cover image Starmaker: Life as a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, the Rat Pack, and 600 More Stars Who Fired Me

Starmaker: Life as a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, the Rat Pack, and 600 More Stars Who Fired Me

Jay Bernstein, as told to Larry Cortez Hamm. ECW (IPG, dist.), $16.95 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-1-77041-012-1

One of the most famous Hollywood talent managers during the 70s, Bernstein helped create the Farrah Fawcett phenomenon, and launched Suzanne Somers, among many others. He crafts his memoirs as the story of a young man from Oklahoma entranced by Hollywood, who moves to California certain he will make it%E2%80%94and then works diligently every day for the next several decades to get to the top. Though the smart, savvy Bernstein goes through rough times, he rarely loses sight of the need to get media attention for his clients. However, he is also unapologetically chauvinist and dismissive of people that he perceives as being of little worth%E2%80%94particularly female executives who may not like the kinds of shows he tries to put together%E2%80%94and lacking the capacity for introspection. Though readers searching for juicy details about the "secret" life of Farrah Fawcett or Frank Sinatra will learn some juicy details here, they will have to wade through Bernstein's shallow musings. (Oct.)