Lee Mortimer was an American newspaper columnist, radio commentator, crime lecturer, night club show producer, and author. He was born Mortimer Lieberman in Chicago, but was best known by the pen name he adopted as a young newspaper editor. With Jack Lait

Jack Lait

Jack Lait was an American journalist.-Life:Born Jacquin Leonard Lait in New York City, he became renowned during his fifty year career in journalism as one of the leading newspapermen of the first half of the 20th century...

, Mortimer co-authored a popular series of books detailing crime in the United States, including New York Confidential, Chicago Confidential, Washington Confidential, and U.S.A. Confidential

U.S.A. Confidential

U.S.A. Confidential is a 1952 book written by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer . Its theme crime and corruption, this book is remarkable for early mentions of many who would become infamous, among them Benny Binion and Jimmy Fratianno....

. He died of a heart attack in New York City on March 1, 1963.

Early life

Mortimer Lieberman (Lee Mortimer) was the eldest son of Nathan and Rose Lieberman, first generation immigrants to the United States. Nathan Lieberman was born October 12, 1873 in Ukraine and emigrated in 1890 , taking employment with Sears, Roebuck & Company, and later, Montgomery Ward, selling clothing. In 1918, Nathan Lieberman was employed by Kahn Tailoring Company in Chicago. His wife, Rose, was born in Sweden in 1885, and immigrated to the United States in 1899. The couple had one other child, Robert Lieberman, born in Chicago in 1914, who was a promotions agent for The Chicago Tribune - New York News Syndicate. Nathan Lieberman brought his family to New York in the early 1920s, and founded a clothing firm originally known as Mencher Brothers & Lieberman, a manufacturer of boys' and student's clothing later called Quickturns Company. Nathan Lieberman was actively involved in the operation, serving as general manager of the firm at the time of his death in 1955, at the age of 82.

Mortimer Lieberman attended Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, and later New York City, before going to work as an editor for Amusements Magazine under Donald Flamm, and adopting the pen name Lee Mortimer. Broadway columnist Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...

, in a March 12, 1931 column, called out Mortimer for having reported that Winchell was changing newspapers, reporting that Mortimer, "an up and coming youngster now editing Amusements for Donald Flamm, goes a little gay with facts too, however, when he reports that I am shifting rags."

Newspaper and radio

In 1932, Mortimer began his long-term association with the New York Mirror, working for editor Jack Lait, with whom he later penned a series of bestselling crime books. At the Mirror, Mortimer was installed as a reporter and critic, and later began a long-running Broadway gossip column. His association with Marcus Loew

Marcus Loew

Marcus Loew was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .-Biography:...

's theater publicist and nightclub impresario Nils Granlund

Nils Granlund

Nils T. Granlund was an American Broadway show producer, radio industry pioneer, a publicist for Marcus Loew who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...

 led to introductions to speakeasy club owners of the Prohibition Era, as sources for his Broadway material.

Mortimer found a close ally in Nils Granlund, who managed WHN radio and broadcast live jazz performances from NYC nightclubs, and by 1939, Mortimer had his own radio program on WMCA. Mortimer made appearances regularly at Granlund-staged events, and eventually produced Granlund-style dance revues for New York City nightclubs. New York Times, Lee Mortimer Dies; Columnist, Author, March 2, 1963

On crime

Mortimer served as a First Lieutenant in the Signal Corps from 1942 to 1943, then returned to New York City and began a collaboration with Jack Lait that produced several bestselling crime books. Following that success, Mortimer began lecturing on crime and communism, and at one point attempted to tie popular singer Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 to the Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

 and the Communist Party

Communist party

A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...

. The two men had a confrontation in Hollywood on April 9, 1947 outside Ciro's restaurant, resulting in the arrest of Sinatra the following day on a battery complaint, after Mortimer accused Sinatra of throwing a punch.New York Times, Sinatra Held For Trial, April 10, 1947.

Crime author

With Jack Lait, LMortimer wrote a series of books, including "New York: Confidential," "Washington: Confidential," "Chicago: Confidential," and "U.S.A.: Confidential." On his own, he wrote "New York Behind the Scenes" and "Women: Confidential." Following the publication of "U.S.A.: Confidential," Mortimer and Lait were charged in separate libel lawsuits by Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith was a Republican Senator from Maine, and one of the most successful politicians in Maine history. She was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. House and the Senate, and the first woman from Maine to serve in either. She was also the first woman to have her name...

 and Augustine B. Kelley

Augustine B. Kelley

Augustine Bernard Kelley was a United States Representative from Pennsylvania.Augustine B. Kelley was born in New Baltimore, Pennsylvania. He attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, in 1904 and 1905. He studied mining engineering with the International Correspondence...

, members of Congress. The $500,000 suit by Kelley was settled after Mortimer and the estate of Jack Lait offered written apologies and paid costs association with the litigation.New York Times, Libel Suit Settled, January 29, 1957.

Marriages

Mortimer wed five times, including marriages to Gerry Pascal, Patricia Whitney, Una Wyse, Ann Koga, and Mariko Harada.