{"id":521,"date":"2023-08-04T19:25:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T19:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getmahoney.com\/?page_id=521"},"modified":"2024-04-26T21:52:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T21:52:48","slug":"press","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/getmahoney.com\/press\/","title":{"rendered":"Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I am beyond proud to be honored as a Veteran by The Stars and Stripes Magazine! Veterans Day 11\/10\/2023 <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Cheers to Harvey Brownstone for the interview below. Thanks for making me look so good!
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Click below to see my interview on KCAL news with “Java with Jamie.” We met at a coffee shop in Burbank and we talked “Get Mahoney!” over coffee!\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Thank you to Hawk Koch for this nice interview below with Inside Hollywood \nJune 27th 2023 <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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HISTORY<\/strong><\/h2>

‘An unbelievable journey’: La Quinta<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>

resident’s book recalls life as <\/em><\/strong>Sinatra’s publicist<\/em> <\/strong>Bruce Fessier Special to The Desert Sun<\/p>

Published 9:20 a.m. PT May 11, 2023<\/p>

La Quinta resident Jim Mahoney\u2019s first client upon becoming an MGM movie publicist in 1947 was Clark Gable, the \u201cGone With the Wind\u201d star known as the King of Hollywood.<\/p>

After that, his career grew.<\/p>

His client list after forming his own public relations firm in 1959 included Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, the Rolling Stones, U2, Bob Dylan, Johnny Carson, Jack Nicholson and Steve McQueen. He went from representing Sonny and Cher to handling the City of Palm Springs after Sonny Bono was elected mayor in 1988. Bono used Mahoney to attract national attention for his fledgling Palm Springs International Film Festival.<\/p>

But his most important client was Frank Sinatra, the longtime Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage resident who died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles 25 years ago May 14.<\/p>

Mahoney, 95, met Sinatra at his lowest ebb, as his wife, film siren Ava Gardner, was leaving him. He represented Sinatra through the heights of the Rat Pack when Sinatra built a small empire with his own film production company, his own recording studio and his own casino while recording such standards as \u201cStrangers in the Night,\u201d \u201cSomething Stupid\u201d (with daughter Nancy Sinatra), \u201cIt Was A Very<\/p>

Good Year\u201d and \u201cFly Me to the Moon.\u201d He was making classic films such as the original \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven,\u201d \u201cThe Manchurian Candidate\u201d and \u201cNone But the Brave.\u201d<\/p>

Through Sinatra, Mahoney met John F. Kennedy while he was running for president and needing advice on how to win Richard Nixon\u2019s home state of California. He met Chicago mob boss Sam Giacana and defended Sinatra from Mafia allegations. He was with Sinatra when kidnappers sought a ransom for Frank Sinatra Jr. In fact, he took the kidnappers\u2019 call.<\/p>

Mahoney learned how to mitigate crises about volatile personalities such as Sinatra from fabled MGM publicist Howard Strickling.<\/p>

\u201cMy job,\u201d he said in a promo for his new book, \u201cGet Mahoney! A Hollywood Insider\u2019s Memoir,\u201d \u201cwas to keep the sweet smell of success from turning into the foul stench of scandal.\u201d<\/p>

Strickling taught Mahoney old Hollywood tricks of mastering coverups \u2014 by lying and paying bribes to hide crises ranging from stars\u2019 sexual misconduct to suicide attempts. If Strickling couldn\u2019t mitigate a PR problem with MGM money, he or studio boss Louis B. Mayer would assign Eddie Mannix, a Ray Donovan-type \u201cfixer,\u201d to take care of it.<\/p>

Strickling\u2019s Rule No. 1 was: Keep yourself out of the story. He once told Mahoney how an MGM publicist tried to refute a doctor\u2019s report that Garland had cut her throat by calling it, \u201cjust a scratch.\u201d When asked where the cut was, the publicist pointed to his neck and a photographer snapped a picture. The next day, a headline proclaimed, \u201cMGM publicity man shows where Judy slit her throat.\u201d<\/p>

Mahoney discussed how his PR career preceded cultural shifts such as the MeToo movement and cancel culture in a wide-ranging interview at his home with his son, Sean, next to him to help him manage an injury from a fall. The interview was edited for length and clarity.<\/p>

Howard Strickling told you a publicist should keep himself out of the story. So why did you write this book? <\/strong><\/p>

A lot of people said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you write a book?\u201d I was on a plane to Europe and I got a pencil and paper and started writing. It\u2019s been an unbelievable journey. No one else has ever crossed that path.<\/p>

Were you taking notes all that time? <\/strong><\/p>

Never. I never took notes.<\/p>

The book chronicles an era when bad behavior was swept under the carpet. Today we\u2019re taught to be transparent. If a star is accused of misconduct, we protect the accuser. It offers great cultural context, but is self-published. Did you have trouble pitching it to publishers? <\/strong><\/p>

I went to the William Morris Agency. The problem is, when I submitted the book 10 years ago, more often than not the publisher would assign the reviewing process to some kid that was an hour-and-a-half out of college. They didn\u2019t know Alan Ladd. They didn\u2019t know Gary Cooper. I was fortunate to handle some real characters. Lee Marvin, George C. Scott, Fred Astaire.<\/p>

You call Steve McQueen your most difficult client. But Marvin did things that would land him in jail today. <\/strong><\/p>

He was one hell of a guy. Got his ass shot off in World War II (severing his sciatic nerve). He made (21) landings in the South Pacific, which is mind-boggling. They put him on a hospital ship and he never lived it down that he didn\u2019t get back to support his troops (most of whom were killed in the Battle of Saipan). The reason he did a lot of drinking was because he thought he let his troops down.<\/p>

I understand survivor\u2019s guilt. But, did his war hero status give him a pass for bad behavior? <\/strong><\/p>

Sure. He did crazy things. He had guns and he\u2019d go out and shoot cans (in Malibu). He got (drunk) one night and drove to Camp Pendleton to re-enlist.<\/p>

You wrote of getting an early morning call from a cop who said Marvin put a woman in the hospital. You replied, \u201cWell, he\u2019s in Mass right <\/strong><\/p>

now.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>

They don\u2019t teach that anymore.<\/p>

That\u2019s my point. They teach you not <\/em>to say that today. But did you empathize with him because of what he\u2019d been through? <\/strong><\/p>

Big time.<\/p>

You\u2019re wearing a Korean War veteran\u2019s hat. I know you belittle your actions in Korea, but, can you say what you did to earn a medal? <\/strong><\/p>

Well, I was serving in a dangerous zone in Korea. My job was to call in artillery fire if the enemy got too close. On one occasion, I was on the front line. I had a Jeep driver, but we got lost (behind enemy lines). Luckily we got out of there and performed the mission successfully. That\u2019s why they presented me with the Bronze Star.<\/p>

How did the studio people act when you returned? <\/strong><\/p>

You\u2019d think I was (World War II hero) Audie Murphy. I was writing a gossip column for the Herald Express for a couple months. My boss, Harrison Carroll, got seriously ill (and) in those months, I got to know everybody of importance at every studio. Debbie Reynolds was a good friend. She was doing a movie with Frank Sinatra and I was having lunch with the press agent. Debbie comes by and says, \u201cAre you coming down to the set?\u201d I said, \u201cYour set is closed. Sinatra doesn\u2019t want any press.\u201d She said, \u201cBull. I want to talk to you. Get your ass down to the set after lunch.\u201d So I went down there and all of a sudden, everything got church silent. \u201cDoesn\u2019t he know Sinatra\u2019s working here?\u201d Debbie sees me and says, \u201cJimmy, this is Frank Sinatra. Frank, this is Jimmy Mahoney. He\u2019s a good friend of mine. I don\u2019t want you to give him any shit.\u201d That was my introduction to Sinatra. Throughout the period I was writing that column, I was welcome to any of his sets. He\u2019d invite me to dinner. One night he says to me, \u201cHow long are you going to stay in that hokey business?\u201d I said, \u201cTil something better comes along.\u201d He says, \u201cIt just did. I want you to work for me.\u201d But, backing up, Debbie was under the impression I was<\/p>

some kind of war hero. I wasn\u2019t. There were 10,000 guys who had more dangerous missions than me.<\/p>

That speaks to the eras\u2019 cultural differences. In my generation, guys returning from Vietnam weren\u2019t considered heroes. Veterans from previous wars were given greater allowances for bad behavior. Did that make an impression on your clients, like Sinatra and Lee Marvin. <\/strong><\/p>

It made a big impression.<\/p>

Your book is titled \u201cGet Mahoney\u201d because clients would call you whenever there was trouble. You said the first three rules of crisis management were: Money talks, pay big and pay fast, and keep it out of the press. Did you learn that from Strickling? <\/strong><\/p>

Strickling and Eddie Mannix, who was an executive at MGM, and Whitey Hendry, the (MGM) police chief. They had more policemen at MGM than in most small communities. If there was a problem of any kind, Strickling was there and Eddie Mannix was there. More often than not, they\u2019d take me with them, which is how I learned.<\/p>

Did Hendry have such clout that his word was respected as an official police report? <\/strong><\/p>

Hendry had a relationship with the police chiefs \u2015 in Glendale and definitely Palm Springs. He was there for many years, and money, money, money speaks.<\/p>

Did he give money to cops? <\/strong><\/p>

(There were) giveaways that came their way. Trips to Europe when they were filming there. Whoever the cop was, he got a nice vacation. That went on all the time.<\/p>

Why do you say, \u201cdefinitely Palm Springs\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>

There were a lot of people connected to MGM that had homes down here.<\/p>

You say in your book that things were swept under the carpet. You also allege Clark Gable killed a jaywalking pedestrian. It later became known that he impregnated (actress) Loretta Young. <\/strong><\/p>

Among others.<\/p>

So, what was the process? When you got the news, what would you do first? <\/strong><\/p>

Tell Strickling.<\/p>

And Strickling would talk to the victim? <\/strong><\/p>

Whoever he needed to talk to. If it was a teenager that was abused, he\u2019d go to the teenager\u2019s home and write a check.<\/p>

Today that\u2019s done with lawyers. They\u2019ll offer compensation in exchange for an NDA. Did you and Strickling do a precursor to that? <\/strong><\/p>

Yes.<\/p>

How did \u201cthe fixer\u201d come into play? If Strickling couldn\u2019t take care of a problem with money, he\u2019d go to Mannix? <\/strong><\/p>

I think it was more Louis B. Mayer. He was, like you say, the fixer. If a guy\u2019s contract was coming up for renewal and they wanted to make sure the deal was made, they\u2019d call in Mannix and say, \u201cDo something for this guy. We want to keep him.\u201d<\/p>

Was he \u201cmuscle\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>

I\u2019m sure he was. I never got into that, but it was there.<\/p>

Do you know the story of how Eddie Mannix\u2019s wife died in the desert in 1937? She was at The Dunes casino in Cathedral City with its owner, Al Wertheimer, of Detroit\u2019s Purple Gang. They left after midnight and he drove off a road. The car rolled and she died. He was seriously injured. <\/strong><\/p>

The Desert Sun reported that Mannix\u2019s wife was at The Dunes with a bridge group and Wertheimer volunteered to take her home. <\/strong><\/p>

A perfect example of Strickling and Eddie Mannix.<\/p>

You tell the story of (\u201cShane\u201d star) Alan Ladd trying to shoot himself to death in the \u201950s. <\/strong><\/p>

He missed.<\/p>

Right. But that\u2019s another case of how things were handled differently then. The studio\u2019s priority was to keep it out of the press. Today, you\u2019d be concerned about his mental health. Did you think, \u201cWe need to get this guy help?\u201d or was that a lesser priority? <\/strong><\/p>

Alan was past his prime. He wasn\u2019t getting the roles and he shot himself. Later, he overdosed in Palm Springs. Killed himself. (Riverside County Coroner James S. Bird Jr. ruled it an accidental death from a \u201chigh level of alcohol\u201d plus Seconal, Librium and Sparine, according to a Feb. 4, 1964 Desert Sun story).<\/p>

His wife was a PR person trained in that culture. That\u2019s what I mean by the differences between the old era and today. <\/strong><\/p>

If you were under contract to MGM, and the same with the other studios, you never got sick. You never got pregnant. You were perfect. That\u2019s why you never saw anything about Gable.<\/p>

But even the doctor who treated Ladd seemed trained to perpetuate the myth. He volunteered to say it was an accidental shooting, right? <\/strong><\/p>

Also (with) the accidental overdose.<\/p>

Do you think that studio culture enabled people like Harvey Weinstein to think they could get away with abusive behavior? <\/strong><\/p>

No question about it.<\/p>

Let\u2019s get back to Sinatra. Would you put him on your list of difficult clients? <\/strong><\/p>

No. He never caused me any problems really, until he went to Australia and called the press parasites and $2 hookers.<\/p>

Rudin was your antagonist (telling Sinatra that Mahoney should have accompanied him to Australia to protect him on that 1974 tour. Sinatra fired Mahoney afterwards). <\/strong><\/p>

Rudin never liked me. He said I was giving Frank away.<\/p>

For charity events? <\/strong><\/p>

I did influence him on that.<\/p>

Let\u2019s talk about the incident at the Polo Lounge (in the Beverly Hilton Hotel) where Frank, Dean Martin and Jilly Rizzo were with two Black women… <\/strong><\/p>

I wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>

No, but you were called to handle that. Did you talk to the waiters and bartenders to line up their stories? (The tale goes that Sinatra and Martin were confronted by a man who complained of their loudness. After returning to his seat, he allegedly uttered the \u201cN word\u201d and a brawl ensued. Rizzo reportedly broke the man\u2019s skull, but no charges were filed). <\/strong><\/p>

They didn\u2019t need to be educated. They were well educated in the process (of what to do) if there\u2019s a problem in the restaurant. There was a problem and it was messy for a while.<\/p>

But they knew to prioritize Frank and Dean because show biz was paramount in L.A.? <\/strong><\/p>

Yeah.<\/p>

You start the book with an amazing story about how Sinatra summoned you to Lake Tahoe after Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped. <\/strong><\/p>

He asked Rudin to get me on a plane. I was there to handle the press, feed them some material. It was a national incident. I was designated as the phone guy.<\/p>

When you got back-to-back calls from (Chicago mob boss) Sam Giancana and (FBI Director) J. Edgar Hoover, did it surprise you that Frank chose to talk to Giancana first, making you put Hoover on hold? <\/strong><\/p>

Yeah. Frank got a kick out of that. He had the good guys and the bad guys working together.<\/p>

You knew Giancana. How would you describe him? <\/strong><\/p>

He knew me because I represented Frank. I knew him from weeks, or months before (the kidnapping). Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and I were going to Indiana to start a movie and, at the last minute, there was a change of plans. We were to stop in Chicago and go to a birthday party for some important friend. The important friend was Momo (Giancana).<\/p>

You write about the Sinatra and Bob Hope golf tournaments (Hope allegedly refused to host the Palm Springs Classic unless Sinatra ended his 1963 celebrity pro-am because he didn\u2019t think the desert was big enough for two pro-ams). Did they really have a rivalry? <\/strong><\/p>

It was amusing. Occasionally Sinatra would say, \u201cHow come I don\u2019t get the kind of press that Bob Hope does?\u201d And Hope would say, \u201cHow come I don\u2019t get press like Sinatra?\u201d I said (to Hope), \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d He said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you get me on a stamp?\u201d I said, \u201cYou have to die for that.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s go on to another subject.\u201d There was never any love between them. They got along, but there were bumps along the way. Hope was putting together a Sunday night Chrysler special and he had an idea with this manager. \u201cLet\u2019s get Frank Sinatra and pay him the $50,000 we\u2019d have to pay for two or three people.\u201d And Sinatra agreed. Word got back to Detroit that<\/p>

Frank Sinatra was the star of the special and the bigwigs at Chrysler didn\u2019t like Sinatra as a spokesman for Chrysler.<\/p>

Because of his alleged Mafia associations? <\/strong><\/p>

Could be, yeah. They wanted out of the deal and Mickey Rudin told Frank. Frank said, \u201cThey owe me $50,000.\u201d He took the $50,000 and sent it to charity.<\/p>

You also had Jack Nicholson as a client. <\/strong><\/p>

I didn\u2019t have much to do with him. My partner, Paul Wasserman, handled some of these people \u2014 The Rolling Stones, U2. Who else, Sean?<\/p>

Sean: <\/strong>Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan. Wasso did movies and rock ‘n’ roll.<\/p>

How would you compare Wasso\u2019s clients to your older clients in terms of keeping their \u201cexcesses\u201d quiet? Was it as difficult to mask their bad behavior? <\/strong><\/p>

Sean has probably heard more (stories about) those people.<\/p>

Sean: <\/strong>I\u2019ve heard a few. U2 hired Wasserman because he handled the Stones. They wanted the guy who handled the biggest band in the world. Wasso handled some of the biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time. But you handled some of the biggest singers of all time.<\/p>

I handled Andy Williams, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Paul Anka, Eddie Fisher.<\/p>

Wasso got sucked into the lifestyle of some guys he represented. You didn\u2019t get into the crazy lifestyles of Marvin and George C. Scott. What was the difference? <\/strong><\/p>

I remember asking George why he drank. He said, \u201cDo you know what I did in the Army?\u201d \u201cNot a clue.\u201d He said, \u201cHave you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?\u201d I said, \u201cYeah. We buried Lee Marvin there.\u201d He said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s what I did for two years. I buried people. That\u2019s when I started drinking.\u201d<\/p>

If you were active today, would you handle your clients differently? <\/strong><\/p>

I\u2019d be in a different business.<\/p>

\u201cGet Mahoney! A Hollywood Insider\u2019s Memoir,\u201d is available at getmahoney.com and online book sites. <\/em><\/p>

Bruce Fessier is a freelance journalist and former Desert Sun editor-writer. Contact him atjbfess@gmail.com and follow him at facebook.com\/bruce.fessier and instagram.com\/bfessier<\/em>.<\/p>

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KESQ-TV Eye On The Desert \u2013 2\/17\/2023<\/h2>

Jim Mahoney discusses his new book \u201cGet Mahoney! A Hollywood Insiders Memoir\u201d<\/span><\/h3><\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Deadline \u2013 2\/4\/2023<\/h2>

Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: \u201cIt Was About Taming The Lion\u201d<\/span>By Bruce Haring<\/span><\/h3>

Jim Mahoney was one of Hollywood\u2019s go-to guys. He spent 60+ years in public relations, guiding the images of Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Christie Brinkley, Peggy Lee, and hundreds more.<\/p>

He was on the front lines when Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped, and was at the party at Peter Lawford\u2019s house the night Marilyn Monroe died. He was also there with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas.<\/p>

Now age 95, Mahoney has captured all of that in a memoir, Get Mahoney!: A Hollywood Insider\u2019s Memoir.<\/em> \u201cGet Mahoney!\u201d was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was brewing and needed to keep their names out of the press. Mahoney was good at his job, and frequently referred to himself as a better \u201csuppress\u201d agent than press agent.<\/p>

\u201cIt was about \u2018taming the lion\u2019 \u2013 both the press and the clients themselves,\u201d Mahoney said. That sometimes involved making arrangements with the authorities and media to keep the dirt neatly swept under the carpet.<\/p>

The full book is available here.<\/a><\/p>

Mahoney answered some Deadline <\/em>questions about his long career in the Hollywood trenches.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Who was your most difficult client, and why?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 Steve McQueen, no question. At times he could be a great guy, and in fact, I\u2019m godfather to one of his kids, so there\u2019s no disrespect meant. We helped create his image of \u201cMr. Cool\u201d and I helped him get his big break to move from TV to movies when I was handling him, and recommended Steve to Frank (Sinatra) when Frank was recasting Never So Few<\/em>. Steve is one of the only clients I ever fired when I had finally had enough. We did a heck of a job making sure the media and his fans never knew how irrational or what a challenge he could be \u2013 for directors, producers, studio heads, co-stars, and of course, for his publicist.<\/p>

In those days much of our work was to \u201ccreate\u201d news. As an example, I had a producer client, Martin (Marty) Ransohoff and his company, Filmways, (The Americanization of Emily, The Sandpiper<\/em>). Marty was producing \u201cCincinnati Kid\u201d in 1965 with McQueen at MGM, where Marty had a three-picture deal. Over lunch with Marty one day, I came up with a column item that complimented three of my clients all at once. The item was that Marty was prepping a remake of the MGM classic, Boomtown<\/em>, a Clark Gable\/Spencer Tracy buddy movie. But the remake would feature James Garner, another client of mine, and McQueen, and would be produced by Marty.<\/p>

It was a perfect trifecta item \u2013 nobody had to lift a finger and it would scream headlines. Louella Parsons loved it because it featured major A-list box-office stars, and plus, she was a sucker for anything \u201cGable.\u201d She ran it as the lead item in her column, one of the biggest in the Hearst newspaper chain. The headline read, \u201cGarner and McQueen in Remake of MGM Classic \u2018Boomtown.\u2019\u201d I went to bed that night feeling pretty satisfied with myself, thinking I\u2019d hit one out of the park. About ten o\u2019clock that night my wife, Pat, and I were awakened by the phone. She answered and said it was Steve. My ego got to me, and I thought he\u2019d called to compliment me on my brilliance. He started with, \u201cWho the hell cleared that BS in Parson\u2019s column!\u201d<\/p>

He continued ranting and after what seemed like an eternity of his raving, I broke in, saying, \u201cI did, you asshole.\u201d He paused for a second, then yelled, \u201cYou son-of-a-bitch! You\u2019ll never get it. My name ALWAYS comes first!\u201d and hung up. No matter how big the item, or how far the reach, he couldn\u2019t see beyond the fact that Garner\u2019s name was mentioned first. It may sound petty, but it was one of hundreds of similar nonsensical battles I had with him. I could go on, but you get the point.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Who was your easiest?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 Probably Bob Newhart. Bob was and remains to this day a great friend. We played golf at Bel Air Country Club and at the Crosby Pro-Am together, and our kids all went to school together. He\u2019s godfather to my youngest. He was never a problem, and he was always employed \u2013 from his breakout Number One\/Grammy Award-winning comedy LP, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart<\/em>, to his Las Vegas stand-up engagements and multi-award-winning TV series (plural), he was a dream client. Our biggest challenge with Bob was the iron fist his manager wielded. This should be a collaborative business, but all too often, it\u2019s a competition between the manager, the agent, and the PR people. Sometimes even the secretary.<\/p>

I recall an opportunity when we secured his first appearance as a guest on The David Letterman Show.<\/em> We were told by his manager, \u201cNo way. Letterman will chew Bob up!\u201d We had to respect management, and in retrospect I should have talked to Bob about it directly. But I don\u2019t know if that would have changed anything anyway, his manager was very influential. We had to turn it down. In later years, when Bob eventually guested on the show, David proved to be a huge fan. He couldn\u2019t have been more respectful and gracious. Bob was (and is) a groundbreaking talent and a true gentleman, and any comedian, David Letterman or otherwise, would respect that. In all honesty, Bob probably had a harder time putting up with me that I ever did with him. He gave me a very kind quote for the cover of my book.<\/p>

DEADLINE: What was the biggest scandal you covered up? <\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 The first that comes to mind was an unpleasant episode while we were handling a very popular husband and wife musical duo who shared a meteoric recording career and later a hugely successful television show. There was an incident involving a \u201cthird party\u201d and a collector gun displayed in a case at their home, but for any more detail I\u2019m afraid you\u2019ll have to read the book\u2026 It was a challenge keeping that out one of the columns. But we did.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Is the entertainment press more gullible or less gullible than before?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 I don\u2019t think I\u2019d use the word \u201cgullible.\u201d But the press in the old days were definitely more cooperative and willing to look past the occasional indiscretion for everyone\u2019s mutual benefit. It wasn\u2019t that we were pulling the wool over their eyes, but we had a working relationship with them, a give-and-take, if you will.<\/p>

Now, with TMZ and all of the celebrity media outlets these days, it seems like the press is more focused on catching someone doing something illicit and being the first to run with it. The pressure wasn\u2019t as high and the money so large back then. In my day we got a lot done, but also seemed to have a lot of fun doing it. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re still having fun out there and maybe I\u2019m just too far removed these days, but it does seem at times that the current media and entertainment business take themselves a bit too seriously. As one of my favorite clients (George C. Scott) used to say, \u201cAll we\u2019re really doing here is playing make believe.\u201d We\u2019re not curing cancer.<\/p>

DEADLINE: How did your way of doing business change over the years?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 When starting out at MGM, the most important break or \u201chit\u201d you could get was for the names of your clients to appear in national columns like Hedda Hopper, Walter Winchell, Earl Wilson, Louella Parsons, and the Herald Express\u2019 Harrison Carrol, who I worked for as a stringer for a couple years. There were also local columnists, like Shirly Eder (Detroit Free Press), Herb Caen (San Francisco Chronicle) and Cindy Adams (New York Post). They were hugely influential, and everybody read them. They could make or break a movie debut. Creativity always counted, but you also needed a sense of timing, and a \u201cgut instinct\u201d about what was news. Relationships never hurt\u2026 They could prove critical. There was the LA Times Calendar section, People magazine, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, USA Today\u2026 Major breaks and covers were hugely influential on peoples\u2019 tastes and habits. Eventually, columns gave way to television, and the advent of \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d CNN\u2019s \u201cLarry King Live,\u201d \u201cEntertainment Tonight,\u201d\u201cExtra,\u201d the network morning shows, and, of course, a Barbara Walter\u2019s special was huge. Now it\u2019s social media, and I don\u2019t presume to know much about that, except that it\u2019s necessary. Fortunately, there are now pros that specialize in those things.<\/p>

EADLINE: Tell us how cigars with Fidel Castro happened?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 My company was representing what, at the time, was the biggest tour operator in the world, and I was invited on a trip for some of their top agents to tour the Caribbean and visit some of the priciest locations to see their operation. To start it off, as an example, our first night was at Mar-a-Lago. We stopped at St. Barts, St. Thomas, and a few other destinations, and finally landed in Havana, where we\u2019d been invited to what was formerly the Presidential Palace belonging to Batista (now the Museum of Revolution), where Castro would be speaking that evening.<\/p>

So I\u2019m sitting there listening to Castro speak, which was in Spanish (I don\u2019t understand a word) so I excused myself to the lobby, which was like a huge reception hall filled with beautiful paintings. I asked a guard (heavily armed guards were everywhere) if it would be ok to smoke a cigar while I enjoyed the artwork. I remember his response was, \u201cSir, you\u2019re in Cuba, you can smoke a cigar in church in this country\u2026\u201d. I laughed and turned to light up and take a stroll. Twenty minutes or so later I heard voices behind me and turned to see Fidel himself approaching me along with his entourage. In perfect English he asked me, \u201cIs that one of our cigars?\u201d I said, \u201cYes\u201d and he asked me which ones I like best\u2026 Ironically, I\u2019d been in a cigar store earlier that day and learned from the store owner that while most people thought Castro smoked Cohiba, el Presedente actually enjoyed an exclusive brand called Trinidad and that they made a special cigar especially for him. Under pressure and staring one of the world\u2019s most notorious Communist dictators in the eye, when he asked me, \u201cWhich of our cigars do you like the best,\u201d I froze and went totally blank. All I could muster was, \u201cThe ones you smoke\u2026\u201d He knew I was traveling with the tour group and then he very graciously turned to one of his handlers and told him to have a couple of boxes of his best for me to take with me when we left the following day.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Did you have a go-to nightclub or restaurant that guaranteed you\u2019d get a client some press?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 To get press, yes, there was always the \u201chot spots\u201d of our day\u2026 At various times it was Romanoff\u2019s in Beverly Hills, or Martoni\u2019s, Mocambo, Ciro\u2019s, or the Villa Capri in Hollywood, or one of the places owned by some of the stars themselves, like Puccini\u2019s (Sinatra) or Dino\u2019s Lodge (Dean Martin\u2019s). Of course one of the best was Chasen\u2019s. There was always paparazzi hanging out in front, so that was an automatic score.<\/p>

Conversely, we had a few hole-in-the-walls where I knew they\u2019d be safe from prying eyes\u2026 Some of those hide-outs were Chez Jay in Santa Monica (still there), when hardly anyone lived west of Sepulveda, the Holiday House (now Geoffrey\u2019s) in Malibu, and the La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes. It had beautiful rooms and a view of glittering lights all the way up the coast. I would suggest clients go to those places whenever I knew they wanted to be discreet. There\u2019s a story in the book about when I once caught Gary Cooper sitting at Martoni\u2019s in Hollywood one night with Anita Ekberg (not his wife). I asked him if I could have a word with him privately and I subtly suggested he leave and find a quieter place to \u201cdine.\u201d He literally asked me, \u201cWhere the hell can I go and not be recognized?\u201d This happened before my PR agency days. At the time, I was press (working for the Herald Express) and could have written about it in my column, but Cooper was an All-American leading man. In those days, you just didn\u2019t ruin a guy\u2019s career like that. It was part of that \u201cgive and take.\u201d We developed a rapport after that and became very good friends and golf buddies. He was a great guy.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Tell us about your relationship with Paul Wasserman, your business partner.<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 Wasso was complicated. There were two Paul Wasserman\u2019s, maybe three, or even four\u2026 There was the Paul we all met in the \u201960s, the black suit, thin black tie, very strait-laced and conservative guy. He came from a strict L.A. Jewish upbringing. I hired him when he was an Associated Press (AP) movie reporter, and a very good one. He came to work for me and we complemented each other. He was soon handling movies for Jack Nicholson (Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces<\/em>), hanging out with the fast crowd, and representing many of them.<\/p>

A short time later, he was handling some of the biggest movies and documentaries ever (Star Wars <\/em>and The Last Waltz<\/em>) and the biggest recording artists in the industry, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and eventually U2 and dozens more.<\/p>

He was brilliant as many of his clients, and the media will attest and everyone loved him \u2013 especially his quirky sense of humor. There\u2019s a true story about him camping outside Mick Jagger\u2019s hotel room all night once with Bob Hilburn (LA Times pop music critic) to hold Jagger to his word to do a sit-down with the reporter.<\/p>

Jagger eventually had to leave the room, and he did the interview\u2026 And Hilburn never forgot it. Wasso was very old-school and didn\u2019t back down to his clients when he didn\u2019t have to. He had demons, though, and he fell into some very bad habits and hard times. He had a drug problem. But he also had very loyal and deep friendships. When that drug problem landed him in the hospital while he was on the road with a client, I flew to New Orleans to see him. The doctors said he probably wouldn\u2019t be alive when I arrived, but I went anyway. When I got there two of his closest friends\/clients were standing vigil outside his hospital room \u2013 Lou Adler and Jack Nicholson.<\/p>

After leaving our partnership and going out on his own, at some point he cracked. He started \u201cconning\u201d friends and even some clients into schemes he\u2019d concocted to make himself the kind of money he thought he deserved \u2013 closer to the kind of money his clients all made. It was a Ponzi scheme. He was selling shares to a nonexistent company set up to collect percentages of his client\u2019s films (most notably Nicholson\u2019s Batman<\/em>) without any of his clients\u2019 knowledge, and promising huge returns. He was eventually caught and went to jail for it. He died a broken man. It was very sad. I never knew about his drug problems, or maybe I was too busy to notice (or didn\u2019t want to see it).<\/p>

But at some point, he cleaned up and later became a huge AA devotee. He went to several meetings every day and helped a lot of people get off drugs themselves after he\u2019d finally gotten himself clean. At his funeral, a handful of them told the room that if it hadn\u2019t been for Wasso, they wouldn\u2019t be alive today. That spoke volumes about the man and reminded many of us what a great guy he really was. It was very healthy to hear it. He lived an amazing but very troubled life. I wish I\u2019d have known and could have helped him more. I was one of the few (that I know of) who visited him in jail, and when I did, I asked him why he never tried to sell me on any of his cons. He told me, \u201cYou\u2019d have known I was full of shit\u201d. We both laughed. I guarantee you he had a really good book inside him too\u2026 probably better than mine.<\/p>

DEADLINE: Tell us a Sinatra story we haven\u2019t heard.<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 Probably the most interesting is Chapter One in the book, I call it \u201cTaken.\u201d I go into greater detail in the book, but for now, it opens with me receiving a phone call telling me that Frank Jr. had been kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe hotel where he\u2019d been performing. There was a terrible snowstorm and Reno was as close to Tahoe as we could get, and we were led to believe Jr. must still in Tahoe. Frank was on his way to the Mapes hotel in Reno, where he was setting up camp, and wanted me to meet him there to wait for the kidnappers to call. We were in that hotel room for days. Frank was a client, but had also become a close friend, and his son had been kidnapped. He designated me as the point person to answer all calls. The FBI were in and out of the room constantly, setting up surveillance and recording devices, and I was doing everything I could to keep Frank calm \u2013 which was no easy task. Phone calls from everyone you can imagine were coming in offering help. But those kind of gestures were, for the most part, wasting time and phone-line space for when and if the kidnappers would call.<\/p>

At one point, I answered a call and the voice on the other end said, \u201cThe Director would like to speak to Mr. Sinatra,\u201d which struck a chord with me, realizing how big of a national crime story this had become. I had J. Edgar Hoover\u2019s office on the line. As I placed the call on hold and started down the hall towards where Frank was, the other phone rang so I picked it up and asked who was calling. The voice on the other end said, \u201cJust tell him it\u2019s Momo\u2026 he\u2019ll know who it is.\u201d Anyone who knew anything in those says knew \u201cMomo\u201d was Sam Giancana, the most powerful and feared mob boss in the country. I asked him to hold as well, and went directly to Frank, and told him \u201cLine one is J. Edgar Hoover and the other is Giancana,\u201d and then, \u201cWho do you want first?\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll talk to Momo,\u201d Frank said, \u201cTell Hoover I\u2019ll call him back.\u201d The chapter goes on to talk about the kidnapper\u2019s eventual call, gathering the ransom cash, and \u201cthe drop\u201d.<\/p>

DEADLINE: If you could go back and change a story that\u2019s been oft-repeated and isn\u2019t true, what would it be?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 It\u2019s not one story, per-se, but I would say that the relationship between Frank and the mob was usually, and wrongfully, overblown. No one would deny that entertainers in those days \u2013 and maybe Frank in particular \u2013 had to have a relationship with the mob. The mob owned the hotels and the clubs where they entertained, not to mention the studios where they worked and the banks that financed them. They had to interact, but they weren\u2019t close friends. Uniquely in Frank\u2019s case, he had them to thank for keeping him afloat during what he regarded as \u201cThe Dark Ages,\u201d the early 1950s, before From Here to Eternit<\/em>y, when he couldn\u2019t get arrested. He\u2019d lost his Columbia Records recording contract and was playing to less than half-houses in many of his concerts. Guys like Giancana kept him busy playing their clubs, like the Villa Venice in Chicago. The gangsters sought out Frank and Dean and the others far more than the other way around. But Frank was always loyal and knew he owed them, like I mentioned earlier, when Giancana called to offer help with Jr\u2019s kidnapping\u2026 Frank wisely chose to work closely with the FBI, but his \u201cfriends\u201d were always there offering help. Frank grew up with a lot of tough guys from his hood. He had childhood friends who grew up to be really bad guys\u2026 There\u2019s no question, I met a lot of them. But he knew it was best to keep it as private as he could. He did so many good things that he\u2019s not credited with. I know about so much charity work he did privately that could make up a whole other book.<\/p>

DEADLINE: If you were starting out in the business today, how would you approach things?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney<\/strong> \u2013 In all honesty, I might lean more toward management than PR. Managers had a better time sharing in their client\u2019s success and even partnering in their projects. At one point in the \u201960s I was invited to join Lou Adler and Pierre Cossette in a management arrangement (respectively, they were handling the Mamas and the Pap,as and Ann-Margret, not bad). But I felt too confident with my PR business to risk it so I said no. Many of the people that worked for me over the years went on to very successful careers in the agency, studio, and network businesses. But for some reason that just never interested me. I truly loved what I did, and made a pretty good living doing it. On the other hand if we\u2019re talking about something other than the entertainment industry, I couldn\u2019t have gone wrong following my father into his line of work. He had a successful building and interior decorating business \u2013 Gable was his client and how I got into the business. My dad never wanted for work, even during the Depression. My brother Jay did, and became a hugely successful contractor and developer in Newport Beach.<\/p>

DEADLINE: If you had a time machine and could return to an event or year, what would it be and why?<\/strong><\/p>

Jim Mahoney \u2013<\/strong> The year Frank helped me go into business for myself, 1959. It\u2019s exhilarating just thinking about it. I\u2019d been at Rogers & Cowan for years and never received an increase in salary or a bonus, and I was handling about a dozen of their biggest clients and had just weathered the Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher break up\u2026 It was the \u201cdivorce of the century.\u201d I was exhausted, but also underpaid. I\u2019d approached Warren half-a-dozen times about a raise, and he always said, \u201cI\u2019ll talk with Henry\u201d. He never did, so one day I walked into Warren\u2019s office and just quit. I had no plan, but I was fed up. That night I went to dinner at Dino\u2019s Lodge with Dean\u2019s manager, Maury Samuels. The restaurant wasn\u2019t an R&C client, and Maury (a close friend) insisted it be my first client. The next morning I was in Frank\u2019s office, not to steal him as a client (I promised Warren I\u2019d never do that) but I felt I owed it to tell him first, since he was the one to encourage me into PR and away from the newspaper business in the first place. He said, \u201cWhere are you gonna office?\u201d He knew right away that I hadn\u2019t even thought about that, and I said so. He said, \u201cI\u2019ve got an office at the William Morris Agency that I never use. It\u2019s yours for as long as you want\u2026\u201d. He then called someone (to this day I have no idea who) to say that he wanted me to represent the restaurant he owned, Puccini\u2019s, a hot spot on Beverly Drive (also not an R&C client). I now had two of the hottest restaurants in town as clients\u2026 Finally Frank invited Pat and I to dinner that night to celebrate. As I was leaving his office he called after me and said, \u201cOne more thing. Take out ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter announcing your new business and location and send me the bill.\u201d I got home and excitedly told my wife Pat what had happened, and the phone rang. It was Peter Lawford, who was Frank\u2019s good friend and partner in Puccini\u2019s and who\u2019d become a good friend of mine. He said \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to tell you forever to go out on your own\u2026 I\u2019m without representation so let\u2019s have lunch and talk.\u201d \u201cWhere?\u201d I said, and he said, \u201cI\u2019ll see you at Romanoff\u2019s at 1\u2026\u201d<\/p>

Things were happening fast and it never slowed down, for the next 50+ years.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Press Release \u2013 1\/18\/2023<\/h2>

Get Mahoney!; A Hollywood Insider\u2019s Memoir<\/span><\/h3>

\u201c<\/span>Get <\/span>Mahoney!:<\/span> A Hollywood insider\u2019s Memoir<\/span>\u201d \u2013 Now Available, by Jim Mahoney, One of the Most Trusted Insiders During Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age, and PR Advisor to Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Steve McQueen, and Many More<\/span><\/p>

Entertainment industry secrets revealed for the first time ever include details of <\/span>Frank <\/span>Sinatra Jr<\/span>\u2019s<\/span>kidnapping, surviving Las Vegas with the original Rat Pack and The Mob, confidential dealings with\u00a0<\/span>Debbie Reynolds & Eddie Fisher, The Rolling Stones, Colonel Parker<\/span>\u00a0and more<\/span><\/p>

Available now at\u00a0<\/span>www.GetMahoney.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>www.BookBaby.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 pre-ordered hard covers will start\u00a0delivery around February 22, 2023, to coincide with Mahoney\u2019s 95<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0birthday and will be available soon at Amazon Kindle Store along with other eBook retailers<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>January 18, 2023 (La Quinta, CA)<\/span>\u00a0\u2013<\/span>\u00a0Hollywood super-insider Jim Mahoney, whose career spanned 50+ years at the height of the entertainment industry\u2019s Golden Age, has released his long-awaited memoir entitled, \u201cGet <\/span>Mahoney!:<\/span> A Hollywood Insider\u2019s Memoir\u201d.\u00a0 Mahoney\u2019s tome takes us from his early years working\u00a0directly with Clark Gable and studio boss Louis B. Mayer in MGM studio's public relations department, through the turbulent 60s and 70s with the Rat Pack and others. \u00a0\u201cGet Mahoney!\u201d chronicles a career that few in the entertainment industry can compare, and only a handful ever experienced. \u201cI\u2019m just a lucky kid from Culver City who made good,\u201d says Mahoney.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>


<\/span>\"Get Mahoney!\" was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was <\/span>brewing... to keep their names out of the press.<\/span> Mahoney frequently referred to himself as a better \"suppress\" agent than Press Agent and was best known for his ability to \u201ccondition the atmosphere,\u201d which sometimes involved <\/span>making arrangements<\/span> with the local authorities and media to keep the dirt neatly swept under the carpet, where it belonged. \u201cIt was about feeding both sides\u2019 needs, 'taming the lion<\/span>\u2019<\/span> if you will, both the press and the clients\u201d he says. \". He manned the front lines during the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping, hung with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas during most of the 60\u2019s, and was at the party at Peter Lawford's house the night Marilyn <\/span>Monroe died.\u00a0 Other clients over the years include <\/span>Steve McQueen, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Christie Brinkley, Peggy Lee<\/span>, and hundreds more. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>


<\/span>\u201cFrom <\/span>Gable<\/span> to <\/span>Garland<\/span>, from <\/span>The Stones<\/span> to <\/span>Sinatra<\/span>, my job was to keep the sweet smell of success from turning into the foul stench of scandal,\u201d Mahoney commented for the book.\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Friends and colleagues have extolled Mahoney for his accomplishments, including, <\/span>Robert Wagner<\/span>; \u201cJim is a class act\u2026 one of my closest friends.\u201d <\/span>Nancy <\/span>Sinatra<\/span>;<\/span> \u201cJim was a solid friend all the way. I can\u2019t remember my life when Jim wasn\u2019t in it.\u201d <\/span>Todd <\/span>Fisher<\/span>;<\/span> \u201cMy father <\/span>Eddie Fisher<\/span>, and my mother, <\/span>Debbie Reynolds<\/span>, were both represented by Jim Mahoney during some of the most important times in their lives.\u201d <\/span>Bob <\/span>Newhart<\/span>;<\/span> \u201cJim Mahoney was my friend and publicist. He represented the top entertainers in town and his behind-the-scenes stories are a fun read and are about the biggest stars in Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age.\u201d <\/span>Bob Dowling<\/span> (former Hollywood Reporter Publisher\/Editor); \u201cJim has been <\/span>a personal friend<\/span> and colleague of mine for over thirty years. \u2018Get Mahoney!\u2019 is a fun romp through old Hollywood, with names that you\u2019ll recognize and untold stories that make the book hard to put down.\u201d And <\/span>John Williams<\/span> (Oscar winning composer); \u201cJim is a prominent and permanent part of the tapestry that makes up one of Hollywood\u2019s most glamorous periods. In the Hollywood of those days, everyone knew and respected Jim as a man who could be trusted and always knew how to make things work. I\u2019m delighted that this book will celebrate a man who was such a vital part of the filmmaking that contributed so much to our country\u2019s cultural life.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Apart from the entertainment field, Mahoney had life-long friendships with clients such as <\/span>Barron Hilton<\/span> (Hilton Hotels), and billionaire Las Vegas hotel and studio owner, <\/span>Kirk Kerkorian<\/span>, (MGM Studios). He was there for the growth of Las Vegas, played golf worldwide from St. Andrews and Pebble Beach to <\/span>Hawaii and <\/span>Tokyo with some of the greats of the game (<\/span>Arnold <\/span>Palmer,<\/span> Jack<\/span> Nicklaus, <\/span>Nick <\/span>Faldo<\/span>, Sam<\/span> Snead<\/span>, etc.).\u00a0 He also writes about visiting the Reagan White House with Oscar winner Jack Lemmon and visiting Havana where he unexpectedly shared cigars with Cuban President Fidel Castro.<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Mahoney turns 95 in February 2023 and lives quietly in La Quinta, CA, on the course where he won the 1977 Bob Hope Celebrity Pro-Am. He can frequently be found on his back patio overlooking the 18th fairway enjoying a cigar and regaling guests with stories you\u2019d think were Hollywood fantasy but were in fact his every-day life for decades. To get your copy of \u201cGet Mahoney!\u201d visit\u00a0<\/span>www.GetMahoney.com<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Contact:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sean Mahoney<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>seamah@gmail.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>

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Medium \u2013 6\/12\/2022<\/h2>

\"Secrets of Hollywood: 'Crime' Pays When Mahoney is Talking\"<\/span>By Bob Chew<\/span><\/h3>

They call him \u201cCrime.\u201d<\/p>

Anyone who knows golf and Hollywood knows Jim Mahoney. They call him \u201cCrime\u201d because like crime Mahoney never pays. The joke being that Mahoney is such a good golfer he rarely loses a bet on the course.<\/p>

If you listen closely to golf telecasts from the LA Open or from tournaments in Palm Springs or Pebble Beach, you\u2019ll hear announcers reference Mahoney, and his \u201cCrime\u201d nickname. Few viewers have a clue as to what they\u2019re talking about. You\u2019ll hear Nick Faldo mention his name. You\u2019ll hear Clint Eastwood or Jim Nantz give a nod to Jim Mahoney. Along the sub-cultural crossroads of golf, Hollywood, and the press, or at least the press of Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age, Jim Mahoney is the real deal.<\/p>

He lives in La Quinta now, and is in his upper eighties, but true his place was Hollywood in a time when Hope and Sinatra were lighting up Vegas and late night TV. It was a time when Jack Lemmon, Sean Connery and Bob Newhart were in the tabloids as often Caitlyn Jenner, the Kardashians, and Angelina Jolie are today. His natural habitats were Bel-Air Country Club, Chasen\u2019s, and Pebble Beach. Today, it\u2019s about every great private club between Palm Springs and Indio.<\/p>

When I first arrived in Los Angeles, Jim took me by the arm and walked me into this glittery stew of golf and celebrity, a big-league world both absurd and seductive.<\/p>

Jim always wanted to write a book about his life, about all the stories he was part of, all the things he saw and knew and couldn\u2019t really talk about. He should do this before time and memory wash it all away. He\u2019s got the manuscript somewhere in a drawer, or maybe it\u2019s still in his head. Sometimes you\u2019ll see his name mentioned as one of the behind scenes guys, but one thing is certain: if you\u2019re lucky enough to have met Jim Mahoney, the man and his stories will stick with you forever.<\/p>

The Big Break: Clark Gable<\/strong><\/p>

It starts with Clark Gable.<\/p>

Jim\u2019s father was a house painter, a good painter, and an artisan. The Mahoney family lived in Culver City and the old man worked on Culver\u2019s famous MGM sets. He got side jobs from the high-priced stars. Gable was one of them. At the time, in the Forties and Fifties, it didn\u2019t get any more famous than Clark Gable and MGM.<\/p>

Sometimes, the old man brought his son around on jobs. Young Jim hated house painting. But he knew how connections worked in this town, where people gambled their lives on a chance encounter with a B-movie producer or an agent with a line on a project. You never knew when the big break might come. This time he went along, and he got lucky. It was Gable\u2019s house in Encino, the Tudor with the horse corral in front, the one Mike Milken, the former junk bond king, lives in today.<\/p>

Gable liked young Mahoney\u2019s moxie. \u201cWhat do you wanna do with your life, kid?\u201d the larger than life star asked.<\/p>

\u201cChase girls,\u201d Mahoney said.<\/p>

Gable smiled, the comment reminded him of himself. It wasn\u2019t long before the star took Mahoney under his wing and got him a job at MGM as his junior publicist. Not bad, Clark Gable being your first PR client. From there, the train never stopped.<\/p>

I wish Jim would publish his stories, but I understand. He\u2019s not part of today\u2019s TMZ- Twitter-Facebook-confessional-oversharing time. It\u2019s not in his DNA to publish stories that might stain his friends. Old-fashioned honor keeps him from going public, but thankfully not from letting a few of his close personal friends in on his stories, and his secrets.<\/p>

Getting Ava A Drink<\/strong><\/p>

The first stories that stick in my mind are the ones about Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, and there are many. As the publicist assigned to her by his boss Howard Strickling, the legendary PR fixer at MGM, Mahoney often had the enviable task of escorting Ave Gardner to airports. The first time he took her to the airport was to catch a plane to Africa where she was filming \u201cMogambo.\u201d<\/p>

He arrived at the house in Nichols Canyon and she wasn\u2019t quite ready. \u201cCome in and make yourself a drink,\u201d she said to the young publicist.<\/p>

Mahoney entered the house for the first time. He walked toward the living room bar. A voice shouted out: \u201cWho the fuck are you?\u201d<\/p>

It was Sinatra. He was sitting in a dark corner.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m from Strickling\u2019s office,\u201d Mahoney says. \u201cI\u2019m suppose to take Mrs. Sinatra to the airport.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s fine, kid,\u201d Sinatra said. \u201cWhat\u2019re drinking?\u201d<\/p>

That was the first time he met Frank Sinatra. The former idol was in bad shape. It was in the fan magazines. The marriage was on the rocks, his singing career was in the tank, and his wife just aborted a pregnancy. Rumor had it Sinatra tried to kill himself.<\/p>

But there was still hope. He was screen testing for the Maggio role in \u201cFrom Here to Eternity,\u201d but it wasn\u2019t in the bag. He was broke and he felt he was radioactive with the studios. Of course, it all changed after the he got the part, and then the Oscar, but it didn\u2019t help the marriage.<\/p>

\u201cHe was beat up,\u201d Mahoney says. \u201cHe looked like he was crying when we left him at the door. I\u2019ll never forget it, he was really suffering. He looked like the cover of one his albums, the crying clown, his wife leaving with a kid from the studio that doesn\u2019t want him anymore. I\u2019ll never forget that look.\u201d<\/p>

Even with this sadness it doesn\u2019t take long for Mahoney to flash forward a few years and another Ava trip to the airport. It turned out to be the last.<\/p>

Mahoney goes to the house again and he sees she\u2019s crying, but sunglasses cover it. It\u2019s a mid-morning run and the sun is blazing. There\u2019s no Sinatra this ime. He opens the door for her and she gets in. They make their way to the flats, down LaCienga toward the airport. Not a word is spoken. Finally, she says, \u201cJim, I need a drink.\u201d<\/p>

Mahoney looked around for some suitable place, but it was too early. The only joints open were dive bars along Pico.<\/p>

\u201cJust stop and get me a drink,\u201d she shouted.<\/p>

Of course, Jim knew. Maybe the whole world knew, but it wasn\u2019t something you dared bring up. That morning, he says, before she got in the car, she said her final goodbyes to Frank Sinatra. The torrid marriage was over, for good. So, a slug or two of bourbon at ten in the morning seemed a perfectly reasonable request.<\/p>

He had the driver pull over and Mahoney went into a dark hole of a joint. He asked the bartender for a drink, to go. The bartender said no.<\/p>

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand,\u201d Mahoney said. \u201cI got Ava Gardner in the car and she just broke up with Sinatra, she needs a drink.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBullshit,\u201d the bartender said. \u201cLemme see.\u201d<\/p>

So, the bartender and a couple of his more ambulatory regulars got off their stools and went to the curb. The window rolled down and there she was, the unmistakable dark beauty, eyes covered in sunglasses. She didn\u2019t have to say a word.<\/p>

\u201cYeah, okay,\u201d the bartender said. \u201cComing right up.\u201d<\/p>

It\u2019s at this point Mahoney says to people like me listening years later, \u201cCan you believe it, Ava Fucking Gardner, I was with her the morning she broke up with Sinatra.\u201d<\/p>

Watching Over Wasso<\/strong><\/p>

I, no rather he<\/em>, can fill volumes with similar tales of the great and the not so great, full of character and wit and humor and history. And, like Woody Allen\u2019s Zelig, Mahoney seemed to always be there when things happened.<\/p>

There\u2019s story of him in a New Orleans hospital, sitting with Jack Nicholson. They were both there worrying about Paul Wasserman, Mahoney\u2019s PR partner. Wasserman handled the music side of the business. Everyone called him Wasso.<\/p>

Nicholson loved Wasserman, he was his long time media handler. But his publicist was in a coma, the result of a wild booze and coke binge during the Rolling Stones tour through the South. Yes, the members of the Rolling Stones were clients. As were U2, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Lee Marvin, Dennis Hopper, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Andy Williams, and on and on and on. Mahoney and Nicholson were sitting there in the hospital wondering if beloved Wasso would make it.<\/p>

There are a lot of stories about Wasso. He was a legend in a different way. One oft told and infamous Wasso tale centers in Washington D.C., while he was visiting a journalist friend and speechwriter for Jimmy Carter. The friend asked if he wanted to see the Oval Office.<\/p>

\u201cSure,\u201d Wasso said. \u201cWhy not.\u201d<\/p>

It was then, as Mahoney tells it, while in the Oval Office, President Carter and his team walked in on them. They were on their way to a press conference. The President introduced himself and said, \u201cDo you want to come along or just hang out here?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ll just hang out here,\u201d Wasso said to the President.<\/p>

With Carter and his team gone, and without a moment\u2019s hesitation, Mahoney\u2019s partner took out a small bag of cocaine, put down a few lines on the President\u2019s desk, and snorted right off the Commander in Chief\u2019s desk.<\/p>

When Jim recounts the story of Wasso his eyes don\u2019t light up in the usual way. Wasso, as he tells it, did recover in the hospital, but then he left Mahoney and the firm, and went out on his own. Along the way he created some idiotic investment scams supposedly backed by Nicholson. It was a lie and he spent time in the slammer for taking thousands from his friends. He died in 2007, a broken man.<\/p>

Dancing On Roller Skates<\/strong><\/p>

Then, there\u2019s the one about the guy roller-skating on the paddle court behind the swimming pool in Mahoney\u2019s backyard on Camden.<\/p>

\u201cWho\u2019s that out there roller-skating?\u201d a friend asked.<\/p>

The friend was having a scotch in Mahoney\u2019s small, wood-paneled den looking out the window. They were staring at this odd fellow making tight turns, one leg outstretched, pirouetting, pushing backwards.<\/p>

\u201cOh him?\u201d Jim replied. \u201cThat\u2019s Gene Kelly.\u201d<\/p>

Oh yeah, him, Gene Kelly. In his backyard. Roller-skating. Sure, that\u2019s normal. It turned out, the dance master, a neighbor, was prepping for a movie requiring silky dance moves on roller skates.<\/p>

It\u2019s all just a touch of a day with Jim Mahoney.<\/p>

I was lucky. I worked with him, spent time at his home, got to know his wife Pat, and his children, and we played a lot of golf together at Bel-Air Country Club, that great garden overlooking UCLA.<\/p>

Jim was gracious enough to invite me to play with the likes of Clint Eastwood and James Garner and Sean Connery. I\u2019d eat breakfast at the big round table in the southwest corner of the club\u2019s grillroom with Bob Newhart, Mac Davis, Grant Tinker, and James Woods, like we were all just regular schmoes.<\/p>

When Bel-Air, like most golf clubs, inducts its new members into their fold they hold a little cocktail gathering. When Jim brought me along for my introduction he had me meet the other new members of that induction period, including Jack Nicholson, Michael Ovitz, and Steve Wynn. When the club printed our names and photos in the club\u2019s monthly newsletter there was my mug next to these other big shots.<\/p>

Jim was gracious about it. \u201cHey,\u201d he said, pointing to the photos. \u201cI know who you are, but who are those other guys?\u201d<\/p>

There is so little written about this man who lived so much in the<\/em> Hollywood that made Hollywood, well, Hollywood. You won\u2019t find him on Google. He doesn\u2019t have a LinkedIn profile. You have to search hard for his name at all, which is odd for a man that knows so many stories.<\/p>

The last time I saw Jim Mahoney he was dressed as dapper as always, a cigar between his right fingers. He can shoot his age or better in golf now, no easy feat, and his eyes still light up with the past. Maybe one day he\u2019ll share his stories with everyone. And when he does, we\u2019ll know then that for once crime does pay, and we\u2019ll all be the richer for it.<\/p>

Bob Chew is an author, speaker and marketing consultant. He has written for Time.com, Advertising Age, and numerous other publications. He teaches marketing and public relations at UCLA Extension. He has written seven books, including <\/em>Golf In Hollywood: Where The Stars Come Out to Play<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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