Pressing the Issue

Leonard Klady, by his own admission in his April 17 Outtakes item, was not present when I received the Press Award from the Publicists Guild. That should instruct his on the hazards of relying on second-hand information.

Klady said I thanked God I was a journalist because otherwise I’d be working for Rogers & Cowan.

What I actually said was, “I would like to thank those press agents who put up with me . . . not because they understood the tensions and stresses which did not quite justify my conduct, but because they had no other choice. It was either that or go to work for Rogers & Cowan.” A far cry from the Klady version.

Also, Klady flatters me unduly by crediting me with clearing half the Bev Hilton banquet room. While I may or may not have made a slight contribution to the exodus, such as it was, the departure came at the end of a very long luncheon that showed signs of having outworn its welcome even before I was called to the stage. How does Klady know that they did not leave when they did because they had to get back to their jobs--or because they simply were tired of sitting on their backsides?

As for my alleged “profanity,” let qualified lexicographers be the judge of that. All I did was use two whimsical anecdotes for purposes of illustration. One contained the single explicit word that passed my puritanical lips. It was a quote of an amusing misprint from a headline in a Panama newspaper.

WILL TUSHER

Hollywood