I received a call late last night from Steve Jaffe in LA who told me that Jay Bernstein, the legendary publicist, died on Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, after a massive stroke. He was 69. Jay Bernstein was the flamboyant Hollywood personal manager, best known as the “star maker” who launched Farrah…
In the late 1920’s an organisation for the Preservation of American Musicians was set up to protect the ‘live’ performance, due to burgeoning fears that the rise of the radio and record industries would put thousands of musicians out of work. Apparently, musicians felt under such a threat that the organisation employed Larry Neive, a…
When the Wall Street Crash struck, Variety came up with a publicity wheeze and ran free classified ads for show people. At one point there were over 25,000 actors idle, all placing ads in the trade paper. One of the biggest PR clangers came from the usually savvy Hearst, who started a breadline on Broadway….
Great press agents have all been touched by madness. This letter by Richard Maney, one of the great Broadway publicists, was sent to George Bernard Shaw has a resonance in the 21st century. “There are over sixty theatrical press agents in New York, most of the fine sober and reliable as so many Congressmen. This,…
Legend has it that the doyen of studio publicity, Russell Birdwell, came up with the bright idea to use the film trades to sell celebrity real estate. Errol Flynn in 1954, used Variety and advertised his hilltop, ten acre estate, complete with caretaker, tennis court, “gorgeous pool,” projection room and pony ring. This was the…
Without great PR advice, history teaches us that there are many ways to destroy a successful career in the film biz. The most common is shooting inappropriate remarks from the hip. The mighty Tom Mix was a top cowboy of American silent films, known for his daring stunts, and equally famous for his elaborate cowboy…
Day 11 When war was declared in 1915 the American nation looked to the entertainment industry to set an example. Unfortunately Broadway became a hideaway for draft dodgers. The Government sent in agents to hound out the slackers. One act that sort PR advice on what should be done to generate popular appeal during this…
DAY 9 and 10 My final weekend in New York is spent trying to get stories out of some of the old carnival fiends down at Coney Island. I find them terribly reticent to talk about the glorious past. They seem totally paranoid about making conversation with someone who isn’t marked by a tattoo or…
Day 8 Joe Flynn seems to have been one of the most fertile press agents around the turn of the century. He spun the Salome vogue, the phoniest craze of all to hit the stage. It was all based around the then provocative Salome dance. When New York went Salome-mad the rest of the nation…
Day 7 Wandering up Broadway I am bedazzled by the neon marquis’ that cluster, brashly proffering the stupendous wares inside the auditoria. The press quotes are probably filtered, the longer running shows benefiting from reviews from forgotten newspaper critics marvelling at the original cast, long since moved on to another spectacle. Reading the hype I…