The File on Bobby Darin, Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Nina related to Dorothy the story of how Winchell had trapped her at the ringside table and began to question her, finally claiming that he had spoken on the phone to Bobby’s father!  The nerve of the man!  Nina had thought she was being so clever all these years, hiding the truth of Bobby’s birth, and in one night, she had come up against not one, but two gossip hounds who knew more about her personal life than any friends or family members.  Polly and Nina had guarded the secret well for all of Bobby’s young life, but they neither of them had thought what it would mean for Bobby to become famous!  How could Polly die and leave Nina with this burden?

“Who else knows about this?” Dorothy asked.  “Does Charlie know?”

Nina shook her head.  “No, Charlie knows that Bobby is mine, but he does not know the name of the father.  No one knows that but me, now that Polly has passed on.”

Without waiting a beat, Dorothy asked, “And who is the father?”

Nina’s mouth was set in a grim line.  “No, I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that, I couldn’t possibly tell anyone.”  Nina looked down at her lap, quickly nodding her head up and down in the same gesture that Bobby used when he was addressed by the natty young thug in the Copa lounge. 

Dorothy leaned toward Nina to take her hands and interrupt the stubborn shaking of the head.  “I’m afraid you’ll have to tell me now, Nina, if you have any hope of stopping Winchell from finding it out.”

Nina looked up from her inner debate.  She squinted behind her glasses.  “If I tell you, and if Winchell finds it out, then that’s just another person who knows!  Don’t you try to trap me, Miss Kilgallen.”

Now it was Dorothy’s turn to shake her head.  She explained to Nina, “If you tell me something in confidence, it will remain a secret with me.  Once Winchell finds out the truth, though, then I won’t have the power to stop him from publishing it, if he has a mind to.”

As Nina considered this in silence, Dorothy continued, “If gossip columnists did nothing but publish any secret they might find about anyone, people would soon stop talking to them, and their sources would dry up for good.  If it’s not too late, sometimes one secret can cancel out another secret, before it gets into the papers.”  Dorothy did not want go into much detail about dueling secrets, and she was right in thinking that Nina would not inquire too closely, thinking mainly of how to get out of her current trouble. 

“Does Bobby know any of this?”

Nina’s small eyes widened in horror at the thought.  She shook her head violently.  “Bobby?  No!  He has no idea.  I gave him to Polly to raise, you see, from the very first day, she was the only mother he knew.  I was the big sister.  His big, loud, stupid sister!”  Nina stamped her foot in frustration.  This was her role in life, though she did chafe with it occasionally.  Never tell a lie, Polly had taught her, but if you do tell a lie, then you can never take it back, no matter what.

Whether Dorothy was looking at an admirable strength of character or merely pigheaded stubbornness, she neither knew nor cared.  As a fellow human, Dorothy found it difficult to warm up to Nina.  Her fierce devotion to keeping her own son in the dark as to his origins was not something that Dorothy could understand.  As a fellow woman, however, she was not without sympathy for her situation.  It was not for Dorothy to judge whatever had occurred in the past.  She marveled that what took place on a tiny nightclub stage could reach out and shake this suburban housewife to her core.  No matter what her faults, Dorothy decided that Nina did not deserve to be placed under the spotlight by Walter Winchell. 

After keeping her cool for most of a trying evening, Nina was beginning to work herself into a bit of a state.  She wrung her hands in a gesture of futility as she said,  “Oh, Miss. Kilgallen, look how easy it was for you to find out about me and figure that something didn’t add up.  Maybe I should take Charlie and the kids and move away to,” Nina’s lower lip trembled as she brought out the rest of the sentence, “to Upstate, maybe to Albany!”  The way she pronounced the dreaded word, it was clear that she considered Albany to be as remote as Inner Mongolia.  In Mongolia, perhaps Bobby’s secret would be safe.  Here Nina let escape a low sob.

Dorothy Kilgallen felt horrible having to stifle a laugh she said, “I don’t think Albany will be necessary.  Let me talk to Walter and see what I can do.”

Now Nina stiffened at the mention of her enemy’s name.  “Oh, do you think you should?  Maybe it will only make things worse.”

Dorothy shook her head and explained, “Walter’s like a bloodhound on the scent.  He won’t drop this now, I’m afraid, though I can’t say for sure what he knows at this point.  I may be able to stop him, but you will simply have to tell me the father’s name.  I give you my word that I won’t make it public.”

Nina had been receiving a crash course in the ways of gossip columnists that evening.  It was an intensive study that made her head ache.  She had begun to grasp, however, that she needed a powerful ally against Winchell.  If Dorothy Kilgallen was as good as her word, perhaps Nina could get through this terrible ordeal.  If Kilgallen was false, then she could not do any worse to her than it was possible for Winchell to be contemplating, so at this point she had nothing left to lose.

Still, she hesitated.  “I couldn’t possibly say the name, not after all these years.”  Polly had been Bobby’s mother for so long, Nina could scarcely admit the truth, not even to herself.  And now, after all she had gone through to bury the past, to actually say the name!

Dorothy got up from her seat and came around to Nina’s side of the tea tray.  She quietly slipped her notebook and pen into Nina’s lap and told her, “You don’t have to say the name.  Just write it here for me.  I promise I will take care of it.” 

Nina let out a totally hopeless sigh, took the notepad, and wrote a name in a firm hand.  Dorothy took the pad and read the name.  Now it was time for her eyes to grow wide.  This was a name that was known to her.  It was a name that many people would recognize.  She understood why Nina had never divulged it before now.  Kilgallen looked at Nina, who was shrugging and nodding her head sadly as if to say, ‘Yes, Polly, you told me if I put my hand into the fire, it would burn, and it did.’  She took the notepad back into her possession.  Nina had removed her glasses and was pushing the tears off her face with her fingers as she said, “I never told him about the pregnancy, honestly, Miss Kilgallen, but he made no effort to find me, ever!  Maybe I should be grateful, who knows, but I can’t forgive it.”  Nina’s face was mottled with crying.  She fished a handkerchief from a deep pocket in her dress to apply to her streaming eyes and nose.

Who in their right mind would elect to be a woman if they had the choice, Kilgallen wondered, looking at this broken creature.  Men call all of the shots, it seemed.  Kilgallen thought for a minute, then said to herself, ‘Well, maybe not ALL of the shots,’ and she began to think of what she would do after she saw that Nina was safely conveyed back to her children. 

Continued in the next chapter

ID: 1472582   (Rated: ASR) The File on Bobby Darin, Chapter 20  Walter Winchell meets Dorothy Kilgallen in the Copa lounge by Gisele