Posted on 03/02/2002 3:25:23 AM PST by sarcasm
Before Miss Cleo became the slick star of the Psychic Readers Network, she was a playwright who debuted a likely prototype for her island shaman persona here in 1996.
Back then, she was known as Ree Perris and had written a play called "For Women Only." In it, Perris played a Jamaican woman named Cleo.
Along with "For Women Only," Perris produced and performed two other plays in Seattle with the Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center in 1997.
But then Miss Cleo -- or Ree Perris, Youree Cleomili, Youree Dell Harris, Youree Perris, Rae Dell Harris, Cleomili Perris Youree, Cleomili Harris, or whatever she has called herself -- left town with a trail of debts and broken promises.
Perris, along with Access Resource Services (the company behind the Psychic Readers Network) faces allegations in several states, not including Washington, and a fraud lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission. These investigations are unrelated to her time in Seattle.
Perris could not be reached for comment.
Here Perris was hired by the Langston Hughes non-profit Advisory Council and provided with a budget with which to pay the cast and crew of her plays. But only some were even partially paid, according to two cast members and two Langston Hughes center employees.
"She made separate arrangements with her performers and cast and crew and apparently did not pay them," said David Takami, a spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department (of which Langston Hughes is a part). Perris also inappropriately charged various supplies and services to the advisory council, he said.
Takami told the P-I that efforts to recover the relatively small amount of money -- no more than a few thousand dollars, according to the center -- Perris took from Langston Hughes wasn't deemed worth the trouble.
"The matter was not pursued with the police because by the time we entered into any kind of legal action, it could cost too much. There was no way to recoup (the money)," said Takami.
Perris also apparently betrayed people who considered her a friend.
Isiah Anderson Jr., a teen development leader at Langston Hughes, worked with Perris on two productions -- "Supper Club Cafe" and "Summer Rhapsody."
"I was not paid at all. But what bothers us most here is that the youth we had who worked on the project didn't get paid," said Anderson.
Before she left, Perris told her cast members she had bone cancer. She said her medical costs would prevent her from paying people immediately, but she wrote each actor and crew member a letter telling him or her how much money she owed them.
Anderson received a letter from Perris. "She said we would get a certain amount of money on certain days until we were all paid."
Another one of Perris' former castmates tells a similar story.
"She's brilliant -- unfortunately, she's using all that talent and energy not in the best interest of the people around her," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.
As for Miss Cleo's Jamaican accent (Florida authorities have challenged Perris to prove that she really is a Jamaican shaman), "She had no Jamaican accent -- she was born and raised in L.A.," said Perris' former castmate, "... at least that's what she told us." Perris also told them that she was a theater arts major at the University of Southern California, but that school has no record of a Ree Perris (or Youree Dell Harris) being enrolled in its theater program.
The castmate also said Perris, who as Miss Cleo is also selling a book called "Keepin' It Real, a Practical Guide For Spiritual Living!" told them she had sickle cell anemia (a red blood cell disorder) and that she was "living in constant pain."
"There was a lot of empathy for this woman; we were all very concerned about her," she said. "Every time I see her on television, I think 'How can someone move on with all of this going on?'
"She really violated my trust ... I just want to move on."
But the Jamaican accent sounded so sincere.
LOL! Good one!
Wonder why no one can even figure out the woman's real name?
Who cares? Anyone dumb enough to give Miss Cleo their money would have spent on something else just as stupid anyway.
At least they were snookered voluntarily, not at the point of a gun they way all US taxpayers are with Social Security, etc.
To Miss Cleo I say:
You go, girl!
I am not shocked that the Jamaican accent is phony.
Does this mean if if Miss Cleo were a genuine Jamaican, her tarot readings would be valid?
And how does that fit with the INS rules about foriegners with skills in short supply here getting work visas, i.e.
computer programmers in the '90's? Should Jamaican tarot readers get work visas in that only a
Jamaican can read the cards?
As far as I'm concerned, Miss Cleo can bilk all the suckers she wants.
If we are allowed to cheat the stupid, are we allowed to mug the weak?
No, she's an honest entreperneur who's being harrassed by the feds and people who were dumb enough to give her money.
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