Gawker
As the recollections of late hotelier Leona Helmsley start pouring in, the New York Post does its best to illustrate the impenetrable nature of her character in the form of an unintentional point-counterpoint between columnists Andrea Peyser and Cindy Adams. The issue in question? How Leona felt about the gays.
Peyser:
In 2003, a leather-loving freak named Charles Bell sued Leona - claiming she'd fired him as Park Lane Hotel manager because he was gay. Which, in the homosexual-heavy hotel biz, would be like firing an interior decorator for having good taste.Perhaps! Cindy?
[...]
Two years earlier, a much-younger man, Patrick Ward, tricked Leona into believing he was her boyfriend. With great mortification, she discovered Ward was gay. Of course, he sued her, too.
The back-to-back scandals gave Leona a rep as a homophobe, when she was nothing of the kind. I tend to think she was misunderstood. Or an easy target. Perhaps she just never cared what anyone thought of her.
I maintained a Palm Beach apartment where my fragile, wheelchair-bound mother went every winter, accompanied by loving people to care for her. Leona had a lavish spread nearby which, with all her problems, she couldn't visit. Although it wasn't necessary or requested, she insisted my mother use her facilities. This satisfied no need for us. It actually was bothersome because mom had to be transported there. Anyway, possibly motivated by a sense of control, Leona kept insisting. My little group finally went.Wow, the issue seems so murky and difficult to determine. We'd turn to Gail Collins over at the Times to settle the whole thing, but her encomium somehow doesn't once mention the gays, so we're over it.
When Mrs. Helmsley's monitors reported to her that mom's small coterie of caretakers and their friends were gay, she went ape. She screamed: "Remove them. I will not have homosexuals in my cabana. Throw the whole bunch out!!!"
Startled, reeling in disbelief, they began falling all over themselves to grab up their clothes and gear because Leona had actually summoned marshals. These marshals came onto the property and physically removed my mother.
I'M MOURNING WOMAN WORLD LOVED TO HATE
UNKNOWN STORIES OF QUEEN OF MEAN [NYP]
The Leona Chronicles [NYT]
Comments
"I will not have homosexuals in my cabana" is just a coded reference to Patrick Ward.
This is news? She wasn't called the Queen of Mean just because she made fun of the little people who pay taxes.
Is it me or doesn't she look like Jocelyn Wildenstein? Or, what Jocelyn will look like when she reaches that age assuming she doesn't become part of the Sigfried and Roy show...
I wonder if Leona had any idea that the word "queen" had more than one connotation. If not, I'm guessing she's having a screaming fit from the grave about now.
Few knew that Helmsley's friendship with a certain Vogue editor ended similarly:
I will not have homosexuals in my cab, Anna.
Cheer up, boys. There's a party in my cabana, and everybody's coming.
WWSDS?
(What would Simon Doonan say?)
I never thought I'd see the day when a drag queen was a homophobe.
Jocelyn Wildenstein is a homophobe?!
@Pangloss: "I will have no grays in my cabana."
Odd. She always treated other minority employees with respect. In fact, I once heard her say that she preferred "brown" maids to white ones because "the little white piggies bruise like peaches."
Maybe Cindy's frightened staff of mincing nellies should have stuck around for the next part of Leona's sentence, which was "...but I WILL have them in my glorious mansion! Like Thomas Jefferson's children by Sally Hemmings, you deserve to be in the Big House! God, I love you all!"
That explains why she was so mean - she had no sense of fun or where to get it.
Vigo?
the daily telegraph ALWAYS comes up with the best tidbits:
A liveried servant bearing a silver platter of freshly-cooked shrimps would be required to attend Leona's early morning sessions in the swimming pool; at the end of each lap the servant would hand her a shrimp to swallow ("Feed Mama," she would cry, as if she were a performing marine mammal).
no poolside gays? where's the fun in that?!
Well, I had Leona kicked out of my sixth grade rollerskating birthday party, so I guess it's only fair.
Victor Colicchio, in this story tells of how her gays (one can only assume) would walk back and forth as a young Leona did pool laps, carrying trays full of shrimp. She'd accept a shrimp for each lap completed... WTF!? Funny story...
@Honoria Glossop: Sorry--my bad. Simultaneous posts.
@josh speed: don't sweat it. just FEED MAMA!
@Honoria Glossop: @josh speed: Actually, it was in Spy a billion years ago. I still have that issue, with the eye-searing drawing of a topless Leona on the exerbike.
How many gays are there in a coterie? And, more important, how many gays and hangers-on are needed to care for one elderly lady? (Admittedly, since we are talking about Cindy Adams' mom, the old bat was surely into triple digits, but still.)
I hate to think what sort of creepy queers Cindy Adams would call "my gays."
Balk's use of encomium? Encomiyummy!
This sounds like some geriatric dinner theater version of Night Of The Iguana.
I once had a homosexual in my cabana, and, boy, did that hurt!
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
Thats what I'm singing for journalism.
The lesson here: If you ban gay caretakers, you will die with a face like a pig's post-cesarian vagina.
I thought you weren't allowed to have a cabana is homosexuals weren't involved?
WTF? Who hates gay men? That's like hating french fries. It's unAmerican.
a bitch will usually have one redeeming feature, and it's not uncommon for a queen bee to have a coterie of homosexual syncophants at her side. this just goes to prove that Leona really was a miserable wench. because really what's the point in being a total cunt if you're not a gay icon?
I didn't realize she hated gays, too. Geez. What a woman.
Leona Helmsley's will left 12 million dollars to her canine companion. I completely understand how she adored her dog - many of us love ours deeply, too. And in her case, it may have been the only thing that loved her back. I just wish she would have shown her love for all dogs, or even all animals, and not just her own particular dog. Imagine how many pets could have been spayed and neutered for that amount of money, or how many dogs could have been saved from the evils of dogfighting. Her little shih tzu will not know the difference between a diamond-encrusted collar, and one bought from Target. I hope the brother she appointed to be her dog's caretaker, will keep other animals in mind as well. What is good for the animal kingdom, is good for one cute little spoiled pooch.
Nancy J. Cronk
Founder, Chair and Chaplain
Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains
www.AnimalChaplains.com
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