Not Even a Kennedy Was Safe Working at the Tabs

The tab world was a man’s world.

One night, as deadline approached at the New York Daily News, editor Sam Roberts got antsy waiting for a story about sex education by reporter Bella English. Scanning the newsroom, he shouted: “Hey, Bella! When are we gonna have sex?”

Bella, not missing a beat, answered: “When you pay for the motel room!”

Women had a rough time at the News, says English, who worked there in the early 1980s and is now a columnist for the Boston Globe. The key to survival was being quick on your feet.

Theo Wilson learned this long ago. For decades, she was one of America’s most respected trial reporters and a star at the News. On the morning in 1963 after a 114-day strike ended, she and other reporters approached city editor Harry Nichols. Wilson tried to lighten the mood by putting on a Groucho Marx mask and saying hello.

“He looked down and didn’t say a word,” she remembers. “Finally, I said, ‘Harry, don’t you see anything different about me since the strike?’ ”

“He looked up and said: ‘Yeah, your tits got bigger.’ ”

At least no one insulted Caroline Kennedy. In 1977, she was a 20-year-old intern at the News and worked under editor Joe Kovach. People kept traipsing in from the street to gawk at her, and reporters got their kicks by ordering Kennedy to bring them sandwiches and beer.

“She’d wear these short skirts,” Kovach remembers. “I used to say, ‘Honey, you gotta cross your legs here. They’re all a bunch of animals.’ ”

On her last day, Kennedy asked Kovach to take her for a drink. Just one , he told her at 7 p.m. By 1 a.m., Kennedy, Kovach and their friends were ready to leave. They had to run a gantlet of paparazzi and Kovach protested--but not too much--when she gave him a farewell smooch.

Two days later, the tab man made the tabs.

The Star, a gossip sheet, ran a picture captioned: “Caroline Kennedy kisses her boss (and summer job) goodby after an entertaining six-hour beer-drinking spree with the boys.”