Book Review: Promises I Made My Mother

Promises I Made My Mother
By Sam Haskell with David Rensin
Hardback; 236 pps; b/w photos; $24

Promises I Broke in this Review
by Jim Fraiser

Book reviewers tell themselves white lies on occasion. Mine were that I would never review a book written (or as told to a writer) by a celebrity, actor, rock star (or even more unthinkable) a Hollywood agent, and that I would look before I leaped when considering reviewing books by friends, acquaintances or professional colleagues. But when I heard that my former Ole Miss fraternity brother-turned-renowned William Morris agent, Sam Haskell, had penned one, I immediately agreed to tie this one on.

After all, what Hollywood agents hail from small town Mississippi, make lifetime commitments to honesty, compassion, loyalty and other such values, and still succeed in the modern-day Babylon? How could this story not be intriguing? And how could any critic dare slam a tome written in honor of a good southern boy’s mother?

Indeed, the shocker here is precisely that Haskell, who grew up in Amory, matriculated at Ole Miss, has maintained strong ties with his old friends and fellow Mississippians and rigorously followed his mother’s advice to hold on to his integrity wherever he went, would be named in 2007 by TV Week as one of the 25 Most Innovative and Influential Persons in Television.

In relaying this most extraordinary odyssey, Haskell imparts, in the same matter-of-fact and easy to read style, how his mother taught him the virtues our society claims to admire, and how he worked his way from the mail room to the height of power in the William Morris Agency working a town whose nabobs often ignore such virtues during their rise to the top. From his “humiliating” failure to win an 8th grade Good Citizenship award to his deft handling of client crises such as his first client Kathy Lee Gifford’s career launch to tense negotiations to salvage sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Haskell’s life proves the feel-good story that his book’s title, Promises I Made My Mother, suggests it will be.

Haskell relates everything from Prince Edward’s royal visit to Amory, his packaging of the 1982 Golden Globe Awards for CBS which led to his friendship and eventual representation of singer/actress Dolly Parton, his marriage to and partnership with beauty queen and accomplished singer Mary Donnelly, and his negotiations on behalf of client Will Smith to launch NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. His post-retirement organization of eight Stars Over Mississippi concerts and his Shelter from the Storm Katrina concert are a testament to both his love for his fellow Mississippians and the great esteem in which he is held by popular Hollywood entertainers, including many from Mississippi such as Morgan Freeman, Gerald McRaney, Sela Ward and Faith Hill.

But the most telling of his tales is the one concerning his efforts to meet his favorite movie star, Bette Davis, in 1982, and how following his mother’s advice helped him to succeed professionally and personally in that and other ventures. At the time a fledgling agent, Haskell assumed the daunting task of obtaining Ms. Davis’ services as a presenter on David Frost’s The American Movie Awards in honor of producer Hal Wallis. Having no previous connection with her, Haskell boldly volunteered to contact Davis personally. Instead of the tongue lashing many expected he’d receive, Haskell succeeded not only gaining her participation in the show, but also her respect and longtime friendship. This happened because, as she later related, she wanted “the company of this funny young agent with the heavy Southern accent, who was both earnest and eager.”

How Haskell proved that integrity, perseverance and compassion, the virtues that good mothers like his always teach by example, can prevail even in Hollywood, is what Promises I Made My Mother is all about. And that is a story from which everyone could benefit. ##
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Jim Fraiser is an Administrative Law Judge in Tupelo, the author of twelve books, and a professional stage and film actor, having made his successful theatrical debut after being hustled to his first audition by future superagent Sam Haskell during their tenure at Ole Miss.