his famous clients, especially to pass on anything negative. So, after Norman died in 2016, Joel spent several years interviewing his father’s friends, clients, and family members. Joel’s detailed research and his own childhood memories form the basis of Driving Marilyn. The book is a hybrid: partly a biography of Norman Brokaw and partly a series of anecdotes about the celebrities he represented.

Norman Brokaw came from a showbiz family. His mother and uncle, Johnny Hyde, emigrated to the United States as children from what’s now Ukraine as part of a family acrobatic dance troupe. Later, Johnny turned to the business side of the entertainment industry, becoming an agent at William Morris. In 1943, when Norman was 15, Johnny got him a job in the William Morris mailroom. Later, Norman became a junior agent while still in his early 20s.

Norman got his big break in 1949 when he was named to start a new television department at the agency. Norman soon made several decisions that were instrumental in molding the TV industry into the form that flourished for decades. First, he realized that the future of television lay in the episodic series. He soon matched familiar character actors with behind-the-camera personnel used to cranking out B-movies on a tight production schedule. The results were popular series like Racket Squad and My Little Margie. He also put together some variety series like The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Show of Shows with Sid Caesar. Once these series became popular, Norman could convince a few A-listers like Loretta Young to headline their own shows. Norman’s popularity, client list, and industry prestige grew from there.

For me, the best parts of Driving Marilyn are Joel Brokaw’s business insights at scattered parts of the book. He shows what Norman did over the years to become so successful. Part of Norman’s success resulted from using simple common sense, like being caring and honest. But Joel also gives specific examples of when Norman went above and beyond, such as the time he flew cross-country to give his client, Donna Summer, a personalized gift when she was in a fragile emotional state.

While I would have preferred seeing the material about the business side of Norman’s life gathered in one part of Driving Marilyn, Joel employs a more scattershot approach. Driving Marilyn is a 200-page book comprising 28 chapters, including dozens of celebrity photographs. Many of these chapters are brief anecdote-filled discussions about some of Norman’s best-known clients, including Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood, Kim Novak, Danny Thomas, and Tony Orlando. Joel includes chapters about Mark Spitz and Gerald Ford, who represented groundbreaking forays by William Morris outside the traditional entertainment industry. (Norman became friendly with Gerald and Betty Ford and was a significant contributor to the Betty Ford Clinic.)

Besides the celebrity chapters, Joel includes biographical material about his father’s family life. Norman was married three times and had six children (Joel was the third child from the first marriage.) Joel is not a skilled biographer, and his inexperience shows here. The material is sketchy, especially regarding Norman’s last two marriages. After he went to college, Joel had little day-to-day contact with his father and his various stepmothers and step-sisters. Since Norman was reticent to talk about his family, even before his bout with dementia, Joel relies on interviews with multiple family members for much of this material. I think there was enough material there to yield a fascinating, in-depth examination of Norman Brokaw’s personal life, but Joel doesn’t dwell on the subject. Instead, he goes back to celebrity name- and story-dropping.

Some of the most fascinating material in Driving Marilyn is Joel’s own childhood experiences, which he relates. He was born in 1954 and remembered much of what he experienced in the 1960s when he had frequent opportunities to meet Norman’s celebrity clients and their acquaintances. Joel describes annual holiday parties, at one of which Aaron Spelling brought a live camel that enthralled the children at the event (the book includes a picture from that party, complete with camel). Joel also recalls seeing Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas show and sitting next to former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. While researching the book, one of his more surreal experiences occurred when he interviewed 93-year-old Robert Wagner about Natalie Wood’s experiences with Norman. Joel remembered Wagner and Wood taking him as a youngster to the circus as Wagner recounted the couple’s frequent dinners with Norman and Joel’s mother.

The title of Driving Marilyn refers to Marilyn Monroe, as many readers can probably guess. Norman had an intriguing and historically significant relationship with Monroe. However, Joel only devotes one brief chapter to that part of Norman’s life. Monroe was one of Norman’s first celebrity clients, and he drove her to various dinners and business meetings. But she was not a major star at the time and soon left for another agency. Norman’s uncle, Johnny Hyde, had been Monroe’s mentor and lover before his death in 1950, although he was twice her age. Hyde arranged for Norman to take over Monroe’s representation after his death. As the book recounts, Norman introduced Monroe to baseball star Joe DiMaggio, whom she subsequently married.

One annoying problem with Driving Marilyn is Joel’s overly flowery language, which sometimes overwhelms the text. For example, he writes: “We all want logical explanations behind our patterns of behavior and resulting actions. Some of the answers can be so blaringly simple, staring us right in the face, while others are convoluted enigmas that will never be solved.” That passage is a convoluted way of saying nothing.

The life of Norman Brokaw would support a full-length biography, but that book has yet to be written if it ever will be. Driving Marilyn is a mediocre biography of the man, thanks to Joel Brokaw’s ornate language, haphazard organization, and, at times, worshipful regard for his father. However, few readers approach this type of book looking for a detailed biography of a somewhat obscure figure in the entertainment industry. Instead, they want details about the various luminaries Norman knew and represented. Joel provides enough of that on page after page to satisfy the curious. (One example I didn’t know: Mark Spitz once met with Steven Spielberg about a potential role in Jaws. Spitz didn’t get the minor part of a shark victim because Spielberg knew that killing an Olympic hero in the movie would be too big a distraction for audiences.) Driving Marilyn will satisfy most movie fans looking for colorful Hollywood stories and will give them at least some idea of the agent’s role in the production process. The book isn’t a blockbuster but a solid box-office performer.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.