Michael B. Druxman

Michael Druxman got into Hollywood with a budget press agency at the right time, the beginning of the television age. His clients ranged from confetti-tossing comedian Rip Taylor to Dallas' Steve Kanally to actor Dan O'Herlihy to Godfather's Abe Vigoda. He worked at that for 30 years and another 15 years writing and directly low budget movies, including for Roger Corman and in between wrote and produced a bunch of one-man shows and published a raft of nonfiction books and novels. This book is his memoir, where he tells stories about clients and friends like Michael Ansara and director Phil (Bullit) D'Antoni. Rip Taylor, for example, was on a kid's show called Sigmund and the Sea Monster when a big fire broke out at the studio. Druxman talked to him on the phone, told him to stay put, and started calling newspapers to tell them about how Rip had seen it all and gave them his number, and his client got a big play in the newspapers the next day, something I vaguely recall. That was Druxman's work. When his client was referred to as "the late Abe Vigoda" in a magazine, Druxman got great coverage by putting Vigoda sitting up in a casket with the offending magazine in his hands. I remember when that happened. Druxman even used a unique approach to get a songwriting client an Oscar nomination using telephone answering machines. The anecdotes are endless and entertaining. It's a valuable addition to any Hollywood fan's library about a guy who had a long career in Hollywood without being a huge star or auteur director.… (meer)