The Price Was Right!

We all know that good help is hard to find. As the grandson of an Irish woman who was an “upstairs maid” (in charge of all the linens at a time when people really had “linens” and a lot of them!) I know its backbreaking work. But I also used to love to watch the T.V. series, HAZEL, where the incomparable Shirley Booth played a maid (after the studios didn’t know what the hell to do with her after she won A Best Actress Oscar for “COME BACK LITTLE SHEEBA”) I wanted a Hazel or at least some nice-old-lady-in-a-uniform to greet me at the end of the day with a martini; like THELMA RITTER used to do to ROCK HUDSON (just like Rock, I’m a busy Batchelor who doesn’t have time to clean the house!)Instead I have “Consuelo” twice a month! A fabulous woman even if she never cleans the baseboards like I ask her to! I recognize that with the privilege of having a “domestic staff” there comes responsibility, such as…PAYING them, or not holding them hostage!

MINEOLA, N.Y. - A millionaire couple were arrested on federal charges that they kept two Indonesian women as slaves in their swank Long Island home for more than five years, beating and abusing them and paying them almost nothing.
The homeowners, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, entered not guilty pleas Tuesday at their arraignment in U.S. District Court in Central Islip and were ordered held pending a Thursday bail hearing.
Prosecutors said the women had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to repeatedly climb up and down stairs and take as many as 30 showers in three hours — all as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case, prosecutors said, one woman was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at a time
A federal complaint alleged the couple, who live in East Muttontown, a tony community on Long Island's north shore, kept the two women in their home as domestic servants, barring them from leaving the house for any reason other than to take trash to the curb. The couple ran a perfume business out of their multimillion-dollar home and have factories in Asia, authorities said.
They also have a residence in Manhattan and $1.8 million in the bank, prosecutors said.
The two women, identified in court papers as Samirah and Nona, said they were promised payments of $200 and $100 a month, but federal prosecutors said they were never given money directly. One of the victims' daughters living in Indonesia was sent $100 a month, prosecutors said.

Taking the trash to the curb indeed!

You know what my favorite part is though? Mrs. Sabhnani gave her age as 35!!!LOOK at that photo! (Howard Schnapp)
There is NO way on earth that any 35 yr old woman who never did a lick of housework could possibly look that old!!

Living in the shadow of CBS’s TELEVISION CITY allows me to witness some interesting things. Just tonight I saw SIMON COWELL doing his best JESSICA TANDY impersonation as he was driven off the main gate of the lot in a huge dark Rolls Royce with a uniformed driver! The Rolls is his though (I KNOW that) or I can tell you that the crowds that line up for the taping of DANCING WITH THE STARS dress as if they may be called from the audience at any moment to substitute for an injured dancing star. Unlike those scarily dressed So You Want To Be A Rock Star or Rock Star:INXS or whatever the hell its called people! Good Goth! This studio is where they used to tape THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW. But in 10 years of living here I have never seen a phenomenon like I have witnessed these past 5 weeks. Once a week (now twice) hundreds of people are lining up & camping out to see….THE PRICE IS RIGHT!! And say goodbye to its beloved host BOB BARKER who is retiring at 83 (!!!) They come with their tents & air mattresses & sleeping bags & blankets. They have coolers of food & drinks or they just call DOMINO’s for Pizza delivery. There they are, young & old & in-between, men & woman, all races & backgrounds and hardly any of the ones I’ve spoken to are from California…these folks are traveling from all 50 states to say “Bye Bob!” Barker will have his own page (chapter?) in the History of Television. He’s been a TV Game Show host for 50 years, 35 of those years on TPIR He’s won 17 Daytime Emmy Awards including a record 13 as Best Game Show Host. A tireless fighter for animal rights he forced CBS to stop awarding furs as prizes on its game shows. Barker also made an impression cast against type playing a foul-mouthed villain in HAPPY GILMORE opposite ADAM SANDLER. If he was 10 years younger I do believe he could be President! Well Done Bob! God Bless You!


"We guess if you say enough ignorant, intolerant shit over enough time, God finally does call you home." GAWKER -on the death of Jerry Falwell