Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 7#3/4 Dirk Van Weelden, Martin Bril 1 Jan 1994

Memos to Malone

John Charles Custer Malone is owner and ceo of tci, the biggest cable operator in the usa, which among other things owns Ted Turner Broadcasting Systems (cnn), The Discovery Channel, and qvc, the usa's largest home shopping network. tci serves one in five American households and turns an annual profit of four billion dollars. Malone is also co-owner of Time Warner, publisher of magazines, books, music, films, and computer games.

In the world of media tycoons Malone is famous not only as the great unknown, but also as the reactionary, unpredictable power behind the scenes. His vision of the future is unknown and his name is therefore spoken in the industry with awe and fear. He operates out of the mountains around Denver, Colorado.

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John Charles Custer Malone - Memos to Malone - published in Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 7#3/4

24 April, 1995, 2:35 pm

As you are probably already aware, at 2:05 p.m. this afternoon Eastern Standard Time, President Clinton was assassinated in Cleveland, Ohio as he was about to officially open the new Cleveland Indians stadium. A player for the Indians and an umpire for the American League also lost their lives in the attack. The assassination was carried out from the roof of the new stadium, probably by a single marksman who opened fire as the president was preparing to throw the first ball. The president died instantly; the two other victims died in the players' tunnel and at present there is great panic and confusion in the stadium (capacity 34,000). The assassin has fled, though the weapon has been found. Vice-President Al Gore, who is en route to an Alaskan nature reserve, will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States upon landing in Anchorage. At the time of the attack Hilary Rodham Clinton was in Springfield, Illinois, where she was addressing the state legislative assembly. She is currently en route to Cleveland.

''Mr. Malone,

As tragic as these events have been, we wish to extend to you a commercial proposition. As chance would have it, not only is our office familiar with the background of the assassination, we also possess the exclusive rights to the life stories of the suspect and his family, accomplices, friends and neighbours.

If everything goes according to plan, the assassin is presently on his way to a hiding place, from which he will be transported later in the day to an undisclosed destination. Within a very short time the police will know his identity.

His name is Sid Field. He is 36 years old and a hairdresser by profession. He is not insane, though at his wit's end since losing his position as the Clinton family's permanent hairdresser to the hair artist master Christophe of Beverly Hills.

Field's life story offers various possibilities for development. To begin with, Field's tragic youth as a misunderstood homosexual in narrow-minded Little Rock, Arkansas, his violent conflicts with his father, his years in the San Francisco gay scene, the opening of his first salon in Little Rock and his friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, which resulted in, among other things, his permanent presence in the Clinton campaign caravan in 1992. The split with Field in mid-1993, when the president exchanged him for the Hollywood society stylist, is the beginning of the last fatal chapter of Field's story. Two years of decline and preparation follow, ending in the plans for the assassination and the fatal day itself.

Our proposal, naturally, concerns the sale of the rights to Field's story. But there is more. Should you show an interest, we are able to present you with the following material today:

1 - a synopsis of a three-part tv docudrama on Field's life.

2 - the outline of Field's biography, to be written by Albert Goldman, who is already under provisional contract.

3 - the synopses of two novels based on F.'s life and the assassination of the President, respectively, a commercial thriller throwing light on the criminal aspect and a psychological novel in which F.'s mental life and his obsessive relationship to Bill C. are central.

4 - scripts for talk shows (diversified according to network) about the assassination and Field. As far as confidentiality has permitted, the key individuals have been approached, and some have already been contracted.

5 - the title deed for the building in Little Rock where Acker&Field run their salon as well as the preliminary agreements between our office and the salon concerning a Field line of hairdressing products and other resulting merchandise.

Field's arrest is expected to take place in approximately three months, which provides time for the above-mentioned projects to be sufficiently underway for everything to be on the market by the end of this year.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that all this is merely the tip of the iceberg. We are firmly convinced that Field was an instrument in the hands of others. The unravelling of this complex mystery can in due course prove to be a gold mine of new media products.

In the hope that you recognize these opportunities, and trusting in your discretion, we remain, sincerely yours,

P. R. Sticker

R. D. Hallway

Media ImpoExpo Inc.

Cayman Islands''

August 2, 1995

''Mr. Malone,

As you may have heard, the suspected assassin of President Clinton was arrested this morning in Puerto Rico, bringing to a close the first phase of our marketing strategy. Enough time has elapsed since the event that the majority of the products made possible by us are now on the market. We understand that your three-part docudrama Hairraiser was sold last week to 46 countries.

The four talk shows were also a success. The controversy generated by the new position occupied by television producers through the anticipated acquisition of rights has naturally proven profitable. Speculation about criminal involvement by our office has given rise to a heated public debate which has enlivened what has so far been biased reporting around the assassination

We are pleased to learn that, thanks to your vigorous action, the other projects are in an advanced state of completion or on the brink of reaping their deserved success.

But, more importantly: now that Field has been arrested, we are able to offer you a new package of proposals. Soon, in other words, after the findings of the fbi have leaked out as a result of the cross-examinations, it will become known that the assassination of the late President Clinton cannot be dismissed as the deranged action of a desperate individual.

It will become apparent that the key to understanding Field's motives does not lie in his dismissal from his position as the presidential hairdresser, but rather in his involvement with certain social events which took place between his dismissal in 1993 and the date of the assassination.

In this period Field drifted and became involved in circles which are held responsible for the bloody disturbances last year during the soccer World Cup in Detroit. Naturally there was a connection with the disastrous bankruptcy of General Motors that same year.

Field moved in militant circles which gradually tried to exploit his obsession with and knowledge of the Clinton household. From a few key figures of this underworld, we have acquired the rights to their life stories. Among them are:

- Jack Wilkinson, former gm engineer, Desert Storm veteran and marksman, with whom F. began a stormy relationship in the summer of '93.

- John Spargel, chairman of The New Minority, a banned, armed organization made up of unemployed middle-class whites.

- Vac Bien Dhin, a naturalized Vietnamese computer hacker, wanted since 1991 by the cia, fbi and nsa held responsible for the total failure of the computers of the Secretary of State in July 1993 and other charges.

- Jennie Andrews, former editor-in-chief of the radical lesbian magazine Clit, and current spokesperson for Act Up.

All these people are crucial to the changes which took place in Field in the months leading up to the Clinton assassination. Their stories make possible a sensational sequel to the first series of films, tv shows and books which relied on the concept of the lone nut.

Our offer once again consists, first, of the exclusive rights to the stories of the above mentioned persons, but in addition, we have access to a mass of material in which Field's contacts with these people are confirmed and illustrated: pictures, videos, telephone taps, meeting minutes, letters, intercepted computer files, and bank statements exposing suggestive financial contacts. All this material has ultimately been legally obtained and is already in our possession. In addition, we have at our disposal a team of journalists and editors well briefed in this matter, who will be able on short notice to work up all this into an important, even historic, documentary for television.

This program can serve as the basis for a whole series of shows, docudramas, feature films, thrillers and publications. We welcome an exchange of commercial ideas with you on this matter as well.

We ask that you reply within 24 hours, and in closing we would like to point out that your utmost discretion is required, owing first to the controversial nature of our methods, but most of all in order that you may maintain and take full advantage of your informative edge.

P. R. Sticker

R. D. Hallway

Media ImpoExpo Inc.

Cayman Islands''

September 7, 1996

''Dear Mr. Malone,

Yesterday Field was sentenced to four 120-year prison terms. 37 conspirators were sentenced with him to a total of 1047 years imprisonment, and as you are undoubtedly aware, the Al Gore-Dan Quayle election is being overshadowed by the mass obsession being displayed by the public with the trial in Cleveland.

To the surprise of many, Wilkinson, one of the key figures in the conspiracy against Clinton, received the lightest sentence (7 years) after giving an exceptionally detailed confession. Strikingly little attention was accorded in the sentencing to this extensive document, and only the facts directly connected to the planning of the assassination itself were cited.

Wilkinson's statements, however, contain several cryptic and unsettling passages, into which the district attorney has opened no further investigation.

We allude to obscure references to the involvement of powerful individuals for whom F. allegedly worked. Wilkinson alleges on page 752 of the transcription of the cross-examination that Clinton's pursuit since the disastrous October 1993 economic reports of a protectionist economic policy not only antagonized the European Community and Japan, but especially harmed the interests of the American telecommunications and media industry, for whom collaboration with foreign banks and the Japanese and Southeast Asian electronics industry is of vital importance.

It has also become apparent that W.'s own activities in the conspiracy were influenced at crucial moments by contacts with representatives of large American firms. In recent political commentaries and columns (in the New York Times, specifically) your name too has appeared regularly in connection with this.

It goes without saying that this third part of the Clinton assassination triptych is an even richer source of media products than the previous two.

Conspiracies which are worldwide and difficult to prove work particularly well and form an ideal base for popular legends and myths. However, now that you yourself are in danger of becoming one of the actors in this shadow play, our office finds itself confronted with a dilemma.

On the one hand, we must look back on a productive professional relationship, with highly profitable results for both parties.

On the other hand, it is hardly possible for us to offer you the exclusive rights to your own life story.

You yourself are evidently struggling with the same problem; otherwise it is difficult for us to explain the recent, and thank God unsuccessful, attempts on the lives of our directors and the temporary sabotage of our communications center in the Cayman Islands.

Yet despite these worrisome developments, we plan to continue down the same road. With the whole affair in a Wild-West phase since the closing of the judicial investigation and the conviction of the guilty parties, the commercial opportunities are there for the taking. Enough parties besides yourself are interested in the new revelations and discoveries which have come within reach via the Wilkinson track.

We believe that it will be in your interest to sit down at the bargaining table with us, with an open mind and in the absence of threats, and arrive at an agreement concerning the immediate future. A time limit of 24 hours seems reasonable to us.

Kind Regards,

P. R. Sticker

R. D. Hallway

Media ImpoExpo Inc.

Cayman Islands''

translation laura martz