Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Hollywood PR power Pat Kingsley of PMK/HBH fired the president of the New York office, Leslee Dart, in a power struggle over control of the firm. Dart's clients include Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Ron Howard, Nicole Kidman and Brian Grazer. The two women had worked together since 1983, but stories in the Times and Variety call the split anything but amicable.
"I think Leslee is capable and ready to run a company — I was just not ready for it to be this one," Kingsley said in a phone interview Thursday...."I definitely felt I had put in my time, and was told all along that I would be heir to the throne," said a shaken Dart.
Dart was given one day to vacate. PMK/HBH is owned these days by Interpublic Group, which also owns Rogers & Cowan, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli and the production and management firm Industry Entertainment.