Talk:Leona Helmsley

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Very new to this so I apologize if I'm doing this wrong. I just noticed, with all the discussion on Rick Santorum's talk page about whether mentioning that people were trying to change his name into some sort of scatological insult would violate NPOV, on this page, mention is made of Leona Helmsley being the 'Queen of Mean'. I would think the same rule applies. On the other hand, one might argue that both instances are newsworthy facts about the subjects, and to omit them would be inaccurrate.

"Queen of Mean" is certainly a POV nickname, but Helmsley is unquestionably associated with it and hence it is encyclopedic IMO. Are the same people who tagged the article as unreferenced the ones deleting the admittedly few that it had? Rlquall 00:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I've restored and improved the references. Jehochman ☎ / ✔ 00:29, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Birth name?

Was her birth name "Lena" (as is currently stated in the article) or "Leona"? Galena11 21:13, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Per the reference, it was Lena. Jehochman ☎ / ✔ 00:28, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism

I removed this from the article as it did not have any citations. Please see the warning above for articles on a living person and criticism. Morphh (talk) 20:37, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

After her marriage to Helmsley, Leona became known as the "queen" of Hemlsley Palace, supposedly acquiring the nickname "The Queen of Mean" from its employees. However, the hotel was well-located and apparently well-managed in some regards; some reviewers found it well worth its rather extravagant pricing. Jeremiah McCart, the former senior vice president of Helmsley-Spear, Inc. and chief witness in Helmsley's prosecution, claimed that Leona fired him on eight different occasions. He said that he usually reported directly to Harry Helmsley and when asked what to do, Harry usually replied "Get back to work." [cite this quote] McCarthy also claimed that Leona forcefully demanded that he sign illegal invoices and when he declined to do so on numerous occasions she exploded with tyrannical outbursts claiming, "You're not my fucking partner; you'll sign what I tell you to sign." [cite this quote]

This source is within a New York Times article that requires a paid subscription. Does somebody subscribe to the NYT online? If you do, can you check this reference and restore the material if it checks out? Jehochman ☎ / ✔ 15:07, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photo Needed

Does anyone have a person snapshot of Leona? She passes through the lobby of her hotel all the time. I've met her myself, but didn't think to take a photo. Jehochman ☎ / ✔ 00:27, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

It would probably be best to use a photo from the time of her trial; judging by the picture here, you'd need to write a lengthy caption explaining why she looks that way today. -Ashley Pomeroy 23:14, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Prison sentence

Is there a source that she was originally sentenced to decades in prison? The reference I have--All Around the Town, by Patrick Bunyan, pp. 179-180--says she was sentenced to four years, which she began serving on April 15, 1992, and that she was released to "house confinement" on November 26, 1993, which would be 19 months by my count. She could have been released from house arrest on January 1994, for a total of 21 months of punishment--not unusual for a four-year sentence. Nareek 17:01, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unintelligible Sentence

"Supposedly under her influence, he began a program of conversion of apartment buildings to condominiums, confounding some of the tenants." - I know what the verb "confounding" means, but it really makes no sense in this context. Please clarify.

Also, "He eventually despaired of the legal complications that this entailed"...I appreciate your vocabulary, but not this clumsy phrasing.

[edit] Additional information from News reports

I was reading a news story on her death [1] and found the following interesting, but they are not in this article:

Before her son’s death of a heart attack in 1982, she told interviewers she would not talk about him “because terrible things can happen to people these days.”
She evidently was referring to being knifed by robbers at her Palm Beach home in 1973. She was stabbed in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, and Harry was wounded in the arm.
After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son’s widow, Mimi.
Mimi Panzirer said afterward that the legal costs wiped her out and “to this day I don’t know why they did it.”

Can someone add this, when they get the time? Bytebear —The preceding signed but undated comment was added at 16:52, August 20, 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Thanks to cleaner-upper

Thank you to the person who fixed my footnote (#9) and made some good edits to the article. I'm still rather clumsy and inexpert on Wikipedia. I agree above notes are interesting and hope someone will incorporate them, but I can't do... 67.117.144.5 20:20, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Hi, all. I don't know where you got the information stating that Leona disinherited her grandchildren "because they failed to name any of their children after her late husband," but the NY Post reports that it is because "they neglected to visit their father's grave to her liking." http://www.nypost.com/seven/09102007/news/columnists/grave_error_by_leonas_grandkid.htm

Lisa Albany, NY —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.107.131.129 (talk) 21:49, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cause of untimely death

Cardiovascular disease ran strong in her family, claiming the lives of her father, son and a sister.

Cardiovascular deaths shall be highly popular among people who have lived for 87 years. I mean you are supposed to die from any disease when you're 87 years old. You're are supposed to die from heart failure when you're 87 years old whether you have a family history or not. The above sentence may only be used to describe an untimely death. -- Toytoy 21:54, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Cardiovascular deaths shall be highly popular among people who have lived for 87 years. -- Is that a pronouncement? I decline, thanks anyway. WiccaWeb 03:31, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

It seems silly when she was so old. (Daer11 14:57, 29 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Bio Source

There is some really good biographical info in this "confidential presentence report" found here:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0821071helmsley1.html

Some good background about her parents and family...

WiccaWeb 17:05, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rhymes With Rich

I'm puzzled why one of the most famous headlines of all time "Rhymes With Rich" is constantly cut here. Do a simple google on Rhyme With Rich Newsweek Almost all the obituaries included it although on wikipedia it gets sanitized. Americasroof 03:16, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm a Doorman on Park Avenue. A painter, a WORKman, told us a story the other day. Leona Helmsley contracted him to do a job at her mansion up in Connecticut. Another rich person who knew and liked him told him, "No, G*** (name expunged), you can't do this this! She'll STIFF you!" Mind you that these painters do quality work, and doing a job costs 10s of thousands of dollars to them.

To make a long story short, the other rich lady told him to tell Leona that your wife contracted cancer and that you won't be able to do this job. She was upset, but hired someone else. A year later, my painter friend found out she STIFFED HIM!

She really was a B*tch, and I'm sure is roasting in a fiery place right now.

Bruce1314 05:50, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NY Post has to be in article for the Graphic To Be Used

The New York Post article has to be mentioned by name in order for the graphic to stay according to fair use standards. Americasroof 11:13, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Helmsley's hositity toward daughter-in-law

I still have a copy of The Queen of Mean written during and after Leona's trial by New York Times Ransdall Pierson. It in, it said that Leona's animosity toward started Mimi was after Jay's death, she and a lawyer went into Jay's office and apparently did something which they refused to disclosed to Leona and Harry. Mimi claimed she was there to collect personal effect whereas the Helmsley thought she was doing a "power play", taking advantage of Jay's death.Xinivrae 13:19, 4 September 2007 (UTC)