Why are you so nosy? The answer to that is, well, because there’s so much to know! You can learn a lot of interesting things if you poke your nose where it doesn’t belong. Being snoopy has its advantages – it’s fun, deliciously scandalous, you know all the good gossip first and, in the new book “The Fixer” by Josh Young and Manfred Westphal, it might just pay the bills. Fred Otash couldn’t believe his eyes. Hollywood was much more than he’d ever expected. Like most Americans, he’d consumed a heavy diet of movies and movie stars, but as a young man just home from World War II, the reality far outdid what he’d imagined. Impressed with what he saw, he took a job at the LAPD, where his intelligence and surveillance skills helped him rise through the ranks. Those attributes also helped him gain access to and rub elbows with the rich, famous, and up-and-coming, a proximity that changed his life. Being a police officer in the 1950s, Otash had leeway for ignoring petty behavior, so he often “looked the other way” when Hollywood’s brightest got caught up in compromising positions. He was especially accommodating when doing so might gain a confidante for later use. Otash befriended common people, petty criminals, and stars like Liberace, Milton Berle, James Cagney, John Wayne, and Marilyn Monroe. Three years after launching his career with the LAPD, a new chief of police was named, a man Otash had conflicts with, and he knew his tenure was in trouble. By then, Otash had gained a reputation for being both tough and discreet, and also good with the latest in surveillance technology. Hollywood appreciated that, and they took advantage of Otash’s talents for making bad things go away. Lawyers hired him to catch philandering spouses, magazine editors hired him to dish the dirt, and he was the first person called when a beautiful movie star – a woman who was sleeping with the President – died under mysterious circumstances. If the National Enquirer, a 1950s-era Hollywood scandal rag, and pick-your-favorite-detective-noir-flick moved in together, their apartment would look like “The Fixer.” With behind-the-scenes peeks, authors Josh Young and Manfred Westphal share a story that Westphal swears is all true. He says his mother insisted that he meet Otash when Westphal was a young man, and that Otash offered to show him evidence to back himself up. In the narrative here, Marilyn Monroe’s platinum head pops up frequently, as if to tease readers who come to “The Fixer” expressly looking for juicy tidbits. As for conspiracy buffs, the details may not be anything new, but the rest of the scandals will make you glad you came along for the romp.
