Can I Go Now?: The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent

ISBN: 0143108875

Author: Kellow, Brian

Condition: New

To call Sue Mengers a character is an understatement, unless the word is written in all-caps, followed by an exclamation point and modified by an expletive. And based on Brian Kellows assessment in his thoroughly researched Can I Go Now? even that description may be playing down her personality a bit. -Jen Chaney, The Washington Post A NY Times Culture Bestseller An Entertainment Weekly Best Pop Culture Book of 2015 A Booklist Top Ten Arts Book of 2015 A lively and colorful biography of Hollywoods first superagent-one of the most outrageous showbiz characters of the 1960s and 1970s whose clients included Barbra Streisand, Ryan ONeal, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, and Candice BergenBefore Sue Mengers hit the scene in the mid-1960s, talent agents remained quietly in the background. But staying in the background was not possible for Mengers. Irrepressible and loaded with chutzpah, she became a driving force of Creative Management Associates (which later became ICM) handling the eras preeminent stars.A true original with a gift for making the biggest stars in Hollywood listen to hard truths about their careers and personal lives, Mengers became a force to be reckoned with. Her salesmanship never stopped. In 1979, she was on a plane that was commandeered by a hijacker, who wanted Charlton Heston to deliver a message on television. Mengers was incensed, wondering why the hijacker wanted Heston, when she could get him Barbra Streisand.Acclaimed biographer Brian Kellow spins an irresistible tale, exhaustively researched and filled with anecdotes about and interviews more than two hundred show-business luminaries. A riveting biography of a powerful woman that charts show business as it evolved from New York City in the 1950s through Hollywood in the early 1980s, Can I Go Now? will mesmerize anyone who loves cinemas most fruitful period.