Posted on 08/21/2007 2:03:18 PM PDT by jjm2111
He's the star of the perfect Leona Helmsley anecdote.
Not the old chestnut about the day the haughty hotelier was dubbed the "Queen of Mean." Not even the story behind her famously snobbish comment, a comment she hotly denied, that "only the little people pay taxes."
This story is better than any of those. It involves a lavish indoor swimming pool, a silver platter of shrimp and a svelte Leona Helmsley in bathing cap and swimsuit.
And Victor Colicchio was standing right there.
These days, Colicchio is a well-regarded actor and screenwriter.... But to my surprise, he wasn't doing cartwheels at his evil boss' demise. He wasn't humming, "Ding dong! The witch is dead!" He sounded more like a man who had one last chance to set a record straight.
"She was a millionaire long before she married Harry," Colicchio said. "She would not have gotten as far as she did in real estate with the kind of personality that was painted as being her. She was intelligent, dedicated. She could be charming if she wanted. And her hotels were union hotels. She didn't have the authority to just fire people left and right. The union would have held a hearing. Those people would have been hired back with back pay. It wouldn't make business sense."
The famous Helmsley tantrums, her former shrimp-plopper said, were almost always aimed at conniving hotel managers - not the maids, bellmen and other union workers who staffed the hotels.
"Back in the 1980s, a lot of those managers didn't believe a woman belonged out of the kitchen - much less as the boss of a big hotel. They said awful things behind her back."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
She gave away a lot of money to charity.
That’s all I need to know.
Remember, Helmsley was a successful capitalist. Therefore, to the libscum who infest the MSM, she was evil. Just keep that in mind when reading/remembering stories about her supposed meanness — the veracity of which I have no clue...
Remember, Helmsley was a successful capitalist. Therefore, to the libscum who infest the MSM, she was evil. Just keep that in mind when reading/remembering stories about her supposed meanness — the veracity of which I have no clue...
...she was a power-mad elite...
&&
Also describes this writer, so I can see why he is praising her. (I admit that I did not read the whole piece once I saw his name.)
People who think the worst of others usually are that way themselves.
Surprise, surprise - another media contrived bandwagon smear job.
Nor do I. But I also don't piss on her grave, call her insane and other such, as you and others are doing based on second hand reports, mostly from a third rate news media.
She is dead, I say leave her alone. Let those who knew her feel as they do and those who hated her, regardless of whether they are justified or not, at least show some respect for the dead.
Running a tight ship is not the same as running a slave ship.
Oh? What does that tell you?
It appears Leona was a Democrat:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=NY&last=Helmsley&first=Leona
We never hear THAT from the MSM!
She was a sick spiteful bitch, bless her soul:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/leona_helmsley/6.html
Yes they did — and they dramatically understated what a snobbish Theresa Heinz Kerry is/was.
I always thought she got a raw deal.
Helmsley was a popular figure in the eighties before the problems with the law. Customer service had really gotten terrible in a lot of places in the seventies and early eighties. The “me generation” was manning the desks and waiting tables.
Helmsley said “I will enforce standards at my business for the benefit of the customer!” At the time, you didn’t hear many businesses taking that approach. People can say what they want, but I bet many a New Yorker got a great night’s sleep at her hotel.
She gave more to the community than either you or I are ever likely to.
“It appears Leona was a Democrat:”
Obviously that was no secret from the MSM, Democrats can never have enough of everything, and are constantly miserable.
Believe Half of what you See and None of what you Read, less if it comes from PravdABDNC.
Pray for W and Our Troops
“but I bet many a New Yorker got a great night’s sleep at her hotel.”
I’d take that bet. Few New Yorkers pay to go to a hotel in their home city.
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