I'm at the studio - as promised, a little history re the Reidl article.
Once upon a time, there was a nice, funky young woman named Kelly. Her biggest claim to fame was being a back up singer for Pinky Tuscadero on Happy Days, when they were trying to spin off Pinky to greater fame (it didn't work). So, as happened then, Pinky and the gals were booked on The Donny and Marie Show, in one of the episodes I was guest-starring on. Kelly and I hit it off, had a lot of laughs, and when we got back to LA we went out for a meal. She lived in a funky little apartment on Crescent Heights. I didn't see her after that one meal.
Flash forward to 2002. Benjamin Kritzer had come out and I was trying to take it to film places. I looked up my friend Jeffrey Kramer, who had been at Fox and was now a production executive at a company called East Of Doheney. I was also looking to place other projects. I had a meeting there and it was nice, and then I had another meeting after Jeffrey had read and loved the book. This time, the head of the company was there. Jeffrey had mentioned her and her husband Lou Gonda. The minute the head of the company walked in I recognized her - the very same Kelly, now Kelly Gonda. We had some fun reminiscing, then she told me that she'd liked the book and they would be talking about it and other projects with me, including a couple of rewrites they needed. After that meeting, Jeffrey even called my agent at William Morris saying that they wanted to do business with me.
Weeks went by. Then my deal for the stage version of Nudie Musical, which had been with some B'way producers fell out (as well as the Meltz and Ernest deal - same lousy producers, who strung me along and then never delivered on their end - the theater and the money and the financing for the film). I immediately took Nudie to Jeffrey and the Gondas, who seemed very excited about it. They agreed on the spot to do a professional reading of it at their house, where they had, so they said, a theater. Weeks went by. Nothing. More weeks went by. Nothing. Could not pin them down, it became ridiculous, and I finally called Jeffrey on it, but he was evasive and I'd just had it, so I wrote him and Kelly a note and asked them if they were going to deliver on their promise or not. Never heard back. Then, as you might imagine, I wrote a stronger note saying I just didn't get it, and that I wanted some word back as to whether it was EVER going to happen. This time I heard back from Kelly, saying that their intention was to do it someday, but that she wouldn't commit to a date and wouldn't even commit period. I wrote them a kiss-off note and that was that.
Jeffrey, I believe, doesn't work there anymore. And the Gondas go on - Mr. Gonda is one of the wealthiest men in the world, and his little wifelet wanted a toy, and he gave her one - her production company. She produced Grey Gardens, and, from what I've heard, is just what Mr. Reidl says she and her husband are - dilettantes, dabblers with money, and basically people who have no clew as to what they're dabbling in. In fact, it's eerily reminscint of someone I was once in business with at a certain record label. She, too, wanted a toy and was given one, even though the toy was my idea and my baby. She, too, is married to a wealthy man. And that's the way the world goes.
