The Queen of Mean

Piers Ransdell gives us here a very thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, look at Harry and Leona Helmsley. During her heyday, Leona never came across particularly well, and the ill will she generated in abundance eventually resulted in her landing in prison. Well, Ransdell gives us a portrait of a petty, vindictive, ill-willed woman who craved money and power and would do anything to get it. What's even better is it's so well researched: people interviewed include members of Leona's family, former co-workers, former employees of the Helmsley organization, Harry Helmsley's first wife, and Leona's two previous husbands. The portrait they paint is uniformly negative, almost to the point of being shocking. I was truly surprised at what a spineless man Harry was, and how cheap a billionaire(!) couple could actually be. The book is littered with episodes where the Helmsleys hire people to do work, the work gets done, and then they refuse to pay - for any reason, and frequently for no reason at all. Definitely an entertaining read. The Helmsleys and their lifestyle is interesting, and the author's style is engaging.

This is a very detailed book that discusses the rise and subsequent fall of 80's real estate barracuda, Leona "Queen of Mean" Helmsley. Piers Randsdell was the first journalist who coined the infamous title "Queen of Mean" for The Post. This book discusses the two most fascinating aspects of Leona's life: 1) She helped manage a billion dollar empire from scratch (Leona didn't even have a high school diploma) 2) Even though she was a multi-billionaire Leona remained extremely cheap and selfish Leona was the epitome of 80's greed. She was one miserable (rhymes with) witch that did not have any redeeming qualities. This she-dog was the type of person who took great pleasure in hurting others that had less than her. Just because she married well didn't mean she also had class. Sorry, but some people are just purely evil and Leona was one of them. I wonder if Leona is complaining that her accommodations are a tad too hot now?

Even all these years later, most of us remain fascinated with the story of hotelier Leona Helmsley. Her scandalous life story is beautifully told in this comprehensive work that is always entertaining for voyeurs of the "rich & famous criminals." The horrible Helmsley still makes news for her bitchy behaviour and this is the book that thrust her into pop culture reknown, written by the reporter who would know best. A great read for fans of the bio/crime genre.

This Is America So: No Karma For the QueenThis is the story of....a meanie. The only time she shed a tear was when her (married) son kicked the bucket because of his bad heart while in the sack with another lady. After he croaked she then basically ex-communicated her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren. Also according to the story, her personal assistant who was often at her side, was asked to wipe her shoes clean with a rag like a shoe-shine boy, in front of people. She also liked to snap her fingers at people when she wanted things brought to her, or wanted someone to do something for her. Then there's Mr. Helmsley. Another multi-millionaire with ample business acumen who lacked street smarts and contemporary social skills. (Doh! Where ya been Harry?) Leona set the trap: after their affair had schemingly precipitated to deeper emotional depths over time, the queen told Mr. H that another man had offered to marry her, and she showed him a fake diamond engagement ring he allegedly bought for her. None of this was true. But Harry fell for it. Leona made an ultimatum that it was now or never. All or nothing. She was not going to be the second banana in his life. The queen persuaded Harry to leave his wife of 33 years for her. He soon discovered what he was in for: a clingy nagger. This is New York. He was a very wealthy man. He could have simply called a guy in Queens or Brooklyn named "Vito," and for about $50,000 her could have had her....but no. He put up with her because he was P-whipped. Leona is gutsy and to the bone, and nothing ventured means nothing gained in life. But, the queen turned ambition into a sadistic perversion of making people miserable to inflate her ego. There are assertions that this was out of emotional neglect, or lack of emotional support from her mother when she was a child. Leona's mother, it seems favored Leona's older sister. Let's call out Dr. Freud, May, Rogers, Adler, or Phil McGraw. After she schemed to marry and control Mr. Helmsley, she made all clear that she had the power to hire, buy, intimidate, and fire anyone at will. Before she nabbed Harry, her first major promotion in real-estate sales was a result of a performance on the casting couch with her boss who had the power and ability to promote her within Mr. H's company. One tid-bit the author noted, was that part of her advertising promotion for one of her major hotels was to have a full deck of cards with 52 different pictures of her on each of them them. When the advertising company returned with the finished sample, previously approved by Leona, she snapped. She wanted the cards bigger, (bigger than regulation cards), and with gold edging. One by one she threw each one on the floor, and then told the advertising representatives, "have you ever played 52-pick-up. Now pick them up."In her late 70s now, with time running out and Harry six-feet deep, the "queen of mean" recently donated a million dollars to a Christian

The unauthorized autobiography that Leona Helmsley rather you not read. Ransdell Pierson tells it all. How Leona Rosenthal was poor and wanted more and sought to get it any way she could, and was a conniving, scheming witch all the way up the Estate ladder to tricking her second husband (who she'd scratched off her "Royal Resume") to marry her, and her scheming to get Harry Helmsley to leave his wife and marry her. She was definitely the QUEEN OF HELMSLEY PALACE HOTEL. Her insensitivity extended from her family (her mother, sisters. ex-husbands, and son) to her hired help. She hovered over Harry Helmsley and made herself indespensible to him. Mr. Helmsley's brokers, friends and wife (his wife had degrees abound) wondered how Harry could turn his empire over to his second wife who dropped out of high school and faked her degrees. And then there's the tax fraud and evasion. Mrs. Leona Rosenthal Panzirer Lubin Helmsley thought it was BENEATH her station as a wealthy woman to pay taxes saying that "only the little people pay taxes".Very good read... well written by a man who wrote articles on the Helmsleys in the 1980s, with a look at how a street urchin schemed her way up to be the Queen of Helmsley Palace and the Queen of Mean that she still is to this day it seems, most recently as last year her constant firing of hired help made the papers again, as the hired help sued her for discrimination.