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

Kellow, who specializes in biographies of accomplished women (Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark), turns his attention to Sue Mengers, Hollywood's first female "superagent." She was already a chain-smoking, caftan-wearing, coarse-mouthed legend in 1973 when client Dyan Cannon parodied her in the movie The Last of Sheila. Menders, raised in humble circumstances in Utica, N.Y., and the Bronx, promoted herself with hard work, chutzpah, and an eye for good material, and became a vital force in male-dominated 1970s Hollywood. With renowned friends (Gore Vidal, Robert Evans), superstar clients (Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Peter Bogdanovich), and headline-making deals (getting Gene Hackman an unheard-of $1 million salary for the box-office turkey Lucky Lady), Mengers became a feminist trailblazer, though she had no interest in the movement. But when the %E2%80%9870s ended and Hollywood switched from star-driven pictures to special effects blockbusters, her career, for all intents and purposes, was over. She led a life worthy of a Harold Robbins or Jacqueline Susann novel, but Kellow's writing is more dutiful than inspired (and dogged by errors, such as misidentifying NYU grad Martin Scorsese's alma mater as UCLA). Kellow fails to fully bring to life this larger-than-life character whose ultimate undoing was her desperate need to shine brighter than her clients. Agent: Edward Hibbert, Donadio & Olson. (Sept.)