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Here's an interesting Payola Six detail we haven't adequately examined, published last Wednesday in the Times:

Mr. Stern had little to do with the daily column at this time—he was editing a special Page Six magazine at the offices of The Post and feeding gossip items to Radar, which he did in secret because the magazine was financed in part by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner of the rival Daily News.

Writing for Radar in secret, eh? Perhaps under a pseudonym, even? Indeed. Stern contributed to Radar Online's Fresh Intelligence column, we've learned, under the byline "Sidney Kidd." And from where did he get that name? From The Philadelphia Story, in which Kidd is the unscrupulous editor and publisher of "Dime & Spy Inc." who sets things in motion by sending his reporter to cover the society wedding of Tracy Lord. And how, pray tell, does Kidd propose to get his reluctant reporter into that exclusive affair? We'll refer here to the summary of The Philadelphia Story on Filmsite.org:

Kidd has blackmailed [Tracy's ex-husband] into placing as guests the two journalists, a reporter and a photographer, in the Lord mansion in return for withholding a potentially-damaging, scandalous and malicious story about Mr. Seth Lord, Tracy's father.

Naming himself after a blackmailer. Wherever does Stern come up with such ideas?

(Sidenote: "Snoodles," the nickname of Mrs. Paul Stern, comes not from 1940's The Philadelphia Story but rather from 1942's The Palm Beach Story. In the later film, Snoodles is indeed a loving nickname — for a man, Rudy Vallee's character, John D. Hackensacker III.)

Billionaire and Post Writer in Dance of Tips and Turns [NYT]
Search: Sidney Kidd [Radar Online]
The Philadelphia Story [Filmsite.org]
The Philadelphia Story [IMDb]
The Palm Beach Story [IMDb]