AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy

Initial code:

BJ–Barb Jahelka. LS–Lenny Sands. PL– Peter Lawford. MU1–Male Unknown #1. MU2–Male Unknown #2. FU 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7–Female Unknowns #1-#7. JFK–John F. Kennedy. RFK–Robert F. Kennedy. (Note: I think MU #1 and #2 are Secret Service agents.)

9:14–9:22: garbled.

9:23-9:26: overlapping voices. BJ’s voice comes through, mostly casual greetings. (I think she was being introduced to FU #1-#7. Note high-pitched laughter on tape copies.)

9:27–9:39: BJ & PL.

PL (conversation in progress): You stand out in this crowd, Barb.

BJ: My beauty or my height?

PL: Both.

BJ: You’re so full of shit.

FU3: Hi, Peter.

PL: Hi, doll.

FU6: Peter, I just love the President’s hair.

PL: Give it a tug. He won’t bite you.

FU3, FU6: laughter.

BJ: Are they showgirls or hookers?

PL: The bleached blonde’s a barmaid at the Sip n’ Surf in Malibu. The others work the show line at the Dunes. You see the brunette with the lungs?

BJ: I see her.

PL: She plays skin flute in Frank Sinatra’s all-girl band.

BJ: Very funny.

PL: Not funny, because Bobby made Jack drop Frank. Frank put in a heliport at his place in Palm Springs so Jack could visit him, but that judgmental little shit Bobby made Jack give him the brush-off, just because he knows a few gangsters. Look at him. Isn’t he a wicked looking little shit?

BJ: He has buck teeth.

PL: That never touch women.

BJ: Are you saying he’s a fag?

PL: I have It on good authority that he only fucks his wife, doesn’t go down, and only gives it to Ethel for purposes of procreation. Isn’t he a wicked looking little shit?

FU2: Peter! I just met the President out on the beach!

PL: That’s nice. Did you suck his cock?

FU2: You’re a pig.

PL: Oink! Oink!

BJ: I think I need a drink.

PL: I think you need a lobotomy. Really, Barb. I just wanted you to sleep with Frank once.

BJ: He’s not my type.

PL: He could have helped you. He would have kicked that wicked little shit Joey out of your life.

BJ: Joey and I have a history. I’ll cut him loose when the time’s right.

PL: You cut me loose too soon. Frank was deeply smitten with you, doll. He sensed that you were hiding things, and I have it on good authority that he hired a private eye to find out what those things were.

BJ: Did he tell you what he found out?

FL: Mum’s the word, doll. Mum’s the goddamn–

FU1: Oh God, Peter, I just met President Kennedy!

PL: That’s nice. Did you suck his cock?

BJ, FU1, FU7: garbled.

PL: Oink! Oink! Oink! I’m a Presidential piglet!

9:40–10:22: garbled. Static quality indicates that Secret Service men installed and were calling out on private phone lines.

10:23–10:35: garbled. BJ (standing near hi-fi set) talking to: FU1, 3, 7. (She should have been told to avoid noisy appliances & record players.)

10:36–10:41: BJ in bathroom (indicated by sink & toilet sounds).

10:42–10:49: garbled.

10:50–11:04: BJ & RFK.

BJ (conversation in progress): It’s just a craze, and you have to catch these things before they crest, and then bail out before they fizzle so you won’t look like a loser.

RFK: Then I guess you could say the Twist is like politics.

BJ: You could. Opportunism’s certainly the common denominator.

RFK: It sounds trite, but you don’t talk like an ex-showgirl.

BJ: Have you met a lot of them?

RFK: Quite a few, yes.

BJ: When you were investigating gangsters?

RFK: No, when my brother introduced me to them.

BJ: Did they have a common denominator?

RFK: Yes. Availability.

BJ: I’d have to agree with that.

RFK: Are you going out with Lenny Sands?

BJ: We’re not dating. He just brought me to the party.

RFK: How did he bill the gathering?

BJ: He didn’t say, ‘come join the harem,’ if that’s what you mean.

RFK: Then you noticed the high woman to man ratio.

BJ: You know I did, Mr. Kennedy.

RFK: Call me Bob.

BJ: All right, Bob.

RFK: I’m just assuming that since you know Peter and Lenny, you know how certain things are.

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