"Headless Body in Topless Bar" Headline Writer Dead

[Hissyspit]

Source: CBS News

"Headless Body in Topless Bar" headline writer dead

Jun 10, 2015 12:55 AM EDT
NEW YORK -- Veteran newspaperman Vincent Musetto, who wrote one of the industry's most famous headlines, died Tuesday at age 74.

- snip -

He wrote the headline "Headless Body in Topless Bar," which appeared on the newspaper's front page on April 15, 1983, for a story about the killing of a bar owner who was shot and beheaded.

Musetto said in a 1987 interview with People magazine the killing and decapitation were known early in the reporting process but staffers had to confirm the topless dancing occurred at the bar.

"Someone said it might be a topless bar, but we weren't sure, and then the idea of the headline came around, so we were really questioning to make sure it was a topless bar," Musetto recalled in the interview. "We sent the reporter, this girl, and she so determined that it was a topless bar. I just wrote it, and everyone said, 'Ha ha,' but I didn't think it would live in infamy."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/headless-body-in-topless-bar-headline-writer-dead/

[davepc]

1. What a thing to be known for

[undiegrinder]

9. A close second:

[delrem]

2. I don't envy that guy.

It's like being famous world-wide for your one moment of purest assholiness, the moment that you wince about to this day.

[Flying Squirrel]

3. They should have PPR'd him

[delrem]

4. Oh, I wouldn't have done that!

I'd have made him sit there without his pizza for the whole night, while everyone else chuckled.

[brush]

8. To the contrary, The New York Post, although a rag, is known for succinct, to the point headlines

It takes great skill actually, and in this case a perverted wit, to fit the full scope of the story in a limited character count of 100 or so point type — not easy at all.

With a city of several newspapers, both tabloid and broadsheet, the writer was well respected in the industry.

I worked for Newsday when that head came out and all we could do was take our hats off to it. It was a perfect tabloid head for the Post's ethos.

[Octafish]

10. Yep.

[BeyondGeography]

5. The Lady is a Trump

for wife # whatever. Still my all-time favorite Post headline.

[VWolf]

6. My favorite:

(although I believe this came out in England)

"Ike beats Tina to death" - on the day Ike Turner died

[BeyondGeography]

7. "I Forgotti" was another keeper

Witness got a little nervous on the stand when it was time to ID John Gotti as perp...