Advance Praise for
BACKSTAGE PASS TO BROADWAY
An expert press agent makes sure the spotlight is focused on the show, never themselves. No press agent embodies that credo better than Susan L. Schulman, and now — after serving in the Broadway theatre during some of its most exciting times and with some of its biggest stars — she pivots that giant klieg light behind-the-scenes. Her stories and incomparable insight are smart, witty, sometimes harrowing and often hilarious.
— BERT FINK, THE RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN ORGANIZATION
Susan leads us into a world of magic and craziness and captures what it’s really like behind the scenes on Broadway.
— Tony Award-winner KAREN ZIEMBA
Susan L. Schulman is one of Broadway’s best press agents. Everyone knows that. Now, with this book, we can see why her publicity and marketing ideas have filled theaters. Her shockingly honest, funny, and insightful reporting of how this amazing industry really works makes this a captivating, easy read. From her unique vantage point we get the down and dirty, and it makes us admire her even more.
— TV, film and stage star JOHN DAVIDSON
This book is full of juicy theatre stories that kept me turning the pages. I love it!
— Three-time EMMY Award winner SUSAN HAMPSHIRE
BACKSTAGE PASS TO BROADWAY
True Tales from a Theatre Press Agent
Copyright © 2013 Susan L. Schulman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system now known or heretoafter invented — except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper — without permission in writing from the publisher.
Heliotrope Books LLC
c/o SB Design
125 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
Cover Design © 2013 Frank ‘Fraver’ Verlizzo
Interior designed by Naomi Rosenblatt
All photos not otherwise credited are from the author’s personal collection.
BACKSTAGE PASS TO BROADWAY
True Tales from a Theatre Press Agent
Susan L. Schulman
Heliotrope Books
New York
For my parents, Rosalind Blum Schulman and Saul T. Schulman, who introduced me to the wonderful world of Broadway.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
BILLING PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ARE YOU ANYBODY?
MARATHON ‘33, or LEARNING HOW TO BEAT THE BUSHES
WELCOME TO THE THEATRE
THE SHOW THAT KILLED ZERO MOSTEL
ACTORS
PUBLICIZING A FUGITIVE: ABBIE HOFFMAN
WHO IS THAT PERSON IN THE CORNER OF THE PHOTO?
A STAR’S RESPONSIBILITY
IF ONLY IT WERE A DREAM
HOW RAUL JULIA AND I NEARLY KILLED RAY BOLGER
DAVID MERRICK’S FINAL CURTAIN CALL
PAL JOEY
GEORGE C. SCOTT IS A PUSSYCAT
‘HANDLING’ THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
COMPANY & FOLLIES
MARY MARTIN: A FAN and HER IDOL COME FULL CIRCLE
DANCIN’ OFF-STAGE WITH BOB FOSSE
ROBERT REDFORD
and THE ART OF DISAPPEARING IN PLAIN SIGHT
WHO’S GOT THE CLOUT?
GLENN CLOSE AND THE INDIANS
STUNTS
FRIENDS
THE LOUDS
SHELBY, BORIS AND BOBBY BRING CHESS TO THE MASSES ... VERY SLOWLY
HENRY WINKLER or YES I KNOW THE FONZ
KATHARINE HEPBURN and THE THEATRE GUILD
VANESSA REDGRAVE
SO WHAT DOES A PRESS AGENT DO?
HOW HAS PR CHANGED?
INDEX
FOREWORD
Backstage Pass To Broadway is the story of how a theatre kid from New York City became part of the creative process of making theatre, and managed to survive some of the most celebrated train wrecks and backstage dramas on Broadway. This is what it is like to work with some of the most talented and creative people in the world — sometimes behaving badly — as they struggle to create theatre magic. For years friends have said, “I hope you are writing this stuff down,” as I recounted my theatre stories. Now I have.
This is not a chronicle of the last 40 years of Broadway, but snapshots of particular stars and Broadway productions as viewed through the eyes of a working press agent. Along the way you will also learn what a press agent actually does — both today, and back when I began.
I love the theatre even though it is filled with crazy, neurotic people with large egos. My mantra: You can be a pain in the ass off stage if you deliver the goods on stage. When that formula is reversed, we are in trouble.
In the theatre, success can be, and often is, achieved through combinations of talent, luck, timing, beauty, perseverance, smoke and mirrors, hustle, drive and cold hard cash. But when good writing, clear direction, smart producing and great acting align in a Broadway theatre, it can be life-changing.
This book takes you into Broadway rehearsal studios, backstage dressing rooms, and out of town tryouts to expose what really happens when opposing forces collide during the creation of a Broadway show. I shine a light on some selfish behavior as well as unexpected acts of kindness. I share my experiences dealing with legendary producer David Merrick in his last hurrah: a fading film diva who undermines her own return to Broadway, and a new Broadway play with more drama off stage than on.
Press agents know where all the bodies are buried. So, do I share a lot in this book? YES. Do I tell ALL? NO. Welcome to my world.
— Susan L. Schulman,
New York City, 2013
HELIOTROPE BOOKS
Presents
BACKSTAGE PASS TO BROADWAY
By
SUSAN L. SCHULMAN
STARRING
(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
LAUREN BACALL ALEC BALDWIN RAY BOLGER
YUL BRYNNER GLENN CLOSE NOEL COWARD
JIM DALE JOHN DAVIDSON JOHN DEXTER
RICHARD DREYFUSS BOB FOSSE JACK GILFORD
GENE HACKMAN SUSAN HAMPSHIRE ABBIE HOFFMAN
RAUL JULIA JESSICA LANGE LUNT & FONTANNE
YOYO MA MARY MARTIN DAVID MERRICK
ZERO MOSTEL MIKE NICHOLS ANTHONY QUAYLE
RONALD REAGAN ROBERT REDFORD VANESSA REDGRAVE
DIANA ROSS GEORGE C. SCOTT BARBARA WALTERS
LESLEY ANN WARREN HENRY WINKLER
AND THE SHUBERTS:
GERALD SCHOENFELD AND BERNARD JACOBS
FEATURING
(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
DON ADAMS - JODI BENSON - LEN CARIOU - KATHLEEN CHALFANT SIR JOHN CLEMENTS - ALEXANDER H. COHEN - KATHRYN CROSBY WAYNE CILENTO - DOROTHY COLLINS - BILL COSBY MERLE DEBUSKEY - HECTOR ELIZONDO - BONNIE FRANKLIN PENNY FULLER - JULIE GARFIELD - GLORIA GIFFORD CARLIN GLYNN - LARRY HAGMAN - JAMES HAMMERSTEIN - JULIE HARRIS ROBERT JOFFREY - KEVIN KLINE - THE LOUD FAMILY - SHELBY LYMAN NATALIE LLOYD - PETER MASTERSON - ANDREA MCARDLE DONNA MCKECHNIE - ROBERTA MAXWELL - JESSICA MOLASKEY ELEANOR PARKER - JOHN PIZZARELLI - OTTO PREMINGER - ANN REINKING MARIAN SELDES - ALEXIS SMITH - JEFFREY TAMBOR - TRISH VAN DEVERE ARNOLD WESKER - MARGARET WHITING - EDWARD VILLELLA SCOTT WISE - KAREN ZIEMBA - AND MANY OTHERS
EDITOR
FRAN WEIL
PHOTOS/ARTWORK
CAROL ROSEGG, SUSAN COOK, GERRY GOODSTEIN, FRIEDMAN-ABELES, KEN REGAN/CAMERA 5, BOB GILL, AND FRANK ‘FRAVER’ VERLIZZO
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For years my friend Fran Weil encouraged me to write this book. Now this former entertainmen
t journalist, and currently a top marketing guru, has helped me turn it into reality by becoming my editor. Thank you, Frannie, for your honesty, your caring, your patience and your expertise.
Special thanks to Susan Hampshire, Tessa Rosenfeld Dratt and Deborah Grace Winer, for their endless encouragement and loving support from the very beginning of this journey.
Many friends shared their time, suggestions and recommendations during the writing of this book. I especially thank Peter Breger, Kathleen Chalfant, Peter Filichia, Larry Harbison, Harry Haun, Barbara Hoffman, Kenneth Jones, Brian Kellow, Roberta Kirshbaum, Charles Nelson, Ben Pesner, Carl Raymond, Steven Robman, Carol Shames Rubin, Tom Santopietro, Literary Agent Susan F. Schulman, Maggie Sedwards, David Sheward, Mitch Weiss, Karen ziemba, and my attorney and friend, Roy J. Bernstein.
And I thank these colleagues who were there with me in the trenches and helped me remember: Gene Castle, Jeffry Denman, Bert Fink, Jules Fisher, Julie Garfield, Edmund Gaynes, gloria gif-ford, Bob Gill, Carlin Glynn, Sandi Pat Kimmel, Peter Marks, Brian Meister, Brent Peek, John Pizzarelli, Robert Schneider, Marian Seldes, Frank ‘Fraver’ Verlizzo, Arnold Wesker, and Henry Winkler.
Special thanks to the best photographers in the theatre, now and then: Carol Rosegg, Susan Cook, Gerry Goodstein, Friedman-Abeles, and Ken Regan.
And to Broadway’s most creative graphic designer Frank Verlizzo, known as ‘Fraver’, my thanks for designing the cover of this book.
A tip of the hat to the legendary press agents who nurtured me and taught me my craft: Bill Doll, Frank Goodman, Mary Bryant and Merle Debuskey.
And thanks to Naomi Rosenblatt and Heliotrope Books for helping me share these stories.
And finally, a special round of applause to the thousands of talented actors, directors, playwrights, producers, designers, production stage managers, company managers, general managers, house managers, journalists, photographers, assignment editors, columnists and fellow press agents with whom I’ve shared my life in the theatre.
ARE YOU ANYBODY?
The first time I was asked that peculiar question, I was coming out of the stage door of the Palace Theatre after a preview performance of the Broadway musical APPLAUSE. The fan, who was hoping to meet Lauren Bacall, Penny Fuller or Bonnie Franklin, didn’t recognize me, and just wanted to be sure I wasn’t worthy of an autograph. Instead of being insulted, I laughed and said, “Yes, I am!”
Aside from being an ego crusher, that question is key to the role of a press agent. A press agent’s job is to make someone else look good. It is not about us. I might find myself at an opening night, standing next to a star draped in designer duds and Verdura diamonds I’ve borrowed for her to wear, while I have thrown on my all purpose black silk pant suit and comfortable heels in the office. Or I’m in the dressing room, standing behind my star at her makeup table, chatting while she prepares for the show. I stare at the reflected image of an actress in perfectly groomed wig and flawless stage make-up, while my tired, everyday face stares back at us over her shoulder. It’s easy to feel less than glamorous in this backstage world of heightened beauty and unleashed charisma. So you’d better be damn sure you know exactly who you are when asked, “Are you anybody?”
Most people have no idea what a press agent does. Some think it involves smiling and nodding at the critics on opening night (“Hi, thanks for coming ... enjoy the show.”) Others cite those black-clad, badge-wearing, stressed-out people you glimpse loitering at the edge of the red carpet on Oscar night. They are personal press agents, wrangling famous and not so famous clients through the gauntlet of paparazzi and TV personalities asking “Who are you wearing?” That red carpet experience is called the ‘Step and Repeat’ — for obvious reasons. A press agent also makes sure that his or her client spouts the appropriate joke or plug in that brief Red Carpet interview or strikes the right pose for the photographers. Close proximity to the stars may sound glamorous, but in reality it’s a stressful job managing large egos, multiple crises and sometimes, disaster.
As a savvy New York City kid, raised by children of the Great Depression, I believed I could do anything if I tried hard enough. I wasn’t super girl nor did I have hidden powers, but, I was tenacious and I was smart.
I grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City. My parents had gone to work right after high school (or after 8th grade, in my father’s case) to help support their own parents. By the time my brother and I arrived, my mother had completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Columbia University at night and was a well-respected child psychologist in private practice. My father had his own business selling industrial chemicals which he had invented. We were comfortably middle class and my parents were devoted to seeing that their children had every opportunity New York City offered. My brother and I attended Hunter College Elementary School for ‘gifted’ children, which offered French lessons beginning in 2nd grade and art appreciation classes featuring Grant Wood and Mary Cassatt. Hunter was supplemented by ballet class, ice skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park, visiting the whale at the American Museum of Natural History, elocution lessons in Carnegie Hall Studios, bike riding in Riverside Park, and social dancing class at Viola Wolff where girls were forbidden to decline a boy’s invitation to dance. (No one told us the rules had changed when, years later, we became liberated enough to ask boys to dance and were shocked when they occasionally said no.)
As young adults, my parents attended Broadway shows, buying cut-rate tickets at a drug store in the theatre district, the precursor of today’s TKTS Booth in Duffy Square. A big night out for them was a 75 cent seat in the last row of the balcony plus a dollar meal at Chock Full o’ Nuts. They often dressed up and attended Broadway openings, sitting in their cherished seats up in ‘the Gods.’
My first Broadway show was Yip Harburg’s musical FLAHOOLEY, featuring Yma Sumac, Irwin Corey, Bil Baird’s life-sized puppets, and a very young Barbara Cook making her Broadway debut. Kids were invited backstage afterwards to see the puppets. FLAHOOLEY was followed by PETER PAN, starring Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard. I was hooked.
By 10, my friend Rose and I attended a Saturday matinée of THE KING AND I, starring Yul Brynner, all by ourselves, no mothers. By junior high school I was regularly attending Broadway shows and then waiting outside the stage door to say hello to actors I admired, not requesting an autograph or a photo, but eager to tell them personally how they had enhanced my life. That approach worked wonders and I was occasionally befriended by actors and invited backstage into “wonderland.”
I religiously read the long list of production credits that followed the bios in Playbill (what I now know are called the ‘back of book’ credits), memorizing the wardrobe shops that built the costumes and the people who made the props. I even knew the names of the General Press Representatives, listed at the top of the production staff, although I didn’t know what role they actually performed or that it would change my life.
MARATHON ’33,
OR LEARNING HOW TO BEAT THE BUSHES
While studying at NYU, I saw a wonderful Broadway musical drama produced by The Actors Studio called MARATHON ’33. Julie Harris played the young vaudevillian June Havoc, struggling to survive the depression as a marathon dancer. I loved it and decided to buy a standing room ticket to see it again. As I chatted with the friendly box office treasurer, he mentioned that the show was struggling to find its audience.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“You should talk with Iggie Wolfington. He is organizing a publicity stunt,” he said.
I knew Iggie as the charming, plump character actor who had sung ‘Shipoopi’ in THE MUSIC MAN, so I called the number the box office guy gave me and Iggie invited me to his apartment to discuss the publicity event he was planning. My mother’s response to my going to an actor’s apartment was, “Over my dead body.” She finally agreed I could go if I brought a college friend with me.
So my totally disinterested friend Debbie and I met Iggie and joined h
is rag-tag parade of actors protesting the threatened closing of MARATHON ’33, distributing flyers to theatre-goers along the way. Iggie had alerted the press to our little demonstration and the media coverage it generated probably extended the run of the show - a little. Without knowing it, I had participated in my first Broadway publicity stunt. I seemed to have that ‘press agent gene,’ although I didn’t realize this could and would become my career. (The then-unknown actors in MARATHON ’33 included Joe Don Baker, Doris Roberts, Will Hare, Ralph Waite, Peter Masterson and John Strasberg. The production was supervised by Actors Studio founder, Lee Strasberg, John’s father.)
My family included educators and entrepreneurs and my mother hoped I’d become a teacher. When I graduated from Hunter College High School, and then NYU, with a BA in Theatre and English, I had no professional theatre contacts although I knew the names of all the ‘players.’ My expensive education had not included anything remotely practical, like typing — a requirement for almost all entry level jobs for young women in 1966.
Answering an ad in Backstage newspaper, my first job interview in the theatre, with the general manager of the new rock musical HAIR, proved to be a ‘poor fit.’ I showed up in my little white interview dress, wearing my white interview shoes and clutching my white interview pocketbook. I was greeted by aging, long haired hippies in tie-dyed shirts and flowing, flower-embroidered jeans and was informed the job included assisting at auditions for the musical’s famous nude scene. I did not get the job. I’m not sure which of us was more relieved.
Luckily, I was soon hired by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. as a lowly assistant to Jack Frizzelle, Lincoln Center’s Director of Publicity. Jack was a great ‘first boss’ and his patience, generosity and good humor turned a very green kid with good instincts into a capable junior press agent. My typing skills even improved enough that I could complete entire mimeograph stencils without the obligatory blue dots covering my mistakes.
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