THE WASHINGTON POST Saturday. March 12, 19:7 E41

Jack Anderson and Les Whitten Hughes' Final Years: Drugs, Movies

From secret daily logs kept by at- visit briefly with outsiders. They con- Immediately called for a screening Of tendants, we have been presenting the tradicted our description of the billion- "The Deserter." strange saga of Howard Robard aire as a wildly shaggy apparition. Hughes agreed, meanwhile, to see Hughes. We speculated that they may have Nevada's Gov. Mike O'Callaghan and The late Billionaire spentthis last been greeted by a double; we even es- gaming chairman Phil Hannafin to re- years in a series of darkened penthous- tablished that Hughes had used dou- solve a stalemate over his gambling es, often groggy from drugs, watching bles in the past to deceive, process serv- properties. The meeting was scheduled a constant round of movies. He went ers. But the logs reveal that the visitors the night of March 17, 1973. At 11:35 months, sometimes years, without met the real Hughes; the logs also p.m., Hughes' barber Mell Stewart, trimming his hair, beard or nails. show that it took four hours to groom trimmed his beard down to a neat Van His greatest personal struggle appar- him for the confrontations. It was his Dyke and tapered his unkempt hair. It ently took place in the bathroom, first barbering in years. was 1:15 a.m. before Hughes was ready where he spent an abnormal amount to greet his Nevada visitors. of time performing his ablutions. His His trim, new Van Dyke beard was After the meeting, he shuffled into bowel movements are triumphantly just beginning to get ragged again -the bathroom at 3:05 a.m. and called recorded in the logs. when an earthquake shook him out of for a screening of "Madam Sin" at 5:35 The daily records also contain re- his penthouse at Managua's Interconti- a.m. peated, mysterious references to "20-1- nental Hotel. The log has him lounging Three months later, he made his last 1-1," "the item," "BB's" and " No. 4's." in his reclining chair at 12:25 a.m., Dec. bid to return to reality. He announced These appear to be code names for the 23,1972. to his startled aides that, despite his drugs that his doctors reluctantly There is no record of the quake, fragile health, poor eyesight and provided. Hughes started off New which caused the hotel to heave vio- elapsed pilot's license, he would like to Year's Day, 1972, for example, with a lently, except for this terse notation: fly again. He didn't even own any dosage. A notation in the logs reports "There was no log kept from the time street clothes. that "he took 6 of the 25 No. 4's" of the earthquake in Managua, Nicara- His aides purchased clothes to his shortly after he awakened at It a.m. gua, until the arrival in Miami." specifications and arranged for him to He remained awake, typically, for 25 The next entry clocks his arrival at fly an H/S 748 private jet. On June 9, hours. He spent the time nibbling on Ft. Lauderdale at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 23. 1973, he watched a screening of "Strat- chicken and watching "Gunfight in He remained holed up in his Lear jet egic Air Command." Thus mentally Abilene," "Midnight Lace." "Daring for four hours, however, while his conditioned, he bad a long, 10-hour Game," "Once Upon a Time in the aides wrangled with Internal Revenue sleep. West" and "Topaz." He also watched Service and Custom Bureau agents. The next morning, Mell Stewart one reel of "Breakfast at Tiffany's." They had anticipated his arrival and came In at 8:10 and spent until noon Then this notation appears: "After one sought to serve him with a subpoena. grooming, dressing and readying the reel, HRH saidwe could return." But incredibly, the tax agents were billionaire for the great event. He We got wind of Hughes' condition in called off by Washington after a few slipped out of the hotel shortly after 2 1970 and published an eyewitness re- midnight phone calls to high places. p.m. for a day of flying with an Eng- port. The story caused shock waves According to the logs, he spent a lish jet pilot named Tony Blackburn. throughout his 12 billion empire. His two-day Christmas holiday in his "Mi- Not long afterward, Hughes broke aides responded with a frantic flurry ami house" and then took off on Dec. his hip in a bathroom fall and re- of denials. Finally in 1972, he came out 26 for London. He settled into the treated forever into his gloomy pent- of seclusion twice within six months to penthouse at the Inn on the Park and house.