Can I Go Now: The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A lively and colourful biography of Hollywood's first Superagent - and one of the most outrageous characters of the '60s and '70s - whose clients included Barbara Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine and Anjelica Huston. Acclaimed biographer Brian Kellow spins an irresistible tale, exhaustively researched and filled with anecdotes from interviews with over 200 show-business luminaries. A riveting biography of a woman that charts showbiz as it evolved from New York through to Hollywood, this book will mesmerise anyone who loves cinema's most fruitful period.

Reviews

Even the brightest star is occasionally eclipsed by a moon. Sue Mengers was a moon. . . . Kellow is the first to pull back the caftan, to consider what really made Mengers Mengers. He has made a specialty of forceful showbiz womenprevious subjects include Pauline Kael and Ethel Mermanand she fits easily into that pantheon. . . . [Mengers] came of age as the moving pictures, and seemingly the world, burst into Technicolor. Kellow vividly renders this time of alliterative rat-a-tat names begat of the typewriterBoaty Boatwright, Freddie Fields, Lionel Larner, Maynard Morrisand restaurants that treated regulars like family: Downeys and Lindys and Sardis. . . . [a] reflective and soulful book.
Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review

To call Sue Mengers a character is an understatement, unless the word is written in all-caps, followed by an exclamation point and modified by an expletive. And based on Brian Kellows assessment in his thoroughly researched Can I Go Now even that description may be playing down her personality a bit. Gutsy, pushy and savvy, Mengers was the take-no-b.s. power agent for many of Hollywoods boldest bold-faced names in the late 1960s and the 70s. . . . Can I Go Nowa title inspired by something Mengers often said to cut short conversationsoffers plenty of dishy, inside-70s-Hollywood stories, including tales from those soirees at her Beverly Hills home. . . . Kellow doesnt shy away from highlighting her negative traits as well, qualities that often worked at odds with her strongest attributes.
Jen Chaney, The Washington Post

Picture Joan Rivers with less of a filter, bulldozer-setting ramped up to 12, shpritzing venom alongside comic abuse. Imagine that, and youll start to get a vague idea of the lioness named Sue Mengers. . . . [Kellows] book is immensely readable and full of dish.
Scott Eyman, The Wall Street Journal

Super-agent Sue Mengers handled some of the hottest stars in Hollywood. . . . Brian Kellows new biography, Can I Go Now derives its title from one of her favorite ways to end a phone call. As one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood for two decadesTime magazine described her as a cross between Mama Cass and Mack the KnifeMengers was uncensored. She also was a skilled negotiator. And a trail blazer for women in the male-dominated field.
Susan King, The Los Angeles Times

Mengers was the first woman to amass the sort of power she did, representing Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen, Ryan ONeal, Mike Nichols and so many more. But Mengers, as this insightful, often hilarious and celebrity-filled book relates, was a mass of contradictions.
Larry Getlen, New York Post

[Kellow] brings her rollicking personality to life with outrageous anecdotes while pointing out the behaviors that doomed her. . . .In the 1990s, she walked into a party, looked around and muttered to her companions, 'Schindler's B-list.' Her biography, however, is A-list all the way.
Paul Teetor, LA Weekly

Colorful is the kind of code word one uses when actual examples cant be published in a review. Kellow fills his lively book Can I Go Now with enough ribald tales of Mengers being colorful to fill a crayon box. That she could be endearing as well as rude and insulting to the people she represented is surprisingand just one aspect of a fascinating personality Kellow places squarely in the context of the way the movie business worked at that time.. . . . Kellow give[s] Mengers the place in Hollywood history that she deserves.
Douglass K. Daniel, The Associated Press

Before there was Ovitz or Ari, there was Sue Mengers. During the peak of her clout in the 1970s, the brash barrier-breaker helped popularize the idea of the Hollywood super-agent. The media lapped up her comic crudity . . . her legendary dinner parties attracted Tinseltowns A-list, and 60 Minutes came calling to do a lengthy interview that captured Mengers dishing and deal-making. . . . She didnt believe in gussying up hard truths and could be brutally candid with her clients. That lost her some accounts . . . but it also earned her respect. Everyone prized her honesty, Kellow said. In a town like Hollywood, thats hard to come by. . . . She was a scrutinizing, tough Jewish mama.
Brent Lang, Variety

An absorbing read.
Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly

With his new book Can I Go Now, Brian Kellow follows up his 2011 biography of film critic iconoclast Pauline Kael by telling the story of Sue Mengers, the first enormously successful female agent in the movie industry. As the representative for many of the major players of the day . . . Mengers helped to define a new concept of Hollywood stardom for a new, post-studio system era. Mengers also set a new standard for female power in the workplace, with a brash, inimitable style that mixed sweet talk and harassment, employing feminine wiles more often than not as a weapon. . . . The story of how a strong woman steamrolled through the Hollywood glass ceiling is an important one, but what makes Can I Go Now worth reading is its careful chronicling of what happens after the glass shatters, and that woman has to figure out how to stay on top without revealing her wounds.
Karina Longworth, Slate

A minor masterpiece of Hollywood history in its most exciting, glamorous, and gossip-wise period.
Liz Smith, New York Social Diary

Mengers was a complicated, powerful trailblazer, one who barged down doors for women and changed the nature of the talent-agent business. Kellow's absorbing biography not only peels back the layers to reveal the true nature of this fascinating individual but also delves deeply into the film industry in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Booklist(starred review)

Effortlessly readable, especially for Vanity Fair enthusiasts and film buffs.
Library Journal

From the 1950s through the 1980s, Sue Mengers represented some of the most famous names in show business. . . . [The agents] coveted gatherings, her bawdy appearances at premieres and nightclubs, and a profile inVanity Fairmade her as recognizable as her glamorous roster of actors, and she worked tirelessly to promote themnot just to get them parts, but also higher and higher salaries. . . . Kellow, an admirer of Mengers spunk and achievements, serves her well in this deft, entertaining biography.
Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark

[A] smart and incisive biography. . . . [Moviegoers] are in for a colossal eye-opening. [Kaels] love for film has no present-day counterpart. . . . Mr. Kellows clear, independent view of his subject is his books most valuable surprise. . . . Kael liked to disparage what she called saphead objectivity. Bur Mr. Kellow is no saphead, and he makes objectivity a great virtue.
Janet Maslin,The New York Times(Editors Choice)

Illuminating.
The New Yorker(Reviewers favorites from 2011)

[An] entertaining and insightful biography, as much a study of her criticism as a narrative of her life. . . . [Pauline] Kael emerges from [Kellows] biography as a great cinematic character, a kind of Citizen Kane, with a life lived and shaped by the dark.
Elaine Showalter,The Times Literary Supplement

A smart and eminently readable examination of the life and career of one of the twentieth centurys most influential movie critics.
Los Angeles Times (blog)

To appreciate Kaels trailblazing, you have to see it in its broader context. Luckily, that backdrop is filled in with sure-footed sophistication by Brian Kellow in Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, a fair-minded and deeply reported Kael biography.
Frank Rich, The New York Times Book Review

[A] rich, thorough, and admirably fair biography.
Entertainment Weekly (Best Nonfiction Books of 2011)

[Pauline Kael] got into my bloodstream more than any other critic. So I have been waiting most of my life for a smart, insightful biography like [Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark] to take me beyond and beneath the hypnotic thrill of her prose.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times (Critics Picks)

Author Bio

Brian Kellow is the author ofPauline Kael: A Life in the Dark;Ethel Merman: A Life;The Bennetts: An Acting Familyand the coauthor ofCant Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell. His articles have appeared inVanity Fair,The Wall Street Journal,The New York Observer,Opera, and other publications. Kellow lives in New York City.