Word: kelleyism
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...former, of course, decline to be named but readily stamp Kelley as someone you'd hate to have for a dinner partner, let alone a confidant: "She will suck you into her world and then betray you . . . She craves attention." Or, "She exploits people, and I don't like to mess with...
...other hand, says Washington columnist Marianne Means, Kitty is "very warm. She's not secretive, but she doesn't talk about herself a lot. She's fun to be with." Jack Limpert, editor of Washingtonian magazine, which lists Kelley on the masthead, says, "She's a relentless reporter. You've got to give it to her. She works very hard." Limpert does not discuss the widespread conviction of other journalists, as well as Kelley's own subjects, that she too frequently fails to bring perspective or analysis to the fruits of her reporting and at times lards her work with...
...Kelley moved over to the Washington Post as an editorial-page researcher; two years later, she was asked to resign for making notes unrelated to her job. One day in 1973 she turned up at Washingtonian magazine with an unpublished book written by the novelist Barbara Howar. Kitty claimed that she had found the manuscript in the drawer of a table sold at Howar's yard sale and wanted the Washingtonian to print excerpts. When Howar heard about it, she raised a mighty fuss; only one copy of the manuscript existed, she said, and this she kept on the third...
...Kelley was finding her metier: rummaging through people's secrets, real and imagined. She wrote a free-lance article about resorts where the rich and famous frolicked, and parlayed the piece into The Glamour Spas, a book flecked with naughty gossip. This brought her to the attention of New Jersey celebrity-book publisher Lyle Stuart, who sent her off to do a job on Jackie Onassis. Kelley's friend at the time, gossip columnist Liz Smith, gave her voluminous files on Jackie, and Kitty set out on a tireless quest for the down and dirty. The book, Jackie Oh!, revealed...
What surprised critics and readers, and possibly even Kelley herself, was the thoroughness of her next effort, His Way, a devastating biography of Frank Sinatra. Even before the manuscript was completed, the singer had mounted an all-out campaign to dry up Kelley's sources. When that did not prove sufficient, he filed suit claiming that Kitty was misrepresenting herself to sources and failing to disclose her reasons for writing the book. But Sinatra had never had to deal with so determined an opponent. Kelley argued that Sinatra was trying to prevent her from publishing freely; Sinatra's lawyers finally...