The best $1.50 I ever spent

When I wrote my book on Howard Hughes, I accumulated a large collection of research materials about the man and his various interests. One book I was aware of but did not obtain is called "Just About Everybody Vs. Howard Hughes: The Inside Story of the TWA-Howard Hughes Trial." It was written by David B. Tinnin and published in 1973.

The other day, I received an e-mail from a guy in Southern California who had read my book and said he enjoyed it. He clearly is a big Hughes aficionado, having read, he said, more than 40 books about Hughes and inviting the actress Terry Moore, who dated Hughes and claims to have secretly married him, to his birthday party. (She attended.) The guy mentioned that his most recent Hughes reading was the aforementioned book about the TWA case.

I decided it was time to get a copy of this book. Searching online, I quickly found that it's not hard to find. Scanning the available used copies, they ranged in price from $1 to about $35. I was most interested in the cheaper ones. Browsing through my options, I came across one for $1.50. The information about the book noted that newspaper clippings tucked into the book would be included in the purchase.

Well, this sealed the deal for me. The book arrived today, and, as promised, a bunch of yellowed news clippings were included. They are all about Hughes, of course, and include the famous Time magazine cover story from 1976 that features a sketch of aide Gordy Margulis carrying a bearded and sickly Hughes.

A clipping from 1990 reports on the death of longtime Hughes aide and executive Nadine Henley. A San Francisco Chronicle article from 1986 updates the life of Melvin Dummar, who at the time was flipping burgers in a cafe in Gabbs, Nevada. Other articles report on the release of books about Hughes by Michael Drosnan ("Citizen Hughes") and Terry Moore ("The Beauty and the Billionaire").

Whoever owned this book lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and was very interested in Howard Hughes, clipping articles and saving them roughly from 1976 to 1990.

Needless to say, I'm pleased about the clippings. Having the actual newspaper and magazine articles in hand beats the heck out of reading them online. Also, I'm glad to have the book. I trust it will give me a greater understanding of the TWA case, which was such a big part of the final chapters of Hughes' life.

Once I read the book, I will report on it here.