Today's Blind Items - They Knew

When the phone rang earlier this week, it was someone I hadn't spoken to in nearly a decade. Back when I first started writing the blog, I met this guy one night at The Improv. He was there watching some potential client who he thought sucked two minutes into the act. He told me as much even though we hadn't spoken before that moment. I laughed and told him I was headed to the front of the place because the drinks came faster and stronger when you were at the bar. He followed along. When he told me his name, I recognized the name and knew he had represented some really big names. The thing is though, he represented them when they were all child/teen actors who blew him off as they got older.

He had a knack for signing kids and that is how he made most of his money as a manager. He supplemented by trying to find comics who could play the older brother/sister in some of these kid sitcoms. Someone unknown, but funny is how he put it.

The guy is a straight shooter. No one has ever accused him of anything other than being greedy and trying to sign the most clients possible. He told me that especially at the age he was signing these kids, most would give up or their parents would give up. Most would only be cute for a bit and when the cute was gone, most likely was the career. He worked hard for everyone, but needed a lot of kids to make it work. He told me about this show where he once brought in the entire cast all by himself. One of the members of the cast he did not bring in was someone who is now an A lister. Probably permanent to be honest with you.

The reason he didn't being her in was because her parents seemed liked they were more interested in selling her off to older men. They just assumed, even though she had not even reached 10 that he would want to spend some time "alone" with her. Umm, no he wouldn't. Right then he walked out.

That night and he I spoke, that is where he left it. We never spoke about the subject again in the few times we ran into each other since then. Like I said though, that last time we ran into each other or spoke was about a decade ago. I was somehow on his e-mail list where he scouted for talent and talked about opportunities or parties and successes. It was kind of like a Christmas letter, I got once a month.

When we spoke this week, he said he had a premonition he was going to die and was trying to say goodbye to everyone just in case. He mentioned something about that permanent A lister because of a photo that was making the rounds and we talked about what had preceded that and then he told me again about the parents but then he went on. He said when that show ended, it kind of looked like the career might end and all that easy money that had been flowing the way of the parents. The parents wanted the easy money to continue, so basically pimped out their kid to any producer or casting director who would give her a shot. This went on for years until the A lister did get the break. The parents didn't care about the cost to their kid, they were lining their wallets and when someone else close to them had the chance, they talked themselves into doing it all over again. They knew exactly who did what to whom and they didn't care because it was money that they cared about it. Oh, and yes, the mom in the family offered herself up to the producers and casting directors who didn't want to molest a child.