Remembering Janice Lynn Robinson Christensen

Born on January 27, 1941 in the Windy City of Chicago, Janice Lynn Christensen (née Robinson) dynamic life boasts of a glamour and mystique to which few others can lay claim.

Her maternal grandmother and the family's Chicago matriarch Rose Robinson (née Dowling) was born the daughter of Irish descent in America in 1895.

Coming of age amongst Chicago’s political class, Christensen’s unlikely journey began humbly as a bank employee. Years later, however, her path ultimately led to a career in fashion where she met some of America’s most powerful and notorious men.

Her earliest years were spent in County Kildare, Ireland, the homeland of her aristocratic grandmother.

Dowling was the Rose family name of origination with a wealthy father and a commoner mother. Rose and her mother were settled in Chicago whereby land and businesses were purchased. Rose married a Robinson of Chicago and inherited the Irish County Kildare family estate after World War II. Janice had fond memories of a classic castle inspired childhood.

Christensen’s father, Robert D. Robinson, served as a Washington bureaucrat on the staff of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as chief procurement officer in the US Army, whose office she frequented.

Christensen had a terse relationship with her father who was seeking her support in family disputes with her mother's sisters but she demurred and soldiered on with a tailored attitude toward family, friends and future relations. According to Christensen, her "tailored attitude" involved speaking up and standing up for herself and other women who were abused and taken advantage of.

In pursuit of a normal life, she had previously married a university student, Gerald K Christensen, in 1958, who became a future business owner and mayor of Casselberry, Florida, though the two later parted company. Both the Christensen and Robinson families, nevertheless, have a history of service to country, state, city and a wider focus on civic contributions.

Christensen started her career as a bank teller.

Her attractive physique class and charm proves to be an obtuse fit for a bank filled with customers and career seeking business developers.

But then, an unlikely breakthrough occurred after Christensen applied to work for a modeling agency. Where her starting pay as a bank teller clocked in at a mere $50 per week, Christensen’s new career as a model meant more flexibility and higher wages at a staggering $25 per day.

Christensen charted a path forward supporting her mother and working coast to coast in fashion and modeling, all while carefully balancing her father‘s family (Robinson), who were Democrats, Catholic, Irish and public servants, with her mother‘s family (Ritter,) who were Republicans business owners and proud German standard bearers. Her grandmother Rose and Aunt Florence had a positive influence on her development. Rose mentored Christensen in the ways of high fashion, paying for her modeling education, and introducing her to career developments.

She admired her Aunt Florence for being a trailblazer as the first family member to travel the world in the 1950s, as well as marrying a noted race car driver and having friends that were country singers, in addition to others who performed on the Lawrence Welk show. Florence had a professional career in Saudi Arabia when oil was discovered, solidifying Rose and Florence as her family models.

Christensen enjoyed many male admirers. She often received letters letting her know just how beautiful and elegant she was. One particular admirer once wrote to Christensen: "...your charm and poise had an overwhelming influence on many people."

But her new-found profession offered other perks beyond greater compensation and a frenzy of admiring men.

Christensen’s charm, as well as her unique ability to blend into her surroundings and alter her appearance, galvanized the attention of a different class of professionals: the syndicates of Chicago.

Christensen’s second partner was Dr. Edward Mirmelli.

The young model began dating Mirmelli after meeting him during a medical call for her toddler who fell through a glass table.

Born to a family of Polish Jews, Mirmelli escaped the Nazis and Hitler's men, although many in his family did not. Mirmelli ultimately secured a medical license in the US but his journey to attain credibility in the American medical community still entailed difficulty, as roadblocks one by one materialized. Mirmelli finally earned his way forward as a medical fixer for the underworld.

Like “Doc Banton” in the noir classic High Sierra, Mirmelli doctored up the underworld's every ache and pain— from abortions to gunshot wounds. Mirmelli made a lucrative career as a go-to physician.

Mirmelli frequently traveled to Florida with Christensen and owned the Surfcomber Hotel in Miami Beach.

Unfortunately for Christensen and Mirmelli, being so close to the mobs meant knowing too much, and knowing too much often proved fatal for mafiosos and innocent bystanders alike. From negotiating for a kidnapped son, to catching a stray bullet in a botched hit job, Christensen and her partner were lucky to come out alive.

Twice arrested for abortion and medical malpractice, Mirmelli’s career ended in a downfall, passing away in 1978, though not without his legal vindication as a direct benefactor in the Roe vs. Wade court decision.

Abuse during her partnership with Mirmelli led Christensen in her later years to champion the cause of Women in Distress, and organization dedicated to the well-being of women.

Ultimately another physician, Doctor Leo Morris, helped Christensen find a new life away from Dr. Mirmelli, helping her sue the Mirmelli estate and different Mirmelli family members. Morris treated Christensen after years of abuse and helped her seek security for her and her family.

During the interim, Christensen regularly circulated throughout the country, continuing her career in modeling for the Chicago Health Club, Bally, swimming pool supplies publications, Buick, the Las Vegas Electronics Show, Nash Manufacturing, the Butler Toothbrush Company, among many other companies.

She also appeared alongside famous clown and friend Emmett Kelly, as well as her friend and comedian Jackie Mason, who died four days removed from Christensen.

Mirmelli opened the door for Christensen’s other mob connections, including Buddy Gallo (business partner of Hustler's Larry Flynt), who cultivated a business relationship with Larry Flynt, co-founder of Hustler magazine.

Though Gallo once offered ownership in the magazine to Christensen, she declined, not wishing to be in jeopardy of losing her career for ownership in a "dirty magazine."

In yet another remarkable turn of events, Christensen cheated death once again when an elite supper club where she had been dining with Gallo caught fire in a small Kentucky town just outside Cincinnati, Ohio.

A total of 165 people died and more than 200 were injured as a result of the blaze, leaving some to suspect a rival mob’s scheme behind the disaster— with the club being run by the Cleveland Syndicate — or perhaps even a covert government operation to eliminate the racket.

The truth will likely never be known.

But Christensen’s travels extended well beyond Chicago and the small town of Southgate, Kentucky. Logging mileage from coast to coast, her path frequently led to South Florida where she ultimately took up permanent residence.

Christensen’s close friend and perennial traveling companion, Sam H. LaMantia, once served as a bookie for Al Capone. By the 1960s and 1970s, LaMantia’s appointment to the Chicago Board of Trade solidified his rise to prominence in Chicago and sealed his success in finance and politics. Christensen, never far behind, regularly shadowed LaMantia from city to city.

From the late 1990s onward, many of her friends, including LaMantia and Morris, passed but Christensen remained active civically and politically, competing in beauty contest such as Miss Senior Fort Lauderdale where she won miss national ideal.

She maintained a presence on several committees and city boards as well, including the humorously named nuisance abatement board in plantation. Christensen also volunteered for several local political campaigns and boasted of near perfect voting record.

Christensen's remarkable life embodied an elegance, mystery and charm few others rival, but it is perhaps her internal tenacity that speaks most to her character and fortitude to overcome the odds against her. TIght lipped with complicated associations, Christensen left this world serving as a government informer, spying on some of her most watched pursuits of the '60s and '70s.

Janice Christensen passed away on July 20, 2021. She is survived by two children, Dale Christensen and David Mirmelli, caregivers, good friend Charlie Glaser, a war veteran brother Bob Robinson, cousins, neighbors and many friends in Plantation and around the U.S

Christensen will be laid to rest with her extended family Gerald, Clarence, and Johanna at Glen Haven Cemetery in Winter Park, FL.

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GALLERY