Hidden Talent: The Emergence of Hollywood Agents (review)

Unlike its advertising, this is not the first ever history of Hollywood agents. Frank Rose's The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business (New York: HarperCollins, 1995, 576 pages) offers a fascinating history of the agency business, with a case study of a New York theatrical agency that later set up in Hollywood.

Indeed Hidden Talent is better understood by its subtitle as "the emergence of the agent." That unstated agent who emerged was Lew Wasserman in 1945. So this book is a history of Hollywood-based agents from 1930—when agents arrived in Hollywood with the coming of sound—and ends with Lew Wasserman making James Stewart the highest paid star in Hollywood with Winchester '73 (1950).

The author mines the collections of Myron Selznick (David. O.'s brother—at the University of Texas) and Charles Feldman (at the AFI Library in Los Angeles). Myron Selznick and Charles Feldman, Kemper argues, pushed the agency business in the 1930s and early 1940s. Their job was difficult as they could assist their clients in negotiations with the studios, but the studio bosses held all the power. It was only with the Olivia De Havilland court case in 1944 that the modern day agent—modeled on Lew Wasserman—finally emerged. That case ended the studios' power of demanding only 7-year contracts.

Based on theories of business history advocated by Alfred D. Chandler, Kemper argues that agents played a more active role during the classic studio years (1930-1945) than what standard histories of cinema tell us.

Agents first set up shop in Hollywood and recruited actors and actresses from the stage with the coming of sound. They had long been a fixture on Broadway, but faced a mighty task in Hollywood as studios (based in New York City) knew of their power with Broadway stars and so avoided that problem by instituting restrictive contracts that gave all the power to the studio.

During the 1930s, the agent was more an advisor. He (the author mentions no she) would assist his clients with the day-to-day studio demands, assignments, schedules, and any legal matters. (Feldman was a lawyer turned agent.) If an actor's contract expired, Myron Selznick and Charles Feldman would seek to help their client find another seven year deal or perhaps some say in the choice of parts. Unlike today, the agent had little say in the making of movies per se.

Myron Selznick had an ally in his successful brother, and hit an apex with the creation of Gone with the Wind. Kemper outlines Myron Selznick's career (which ended with his death in 1944) in detailed fashion. More interesting is the case of agent Ben Carter, who handled "colored" actresses and actors exclusively. Sadly Carter did not leave files, and the author thus skips over what would have been a fascinating case study.