empowered in the situation i m getting calls from j.c. penney saying where are our products? where are the designs? he hasn t approved them. and the way that he was doing that to get revenge on carl or whether he was doing it because he was doped up, it wasn t happening. they were very frustrated because they couldn t get sketches from halston. so one day i drew them a jacket because they had to have a jacket. and halston wasn t there. well, he was not too happy that i had given him a sketch. penny s was very happy about it. and i think that they went away viewing me as the source that they could turn to and get something. and that was kind of the beginning of my personal relationship with penney s. may i have your attention, please. carl held a meeting in front of all the employees at halston enterprises. he said that it would no longer
you ve had the biggest and the best. this kind of money is not going to be found again. they requested, and i put that in quotation marks, that i not be present at the meeting. i m sitting in my office, and i felt like having a cup of tea. so i thought i d go to the kitchen. i go to the door, put my key in the lock, key is not working. and i couldn t understand. why the key so i run around to the front door. and there s a guy working on the door there, a locksmith. he s changing the locks. i said, who hired you? mr. halston. i stormed into that meeting, and i just blew my top. even his lawyer was shocked.
that they didn t necessarily need anymore. when i first met him, he was quite distraught. he was so frustrated and so angry, he had trouble completing sentences and thoughts. suddenly, he was cast adrift. i guess i can best put it the way halston put it, that the folks from planet tampon landed on planet halston. i saw him tired at times. i thought he was really tired. one time i came in and i think he might have had a panic session. he just seemed very stressed. i said can i do anything? he said no. just sit here. just sit here. we sat there for like 30 minutes. wow. that s new. halston never asked me what i
halston didn t change the locks. he was locked out. carl admitted he changed the locks. job is done, mr. epstein. you actually admitted it. i admitted it? several months later. there was a story about trouble at olympic tower. i said look, that s it, i ve had it. i don t want to have to think about somebody changing the locks. either he goes or i go. epstein gave the signal. i said we re done. you re done. and halston was out. i was very heartbroken for him. he was like a man without a country. the halston name that was the most important thing in his entire life could be used by
be a one-man show. john david ridge was promoted and would be in charge of the design. carl was hellbent on isolating halston. he is livid. it s my name on the label. how dare you? it was his company, his people, his workers, everything he was fighting for. and it unraveled into a very unpleasant scenario. let s divide the space up there. this half is halston and this other half is halston 3 with john ridge. at some point, i said no. you can get someone else to do it. i m not going to at this point i knew halston pretty well. the man. there was a lot of angst going on. and so i had my first meeting with roy. yes, bregman, what can i do for you? and i d say, well, roy that was the beginning.