Donald Trump was the hero of New York, having just fixed the
beloved Wollman ice skating rink, which had been languishing in government contracting hell for six years. Thirteen million dollars spent, with no results. No ice. No skating.
Trump
took over the project and fixed the rink in four months at 25% under budget. Let there be ice!
Trump did it at cost. There was, however, an itty bitty thing: it was now called the Trump
Rink.
Naming rights would have cost something in the neighborhood of $10 million per year. And it’s been nearly 40 years. Nevertheless he, like Giuliani, had his moment of local
heroism that New Yorkers didn’t soon forget.
Hence, it’s no surprise that all of us at Kirshenbaum & Bond — the quintessential New York agency — were thrilled when
Trump tapped us to handle the launch of his luxurious Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.
It was just a few days later that we woke up to one of the most iconic, notorious,
ultra-sensationalist New York Postheadlines in history — which is saying something — exposing that Trump was having a very public affair with Marla Maples: “Best Sex I Ever Had Was With The
Donald – Marla.”
I’m sure Ivana, married to Donald at the time, was not pleased, but Trump absolutely loved it. Still, nothing prepared us for what was to happen next.
Just a couple of mornings later, we got a call. Donald and Marla on speaker: “Hi, it’s Donald.”
Marla: “…and we have the big idea. Here it is… the camera zooms in
on us right here at the Taj… then, I pop my head up from under the covers (interesting visual). I look straight at the camera and say, ‘Best sex i ever had was at the Trump Taj Mahal. Oh, and
Donald will pay me a lot of money to say it.”
Shocking then. Today, not so much.
P.S. Funny thing is, we ended up doing work for Ivana at the same
time. She was running the Plaza across the street from Donald’s Trump Tower offices. Sneaking back and forth like someone having an illicit affair. Perhaps a bit of poetic justice?
