Talk:Richard Kollmar

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An investigative piece hosted by A.J. Benza on E! into the possible murder of Kilgallen mentions that Kollmar committed suicide, but doesn't specify how. Can anyone confirm this and specify the method? [signed] FLORIDA BRYAN—Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:3:1000:5b1:9227:e4ff:fef0:bbde (talk) 15:06, 27 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I have watched the video of the television documentary hosted by Benza to which you refer. Like you, I noticed Benza saying Richard Kollmar "committed suicide," no further details. Here in Wikipedia, it is impossible to cite video of such a television documentary unless a reliable printed source or legitimate online article cites a detail that is included in the documentary. No writer has cited that particular detail of Kollmar's death using the Benza investigative telecast as a source.

A book by Lee Israel does say that Kollmar "took his own life" and it provides more detail than Benza provided, but everything Israel wrote has been discredited by certain Wikipedia editors. The editors have done so because of some crimes she committed during her old age, many many years after she obtained Richard Kollmar's death certificate and the report from the New York City medical examiner's office. I am not going to share here my personal knowledge of how he died, partly because doing so would be in bad taste (The more important issue is that decades of living in his first wife's shadow drove him crazy) and partly because taste aside, Wikipedia cannot circulate the information anyway. Kollmar is survived by a namesake son and a daughter, both alive and well in California, but they will not respond to any attempts you make to contact them about yesteryear. Researchers have contacted them and tried starting conversations about yesteryear, and they won't budge.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.183.42.24 (talk) 19:16, 7 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Can the editor named Cullen328 please explain why he/she insists on leaving the following error in our article?

In addition to his work in radio and television, Kollmar produced and directed several Broadway stage plays. He produced his first Broadway show, By Jupiter, in June 1944. In May 1944, he produced and directed the fantasy musical Dream With Music. The production starred Norwegian ballerina Vera Zorina and was written by Kollmar's wife Dorothy, Sidney Sheldon and Ben Roberts.

The article itself proves that to be an error. More than eight paragraphs away, the following reveals that the first Broadway play Richard Kollmar produced was Early to Bed, not By Jupiter.

After moving to New York City and getting steady work on radio commercials, Kollmar appeared in the Broadway plays Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) and Too Many Girls (1939).

Kollmar tried his hand at producing a Broadway musical. His role in introducing the music of jazz pianist/popular song composer Fats Waller to New York theatergoers was recalled in a 2016 essay about Waller by John McWhorter, an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. (He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations.)

Even as late as 1943, the idea of a black composer writing the score for a standard-issue white show was unheard of. When Broadway performer and producer Richard Kollmar began planning Early to Bed, his original idea was for Waller to perform in it as a comic character, not to write the music. . . .

Therefore, would Cullen328 please explain why he/she has repeatedly reverted an edit that I have tried to process? What Cullen328 calls "name dropping" is actually a friendly reminder to Wikipedia readers that the article already has revealed Kollmar's first producing project: Early to Bed in which he hired Fats Waller to compose music. What's wrong with the following, please?

In addition to Kollmar's work in radio and television, he produced and directed several Broadway stage plays. After producing Early to Bed with music by Fats Waller, he produced another Broadway show, By Jupiter, in June 1944. In May 1944, he produced and directed the fantasy musical Dream With Music. The production starred Norwegian ballerina Vera Zorina, who recently had worked in Hollywood films, and was written by Kollmar's wife Dorothy, Sidney Sheldon and Ben Roberts.

Here is the reason for the parenthetical detail about Vera Zorina having worked recently in Hollywood films. This is so that Wikipedia readers don't become confused by the description of her as "Norwegian." She did not travel from Norway to the United States in the middle of World War II specifically to work in Richard Kollmar's musical play in New York. Zorina already had been in the United States for many years, working in Hollywood films and the ballet in legitimate theaters. Her Wikipedia article goes into detail about that. Many people who read Kollmar's article have not read Zorina's and aren't going to, so let's avoid confusing them with a one-word description of her as Norwegian. Many readers know from the years mentioned that this was in the middle of World War II, so let's avoid confusion, please. Thanks for your attention.TroyBradenton (talk) 22:35, 28 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Is it worth adding that he was buried next to his first wife, Dorothy Kilgallen? https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108984596/richard-tomkins-kollmar https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/580/dorothy-kilgallen — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.237.146.216 (talk) 17:38, 23 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Here I am correcting the previous editor's assertion that Richard Kollmar is buried next to his first wife. Wikipedia does not consider a telephone conversation with a cemetery employee to be a reliable source. For what it's worth, I had a telephone conversation with someone who works at Gate of Heaven cemetery in Westchester County, New York. She told me Richard Kollmar is buried in the very same burial plot as his first wife, Dorothy Kilgallen. They are not side by side. He is above her. The grave marker does not indicate that he is there. The cemetery office has a record of him being there.

Dorothy died first. She was a lifelong Catholic. Gate of Heaven is Catholic. For her burial, gravediggers made sure the grave had the standard depth. A grave marker was added. It mentions her name and the words "beloved wife and mother." When her widower Richard, who was born and raised as a Protestant, died five years and two months after Dorothy died, their daughter contacted Gate of Heaven officials. They discovered that the depth of her mother's burial plot had enough room for his coffin to rest above hers. The daughter asked for that. Request granted. The daughter never paid for an additional grave marker. The one with Dorothy Kilgallen's name, and no other name, remains. It is slightly weather-beaten but you can read it easily from a distance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:CB81:F80:10D2:22F4:A7B6:231B (talk) 23:23, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

On Sept. 23, 2018, a person with the screen name Pinkadelica removed the portion of this article about the creative partnership of Richard Kollmar, Caucasian, and musical composer / songwriter Fats Waller, a person of color. I don't know if Pinkadelica is a Wikipedia editor, administrator, or what. Today I restored that portion of the article. Its source is legitimate. You click on it and you discover that it is an online academic article that soon will have renewed importance during Black History Month. Waller was a pioneering person of color in the history of American popular music. Kollmar's decision to hire him for the stage musical Early to Bed helped break down the color barrier in the Broadway theater. Granted, everyone who appeared onstage was white, but many theatergoers paid attention to the name of the unseen person who had composed the music. Some theatergoers could have found out that he was a person who lived with racism every day. Waller died prematurely less than a year after Early to Bed premiered. Many people who had seen Early to Bed read his newspaper obituary. At that point, New Yorkers definitely found out he had been treated like a second-class citizen but managed to achieve a lot in his short life.Odurandina (talk) 06:30, 7 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Cut the innocent act. Your edits were and will continue to be reverted because you’re a long banned user who is once again evading their ban with sock puppets. First it was LA County library IPs and now you’ve created a nifty new account to add to your long annoying list of socks. I don’t care what supposed important content you want to add or why, it won’t stick around because you are banned for behavior like this and more. Your not quite direct claim of racism is rich considering I’m half black. I’m not all self loathing either so I’m hardly trying to diminish the accomplishments of a black man. For future reference, don’t bust out the race card on me. It rarely work as I’ve got two bases covered. Pinkadelica ^(Talk) 12:22, 12 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Bennett Cerf possibly skipped Dorothy Kilgallen's funeral.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:37, 7 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed the places of birth that were in the infobox and in the "Early life" section. The one in the infobox was unsourced. The one in "Early life" was not mentioned in the cited source. We need to have a reliable, published source if someone adds a place of birth to the article. Eddie Blick (talk) 03:00, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]