Agents and Agencies

BEGINNINGS

The modern talent agency has its roots in vaudeville with the founding of the William Morris Agency in 1898. A German-Jewish immigrant, William Morris (1873–1932) established his agency on the Lower East Side of New York and catered mostly to independent vaudeville managers who were forced to book their acts individually from numerous employment agencies. Morris offered to take over this function for them by packaging entire shows for distribution. When motion pictures became big business in the 1920s, Morris offered these same services to the new motion picture theater chains that included vaudeville in their programs. William Morris prospered as a result, but the movies soon killed vaudeville and the road for legitimate theater, forcing the agency to exploit new entertainment fields.

William Morris entered Hollywood in 1927 and radio soon after. By 1938, William Morris was once again the preeminent talent agency with some 850 persons under contract. Most of its business came from radio and the movies, but Morris's clients also included night-club performers, musicians, and performers in vaudeville and theater.

Lined up against William Morris was MCA, the Music Corporation of America, which was formed in 1924 by Jules Stein (1896–1981), an ophthalmologist turned agent, who organized the chaotic band business during the 1920s and capitalized on the post-war entertainment boom. Starting out in Chicago as a booker collecting 10-percent commissions, Stein offered to bill bands under their leader's names in return for exclusive representation rights. Stein then convinced nightclub operators and hotel managers that rotating bands would draw larger crowds and new business. After the plan proved spectacularly successful, Stein introduced the exclusive deal whereby MCA, in a form of block booking, secured from operators of amusement places the sole right to book talent into their spots. By guaranteeing a continuous flow of bands at the right prices, MCA assured itself a steady market for its clients and attracted new names to the fold. MCA represented over half of the major bands in the United States by the late 1930s, including Harry James, the Dorseys, Guy Lombardo, Kay Kyser, and Benny Goodman. Control of the band business led quite naturally to representing singers, comedians, jugglers, and other performers. Around 1938, Stein branched out into practically the whole gamut of marketable talent. This meant all-out war with all other agencies, particularly with the William Morris Agency.