Writer Recalls Attempt to Interview Charles Manson
LA playwright, labor columnist and author David Macaray takes a colorful stroll down memory lane today with a Huffington Post recollection of efforts once made to interview Charles Manson from prison.
It all went down around 1979 and started in earnest with the help of California Public Information Office staffer Phil Guthrie. On this gentleman’s advice, Macaray penned a letter to Manson and chose to make the unusual exception of suggesting the equal share of any resulting media proceeds:
And (in violation of yet another journalistic practice), I offered to submit a list of 33 questions I’d already composed, guaranteeing him the right to choose only those he wished to answer…
Three weeks later I received a reply from a man I’ll call “Murray.” It’s been many years, but Murray’s opening sentence is still indelibly tattooed on my brain: “Charles got your letter and, as he often does, asked me to deal with the insanity of the outside world.”
In the end, Macaray’s request went nowhere after one more back-and-forth with Murray. However, the author is probably still the only person who can claim to have been accused, by a Manson confidante, of “making a mockery of the game of baseball.” (You’ll have to read Macaray’s piece to fully grasp that chestnut.)
[Photo courtesy: MansonDirect.com]
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