33had been a fraud
21:35they also revealed the way in which they
21:37had been able to cash the checks which
21:38mcgraw-hill thought were going to howard
21:40hughes
21:42it was indeed edith irving who had gone
21:44to zurich to open the false bank account
21:46at the swiss credit bank
21:49[Music]
21:52she had stolen the identity card of her
21:54first husband's wife
21:55helena rosenkrantz to justify the
21:57initials
22:00once the account was in place with an
22:02apparently authentic signature
22:04she had no trouble paying in and
22:05withdrawing large sums
22:12the man whom irving had gambled would
22:14never expose him never did write his
22:16autobiography
22:17but the exploits of howard hughes were
22:19so extraordinary
22:20they did not need one to live on
22:36the secret society became notorious for
22:38its savage methods and white hooded
22:40costume
22:41the second in today's great crimes and
22:43trials double reviews the ku klux klan
22:45killings what's next
22:56[Music]
23:07you

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