OLATHE, Kan. (AP) – A lawsuit over a failed effort to open a Hollywood memorabilia museum may force the sale of items owned by actress Debbie Reynolds.
In 2002, Gregory J. Orman lent more than $1 million at 10 percent interest to the project, intended to showcase Reynolds’ Hollywood memorabilia.
But now the proposed Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum hasn’t opened, the project is in bankruptcy and Orman, an Olathe businessman, wants his money and interest back – even if it means selling some of the collection.
“I have no desire to hurt the museum or Debbie,” Orman, 40, said on Tuesday. “After almost six years of nonperformance, I just wanted them to live up to their agreements.”
Reynolds’ collection, valued at between $30 million and $60 million, includes such iconic items as the white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, the fur coat worn by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane, and Judy Garland’s blue gingham dress from The Wizard of Oz.
“My mom has virtually single-handedly worked to preserve what is the most significant piece of Hollywood history anywhere,” Reynolds’ son, Todd Fisher, told The Kansas City Star on Tuesday. “It’s not about the money to her but about preserving that history. She’s dedicated her life to this.”
Fisher, Reynolds’ son from her marriage to 1950s crooner Eddie Fisher, runs the museum. He said there’s no dispute that the museum owes Orman money. It’s just a question of how much.
“We originally borrowed $1.6 million. Now he wants to collect more than $8 million,” Fisher said. “So you can understand why our board, which consists of some pretty savvy people, isn’t thrilled.”
Museum board members include Reynolds’ daughter Carrie Fisher, director George Lucas and actress Elizabeth Taylor.
The museum has been under construction in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., where developers are trying to build a tourist destination called Belle Island. The developers filed for bankruptcy in March, however, and the museum is in limbo.
The museum has had its own financial problems, which prompted Orman to grant it loan extensions in 2003 and again in 2005. In return for not going after the memorabilia securing the loan at that time, the museum agreed to pay various fees and interest that amounted to a 30 percent interest rate.
In 2007, with the loan still unpaid, Orman sued the museum in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. In addition to the principal – another loan brought the amount to just over $2 million – the lawsuit sought interest that by then approached $3 million.
In June 2008, Orman voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit and refiled it in Johnson County, Kan. There it sat until last weekend, when the museum, having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection itself two weeks ago in California, moved to have the case consolidated with the bankruptcy case.
The bankruptcy filing was intended to stop Orman’s suit, according to the museum’s attorney, Peter Susi.
Orman “is by far and away the major creditor” in the case, he said.
Orman’s attorney, Grant Davis, said his client had “bent over backwards to accommodate the museum.”
“The fact that they haven’t repaid him is driven by choice, not necessity,” he said.
___
Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Received Id 1230296764 on Jun 24 2009 14:33