Meshulam Riklis
After I found the courage to walk away from Ira Riklis in the fall of 1993, two entertainment attorneys approached me while I was still living in California. They talked about purchasing the rights to my life story. An offer just shy of $10 million was discussed. I rejected the offer for what I believed were good reasons. My baby nephew was still a child and I didn’t want him to hear about my life via a movie or be subjected to scandalous news at his age. He was enjoying the sort of enchanted childhood every person deserves and I wanted him to grow up emotionally unscathed. He is now in his 30s. Additionally, my mother was still alive and although I suffered enormous physical and mental abuse by her as a child, I didn’t want to inflict any injuries upon her. My mother passed away just over two years ago after falling in her apartment and breaking her hip at the age of 88.
Different people at different times approached me with all kinds of offers to buy the rights to my story. Whether or not I discussed Ira Riklis by name was optional. Not the case with two other men who somehow stumbled upon me in New York in the spring of 2004.
The men were Ron Friedman and Peter Rodino, III.
Ron Friedman is the son of the late Sidney Friedman. Friedman was an attorney who counted among his clients Audrey Hepburn and The New York Giants. He passed away in 1997 at age 83.
Peter Rodino, III is the son of Peter Rodino, Jr who was the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment hearings that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation for Watergate – the most infamous political scandal in the history of the United States. The elder Rodino passed away in 2005 at the age of 96.
Friedman and Rodino’s interest in my story at the time was for a book and a movie to be worked on simultaneously.
Friedman told me Rodino's interest in getting the story out was because of a personal vendetta he held against Meshulam Riklis. Apparently Rodino’s father lost a great deal of money when the Riklis family (led by Meshulam Riklis via Rapid American Corp) bankrupted the McCrory Stores in 1992.
The McCrory Stores were an American institution and had been around since John Graham McCrorey opened his five and dime store in Scottdale, Pennsylvania in 1882.
Meshulam Riklis purchased McCrory in 1960. In ‘63, the company was the fourth largest retailer in the United States. By the time Riklis’ famous sleight of hand was done, shifting assets from one company to another, McCrory was left with liabilities of $110 million against assets totaling only $66 million.
Even the art work which was technically owned by McCrory such as Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Yellow" and Fernand Léger's "Contrastes de formes," was transferred by Meshulam Riklis to a Riklis family owned company. The same is true of the company’s assets. This allegedly put a lot of money into the Riklis family coffers but left both creditors and stockholders with nothing.
During 2004 with both Friedman and Rodino by my side, I approached The New York Post to make a statement about the forthcoming book and movie. The Post was very interested in my story and was getting ready to run a cover piece titled: “More Skeletons out of the Riklis closet.”
The reporter spoke both to Ira Riklis and his attorney, Max Wild (the Wild story took another turn, but I will leave it for another day). In the end, I’m not sure what really transpired. I was told that Ira ok’d the word “girlfriend” (??). I was also told that both Ira and his attorney applied some pressure on the editor which resulted in stopping the story from going to press.
It seemed no matter what I did, Ira was always quick to thwart all my efforts in the telling of my story – which shows he’s a lot more like his father than even he would like to admit. To try to boast my morale, Friedman told me I had an “evergreen story” and it would always be timely.
I have continued to receive many inquiries and offers for my story. Whether by it’s current title: “The Billionaire’s Woman: A Memoir” or by former working titles which I’d rather not list here since they’re all pretty good, and I might choose to use them at some future date. (To read a synopsis you might want to see "Secret Life of Billionaire Ira Riklis" here).
But hey, if you know anyone who wants to buy the rights to my story for say, $10 million or more, this time, I might just bite.
Copyright 2012 Kirby Sommers
NOTE: Obviously, this is not the book's actual 'preface.' It is a behind the scenes look at some of the events and people who have been part of the book's journey.
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