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BOOKSTHE AGENCY
William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business HarperCollins, 1995 For decades, hidden from the public eye, William Morris agents made the deals that determined the fate of stars, studios, and networks alike. Mae West, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Danny Thomas, Steve McQueen—the Morris Agency sold talent to anyone in the market for it, from the Hollywood studios to the mobsters who ran Vegas to the Madison Avenue admen who controlled television. While the clients took the spotlight, the agency operated behind the scenes, providing the grease that made show business what it's become. The Agency is a multigenerational saga of loyalty and betrayal that unfolds against the constantly shifting tapestry of show business.
The story begins more than a century ago, when a fiery young immigrant named William Morris opened a vaudeville-booking office on New York's Fourteenth Street and went up against the trust that ruled the leading entertainment medium of the day. Led after Morris's death by the legendary Abe Lastfogel, a cherubic little man who treated agents and clients alike as family, the firm transformed the agent's image from garish flesh-peddler to smooth-talking professional. But when Lastfogel's successor brutally sacrificed his best friend—the man who'd brought Barry Diller and Michael Ovitz out of the mail room—William Morris gave birth to its own nemesis: Ovitz's new firm, CAA. Throughout the '80s and '90s, as the Morris Agency made, and lost, such stars as Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Kevin Costner and Tom Hanks, Ovitz's power grew inexorably as Morris's waned. Lulled by the phenomenal success of Bill Cosby and the upward spiral of the Beverly Hills real estate market, Morris's board failed to act as death and defection thinned its ranks. Finally, with its flagship motion-picture department on the brink of collapse, the board was faced with the stark reality of having to buy its way back into the business it had once owned. The Agency takes you behind the doors of one of the most secretive entertainment companies in America. From turn-of-the-century New York to Beverly Hills today, one axiom has never changed: Control the talent and you control the business. Which is why, as they say in Hollywood, the story of William Morris is the story of show business itself. WEST OF EDEN
The End of Innocence at Apple Computer Viking, 1989 Apple was the archetype of the New Age in American business, a company started in a garage by two California whiz kids who took as their emblem the "perfect fruit," the symbol of knowledge since the Garden of Eden. Yet it soon evolved into a Fortune 500 corporation that would drive out its founders and replace them with a pin-striped, East Coast marketing executive. Secret meetings, high-level power struggles, executive paranoia, corporate intrigue—all these were quite the opposite of the "small is beautiful" extrepreneurial innocence that characterized the early years of the company that invented personal computing.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs hand-picked John Sculley, the president of Pepsi-Cola, to lead Apple into the future, only to find himself pushed out of the chain of command, and ultimately out of Apple itself. But this is more than a story of corporate upheaval; it's another chapter in the myth of the West, with its conflict between the lure of gold and the dream of a golden land, between financial reward and personal fulfillment, between greed and idealism. It is the story of a visionary's fall—a tale that reverberates with the tension between corporate power and cultural revolution. A national bestseller. Named one of the ten best business books of the year by Business Week. Now available in an updated edition from Amazon. Also published in Japan by The Simul Press; in the Netherlands as De Ontgroening van Apple by Veen/uitgevers; and in the U.K. by Century Hutchinson/Business Books. INTO THE HEART OF THE MIND
An American Quest for Artificial Intelligence Harper & Row, 1984 In a cramped laboratory tucked away in the Berkeley engineering school, a small team of scientists is attempting to teach a computer named Kim to think—not just to shuffle data, but to learn, reason, remember, understand English, make associations, and exhibit that curious quality we call "common sense." But thinking remains an enigma: How do we remember things? How do we forget? How does language work? And how do you translate all of it—learning, understanding, consciousness itself—into the binary code of computers?
Philosophers claim the task is impossible. Others declare it morally suspect. No one knows what impact it will have on society. And deep in the background lies the shadow of the Pentagon, which is paying for the research and has plans for what to do with it, from G.I. robots to animated battle stations. Into the Heart of the Mind is a story that raises provocative questions about the limits of technology and the shape of the future. A national bestseller. Also published in France as L'Intelligence Artificielle by Payot; in Japan by The Simul Press; in the Netherlands as De Leerlingen van Frankenstein by Veen/uitgevers; in the U.K. by Century Hutchinson; and in West Germany as In Herz des Verstandes by Roitman Verlag. REAL MEN
Sex and Style in an Uncertain Age Photographs by George Bennett Doubleday/Dolphin, 1980 This is a book about styles of masculinity—about power and discipline, sex and violence, and the roles they play in the lives of American men today. It can be thought of as a personal and idiosyncratic survey, using a very small and intentionally atypical sample, that was designed to produce not statistical data but individual answers to the question of what it means to be a man. And just as none of these men are intended to be representative, nor are they intended to be heroes. We didn't go looking for heroes, because this book isn't about "real men," the mythical ideal; it's about real men. Here are seven of them.
Books as contributor: THE NEW ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE
Edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1983 THE ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE
Edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979 ROLLING STONE VISITS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Edited by Marianne Partridge Doubleday/Dolphin/Rolling Stone Press, 1979 |
Praise for:
THE AGENCY
"A cram course on the modern entertainment business as seen not from the customary perspective of the the talent, but from the point of view of the humble apparatchiks who doggedly tried to prevent the lunatics from wrecking their asylum." —Peter Bart, New York Times Book Review "Like sitting in on a long, gossipy afternoon at the Hillcrest Country Club, feasting on a collection of war tales from the front lines of show business.... The Agency is more than a titillating string of bold-face names, though; Rose uses the saga of the Morris Agency's rise and fall as a prism through which to examine the constantly evolving nature of show business itself."
—Los Angeles Times Book Review "Reveals the shark tank at its most lethal and hilarious. The anecdotes come at us at assault-rifle speed."
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "If you like to read juicy details of the usually dysfunctional lifestyles of movie and television stars, this is a book for you." —Chicago Tribune
"A brash, sometimes funny, often poignant and engaging story.... It's a darker side of show biz than one sees on Entertainment Tonight. But serious students of popular culture and fans of smart storytelling will find a lot to enjoy." —USA Today
WEST OF EDEN
"The definitive account of the convulsive period that saw Apple grow up." —Katie Hafner, Business Week "A case study of the California style of creativity smashing headlong into the realities of Wall street.... Frank Rose has written the book on Apple Computer and the entire Silicon Valley phenomenon." —Kevin Starr, author of the six-volume history Americans and the California Dream
"Jobs is, Rose argues, the ultimate Californian, torn between gold-lust and visionary ideals. Though not a flattering portrait of the young scion, it does allow for sympathy."
—Steven Levy, New York Post "Best book on the Sculley era."
—John Markoff, New York Times "No other book has done a better job of presenting the bitter breakup between Sculley and Jobs."
—Newsweek "A bracing keyhole view of a swarm of rich, talented people frequently at each others' throats." —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"A textured, multi-dimensional work.... It's exciting reading."
—Robert Sobel, Barron's "Provides convincing proof that life at young California companies is anything but laid back." —Michael Moritz, The Wall Street Journal
"A vivid, intriguing portrait of an extraordinary community.... This is a gem." —Chicago Tribune
INTO THE HEART OF THE MIND
"Lucid and authoritative.... It demystifies a disturbing subject." —Washington Post "An exceptional book." —Philadelphia Inquirer "A good, accessible report for the general reader on one of the most bizarre fascinations of modern science." —Theodore Roszak, San Francisco Chronicle  REAL MEN "Fascinating...candid." - Washington Post "A series of vivid, meticulous portraits...enthralling as no myth can ever be but reality always is." - Village Voice |
