09-27-2021, 05:24 AM
publicist Bobby Zarem
Robert Myron "Bobby" Zarem (September 30, 1936 – September 26, 2021) was an American publicist.[1] After starting his own publicity agency in 1974, Zarem created lengthy, personalized pitch letters, a business style, and many campaigns. His clients have included Dustin Hoffman, Cher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Michael Douglas, Michael Caine, Sophia Loren, Ann-Margret, and Alan Alda, among others.[2][3][4]
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Zarem's first job in show business began at [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Artists_Management]Columbia Artists Management, a job that lasted five years.[13] Zarem noticed that he had an affinity for public relations and artist promotion, and began his career as a PR agent under producer Joseph E. Levine in 1968. Zarem became an agent by accident. The company had seventeen minutes of the film The Lion in Winter starring Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. Though Zarem had been working for the company in a business capacity, he invited a number of his friends to watch the preview of the film, a group which included some journalists. When articles on the movie began to appear in publication, Zarem realized he had become a PR agent. Levine later made him head of magazine publicity.[14]
Zarem moved on to the PR firm Rogers & Cowan in 1969.[13] There he served some of his first A-list clients, including Ann-Margret and Dustin Hoffman.[1] He began handwriting long, personalized pitch letters and press releases that became industry legend.[7]
In 1974, Zarem started his own agency: Zarem, Inc. He promoted Tommy which premiered in the West 57th Street subway station in front of hundreds of prominent New York socialites.[1]
Zarem earned the nickname “Superflack” at a party he threw for Stevie Wonder in the late 1970s. Mick Jagger and New York Times reporter Judy Klemesrud were standing by the elevator waiting to leave when Wonder finally showed up. Zarem reprimanded Wonder for his tardiness (Wonder hadn't realized the party wasn't going to be intimate) in front of Klemesrud. She deemed him “Superflack,” which was later popularized in a profile on Zarem in Newsweek.[15]
Aside from his press releases, Zarem frequently promoted films. He would call outlets and say that films “reeked of Oscar,” threatening to kill himself if the outlet refused to write a piece for him.[16] He regularly worked fourteen hour days, had a notoriously short temper, and was known to hold grudges.[17] Publicist Peggy Siegal insists that he threw a typewriter across a desk at her for incorrectly taking down a phone message. Zarem denied the charge by pointing out how difficult it would have been to miss her with such a large instrument at such close range.[1]
Zarem is credited with having helped to save Saturday Night Fever from obscurity. Though Paramount and Robert Stigwood had hired Zarem to publicize the movie, they expected the movie to flop and did not let Zarem send promotional pictures to media outlets. But several magazines were already eager for material on the film and when Martha Duffy, Time’s art editor, asked Zarem how soon he could get her pictures, he stormed the Paramount office. Saturday Night Fever’s marketing director refused to give Zarem any pictures, so Zarem pushed the marketing director onto a couch and rushed across the hall to the art department, absconding with six color negatives that he sent to The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and People.[18]
Arnold Schwarzenegger also has Zarem to thank for his success. Zarem watched an early screening of the documentary, Pumping Iron, starring the then-unknown Schwarzenegger. Zarem secured the documentary's first national coverage on his own initiative and was hired to promote the film. At Schwarzenegger's request, Zarem scheduled a meeting between Schwarzenegger and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A picture from the meeting gained significant media attention and earned Schwarzenegger a spot on 60 Minutes, cementing his fame.[1] Schwarzenegger and Zarem would collaborate again on the Planet Hollywood restaurant franchise in the early 1990s. Schwarzenegger was one of the principal celebrity investors; Zarem, who had previously promoted the Hard Rock Café, was hired to promote the new restaurant chain. Zarem claimed that he came up with idea to make Planet Hollywood a national chain, conceived the signature aesthetic of the restaurants, and put together its financiers, Keith Barish and Robert Earl. But he ultimately feuded with Barish and Earl over credit, and parted company a year later.[19]
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s. and 1990s, Zarem would promote the films Tommy, Saturday Night Fever, The China Syndrome, Rambo, Scarface, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, and Dances With Wolves.[18] By the turn of the century, Zarem's fees were among the highest in the industry, estimated to be upwards of $10,000 a month per client.[7]
In 1994, Zarem was sent 10 copies of John Behrendt’s true crime book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by the publisher, Random House, in hopes that he would spread the word to his contacts in Savannah, where the book is set.[20] The book quickly became a hit in the city. Zarem wrote an item for Neil Travis’s column in the New York Post about the stir the book caused, which he said secured the book’s international bestseller status. The book went on to break sales records for the non-fiction novel genre, spending 216 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.[21] Today Savannah enjoys tourists drawn to the city by the book and its landmarks, and there are many options for guided tours of the locations immortalized in the book.[22]
Zarem conceived the public relations for “I Love New York” campaign and helped in its development. On a Saturday in 1975, Zarem was walking home from Elaine's Restaurant on Second Avenue in Manhattan, and realized “you could have rolled a coin down the street and nobody would have stopped it. The city was dying. Something had to be done.” Distraught by the decline of New York's reputation as a cultural hub and declining Broadway ticket sales. William Doyle hired Zarem and brought on the advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to implement his ideas for the television campaign starring Broadway stars, which ended up helping turn around tourism for the city. Governor Hugh Carey ultimately raised $16 million for the campaign and when it proved a success, New York mayor Ed Koch started claiming credit for the slogan, as did Wells Rich Greene. But Zarem insisted that, other than the iconic heart-shaped logo designed by Milton Glaser, he was responsible for the campaign.[1]
Read more at Wikipedia. It is juicy.
Robert Myron "Bobby" Zarem (September 30, 1936 – September 26, 2021) was an American publicist.[1] After starting his own publicity agency in 1974, Zarem created lengthy, personalized pitch letters, a business style, and many campaigns. His clients have included Dustin Hoffman, Cher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Michael Douglas, Michael Caine, Sophia Loren, Ann-Margret, and Alan Alda, among others.[2][3][4]
[/url]
Zarem's first job in show business began at [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Artists_Management]Columbia Artists Management, a job that lasted five years.[13] Zarem noticed that he had an affinity for public relations and artist promotion, and began his career as a PR agent under producer Joseph E. Levine in 1968. Zarem became an agent by accident. The company had seventeen minutes of the film The Lion in Winter starring Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. Though Zarem had been working for the company in a business capacity, he invited a number of his friends to watch the preview of the film, a group which included some journalists. When articles on the movie began to appear in publication, Zarem realized he had become a PR agent. Levine later made him head of magazine publicity.[14]
Zarem moved on to the PR firm Rogers & Cowan in 1969.[13] There he served some of his first A-list clients, including Ann-Margret and Dustin Hoffman.[1] He began handwriting long, personalized pitch letters and press releases that became industry legend.[7]
In 1974, Zarem started his own agency: Zarem, Inc. He promoted Tommy which premiered in the West 57th Street subway station in front of hundreds of prominent New York socialites.[1]
Zarem earned the nickname “Superflack” at a party he threw for Stevie Wonder in the late 1970s. Mick Jagger and New York Times reporter Judy Klemesrud were standing by the elevator waiting to leave when Wonder finally showed up. Zarem reprimanded Wonder for his tardiness (Wonder hadn't realized the party wasn't going to be intimate) in front of Klemesrud. She deemed him “Superflack,” which was later popularized in a profile on Zarem in Newsweek.[15]
Aside from his press releases, Zarem frequently promoted films. He would call outlets and say that films “reeked of Oscar,” threatening to kill himself if the outlet refused to write a piece for him.[16] He regularly worked fourteen hour days, had a notoriously short temper, and was known to hold grudges.[17] Publicist Peggy Siegal insists that he threw a typewriter across a desk at her for incorrectly taking down a phone message. Zarem denied the charge by pointing out how difficult it would have been to miss her with such a large instrument at such close range.[1]
Zarem is credited with having helped to save Saturday Night Fever from obscurity. Though Paramount and Robert Stigwood had hired Zarem to publicize the movie, they expected the movie to flop and did not let Zarem send promotional pictures to media outlets. But several magazines were already eager for material on the film and when Martha Duffy, Time’s art editor, asked Zarem how soon he could get her pictures, he stormed the Paramount office. Saturday Night Fever’s marketing director refused to give Zarem any pictures, so Zarem pushed the marketing director onto a couch and rushed across the hall to the art department, absconding with six color negatives that he sent to The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and People.[18]
Arnold Schwarzenegger also has Zarem to thank for his success. Zarem watched an early screening of the documentary, Pumping Iron, starring the then-unknown Schwarzenegger. Zarem secured the documentary's first national coverage on his own initiative and was hired to promote the film. At Schwarzenegger's request, Zarem scheduled a meeting between Schwarzenegger and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A picture from the meeting gained significant media attention and earned Schwarzenegger a spot on 60 Minutes, cementing his fame.[1] Schwarzenegger and Zarem would collaborate again on the Planet Hollywood restaurant franchise in the early 1990s. Schwarzenegger was one of the principal celebrity investors; Zarem, who had previously promoted the Hard Rock Café, was hired to promote the new restaurant chain. Zarem claimed that he came up with idea to make Planet Hollywood a national chain, conceived the signature aesthetic of the restaurants, and put together its financiers, Keith Barish and Robert Earl. But he ultimately feuded with Barish and Earl over credit, and parted company a year later.[19]
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s. and 1990s, Zarem would promote the films Tommy, Saturday Night Fever, The China Syndrome, Rambo, Scarface, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, and Dances With Wolves.[18] By the turn of the century, Zarem's fees were among the highest in the industry, estimated to be upwards of $10,000 a month per client.[7]
In 1994, Zarem was sent 10 copies of John Behrendt’s true crime book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by the publisher, Random House, in hopes that he would spread the word to his contacts in Savannah, where the book is set.[20] The book quickly became a hit in the city. Zarem wrote an item for Neil Travis’s column in the New York Post about the stir the book caused, which he said secured the book’s international bestseller status. The book went on to break sales records for the non-fiction novel genre, spending 216 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.[21] Today Savannah enjoys tourists drawn to the city by the book and its landmarks, and there are many options for guided tours of the locations immortalized in the book.[22]
Zarem conceived the public relations for “I Love New York” campaign and helped in its development. On a Saturday in 1975, Zarem was walking home from Elaine's Restaurant on Second Avenue in Manhattan, and realized “you could have rolled a coin down the street and nobody would have stopped it. The city was dying. Something had to be done.” Distraught by the decline of New York's reputation as a cultural hub and declining Broadway ticket sales. William Doyle hired Zarem and brought on the advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to implement his ideas for the television campaign starring Broadway stars, which ended up helping turn around tourism for the city. Governor Hugh Carey ultimately raised $16 million for the campaign and when it proved a success, New York mayor Ed Koch started claiming credit for the slogan, as did Wells Rich Greene. But Zarem insisted that, other than the iconic heart-shaped logo designed by Milton Glaser, he was responsible for the campaign.[1]
Read more at Wikipedia. It is juicy.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.