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Authors: Ken Auletta
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degree from the University of Miami and an MA in counseling from New York University. She took a job as a school counselor in Los Angeles. They met when Michael had to fly to New York for a February wedding but didn’t have a winter coat. He remembered that a friend who lived in San Diego owned a really nice camel hair coat and he asked to borrow it. The friend happened to be coming to Los Angeles and was happy to drop it off. When Michael returned from the wedding, the friend told him that another friend was driving south to San Diego the next weekend; could Michael call her and drop off the coat? That friend was Ronnie Klein.
When Kassan called Ronnie she said she’d be at her apartment in the early afternoon. He didn’t ring the bell until 6 P.M . Annoyed, she took the coat from him and hurriedly shut the door in his face.
“I felt he was a little difficult. I was doing him a favor, and he was a pain in the ass,” Ronnie says.
“She had the most beautiful blue eyes,” he says. “I saw those eyes and went, Whoa!”
Michael phoned and asked her out the next weekend. Ronnie brushed him off by saying she couldn’t plan anything because she might be going to Palm Springs that weekend. She would let him know. “I never heard from her,” Michael says.
On Friday afternoon he was crossing Beverly Drive and Wilshire Boulevard on his way to lunch and they almost collided on the crosswalk. “Well, I guess you didn’t go to Palm Springs,” he said.
She was speechless. “I didn’t have an excuse. I was so embarrassed,” she recalls.
“I guess we’re going out then,” he said, shaming her into saying yes.
In early February 1974 they went to the theater and dinner. “It was a really nice evening, much to my surprise,” she remembers. He kept calling. They started going out twice a week. She’d kiss him goodnight, but made excuses why he couldn’t come in. They dated other people, and while not yet lovers they were becoming close friends. He brought her to Passover dinner with his parents in April.
“At dinner in early May, he told me he was in love with me,” she says. “I told him I appreciated it, but I wasn’t there.” By mid-May, “I slept with him for the first time.” In late May, they spent a weekend together and “I realized I had feelings for him.” She had another date the next night but phoned Michael and asked if he could stop by her apartment because “I want to talk to you.”
“I just want to tell you I think I’m in love with you,” she announced.
They kissed and embraced. She mentioned that she was flying to New York in June to be matron of honor at her friend Randi’s wedding. “I should go to New York with you,” he told her.
He wasn’t invited, she said. Besides, Randi didn’t know him or even know she was dating him.
“Tell her you’re bringing someone,” he persisted.
She dialed Randi. Cupping the phone as it rang, she asked him, “Who do I tell her I’m bringing?”
“Tell her you’re bringing your fiancé.”
“Randi,” she blurted, “I have to call you back. I think I just got engaged!”
They married in December 1974 and moved to New York. He enrolled in NYU law school’s Master of Law (LLM) program in tax law; Ronnie supported them by working various jobs. They went back to Los Angeles in 1976. With his mother orchestrating the search, they tried to buy a house, but lacked the money to get what they wanted, so they rented an apartment. The next day “Michael went out and bought a Porsche, which was a little irresponsible,” Ronnie says. Then his mother discovered a great house in Sherman Oaks, which they were able to purchase with a helpful loan from his cousin, major Disney shareholder Stanley Gold, and from their parents.
Ronnie might have been exasperated by the Porsche, but by now she understood her husband. “Michael feels that everything will work out all the time,” she says. There is a reason the epigram at the end of each e-mail
When Kassan called Ronnie she said she’d be at her apartment in the early afternoon. He didn’t ring the bell until 6 P.M . Annoyed, she took the coat from him and hurriedly shut the door in his face.
“I felt he was a little difficult. I was doing him a favor, and he was a pain in the ass,” Ronnie says.
“She had the most beautiful blue eyes,” he says. “I saw those eyes and went, Whoa!”
Michael phoned and asked her out the next weekend. Ronnie brushed him off by saying she couldn’t plan anything because she might be going to Palm Springs that weekend. She would let him know. “I never heard from her,” Michael says.
On Friday afternoon he was crossing Beverly Drive and Wilshire Boulevard on his way to lunch and they almost collided on the crosswalk. “Well, I guess you didn’t go to Palm Springs,” he said.
She was speechless. “I didn’t have an excuse. I was so embarrassed,” she recalls.
“I guess we’re going out then,” he said, shaming her into saying yes.
In early February 1974 they went to the theater and dinner. “It was a really nice evening, much to my surprise,” she remembers. He kept calling. They started going out twice a week. She’d kiss him goodnight, but made excuses why he couldn’t come in. They dated other people, and while not yet lovers they were becoming close friends. He brought her to Passover dinner with his parents in April.
“At dinner in early May, he told me he was in love with me,” she says. “I told him I appreciated it, but I wasn’t there.” By mid-May, “I slept with him for the first time.” In late May, they spent a weekend together and “I realized I had feelings for him.” She had another date the next night but phoned Michael and asked if he could stop by her apartment because “I want to talk to you.”
“I just want to tell you I think I’m in love with you,” she announced.
They kissed and embraced. She mentioned that she was flying to New York in June to be matron of honor at her friend Randi’s wedding. “I should go to New York with you,” he told her.
He wasn’t invited, she said. Besides, Randi didn’t know him or even know she was dating him.
“Tell her you’re bringing someone,” he persisted.
She dialed Randi. Cupping the phone as it rang, she asked him, “Who do I tell her I’m bringing?”
“Tell her you’re bringing your fiancé.”
“Randi,” she blurted, “I have to call you back. I think I just got engaged!”
They married in December 1974 and moved to New York. He enrolled in NYU law school’s Master of Law (LLM) program in tax law; Ronnie supported them by working various jobs. They went back to Los Angeles in 1976. With his mother orchestrating the search, they tried to buy a house, but lacked the money to get what they wanted, so they rented an apartment. The next day “Michael went out and bought a Porsche, which was a little irresponsible,” Ronnie says. Then his mother discovered a great house in Sherman Oaks, which they were able to purchase with a helpful loan from his cousin, major Disney shareholder Stanley Gold, and from their parents.
Ronnie might have been exasperated by the Porsche, but by now she understood her husband. “Michael feels that everything will work out all the time,” she says. There is a reason the epigram at the end of each e-mail
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