Unlike most professionals in the marketing business, I learned my craft from the top down. Although I had been in the business of promotion my entire career, I did not work as a professional public relations practitioner until early 1980 when I started my first PR firm. My mentor Don Kelley actually pushed me into the business as an entertainment industry publicist.

Don was Wolfman Jack‘s longtime partner and personal manager, and I was Wolf’s VP of Marketing and Publicity. Don and I worked together almost daily. And it was Don who decided that less than a year after arriving in L.A. and working with Wolfman’s company, that I should go out on my own. Never mind that I really had no serious training—in fact, no training at all.

View Dan’s Personal Scrapbook and see photos from his Hollywood days.

No Signs of Talent

The late Mr. Benjamin Dodd my high school journalism teacher, explained that I had better learn how to make things with my hands so as to assure a good factory job, since nothing he had seen in my two years as his student would indicate that I had any talent at all. As proof of his prophetic skills, two years later in my first year of junior college journalism, I distinguished myself with a failing grade at the end of the year.

I kept telling Don, “I don’t think I’m ready to go out on my own, I’m not sure I really know what I’m doing.” Don felt certain that  10 years of working in radio as a DJ and program director, and what I demonstrated as some modicum of skill working for Wolfman, was proof enough. Besides, he had plans for me and he wasn’t about to let a simple lack of talent stand in the way.

Leap of Faith

On September 14, 1979, Agee, Stevens & Acree Public Relations was formed and we moved into a high-dollar office suite on Sunset Boulevard near Hollywood & Vine. My partners were my best friend Michael Lee Agee and his business partner, Paul Stevens. Agee and Stevens were partners in Hollywood Video (not related to the now famous/defunct video rental company).

Mike and Paul may have been the very first company to get into the business of putting movies on video for sale to the public. They started in a closet-sized facility at 6255 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood and within a year had lots of money to play with. When I shared with Mike Don Kelley’s idea about a PR firm, he suggested he and Paul would back the deal as a nice vertical move in the entertainment business.

Now in our new digs (just one floor above a fledgling cable network operation: CNN) we were ready to build a client list beyond promoting just the video business.

Power Struggle Ensues

The video business was exploding and Mike and Paul brought in a guy to run the business. He knew his stuff and I believe he could have established Hollywood Video as one of burgeoning industry’s superstars. I honestly can’t remember the guy’s name, but I think he went on to be a major movie studio executive.

Hollywood loves power plays. This guy tried one (power play that is) and ended up causing a irreparable rift between the partners. Within just weeks after moving into our luxurious suite of offices everything collapsed, and Hollywood Video would eventually dissolve when Agee and Stevens couldn’t settle the disagreement.

I resigned from Agree, Stevens & Acree,  packed my IBM Selectric, and set up shop at Don Kelley’s office on Kings Road above the Sunset Strip. Dan Acree Public Relations was born

The Kings Road Experience

The house-converted-to-offices on Kings Road was a powerhouse environment. Every room was buzzing with some kind of show biz business. Heavy Lenny Bronstein worked from the converted garage promoting records; another guy ran a small personal management company from a converted dining room, my publicity operation covered two of the rooms, and then there was the Don Kelley Organization.

Kelley has always had his hand in multiple deals, but it all comes back to show business. In the 80s he had twenty deals working at any one time. I want to say that Don Kelley is the single person most responsible for why I have had the success I’ve enjoyed. He taught me how to package ideas, apply my skills, and to survive. Survival was the most important skill I learned. Don to this day  is my greatest mentor and best friend.

Don took it as a personal challenge to help me build a competitive entertainment public relation firm. He provided access to the record companies, television producers, and hooked me up with people in Las Vegas. He gave me tremendous confidence.

A Jump Start

In fall of 1979 disco was at a fever pitch. Kelley and Wolf put together a live show and sold the package (Wolfman Jack’s Disco Party) to the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Don hired me to create create all of the marketing materials, and to publicize the show.

On the bill was Peaches & Herb (Herb Feemster and Linda Green) whose album “2 Hot” yielded the hit dance single “Shake Your Groove Thing” ranked in the  Top 20 best-selling albums in the nation by Billboard Magazine in spring of that year.

Introductions

Backstage at the show that night Kelley introduced me to Paul Cohn. Cohn managed Peaches & Herb, and Kelley knew they were looking for a publicist that could take this first hit from their album and promote the duo to build their live performance business. Again, never the mind that I had never actually been a recording industry publicist.

France Joli's 1979 debut album.

Also on the bill that night was16-year-old French-Canadian ingenue France Joli. The stunning young girl had just released “Come to Me,” which today is considered one of the classic disco/dance tunes of that era. She was also on Kelley’s hit list.

The Riviera show was a sold out success and I—rightfully or wrongly—got a lot of the credit for having publicized a hit show. Within two weeks I had signed both Peaches & Herb and Joli as the first clients of my new entertainment public relations firm.

Coming up in a future installment: Hollywood Backstory 2: On a Roll