Get Mahoney!: A Hollywood Insider's Memoir

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He had childhood friends who grew up to be really bad guys… There’s no question, I met a lot of them. was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was brewing and needed to keep their names out of the press.

We later learned from our mother that when she first stepped foot on the MGM lot it was Jim Mahoney from the PR department that showed her around. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. But the biggest laugh for any veteran Hollywood movie buff is when he describes his estate on North Camden as "once the home of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, musical superstars of the 40s and 50s". All I could muster was, “The ones you smoke…” 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. I enjoyed the author's (occasional) candid opinions; as well as learning about certain details that only an insider could provide.Apart from entertainment Mahoney had life-long friendships with Barron Hilton (Hilton Hotels), and billionaire Las Vegas hotel and studio owner, Kirk Kerkorian, (he owned MGM three different times). Jim managed and guided the careers of some of the biggest names in Hollywood, and he always handled himself with integrity, style and professionalism. There was a terrible snowstorm and Reno was as close to Tahoe as we could get, and we were led to believe Jr.

There’s a true story about him camping outside Mick Jagger’s 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. But for those of us who do care and do remember (at least via our parents), this is a public relations genius telling the tale of what it was like to "handle" movie stars, studios, networks and corporations.There’s a story in the book about when I once caught Gary Cooper sitting at Martoni’s in Hollywood one night with Anita Ekberg (not his wife). So I’m sitting there listening to Castro speak, which was in Spanish (I don’t understand a word) so I excused myself to the lobby, which was like a huge reception hall filled with beautiful paintings. Take out ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter announcing your new business and location and send me the bill. My client list has included some of the entertainment industry’s all time greats, such as Fred Astaire, John Wayne, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Clark Gable, George C. Cool” 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.