Love ya baby!

The requests have been rolling in from tons of people (me) anxious to hear about some of the talent agents I worked with back at william morris, so here's the first in a really short series of posts that aims to quench that serious thirst.

Wma had a division that focused on what they called "adult contemporary". Old fogies, somewhat washed up artists who played casinos and private parties--in some cases they also generated a ton of cash--regis philbin was an adult contemporary client for example.

There was a pretty legendary agent named lee salomon who was credited with coining the "agenty" phrase "love ya baby". This guy was a sketch--a caricature of everything you thought about when you thought about talent agents. He wore expensive gaudy suits, a fur coat in the winter--and big ass cazal glasses which seemed to have diamonds on them. He was blingy before bling was thing.

He smoked cigarettes in his office and my job was to get him coffee, clean his ashtray, take dictation, whatever. The coolest thing about this guy, was that he couldn't even be bothered to learn my name. He just referred to me as "boy". It is amazing what time will change----cause at the time, i know i didn't find it very funny at all, but looking back on, it was hysterical.

Lee hung in there for about 50 years at the agency, and was eventually let go. that in itself was a legendary story, where lee was advised at his daughter's wedding that his services were no longer required