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William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent agency in show business". In April 2009, WMA announced it would merge with the Endeavor Talent Agency to form William Morris Endeavor. William Morris Endeavor was renamed Endeavor in October 2017. History Early history In 1898, William Morris (born Zelman Moses), a German-Jewish immigrant to the US, posted a cross-hatch trademark above an office door in New York City four "X's", representing a W superimposed on an M and went into business as William Morris, Vaudeville Agent. By the time WMA formally incorporated in New York State on January 31, 1918, Morris' son William Morris Jr. and his assistant Abraham Lastfogel, who started out as an office boy and after becoming a talent agent in his own right, entered into a business partners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talent Agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sports businesses. In addition, an agent defends, supports and promotes the interest of their clients. Talent agencies specialize, either by creating departments within the agency or developing entire agencies that primarily or wholly represent one specialty. For example, there are modeling agencies, commercial talent agencies, literary agencies, voice-over agencies, broadcast journalist agencies, sports agencies, music agencies and many more. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs (concerts, tours, movie scripts, appearances, signings, sport teams, etc.). In many cases, casting directors or other businesses go to talent agencies to find the artists for whom they are looking. The agent is paid a percentage of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Jolson was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang. Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers." Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with ''The Jolson Story'' (1946), in which Larry Parks played Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks. The formula was repeat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Lefkowitz
Nat Lefkowitz (July 24, 1905 – September 4, 1983) was an American talent agency executive who served as co-chairman of the William Morris Agency. Biography Lefkowitz was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn. He attended New York City public schools and was a graduate of City College of New York and the Brooklyn Law School. After school, he worked as an accountant and then went to work for the William Morris Agency in 1927 where he held a number of positions including comptroller, treasurer, executive vice president, president, and the chairmanship in 1976. His brother Julius Lefkowitz ran the outside accounting firm that William Morris agency used. In 1980, he was replaced by his protégé Morris Stoller after an acrimonious power struggle at the agency. He was named as chairman emeritus. Lefkowitz was active in served as the chairman of the Jewish Theatrical Guild, as an executive with the United Jewish Appeal, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Actors Fund, the Will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of Hawaiian, New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. Country music often consists of ballads and honky-tonk dance tunes with generally simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies often accompanied by string instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), banjos, and fiddles as well as harmonicas. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. The term ''country music'' gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to '' hillbilly music'', with "country music" being used today to describe many styles and subgenres. It came to encomp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole consistent member. Although their time as one of the most popular groups in the world only lasted for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are today considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitar was "absorbed into the vocabulary of rock" and has continued to be influential. Initially, the Byrds pioneered the musical genre of folk rock as a popular format in 1965, by melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music on their first and second albums, and the hit singles " Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!". As the 1960s progressed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmony, vocal harmonies, adolescent-themed lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of traditional pop, older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical music, classical or jazz elements and Recording studio as an instrument, unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. The Beach Boys began as a garage band, managed by the Wilsons' father Murry Wilson, Murry, with Brian serving as composer, arranger, producer, and ''de facto'' leader. In 1963, they enjoyed their first national hit with "Surfin' U.S.A.", beginning a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair first achieved fame with two hit songs in 1965, "Baby Don't Go" and "I Got You Babe". Signing with Atco/Atlantic Records, they released three studio albums in the late 1960s, as well as the soundtrack recordings for two unsuccessful movies, ''Good Times'' and ''Chastity'', with Cher contributing vocals to one cut, "Chastity's Song (Band of Thieves)". In 1972, after three years of silence, the couple returned to the studio and released two other albums under the MCA/Kapp Records label. In the 1970s, they also positioned themselves as media personalities with two top ten TV shows in the US, ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' and ''The Sonny & Cher Show''. The couple's career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce. In the decade they spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who had developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Zimring
Mike Zimring (May 24, 1916 – February 23, 2011) was an American entertainment agent. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Zimring attended the drama school, Pasadena Playhouse, from 1936 to 1937 and was a radio actor in Hollywood and Chicago from 1938 to 1941. He was a captain in the United States Army from 1941 to 1946, heading the theatrical branch of the European Theater of Operations. In 1947, he was assistant to Orson Welles in the Mercury Theater. Zimring joined the William Morris Agency in 1948, becoming the senior agent in the motion picture department in 1950 and head of the literary department in 1959. He stayed at the William Morris Agency for several decades before becoming independent in the early 1990s. He lived in Beverly Hills, California. His clients over the years included Karl Malden, Carl Reiner, Katharine Hepburn,Merrily Weisbord, ''Our Future Selves'', p. 157. Gore Vidal, Herbert Lom, Frank Capra, Jean Renoir, and his wife Connie Russell. In his memoirs, Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Berg (talent Agent)
Philip Jay Berg (February 15, 1902 – February 1, 1983) was a talent agent who co-founded the Berg-Allenberg talent agency, he was known for his movie package deals. Biography Berg was born in New York City on February 15, 1902. He was of Jewish descent. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1924, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a talent agent, becoming a millionaire by the age of 26. In 1927, he partnered with Bert Allenberg to form the Berg-Allenberg talent agency. Berg created the concept of the "package deal" where he would find a script, a writer, actors, and a director; and then sold the entire package to a producer. He represented such stars as Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball, Wallace Beery, Walter Brennan, Olivia de Havilland, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, Buster Keaton, Alan Ladd, Charles Laughton, and Edward G. Robinson; directors Frank Capra, Victor Fleming, Vincente Minnelli, Jean Renoir, and William Wellman; and writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
