The Hoax Page #10

we weren't warned about this.

Why weren't we warned? Clara!

I have volumes and volumes

and rooms full of...

Mr. Hughes, did you cooperate,

or do you know

a man named Irving,

who claims to have taped

this biography with you?

Well, this must go down in history.

I only wish I were still

in the movie business

because I don't remember

any scripts as wild

or as stretching of the imagination

as this yarn has turned out to be.

I take it, sir, you do not know a man

named Clifford Irving, then?

No, I never saw him.

I never even heard of him

until a matter of days ago when

this thing first came to my attention.

It is so fantastic

and so utterly beyond the bounds

of anyone's imagination...

I mean, it seems to me

the motive for Irving could be money.

But McGraw-Hill and Time Life

don't have to deal in fake manuscripts.

They surely have a business that

operates at a higher plane than that.

There's gotta be a bank record

somewhere of this transaction.

So, I just don't have any idea.

There have been reports

that you have had dealings with...

He just lied.

... President Nixon's friend

Bebe Rebozo,

and also dealings with

the President himself.

Do you care to comment

on those reports?

A warrant was issued today

for the arrest of

Clifford Irving's wife, Edith.

She is charged with fraud and forgery.

She deposited in a Swiss bank

money intended for Howard Hughes,

whose autobiography

her husband says he wrote.

No, no, no, no!

Edith?

Martin Ackerman,

attorney for Clifford Irving,

who claims that he compiled the book,

reaffirms his conviction

that it is authentic.

Ackerman issued that statement

after a story

in this morning's New York Times,

a story reportedly saying

Irving may have been duped.

Edith?

Edith?

- Edith?

- Nina!

Is it safe to say

this was an intimate relationship?

Yes, the relationship was physical.

And you can confirm that Mr. Irving,

in fact, did not meet with Mr. Hughes

on the date in question?

He could not have met

Howard Hughes in Nassau

because he was with me

at The Plaza Hotel.

Well, did he confide in you

regarding the book?

No. I knew nothing about it.

I'm completely flabbergasted

by all of this attention and...

What exactly do you do,

Miss Van Pallandt?

I'm an actress,

and a singer.

Nina.

Always the details that undo us.

Always the details that undo us.

Can I run something by you, George?

Certainly, Clifford.

That's what I'm here for.

This was a really bad year for Howard,

wasn't it?

The TWA thing,

the Airwest merger unraveling.

He lost control of Nixon,

his fixer, too, didn't he?

He needed something.

He needed some leverage

to keep him back in line.

A loss could cost Hughes

$ 137 million...

So one day he opens his

disinfected newspaper,

and there we are,

us, with our little book.

When your rival is powerful,

find an opportunity.

Create a crisis for him.

Hardly had to do anything.

Just a little push.

Then he fed us some dirt.

The sh*t about Bebe and...

Just to get Nixon's

attention, a little more dirt.

The President thinks this is authentic?

How else could they know?

Nixon gets hysterical.

He thinks the book is real.

But instead of taking

short-term advantage,

save the day for him.

And then Howard makes it good

for the President,

cashes in his chip,

and we get buried.

I take it, sir, you do not know a man

named Clifford Irving, then?

No, I never saw him.

I never even heard of him until...

I'm not angry, George.

I'm disappointed.

You know, I thought that maybe...

I thought we were partners,

Howard and I.

Well, you mustn't

take it personally, Clifford.

Just as the trees

mustn't take it personally

when a forest is razed for lumber.

They're part of a grand design.

I played it good for a while,

though, didn't I?

You were tremendous, Clifford.

Mr. Hughes commented on that.

Really?

Would I lie to you?

Howard Hughes has spoken publicly.

And he has told us

that we may hear more from him soon.

All right, thank you. Thank you.

Good night, from NBC News.

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GE WHAT YOU WANT PLAYING

Sir, do you have any comment?

I'll cooperate

in exchange for leniency for Dick,

and especially for Edith.

Mr. Irving received a sentence of

two and a half years' imprisonment,

Mr. Suskind, six months' imprisonment.

In addition, they will pay

full restitution to McGraw-Hill

and the Internal Revenue Service,

totaling $ 1.3 million.

Mrs. Irving received

a suspended sentence,

but we have no control over what

the Swiss authorities decide to do.

Are you happy with the outcome,

Mr. Newman?

I'm not sure you're ever ecstatic

when a bargain is reached but...

In a surprise reversal,

the Nixon Justice Department today

approved the acquisition of Airwest

airlines by Howard Hughes' Tool Co.

This on the heels of

last week's Supreme Court decision

to dismiss the TWA

shareholders' lawsuit,

rescuing Mr. Hughes

from paying $ 137 million

made it a very good week

for the eccentric billionaire.

In other news today,

five men were arrested

breaking into the Democratic National

Committee headquarters

located in the Watergate Hotel.

Yeah, that's them.

Don't choke on the dust.

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