What do Doris Day and I have in common? Don't bother trying to figure it out and don't even go for a Rock Hudson joke. We both had our personal finances handled by The Most Honest Man in Hollywood. His name was Ronald R. Koblin and I found out yesterday that Ron died September 29 from a stroke. He was 71.
Ron was my Business Manager for 38 years. I am a ninny when it comes to the handling of money and Ron knew everything. The fact that I have any at all today is due to his skills, acumen, adulthood and total integrity.
He specialized in Hollywood agents, stars, directors and writers. He was very, very smart. If you're familiar with the history of Doris Day, you know that she once had every nickel she had in the world stolen by her business manager. When she regrouped, her lawyers had to select the most reliable, trustworthy outfit to manage her finances from future work plus the limited amount she was able to recoup in court from the crooked accountant. They chose the firm in which Ron was a partner.
In fact, he was so good at what he did that when friends asked me to recommend a good money handler, I always sent them to Ron…and Ron always turned them down politely because he had enough clients and didn't want more than he could service without delegating responsibility. Around 1985, he left the large firm in which he was a partner with and started a smaller one that was just him and his trusty secretary Toni servicing a select group of clients. Then a few years ago, he closed that office and retired but he retained an even smaller group of clients and watched over their finances, working out of his lovely home. I was so pleased to be part of both groups.
In 1980, I bought my first and current house. Ron's handling of my cash in the years before helped make that possible and he worked out all the details from my end for escrow and loans and confusing things like that. The house I found and agreed to purchase was owned by a nice lady named Sarah who was paying off a mortgage on it from Home Savings and Loan in Beverly Hills. My realtor, with Ron's aid, negotiated two different purchase prices for it.
If Sarah paid off her home loan early — which she would do in selling it to me — she would have to pay a $10,000 penalty to Home Savings. However, if the new owner of that house (i.e., me) secured his home loan through Home Savings, the penalty fee was waived. Ergo, the purchase price to which I agreed was a certain amount if I got my loan at Home Savings and it was $10,000 more if I got it elsewhere.
(Am I confusing you? Sorry. All you need to know is that I was going to save ten grand if I got my home loan at Home Savings.)
I made an appointment to go see the man there who was in charge of deciding if his firm would give me one. This was by no means a slam dunk because of my profession as a freelance writer of comic books and TV shows. If you do that kind of thing for a living, your income can be very unstable and unpredictable.
I dressed nicely and went to the Home Savings offices which were in a beautiful building with ornate tile work at 9245 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. (It's now a Chase Bank and still quite beautiful.) A serious man who looked very much like a humorless Gavin McLeod looked over my application, made some grunts, eyed me with suspicion and when he got to part that gave my occupation, he said, "Writer? That's not good. We've had to do a lot of foreclosures on writers."
I immediately imagined $10,000 going away. Then my dread intensified: I thought, "If Home Savings won't give me a loan, maybe no one will." I had a brief vision of the wonderful house I'd found going away.
It was interrupted when Gavin said, "Before we can make a decision on this, we'll need copies of your tax returns for the last three years. How soon do you think you could get them to us?"
I asked, "Would twenty minutes be soon enough?"
He looked at me like I was trying to pull a fast one. I said, "No, really. Could I use your phone?" With a dire look of skepticism, he pushed his desk phone towards me and I called Ron, who was all the way across the street. (Don't believe me? Check the addresses. Home Savings was at 9245 Wilshire. As you can see on the above check, Ron's office was at 9350 Wilshire.)
I told Ron what I needed and that I wanted to run over and get copies. He said, "Don't bother. I'll bring them to you myself!" Less than fifteen minutes later, a bit winded from sprinting across the boulevard, Ron walked in with copies of the forms. Gavin McLeod recognized him from past dealings and said, "Ron Koblin! If you're this young man's business manager, there should be no problem with this loan." Within minutes, it was approved.
I realized later that Ron thought that might happen if he took them over himself, which is why he didn't send a secretary or let me cross Wilshire. It was one of countless services that this very wise, good man did for me over the 38 years. I am so sad to lose him as my protector and, more importantly, as my friend.