Public Relations

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The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and Television 1901-2011

Joe Saltzman1 Professor of Journalism

Director, The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (IJPC) A Project of the Norman Lear Center

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA [email protected]

Introduction

In this article, we examine images of public relations practitioners in film and television

appearing in more than 327 English-speaking films and television programs from 1901 to 2011.2

This is the largest study of its kind ever attempted and one of the first to include the image of the

public relations practitioner in television programs. Many public relations practitioners believe

the image of the publicist and the PR professional is one of the most negative in history. But this

analysis indicates that the images of the PR practitioner are far more varied and even more

positive than previously thought.

Literature Review

There have been previous studies on the image of the PR practitioner in film. They

include Karen Miller’s landmark study in 1999 (which included film and print images),3

Larry Tavcar’s 1993 look at 17 films depicting public relations in the movies,4 Donn James

Tilson’s brief look at public relations and Hollywood in 2003,5 and Carol Ames’ comprehensive

follow-up to Miller’s study in 2010.6 In addition, Mordecai Lee studied images of the public

relations practitioner in government and public administration, sampling 20 films from 1944 to

2000 in a 2001 study,7 and in a 2009 update8 added seven more films from 1996 to 2008.

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There have been a few scattered studies of the image of the PR practitioner in television.

Emily Kinsky analyzed the PR professional working at the White House in 22 episodes in the

debut season of the TV program The West Wing.9

In “Learning About Public Relations from Television: How Is the Profession Portrayed,”

Youngmin Yoon and Heather Black looked at how public relations is portrayed in prime-time

television programs in the United States, analyzing 10 TV dramas and sit-coms.10 Their

unpublished study confirmed “many of the conclusions from other studies of entertainment

media: (1) public relations as a field is still portrayed negatively; (2) the field is not well defined,

mostly as publicity and party planning; and (3) the field looks ‘easy’ and ‘glamorous.’ New

insights were gained into the portrayal of public relations on television including: (1) the

association of the term ‘public relations’ with negative and ‘silly’ actions; (2) society’s

expectation of immoral behaviors from PR practitioners; (3) the portrayal of gender barriers, and

(4) a tendency to focus only on practice areas dealing with the rich and powerful elements of

society.”11

Miller depicted PR practitioners as ditzy, obsequious, cynical, manipulative, money-

minded, isolated, accomplished, or unfulfilled. She pointed out that public relations scholars and

practitioners “have long indicated concern about the ways that people, especially journalists,

perceive practitioners and PR.”12

Ames’ follow-up study also concluded that the images of public relations practitioner

underscore and popularize stereotypes, thus giving the public its principal understanding of what

a PR practitioner does and how he/she does it. Ames pointed out that her results “show that for

major films from Mars Attack! (1996) to Hancock (2008), public relations practitioners are more

credible, respected and influential, and PR work is more varied and complex than found in

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studies of films through 1995.”13 She added that “the accomplished PR practitioners in these

films are not bitter ex-journalists or isolated anti-social novelists who have gone into PR for the

money. Public relations is now presented as a profession in its own right, not a desperate,

fallback position.”14

Methodology

This study looks at the images of public relations practitioners in a variety of movies and

television programs. For the current study, a key source was the online IJPC Database of the

Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Project.15 Unlike Ames’ study, films and TV programs

with unnamed PR characters or characters who appeared briefly and then disappeared are

included. The television category included TV series featuring a PR character, specific episodes

of a TV series featuring a PR character, and movies-made-for-television. Also, films from

England and other English-speaking productions were included.16 More than 500 movies and TV

programs were initially identified, viewed, and analyzed.

Results

The following four tables summarize the results by decade, gender, job title, and

descriptions of personality traits and professional characteristics.

Decades A breakdown by decades (20th century) and years (21st century) appears in the

following Table 1, and a complete list of films and television programs with each character

identified can be found in the Appendix. A total of 327 films and TV programs were

documented, of which 222 were movies and 105 were TV programs.

A character is defined as being involved in public relations if the character was identified

as a publicist, public relations practitioner, PR man or woman, press agent, media consultant,

public information officer (or the like), or if the character performed what is acknowledged to be

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a public relations activity ― dealing with the public in some form, handling publicity or public

relations duties, or advising the person in charge about dealing with the public.

TABLE 1: Decades

Decade Movies TV Programs Total

1920s and before 4 4

1930s 46 46

1940s 25 25

1950s 33 6 39

1960s 29 4 33

1970s 9 12 21

1980s 15 15 30

1990s 30 20 50

2000-2005 17 26 43

2006-2011 14 22 36

TOTALS 222 105 327

Gender As can be seen in Table 2, males overwhelmingly dominated the image of the

public relations practitioner in the movies from the 1920s through the 1990s (189 male

characters to 44 female characters). But by the 21st century, PR women in the movies were

almost on an equal footing (26 male characters to 16 female characters). Women PR

practitioners fared far better on television. From the 1950s to 2011, there were 60 female

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characters as opposed to 68 male characters and since many of these TV programs were weekly

series, the impact was even greater than the numbers suggest.

TABLE 2: Gender

Decade Movies MALE

Movies FEMALE

Television MALE

Television FEMALE

Total

1920s 4 0 0 0 4

1930s 46 2 0 0 48

1940s 27 7 0 0 34

1950s 36 4 4 2 46

1960s 26 5 4 0 35

1970s 11 2 10 3 26

1980s 14 4 9 8 35

1990s 25 20 10 14 69

2000-2005 18 8 16 20 62

2006-2011 8 8 15 13 44

TOTALS 215 60 68 60 403

Job Titles As Miller pointed out, practitioners work “under almost every title and in a

variety of organizations.”17 They are referred to as a publicist, PR man, press agent, “head of,”

“manager of,” “director of” public relations or publicity, spokesman, spokeswoman,

spokesperson, press secretary, press officer, or press aide. Here are definitions for each

occupational niche:

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Press Agent: An individual publicist who relies primarily on stunts to get publicity. He

or she is often a con artist.

Business/Private/Publicist: An individual working in a corporate or individual PR firm,

or an individual working in business and industry including entertainment, sports, fashion, and

other specialties.

Government/Politics: An individual working in politics, especially representing a

candidate for public office or working for a government agency ranging from the White House

to local government.

Military/Police: A public information officer working for a military or police agency.

As can be seen in Table 3, the overwhelming image of the PR practitioner is that of a

professional executive working for a private business, corporation, or individual client (189

characters out of a total of 325 studied in the survey). Press agents dominate the early decades

of the 20th century, but by the 1950s they have been absorbed by professional public relations

practitioners who are working in a variety of organizational settings. There are 46 characters

working for political and governmental organizations and 19 working for military and police

agencies; these characters run the gamut from very positive and helpful to very negative and

manipulative.

The two most prominent areas ― press agents (71) and public relations professionals

working in the private sector (189) ― usually end up at the opposite ends of the spectrum, with

the image of press agents as grasping, I’ll-do-anything-for-publicity, stunt managers labeled as

one of the worst, and the image of the professional public relations practitioner working for his

client gradually becoming one of the more positive images (although with a few glaring

exceptions).

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TABLE 3: Job Titles

Decade Press Agent

Business/Private Government/Politics Military/Police Total

1920s 3 1 0 0 4

1930s 29 16 1 0 46

1940s 11 9 4 1 25

1950s 11 21 2 4 38

1960s 6 23 1 3 33

1970s 4 12 5 0 21

1980s 4 18 4 4 30

1990s 2 28 17 3 50

2001-2005 1 32 6 4 43

2006-2011 0 29 6 0 35

TOTALS 71 189 46 19 325*

*One film (Roman Holiday,1953) and one TV program (Royal Pains: “But There’s a Catch” 2011) only mentioned public relations.

Descriptions Using descriptions developed by Miller and Ames, all of the film and

television PR characters were evaluated as to their positive and negative personality traits and

whether they followed popular culture perceptions and/or stereotypes of their professional roles.

Five descriptive labels ― very positive, positive, negative, very negative, and neutral ― were

determined, as follows.

Very Positive (VP):18 A public relations practitioner who is a heroic character. This is the

PR man or woman who is “confident, poised, capable, responsible, bright, reliable, efficient,

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imaginative, well-read, personable and trusted.” 19 These PR men and woman also are

accomplished practitioners who are “good at their jobs and love what they do.”20 They often put

their job or even their life at risk to do the right thing.

Positive (P):21 The PR practitioner who tries to do his or her job without hurting anyone;

basically a person trying to do the right thing, but often frustrated by the system. He or she is

skilled, but often “unhappy with their jobs,”22 unfulfilled, upset, discontented, tired, irritated,

disturbed by either the profession or their particular situation or life in general. In some

instances, the PR practitioner is played for comic relief or is a lovable character, “effervescent,

jovial, lively, mild and chipper.23 Sometimes this PR man or woman is an outsider, isolated, and

“unable to fit in with coworkers…ill at ease, naïve, pathetic, a nun in a whorehouse, a lamb

among wolves, a eunuch in a harem.”24

Negative (N):25 A PR practitioner who will do anything to help his client and doesn’t care

much about the public; basically a person who doesn’t care about doing the right thing, but will

do whatever is necessary to keep his job, even if his/her actions are unethical. These are what

Miller calls money-minded practitioners “who think about their jobs from only a financial

standpoint; they are shrewd, cheap and have commercial minds.”26 They are usually

manipulative and will lie, cheat, and do whatever it takes to advance their careers. This PR

practitioner is “a wheeler-dealer with a supple conscience ― a shark or a snake who is ruthless,

deceptive and predatory.”27 In milder cases, they are simply obsequious, “guided by whatever

they think will satisfy their employers.”28

Very Negative (VN):29 A PR practitioner who is engaged in unethical and often

unlawful activities, serving the client at all costs, even committing murder or serious crimes.

They are manipulative and cynical, “sarcastic, edgy, angry, contemptuous and driven.”30 The

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men are usually alcoholic womanizers who treat everyone with scorn. The women will do

whatever it takes to get what they want, from sleeping their way to the top to killing off the

competition. Sometimes, the individual is just a morally corrupt person who does very little

public relations but is labeled as a PR practitioner.

Neutral:31 A nondescript character who is simply there as a PR practitioner doing his or

her job without offending anyone. He or she is often in the background and figures slightly in the

plot or action of the film or television program.

Other analysts using the same films and television programs in this study might come up

with slightly different conclusions based on their interpretation of very positive, positive,

negative, and very negative. Sometimes the difference between positive and negative labels can

be so small that it is possible, depending on the sensitivity and experience of the analyst, for an

individual characterization to be labeled either way. Tables 4, 4A, 4B should be considered in

that light, and future analysts are urged to review the data in the accompanying Appendix and

come up with their own evaluation of the 327 films and TV programs included.

Using a subjective scale from very positive to very negative, there are more negative

images of the public relations practitioner in films and television programs than positive images

(Table 4). There are 111 very positive and positive images and 179 very negative and negative

images in the 327 films and television programs sampled.

Although Ames concluded that the presentation of public relations in the movies is

becoming more positive over time,32 she studied only 11 films that were box office successes

between 1996 and 2008.33 This study included films and TV programs of all kinds and degrees

of success (or not) from 1901 through 2011.

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TABLE 4: Descriptions

Decade VP P N VN Neutral Total

1920s 0 2 2 0 0 4

1930s 0 11 27 2 6 46

1940s 1 8 12 1 3 25

1950s 1 18 12 2 7 40

1960s 2 9 13 2 7 33

1970s 0 7 12 2 0 21

1980s 0 11 12 2 5 30

1990s 1 14 21 10 5 51

2000-2005 0 17 18 5 3 43

2006-2011 0 9 20 4 3 36

TOTALS 5 106 149 30 39 329*

* Two films were counted twice because they had two varying descriptions, resulting in an overall total of 329 descriptions, although there were 327 films studied. The Big One (1997) included four female media escorts who were described as P and a press secretary who was described as N. The Great Man (1952) included one public relations man rated as P and a press agent described as VN.

When we separate images of the public relations practitioner in films and television

(Tables 4A and 4B), we discover that there are far more negatives images in film than there are

on television. In 224 movie examples, there are only 68 positive images as opposed to 127

negative images. In 105 television programs (series as well as movies-made-for-TV and single

specials), there are 43 positive images as opposed to 52 negative images.

TV series, which come into the home on a weekly basis and because of this frequency

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have more chances to influence the viewer, fare even better. Looking at just TV series, 19 were

rated positive to very positive34, whereas 12 TV series were rated negative to very negative.35

One reason for this may be the necessity to have likable people as leading characters. Positive

images were prevalent in long-running series such as The West Wing, The Love Boat, Benson,

Hotel, Spin City, What I Like About You, and Las Vegas. Two of the most popular series

involving PR practitioners were rated very positive (The West Wing) and very negative (Dallas).

TABLE 4A: Descriptions in Movies Only

Decade VP P N VN Neutral Total

1920s 0 2 2 0 0 4

1930s 0 11 27 2 6 46

1940s 1 8 12 1 3 25

1950s 1 16 9 1 7 34

1960s 2 7 13 1 6 29

1970s 0 2 5 2 0 9

1980s 0 3 8 1 3 15

1990s 0 6 14 8 3 31

2000-2005 0 5 10 1 1 17

2006-2011 0 4 10 0 0 14

TOTALS 4 64 110 17 29 224

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TABLE 4B: Descriptions in Television Only

Decade VP P N VN Neutral Total

1920s 0 0 0 0 0 0

1930s 0 0 0 0 0 0

1940s 0 0 0 0 0 0

1950s 0 2 3 1 0 6

1960s 0 2 0 1 1 4

1970s 0 5 7 0 0 12

1980s 0 8 4 1 2 15

1990s 1 8 7 2 2 20

2000-2005 0 12 8 4 2 26

2006-2011 0 5 10 4 3 22

TOTALS 1 42 39 13 10 105

Discussion

By studying the image of the PR practitioner in popular culture, we can better understand

why the public believes as it does about the public relations profession and what this means to

the profession as well as the news media and the public as a whole. In studying the image of the

PR practitioner in films and TV programs from 1901 to 2011, seven images stand out, offering a

range of positive and negative descriptions of the professional and the field.

(1) The early press agents whose stock in trade was outrageous publicity stunts and

ballyhoo is one of the oldest and enduring images. In the movies, their hair-brained schemes

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always resulted in big headlines and pictures splashed all over the nation’s newspapers.36 As

Miller pointed out, these early movies show that all a public relations practitioner has to do to get

front-page headlines and stories is to ask and it is done.37 Most of these press agents are former

newspapermen.

There was enough truth in real life to give these films an aura of reality. The Half-Naked

Truth (1932), for example, is a film based on the real-life, outrageous publicity stunts of Harry

Reichenbach, who was considered the king of the publicity stunt. Jimmy Bates (played by Lee

Tracy) is a barker at a down-at-the-heels carnival who becomes a powerhouse New York

publicity man through one extreme stunt after another.38 In one memorable scene, patterned after

Reichenbach’s real stunt to promote a Tarzan film, Bates hides a lion in a hotel room, has a fake

princess order 20 pounds of raw meat, summons the press to the hotel room, and then watches in

amusement while the newspaper reporters and photographers run for cover. The story makes

front page headlines. So did sensational stunts created by other press agents in the movies,

including a woman publicized as the ideal of American womanhood when in fact she loves

gambling, booze, and men (Professional Sweetheart, 1933) and a woman who tries to commit

suicide, is rescued by the PR man who then gives her a new name, a full beauty treatment, and

turns her into a celebrity (Made on Broadway, 1933).

A typical press agent in the movies aped real life by creating phony romance stories

between a celebrity and an unknown actress whose career he is trying to promote. In Cain and

Mabel (1936), publicist Reilly (Roscoe Karns) tries to stir up interest in his client’s latest musical

show by creating bogus headline stories about an actress and a boxer in love even though they

really hate each other. In Expensive Husbands (1937), PR man Joe Craig (Allyn Joslyn) has to

convince “the newshawks” that a fake marriage between an actress and a prince is on the level.

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Press agent Jimmy Sutton (Tyrone Power) creates one fake romance after another to promote the

studio’s stars, getting sympathy from the newspapers and cooperation from the stars by

pretending his job is in jeopardy if he doesn’t get their names in the newspapers (Second Fiddle,

1939).

Movie press agents and publicists would do anything to get publicity for a studio’s

movies. In Another Face (1935), publicist Joe Haynes (Wallace Ford) does one outrageous stunt

after another, including having the police drag a river for a fake missing suicide to publicize one

of the studio’s pictures. In Blonde Bombshell (1933), press agent E.J. “Space” Hanlon (Lee

Tracy) is a two-faced publicity man for Monarch Studios who will do anything to get publicity

for the studio’s leading actress, even lie to the woman he loves. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe

Karns) for Monarch Pictures stages a fake national dance contest and makes sure the studio’s

new dancing star wins the contest (Dancing Coed, 1939).

Stunts range from the ridiculous to the criminal, including publicizing a run-down hotel

as a resort favored by the rich (Hook, Line and Sinker, 1930); faking a kidnapping to get a

Broadway actress (Bureau of Missing Persons, 1933) or a Hollywood actress (Studio Stoops,

1950) some publicity; turning a so-so face cream into a dynamic reducing cream through one

publicity stunt after another (Hard to Handle, 1933); getting a fan dancer to adopt a mother on

Mother’s Day so she can make headlines and save her career (Lady by Choice, 1934); finding an

“honest man” by having him discover $10,000 in a restroom ― planted by the press agent ―

and then returning the money to the police (Cheers of the Crowd, 1935); turning a bank clerk

into an heiress (The Golden Arrow, 1936); faking a marriage between two dancers by creating a

photograph of the two of them in bed (Shall We Dance, 1937); promoting a Broadway play by

having a woman herd a flock of geese down Broadway (When Love Is Young, 1937); creating a

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phony singing cowboy from the Wild West (Cowboy from Brooklyn, 1938); turning a waitress

into an instant celebrity by clever promotion stunts (I Wake Up Screaming, 1941, and Vicki,

1953); turning a college professor into a beauty products’ expert (For Beauty’s Sake, 1941);

having a singer show up in a nightclub leading a leopard on a chain to promote her act (The

Leopard Man, 1943); publicizing a restaurant by claiming that authentic zombies would attend

the opening (Zombies on Broadway, 1944); paying seniors to protest a sexy male singer so

headlines will make him a bigger star (Loving You, 1957); setting up a sky diving stunt to get

headlines for an actress who stays on the ground and takes the bows (Beach Blanket Bingo,

1965); having a phony fisherman pretend he’s the world’s greatest expert on fly fishing (Man’s

Favorite Sport, 1964); having rock climbers scale a large building to get publicity (Emergency!,

1972-1977: “Rules of Order” 1976).

Mel Brooks had the final word on press agents by showing that Marty the press agent

created Robin Hood’s image that he stole from the rich and gave to the poor as opposed to what

really happened ― stealing from the rich and keeping everything for himself (The 2000 Year Old

Man: The Animated TV Special, 1975).

(2) Publicity men and women who would do anything to get their clients publicity

and to protect their clients in crisis situations.39 The only thing that matters to these publicists

is what is good for the client. In Mr. Broadway (1964),40 Manhattan public relations man

Michael Bell (Craig Stevens) puts it this way, “Unimportant people pay me to get their names in

the paper, and important people pay me to keep their names out.” In The Kid (2000), public

relations practitioner Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis) is a successful image consultant, vicious in his

criticism of his clients as he manages their crises and offers sage advice. He comes dangerously

close to crossing ethical lines, when he meets his childhood self who tells him, “You help people

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lie about who they really are.” By the end of the film, Duritz is a changed man ready to do some

good in the world. In People I Know (2002), publicist Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) is what Duritz

would have turned out to be if fantasy hadn’t altered his life. Wurman is a hard-drinking,

pill-popping, old-school publicist, a guy who was called a press agent when he started in the biz.

He’s washed-up, living on the money and sympathy of his last paying client. But he has one last

hurrah in him before his career is over and pushes with all of his might to make it happen.

Much of these PR practitioners’ job is handling the news media ― either using the press

to get their clients good publicity or keeping the press away from their clients. Public relations

man Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander) is a former newspaper reporter whose job is to keep the

press away from his millionaire client. He is genuinely anguished when a female reporter

blindsides the millionaire to get exclusive stories, and he ends up becoming a good friend and

colleague (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, 1937). Publicity agent Matt Libby (Lionel Stander and Jack

Carson) spends most of his time massaging the press so they won’t reveal that the studio’s top

actor is a drunk (A Star Is Born, 1937 and 1954). Publicist Nellie Weaver (Ruth Warren) tries to

plant positive stories about her mob boss client (The Guilty Generation, 1931). Publicist Scoop

Spooner (Jack Paar) tries to get a quarterback favorable publicity before the big game (Easy

Living, 1949). Publicist Chuck Donovan (Eddie Bracken) tries to set things right for his artist

client (The Girl from Jones Beach, 1949). Press Agent Harris (Michael Medwin) works to get

publicity for a French star in London even though the star doesn’t want any publicity and wants

to be left alone (Woman Hater, 1949). Studio PR man Harry Johnson (Dan Duryea) has his

hands full trying to make a tyrannical child movie star lovable in the press (Kathy O’, 1958).

Publicist Teddy Evans (Janis Carter), assigned to publicize a visiting astronomy professor, tries

desperately to come up with an angle to get stories about him in various newspapers (A Woman

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of Distinction, 1950). Studio PR head Clover Doyle (Julie Adams) discovers a Western singer

and turns him into a cowboy hero (Slim Carter, 1957). Public relations man (John Cleese) tries to

help a reporter get an interview with his prima donna conductor client (Interlude, 1968).

Publicist Shauna (Debi Mazar) is a tough, pull-no-punches woman who runs roughshod over

anyone who crosses her (Entourage, 2004-2011). Publicist Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson)

pulls all the strings to get her clients the best publicity in the media; Eleanor is loosely based on

Nadine Johnson, a high-powered publicist in New York City (How to Lose Friends and Alienate

People, 2008).

Other PR practitioners try to keep stories out of the press that would hurt their client.

Publicist Toni Wentworth (Sheila Ryan) tries to convince her boyfriend reporter not to print a

story exposing her client’s secret: he’s a singer who can’t sing (Heartaches, 1947). PR man

Boyd (Douglas Kennedy) handles the press during an airplane crisis (The High and the Mighty,

1954). Entertainment publicist-press agent Elizabeth “Liz” O’Neal (Mary Wickes) tries her best

to make sure a story on her client is a good one (Make Room for Daddy, 1953-1964: “Too Good

for Words” 1958). Ted Wilson (Dort Clark), Consolidated director of public relations, tries to

follow the company line, putting the blame for a plane accident on the pilot (Fate Is the Hunter,

1964). Corporation PR man “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Nicolas Coster) tries to minimize the damage to

his client’s proposed merger by controlling the information released to the news media (The

Electric Horseman, 1979). Publicist Vincent “Vinnie” Vacarri (Ray Sharkey) stops his musician

client from having sex with under-aged girls (The Idolmaker, 1980). Public relations woman

Nora Cromwell (Valerie Harper) tries to control the damage when clients do bad things and

finally quits in disgust (Drop-Out Mother, 1987). Public relations expert Linda Robinson (Joanna

Cassidy) works to handle a major financial deal that could go awry if word of it gets into the

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press (Barbarians at the Gate, 1993). Publicist Sol (Jon Lovitz) tries to do damage control, but

the news media have the goods on his boxing promoter client (The Great White Hype, 1995).

Press agent (Ruth de Sosa) tries to keep the press from finding out about the real Keith instead of

the made-up Keith, a rock musician who appeals to teeny-boppers (Come On, Get Happy: The

Partridge Family Story, 1999). Publicist Darla Mason (Angie Stone) wants to control her client’s

personal as well as his professional life to guarantee good stories from the news media

(Girlfriends, 2000-2008: “Blinded by the Lights” 2001). Movie PR wizard Lee Philips (Billy

Crystal) tries to convince the press that the feuding co-stars of a new movie are still in love to

promote the film and uses a press junket as a way to seduce the press (America’s Sweethearts,

2001). Public relations image consultant Brody Johns (Christopher Titus) in Big Shots (2007-

2008) and PR adviser Miriam (Christopher Ryan) in The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007)

do damage control as they try to keep embarrassing stories out of the newspapers, stories that

could ruin their clients’ careers. Public relations corporate executive David Wyatt (Adam

O’Byrne) works for LM Plastics and is a nervous whistle-blower who asks his boss to fix a

factory problem causing cancer or he will reveal all to the media (Cold Case, 2003-2010:

“Breaking News” 2009).

But most PR men and women are just looking for clever angles in which to sell their

clients to the media and they will use any means to do it, including publicity stunts and age-old

ballyhoo to promote a product or personality. Public relations man Daniel “Dan” Armstrong uses

blimps and other audience-pleasing stunts to promote a corporate product (Thunder in the City,

1937). Press agent Lester Green (Fred Gordon), one of the few African-American publicity men

in film, brags about his ability to get his client stories in the newspaper (Sepia Cinderella, 1947).

Public relations man Windy (Frank McHugh) promotes a story with a beautiful woman and a

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giant ape to incredulous newspapermen (Mighty Joe Young, 1949). Publicity man Eddie Mooney

(Eddie Byrne) convinces a young teenager to enter a soap beauty contest for fame and fortune

(Lady Godiva Rides Again, 1951). Press agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) turns a mobster’s girl

into a celebrity and then falls for her (The Girl Can’t Help It, 1956). Publicist Harry Silver

(Keenan Wynn) starts a rumor that soon becomes fact (The Patsy, 1964). Public relations

practitioner Richard Bramwell (Gig Young) must turn a husband who hates his wife into a loving

spouse so he can get a raise and a promotion (Strange Bedfellows, 1965). Publicist Hymie Kelly

(Tony Bennett) spends most of his career cleaning up one mess after another caused by an actor

(The Oscar, 1966). Public relations image maker Jeremy Tove (Jeremy Lloyd) creates a singing

sensation through image making and news media manipulation (Smashing Time, 1967). A

publicist (Lewis Arquette) has a young actress show up at press club parties to get her picture in

the newspapers (The Jayne Mansfield Story, 1980). Public relations practitioner Frankie Stone

(Ann Magnuson) humanizes an android for the purpose of space exploration by making him a

household word (Making Mr. Right, 1987). Public relations woman Edina Monsoon (Jennifer

Saunders) and her rival Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie) run their own agencies and will take on any

client who wants media attention (Absolutely Fabulous,1992-1996; 2001-2004). Publicist Sy

Spector (Gary Kemp) cares more about publicity for his pop star than her personal safety (The

Bodyguard, 1992). Publicist Sydney Mercer (Catherine Oxenberg) wants to give the mayor sex

appeal so he will be attractive to more voters (The Nanny, 1993-1999: “Oy Vey, You’re Gay”

1995). Publicist Stuart “Stu” Shepard (Colin Farrell) works the phone 24 hours a day to make

sure his clients are featured in all the right newspaper and magazine columns (Phone Booth,

2002). Publicists Wally Fenton (Larry Miller) and Amber Cole (Jennifer Coolidge) publicize

their musical client, using any idea they can come up with, true or not (A Mighty Wind, 2003).

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New York City public relations whiz Jake Phillips (John Stamos) tries to fix disasters before they

happen (Jake in Progress, 2005-2006). Publicist Candy Springtime (Robin Riker) is called in by

a law firm to influence jury selection by creating specific and memorable images of its client

(Boston Legal, 2004-2008: “Shock and Owww!” 2006). African-American public relations

practitioner Ellen Laskow (Valarie Pettiford) works to get her author clients the best publicity

they can so their books become best-sellers (Bones, 2005-2012 current: “The Bodies in the

Book” 2007).

And the animated Stewie (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) assumes the role of PR

practitioner for Brian, his friend and now top-selling author, epitomizing every cliché of the PR

man who will do anything to please his client (Family Guy, 1999-2002; 2005-2012 current:

“Brian Writes a Bestseller” 2010).

(3) The public relations professional as hero is one who rebels against unethical

practices and will quit his or his job before doing something immoral.41 These professional

PR men and women often are portrayed as conflicted, anguished people who try to elevate what

they do into a profession with high standards. More often than not, they fail, but they are heroes

in that they try to do the right thing. This image is more prevalent than one might think because

the negative images are so strong and powerful that they often are more memorable than the

positive images.

This image includes the hard-bitten PR professional woman who resents female stereotypes

and is as good or better than any male in the office. She sometimes rebels against the glass ceiling

for female executives and works hard to change the status of women in public relations, although

she can be threatened by any new female who joins the firm. These women can be tough and

often have a take no-prisoners attitude, but they also can be kind and cooperative.

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Public relations is defined in a variety of ways in the films and television programs. In

the television series Baby Bob (2002-2003), PR executive Walter (Adam Arkin) is the father of a

talking baby who asks his mother what does daddy do for a living. She responds: “He’s a

publicist, honey. Famous people hire him to make sure that everybody hears all the good things

about them, and none of the bad.” The talking baby answers, “So he’s kind of like their

mommy.” “Yeah, in a way, only when one of his clients throws a tantrum, it’s the lead story on

Access Hollywood,” she responds.

In Days of Wine and Roses (1964), PR man Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) explains what the

ideal PR practitioner should be doing; “My job is supposed to be to advise people how to relate

to the public, how to make the good that my client does known, and how to help him find ways

to do good and benefit others as well as himself.” Clay is tired of acting like a pimp getting

women to attend parties for clients. He wants to do the right thing. So does PR practitioner

Tommy Layton (Patrick O’Neal) in The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968), who is tired of

waiting hand and foot on a celebrity who hires him to do everything for him. Layton finally tells

his client off and leaves him alone in his hotel room.

Two films show the seriousness in which the public relations profession is shown in the

21st century. In Jersey Girl (2004), publicist Oliver “Ollie” Trinke (Ben Affleck), a Manhattan

public relations man, loses everything after his wife dies in childbirth. He goes berserk at a press

conference, condemning the news media, and becomes blacklisted as a publicist. As Ames puts

it, Trinke has “broken two of the commandments of PR: thou shalt not ‘dis’ thy client and thou

shalt not publicly bag on journalists nor disparage the media.”42 For Trinke, however, leaving

the PR profession is a revelation ― he discovers what life is all about. In one scene, he’s sitting

in an office with real-life actor Will Smith and the two have this exchange about the public

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relations profession:

TRINKE: These publicists hired other publicists to get the word out for them.

SMITH: And then those publicists hired their own publicists to help spin the good

publicity they created for these publicists.

TRINKE: Of course, knowing publicists, they probably hired publicists to promote the

fact that they spun the publicity they hired the other publicists to spin.

SMITH: Oh, man, so what are you doing?

TRINKE: I’m a publicist.

Both men break out in laughter.

In Hancock (2008), PR practitioner Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a PR man with a heart

who is a non-profit advocate, tries to rehabilitate the public image of Hancock, an alcoholic,

broken-down man with amazing super powers. This film shows, in Ames’ words, “PR as

challenging, positive and worthwhile. Its practitioner balances a happy, satisfying personal life

with the demands of his profession, and PR helps both the client and the public, using the

two-way symmetrical model of PR.”43

Several films are based on real-life public relations practitioners. Public relations man

Robert Kensington “Bob” Lansford (Errol Flynn) is a former editor and PR legend based on

real-life PR pioneer Ivy Ledbetter Lee, who created positive images for very rich people by

having them donate to charities anonymously, and then having stories written about them

revealing their generosity (Four’s a Crowd, 1938). Public relations man Tom Rath (Gregory

Peck) writes speeches and acts like a mature PR man doing a professional job in The Man in the

Gray Flannel Suit (1956), a film that has the memorable scene where Rath asks how to be a PR

man and is told, “You got a clean shirt. You bathe every day. That’s all there is to it.”

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Positive images of PR practitioners go back to the beginning of film. Some of them do

the job of representing their clients with passion and dignity. Some don’t. Some get fired or quit

or threaten to quit because they won’t violate their ethical guidelines. For example, the PR

director for Premium Pictures, Kent Carter (Ross Alexander), gets fired when he refuses to stop a

story about an actor whose former wife is suing him for non-support: “I’m a press agent, not a

suppress agent,” he claims (Here Comes Carter, 1936). Public relations director Alex Coffman

(Tony Randall) is hired to make sure a financier’s image is not tarnished, but he can’t put up

with deception and lies and threatens to quit unless changes are made ― which they are (Let’s

Make Love, 1960). E.J. Baxter (Kristin Chenoweth) is a New York City PR practitioner who uses

her media savvy to bring tourism to a small Montana town after she quits her job when she

discovers her boss Lillah Sherwood (Heather Hanson) in the restroom with her fiancé (12 Men of

Christmas, 2009).

Some work at major hotels handling not only the hotel’s PR problems, but often the

guests as well. Publicity director Hugh Halsworth (Macdonald Carey) and his assistant and

son-in-law Jerry Denham (Robert Wagner) handle all the publicity needs for the hotel they work

for (Let’s Make It Legal, 1951). In The Towering Inferno (1974), Bigelow (Robert Wagner), the

PR executive for the skyscraper hotel, is coordinating public relations for the grand opening

while having an affair with his assistant Lorrie (Susan Flannery). The night of the big event,

Bigelow shuts off the phones so he and Lorrie can be together without interruption. As they are

getting dressed, Lorrie asks, “Did you leave a cigarette burning?” Bigelow pauses, then says,

“That’s no cigarette.” Both burn to death in the towering inferno. Mark Danning (Shea Farrell) is

the handsome and likable PR director of San Francisco’s St. Gregory Hotel who tries to solve the

myriad publicity problems of the hotel’s guests (Hotel, 1983-1986). Director of special events

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Mary Connell (Nikki Cox) handles public relations for a Las Vegas hotel, taking care of all kinds

of guests, from high-rollers to people in trouble (Las Vegas, 2003-2007).

Some public relations practitioners work at major corporations and businesses handling

news media crises and pushing stories that offer positive images of their companies. Doris

Walker (Maureen O’Hara, Teresa Wright, and Jane Alexander as Karen Walker) is a hard-bitten

department store PR woman who helps her client while learning about the true meaning of

Christmas and Santa Claus (Miracle on 34th Street, 1947; Hour of Stars: The Miracle on 34th

Street, 1957; Miracle on 34th Street, 1973). Public relations woman Jane Mitchell (Wendy

Barrie) works for an automobile manufacturer and tries to explain to the public the brawn and

vision that makes for great automobiles (Speed, 1936). Publicity sales manager Richard L.

“Dusty” Weston (Bill Williams) is in charge of promotion and public relations for a motorcycle

company and drives racing cars to promote the company (The Pace That Thrills, 1952). Publicist

Eric Yeager (Ray Milland) must convince a baseball team and the news media that their new

owner, a cat, will bring the team luck (Rhubarb, 1951). Public relations director Janet Blake

(Pamela Hensley) handles any problems her hospital has with the public and its patients (Marcus

Welby, M.D., 1969-1976: 1975-1976 for Blake character).

Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans) of Denver-Carrington gets the top PR job when public

relations man Gil Roland leaves because she is married to the company’s owner Blake

Carrington. Roland’s assistant, Tracy, who does most of the work and was promised the job by

Roland, takes the defeat in stride by offering to help Krystle in any way she can (Dynasty,

1981-1989: 1983-1984 storyline). Corporate PR vice president Christy Cooper (Marcy Walker)

is angry when her boss hires a thief to help solve some robberies (Palace Guard:“Pilot” 1991).

“Employee liaison” Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) handles public relations problems

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between American autoworkers and their Japanese managers in an attempt to keep an American

car production plant in business (Gung Ho, 1986). Susan Costello (Madchen Amick) is a single

parent who is head of public relations at Garvers department store in New York City, solving one

problem after another until there is one vermin problem she can’t solve by herself (The Rats,

2002).

Some work for celebrities whose images need constant attention. Public relations man

Norm (Norman Rossington) tries to keep the Beatles on track as their fans smother them with

attention in A Hard Day’s Night (1964). Bill Dunnigan (Fred MacMurray), a studio PR expert,

rehabilitates his I’ll-do-anything-for-the-studio image by discovering a new actress. When she

dies, he tries to salvage her first and last film (The Miracle of the Bells, 1948). Candy (Frances

Fisher) publicizes a little-known hairdresser after he gives her the haircut of her life (The Big

Tease, 1999). Publicist Billy Stanton (Dan Bucatinsky) is hired by an actress to get her picture on

a magazine cover after another publicist Carolina (Stephanie Courtney) turns her down (The

Comeback, 2005). Public relations specialist Dahlia (Rosie Perez) works to make a fashion

designer famous, and gets furious when the client dumps her (Lipstick Jungle, 2008-2009). A

public relations woman (Randa Walker) handles a photo shoot and press conference while trying

to comfort a difficult actor client (Somewhere, 2010).

Some PR practitioners handle authors. When it comes to handling the publicity needs of

writers, PR people often have their hands full. New York publisher Lewis Jackman (Jeff

Chandler) creates a publicity campaign and a new image for a newly discovered writer (Return

to Peyton Place, 1961). Publicist Kitty (Kit) Donovan (Jessica Browne) squires an author around

New York for her first book promotion tour (Murder, She Wrote, 1984-1996: “The Murder of

Sherlock Holmes: Pilot” 1984) as does press agent (Mary Wickliffe) when the author goes to

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Milan (Murder, She Wrote: “Murder in Milan” 1992). Publicist Irving Mansfield (Nathan Lane)

uses every contact he has to create a new image for his wife Jacqueline Susann and develops a

brand new way of selling books (Isn’t She Great, 2000). Publicist Janet Gaines (Caroline Aaron)

tries to publicize an author who keeps rejecting her ideas (Amy’s Orgasm, also titled Amy’s O,

2001).

Some PR executives discover that hard work alone does bring rewards ― Whitney

(Bridget Moynahan) wins a promotion to partner, the youngest in the PR firm’s history, by

working long hours and doing whatever is necessary to help a client (Six Degrees, 2006-2007).

Public relations assistant Ashley Albright (Lindsay Lohan) works at a ritzy PR firm headed by

Peggy Braden (Missi Pyle) where luck determines how much of a future she will have (Just My

Luck, 2006). Public relations executive Priscilla Chase (Parker Posey) wins a promotion to vice

president when she brings new businesses to Cleveland (The Oh in Ohio, 2006). Publicist

Melissa “Mel” Rochester (Carly Pope) gets a well-deserved promotion through hard work and a

good heart (This Time Around, 2003). Valerie (Val) Tyler (Jennifer Garth) relies on good ideas

and a moral work ethic to become director of a PR firm, beating out less scrupulous publicists

(What I Like About You, 2002-2006). PR practitioner Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt)

lands a big account with a don’t-give-up attitude (Mad About You, 1992-1999: “I’m Just So

Happy for You” 1992).

And some show the diversity of the public relations field by doing what they can to be

successful. Public relations man Johnny Morgan (Reginald Denny) works for a movie studio and

solves a crime using PR tools (The Preview Murder Mystery, 1936). Public relations woman

Jennifer Nelson (Doris Day) gives guided tours at a space research institute and ends up writing

the official biography of her boss (The Glass Bottom Boat, 1966). Frederick “Fred” Bolton

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(Dean Jones) comes up with a PR campaign for a product to combat stomach acidity ― by

promoting a horse with the product’s name at horse shows to attract high society (The Horse in

the Gray Flannel Suit, 1968). Public relations executive Ted Pierce (Gene Wilder) puts his job

on the back burner when he falls in love with a mysterious woman in red (The Woman in Red,

1984). A series of PR women serve as media guides for author Michael Moore, who continually

tries to subvert their work (Roger and Me, 1989). PR man Rick (Brian McNamara) promotes TV

programs and is not ashamed of being gay (Murphy Brown, 1988-1998: “Come Out, Come Out,

Wherever You Are” 1992). New York press agent Bob Tredici (Marc Grapey) applies his show

business acumen to revitalize his ailing father’s Indiana fruit farm even though he has to lie to

his family to prove his worth (A Piece of Eden, 2000). Publicist Joel Meyers (Diedrich Bader)

does all he can to turn an FBI agent into an attractive public spokeswoman (Miss Congeniality 2:

Armed and Fabulous, 2005).

There are heroic depictions of PR practitioners in both films and television programs,

including Wickland Snell (Walter Houston), a star reporter who takes a job as a public relations

man to make more money to help his family and give his son-in-law a job. Finally, he can’t take

the hypocrisy and lying, quits, and goes back to newspapers (Gentlemen of the Press, 1929).

Publicity director Burt Winslow (House Peters Jr.) who works for a research science center,

fights the bad guys and saves the world (King of the Rocket Men, 1949). American press agent

Dave Bishop (Robert Mitchum) probes the death of a millionaire client and his mysterious past

in Europe, ending up using his fists and a gun to win the day (Foreign Intrigue, 1956). Sports

columnist-turned-press agent Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart) loses his column when his paper

folds, goes to work as press agent for a crooked fight promoter, then quits to write a book

exposing the underside of boxing (The Harder They Fall, 1956). Military PR officer Bennett

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Marco (Frank Sinatra), who was brainwashed while captured in Korea, comes home to stop an

assassin of a public official (The Manchurian Candidate, 1962). Charlie Madison (James

Garner), who works in the Navy’s public information office, ends up an unlikely hero of D-Day

in 1944 (The Americanization of Emily, 1964). Michael Bell (Craig Stevens), a sophisticated,

powerhouse Broadway press agent, fights the good fight using PR methods and occasionally his

fists (Mr. Broadway, 1964). Peter Reaney (Rod Taylor), a swinging PR man working in London

at a corrupt PR firm, finally rebels against the system to do the right thing (The Man Who Had

Power Over Women, 1970). Scottie Templeton (Jack Lemmon), a Broadway press agent who

learns he is dying of cancer, tries one more time to reconnect with his son and the people who

love him (Tribute, 1980). Bob Jones (Michael Keaton) is running a Los Angeles PR firm when

he learns he has cancer and a few months to live. He creates a videotape so his unborn son can

get to know his father and in the process learns who his real friends are (My Life, 1993).

(4) Press secretaries, political aides, and military and police information officers are

among the most diversified public relations professionals in the movies and television. They

range from vile people doing terrible things to some of the most appealing and professional PR

professionals depicted.

Press secretaries not only advise the elected official about public relations, but they also

take care of the news media principally through news conferences, one-on-one meetings with

reporters, and dealing with crises. Their job can range from open discussion of issues with the

press to trying to conceal damaging information by omission rather than outright lying. Perhaps

the most positive image of the press secretary44 is Claudia Jean (C.J.) Cregg (Allison Janney), as

one of the first female White House press secretaries in history, in the weekly series The West

Wing (1999-2006). Week in and week out, the public saw a PR practitioner trying to do the best

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job she could within the limitations of her office. Even when she was kept out of the loop so she

didn’t know harmful information that could damage the presidency, she performed with

professionalism, good ethics, and humor. White House press secretary Kelly Ludlow (Ever

Carradine) is a younger, more anxious version of Cregg in another TV series, Commander in

Chief (2005-2006). When an assistant interrupts her press conference, she politely tells him not

to do that again. He counters by saying he deserved the job, not her. She fires him, then handles

one crisis after another in a professional, controlled way, even tricking a reporter into writing a

favorable story on the female president’s first 50 days.

Other press secretaries offering a good image of the office include Joe Tumulty (Thomas

Mitchell) who helps President Woodrow Wilson get and stay in office (Wilson, 1944). Former

reporter Kenneth Gibson (Donald O’Connor) convinces a newly appointed female ambassador to

hire him as press attaché by handling the press with aplomb (Call Me Madam, 1953). Public

relations man Charley Hand (Darren McGavin) works for the governor of New York, refusing to

be a “yes” man and showing an integrity rare in any public official (Beau James, 1957). The

governor’s press secretary Pete Downey (Ethan Phillips) on Benson (1980-1984) and the

mayor’s press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind) on Spin City (1996-2002) offer affectionate

if bumbling portraits in these long-running comedies. Sam Toi (Ronald Yamamoto) performs

admirably as press secretary to a mayoral candidate, dealing honestly and compassionately with

the news media (The Palermo Connection, 1990). Deputy press secretary Melanie Mitchell

(Donna Bullock) is taken hostage by hijackers after they seize the plane carrying the president of

the United States and his family; she is assassinated. Assistant press secretary (Michael Monks)

meets the press and tries to keep the information secret (Air Force One, 1997).

Press secretaries featured in docudramas are usually presented in a positive light. White

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House press secretary Pierre Salinger (Michael Lerner) performs admirably in President

Kennedy’s administration, getting angry when he is kept out of the loop even when it is for his

own good. President Kennedy tells him, “I don’t want to put my press secretary in a position of

deliberately deceiving the press. And you’re not the world’s greatest liar, Pierre. You don’t know

how lucky you are not to know what you don’t know” (The Missiles of October, 1974). Salinger

is also given an affectionate portrayal by Peter Boyden in Kennedy (1983) as he tries to help

Jacqueline Kennedy create the public image she wants while dealing with the press on the Cuban

Missile Crisis. Press secretary Ronald Ziegler (James Slovan) tries his best, but is either kept in

the dark as to what is happening in President Nixon’s administration or prompted by political

aides to give sanctioned “correct” answers as he prepares for a news conference (Blind Ambition,

1979). The director of communications for Prime Minister Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell (Mark

Bazelev), prepares a speech in which Princess Diana is described as “the people's princess,”

as he tries to help Blair capitalize on her death and in the process creates a household phrase (The

Queen, 2006).

PR men and women who work for government agencies try to do their best to represent

their bosses’ agendas. Director of public relations Jonathan Lyles (Mario Joyner) of the Board of

Health is interviewed by TV reporter Wanda Hawkins, falls for her, and then drops her when she

exposes the Board of Health cafeteria as being infested with vermin (Wanda at Large, 2003:

“King Rat” 2003). Bud Gerber (John Slattery) of the Treasury Department is the civilian handler

of the three survivors who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi at the Battle of Iwo

Jima. He creates a publicity campaign to sell war bonds that is filled with lies and deception

(Flags of Our Fathers, 2006). National Institutes of Health (NIH) publicity liaison Eva Rossi

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(Anna Belknap) uses unconventional methods to keep the media at bay in the TV series Medical

Investigation (2004-2005).

Political aides form a mixed bag. Some do the best they can to get their candidate elected

within the boundaries of the law and good taste. Political PR man Charlie Dale (William

Demarest) makes “The Great Man” a household name (The Great Man Votes, 1939). Political

press relations speechwriter Steve Jackson (Martin Balsam) tries to do the right thing, even when

falling short (Ada, 1961). Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) convinces a man, who he says can’t

possibly win, to run for the Senate and then manipulates the candidate’s ideals into acceptable

political platitudes (The Candidate, 1972). Press aide Chet MacGregor (Ray Wise) tries to

protect his candidate from the news media with mixed results (Bob Roberts, 1992). Image

specialist Mel Felcher (Ben Masters) is worried about a presidential candidate’s girlfriend whom

he believes is influencing the candidate in the wrong way. He works to neutralize her influence

and maximize his influence (Running Mates, 1992).

A host of opposing political aides, press secretaries, and speechwriters work to get their

own senatorial candidate elected by trying to spin stories to get maximum exposure and to lead

off the nightly TV newscasts (Speechless, 1994). Press aide Dennis Murphy (Oliver Platt)

worries about damage control when a politician begins to say exactly what he thinks. Then, when

the press likes what it hears, Murphy climbs aboard the bandwagon (Bulworth, 1998). Media

consultant Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) is drafted to nullify the potent threat of negative media

reporting and isn’t above pulling out a gun to prove a point (Primary Colors, 1998).

Other political aides end up doing unethical and questionable things to get their

candidates elected or to keep them in office, doing whatever it takes, even breaking the law.45

Reporter Jack Burden (John Ireland and Jude Law) becomes a corrupt governor’s press secretary

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who resorts to blackmail at the official’s command (All The King’s Men, 1949 and 2006). Press

secretary Hank Ferris (Nicholas Pryor), urged on by top political presidential aides, handles a lot

of dirty tricks for the White House to give the president a better image and to manipulate the

news coverage in the president’s favor, even breaking the law when necessary (Washington

Behind Closed Doors, 1977). A campaign adviser (William Devane) will use anything it takes to

get his candidate elected, including telling him that he has “good news”: a rival candidate is

withdrawing from the race because of his wife’s mastectomy (The President’s Child, 1992).

Public relations press aide Alan Reed (Kevin Dunn) is part of a plot of deception and lies to use a

look-alike actor to play the president, who was struck down by a stroke (Dave, 1993).

And then, hardly to be taken seriously, there is press secretary Jerry Ross (Martin Short)

who advises the president when aliens attack Earth. He ends up helping to destroy the world

when he invites a prostitute into the White House who turns out to be an alien terrorist (Mars

Attacks!, 1996). Presidential press aide Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) has a problem: he’s a

werewolf and is more concerned with his condition than with the president’s public image,

especially after he tries to kill him aboard Air Force One (The Werewolf of Washington, 1973).

Military information officers are usually treated with humor and portrayed as good

citizens.46 Journalist Pvt. Marion Hargrove (Robert Walker) and Pvt. Mulvehill (Keenan Wynn)

join the public relations staff run by PR officer (Ray Teal) to stay out of harm’s way (See Here,

Private Hargrove, 1944). Lt.j.g. Max Siegel (Glenn Ford) is part of the PR staff for the Navy

commandeered by Lt. Cmdr. Clinton T. Nash (Fred Clark). Another member of the staff, Ensign

Tyson (Russ Tamblyn), is ordered to ensure all war correspondents are given everything they

need to write positive articles about the war effort (Don’t Go Near the Water, 1957). Army

public information officer Col. Gooch (Jim Backus) has his hands full when a magazine editor

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sets her sights on a war hero who doesn’t want anything to do with publicity (Top Secret Affair,

1957). PR officer Cmdr. Wallace (Werner Klemperer) is assigned to promote several war heroes

who don’t want to be publicized (Kiss Them for Me, 1957). Lt. Cmdr. Paul “Bus” Cummings

(James Coburn) and Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Madison (James Garner) are in the Navy’s public

information office when they are ordered to make sure the first casualty of D-Day in 1944 is a

Navy man. All goes well until the dead Navy man turns out to be very much alive (The

Americanization of Emily, 1964). Air Force public relations man Maj. Brian James (Robert

Colbert) creates a campaign to get women into the space program by using “that girl” (Marlo

Thomas) as a recruiting image (That Girl, 1966-1971: “Fly Me to the Moon” 1969).

Other military PR men find themselves in the middle of the action. A public relations

division lieutenant (Lew Gallo) somehow makes it to a besieged military area with a camera

crew to film a story about heroes and is sent back to headquarters to ask for reinforcements (Pork

Chop Hill, 1959). Public relations military officer Bruce Daninger (John Lithgow) has to

convince the public that daylight bombing raids are a good thing, so he zeroes in on the mostly

uncooperative men of the Memphis Belle bomber to sell the story (Memphis Belle, 1990).

Most police information officers also are portrayed as hard-working, dedicated public

officials trying to keep a good relationship with the news media while having their hands full

with uncooperative police officials.47 Police publicity man Henry Zeller (Mark Lonow) gets in

trouble for giving exclusives to a newspaper columnist (City in Fear, 1980). A police public

relations man wants a detective to play nice with the news media and not offend reporters, but

Dirty Harry Callahan doesn’t care (The Dead Pool, 1988). Press secretary Nick Pierce (Justin

Theroux) works for the Washington, D.C. police department and supports the unorthodox police

chief in every way he can (The District, 2000-2001). Police department PR woman Michelle

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Rivas (Alicia Coppola) falls for an eccentric detective while working on a case together (Monk,

2000-2009: “Mr. Monk and the Blackout” 2004). Press relations woman Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau

(A.J. Cook) acts as the team’s liaison with the media and local police agencies for the FBI’s

Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), making sure the news media doesn’t get in the way of solving

a case (Criminal Minds, 2005-2011). Deputy press secretary Sue Connors (Noelle Beck) works

for the mayor and is in conflict with the police chief. The chief’s own PR man and speech writer

Garrett Moore (Gregory Jbara) helps him deal with the inside politics as well as the news media

(Blue Bloods, 2010- 2012 current; 2011 episodes).

The worst example of a low-life police information officer is one who is killed almost

immediately. Paul Westerville, who is doing PR for the Policeman’s Benevolence Association,

is murdered in a parking garage after he has an affair with a paraplegic’s wife (NYPD Blue,

1993-2005: “Stratis Fear” 2005).

(5) The public relations professional as a true villain who will step on anyone, do

anything, lie, cheat, or steal, to protect a client’s image.48 These PR men and women will stop

at nothing, even murder, to get what they want. Publicity man Jimmy Dolan comes up with a

publicity stunt, blackmails a writer, and then murders his mother when she threatens to destroy

everything he has created (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1955-1962: “Madame Mystery” 1960).

Public relations practitioner Miriam Deering (Olivia de Havilland) tries to drive her sister crazy

and kills anyone who gets in her way until her sister murders her (Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte,

1964). PR man Stan Armbrewster sets up his predecessor to be killed by a genetically engineered

cyborg, then takes over his job. He is an inept whiner who is eventually turned into blood vapor

by an experimental weapon (Syngenor, 1990). A PR firm is a front for a devil-worshiping cult

that kills young women. Publicist Britanny Drake (Amber Newman) controls the minds of

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people around her and makes them do what she tells them to do. It turns out the Devil is really

the ultimate public relations man (Evil Ambitions, also titled Satanic Yuppies, 1996). Jake

Dunmore (Dermot Mulroney) murders his PR partner and brother, Ben Dunmore (Don Johnson),

for the love of a woman who then turns around and kills him (Goodbye Lover, 1998). In the Blue

Bloods episode “Silver Star” (2011), PR practitioner Ian Seroy (Michael Izquierdo) is involved

in the killing of a homeless man who turns out to be a former U.S. Marine war hero.

One of the most memorable villains who does everything evil short of murder is public

relations practitioner Leslie Stewart (Susan Flannery). Stewart even out-evils the TV series’ key

villain, oil tycoon J.R. Ewing. She lies to everyone, uses her sex appeal to get what she wants,

and ends up selling everyone out. In one pivotal scene, J.R. shows up at her apartment to finally

consummate their relationship. She teases him out of it and when he leaves, goes into her

bedroom, where her former husband is waiting for her in bed and laughing at how duplicitous

she has become (Dallas, 1978-1991: 1981 episodes).

Equally ruthless is PR agency owner Amanda Woodward (Heather Locklear), who

arrives from New York to fire half the Los Angeles staff. She keeps on publicist Ella Simms

(Katie Cassidy), who is an equally ruthless PR practitioner, cool and blonde, and eager to be

another Woodward. To test Simms’ loyalty, Woodward arranges for a lesbian PR woman to use

sex to convince Simms to sell Woodward out and take a job at a competing firm. Blackmail, lies,

and deceit are all part of Woodward’s stock in trade (Melrose Place, 1992-1999; 2009-2010:

“Cahuenga” 2009).

They call themselves the Mod Squad, aka the Merchants of Death, and often debate

which of their clients has killed more people. They are chief spokesperson and lobbyist Nick

Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), vice president of the Academy of Tobacco Studies; PR woman Polly

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Bailey (Maria Bello), who works for the Moderation Council dealing with alcohol; and Bobby

Jay Bliss (David Koechner), who promotes the gun business with his own advisory group

SAFETY. They frequently meet with one another in a bar to discuss strategies on how to dupe

the American people and make what their clients do acceptable to the public (Thank You for

Smoking, 2005).

Two public relations firms featured in TV series decide that the best way to handle a PR

problem is to create a fake disease for their client. In Absolute Power (2003-2005), Charles

Prentiss (Stephen Fry) and Martin McCabe (John Bird), who run Prentiss McCabe, a London PR

company (or “government media relations consultancy”), create a fake disease to solve a public

relations problem: “Cherry pick. Take the best bits from, say, cancer, add highlights from other

ailments and come up with a name … Most obscure diseases are named after two people …

we’ve got a career to save and a pestilence to unleash,” Prentiss tells his staff. Prentiss is a man

without morals whose only objectives are money and power. The disease the PR firm creates is

used to distract the news media from the fact that an actor viciously beat up his girlfriend. As

Prentiss tells the actor, “There is nothing more nauseating to the common working shmuck than

the sight of some pampered millionaire celebrity banging on about how hard life is at the top.”

The actors responds, “But it’s the truth.” Prentiss shoots back: “How many times do I have to tell

you, nobody gives a shit about the truth. That is why you employ me.”

In P.R.: Operation Overload (2000), Alex Reed (Diane Flacks) is a fast-talking liar,

boozer, and inspired owner and founder of Alexandra Reed & Associates, a flourishing

metropolitan PR firm in Toronto. She and her partner Jill Hayes (Ellie Harvie) create news, hype,

and fabricate only the best events to serve a guarded list of actors and celebrity clients. In one

episode, they also decide to fabricate a disease and give it to their client so the public will feel

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sorry for him and forgive him his trespasses.

Presidential crisis consultant Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) is one of the most evil

images of the PR practitioner ever put on film. His actions, in the words of Ames, are

“manipulative, dishonest, sleazy, amoral, and outright criminal.”49 Called in to do damage

control (the president had a messy affair that has become public), Brean creates a massive

distraction to “change the story, change the lead.” He not only manipulates the news media

through a made-up world crisis complete with fake video and one lie and deception after another,

but he also sanctions murder (Wag the Dog, 1997). Equally sinister is Malcolm Tucker (Peter

Capaldi), the aggressive, profane, and feared director of communications for the government. He

will do anything to protect the government, including intimidation, blackmail, seduction, and

destroying anyone who gets in his way (The Thick of It, 2005-2009). Another member of this

villainous trio is Reed Rockwell (Michael Gladis), a public relations counsel, who is a

professional career assassin who uses any means at his disposal to destroy reputations (Leverage,

2008-2012 current: “The 15 Minutes Job” 2011).

Other PR practitioners do terrible things to get ahead or stay in power. PR man Richard

Stuart (Robert Culp) blackmails his clients for millions of dollars before being shot down in his

hotel room (Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter, 1990). Bill Gibson (James

Hampton), who handles PR for a nuclear power plant, does what his boss tells him to do even if it

means condoning murder. Gibson labels a man who is killed while trying to warn the public of a

safety hazard as “an emotionally disturbed employee who was humored just long enough to get

the situation under control … yes, he had been drinking” (The China Syndrome, 1979). Press

agent Sid Moore (Keenan Wynn), a womanizing, amoral man, viciously tries to control everyone

in his life, using blackmail to secure clients and power (The Great Man, 1956). Tom Ferrell

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(Domenic Cuzzocrea), a womanizing PR practitioner, violates every ethical professional standard

before finding the tables turned on him when he falls for an enigmatic woman (No Angel, 1992).

Public relations creative director Julian Wright (Jason Clarke) works to get a rich new client who

covets family values. His temper and violence get in his way, destroying everything he has built

up as he beats up a rival, almost killing him, and then sends a girlfriend to the hospital (The

Human Contract, 2008). Publicist Tracey Green (Sarah Carter) is accused of having a lesbian

relationship with her boss Stephanie Rogers (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) for financial purposes. It

turns out they made up the whole thing to get their firm needed publicity (Boston Legal, 2004-

2008: “It Girls and Beyond,” 2005). PR Practitioner Dauri Rathbun (Sharon Stone) is a corrupt,

sexy, drug addict who sleeps with her lawyer before police come to arrest her for fraud (Huff,

2006). PR executive Sheila (Stockard Channing) meets a waiter named Sam (Shaun Evans), uses

him as her boy toy, and then hires him as her personal assistant. When he gets involved with her

daughter by accident, she fires him and throws him to the wolves (Sparkle, 2007).

When it comes to being a villain, nothing is worse than picking on children and animals,

unless it’s dealing with zombies and aliens. Newspaper publisher Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold)

owns the news media in his state and decides what the public should and should not know. He

handles his own public relations by sending out goons to beat up the opposition, including

harassing and physically hurting children (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939). PR man

Gilbert Sipes (James Donadio) tries to kill a sweet-faced celebrity pig so he can control the

company fortunes (Gordy, 1995). Randi James (Lindsay Frost) is a public relations executive for

Dante Pharmaceuticals who seems to be doing a good job, until she turns out to be a

disintegrating zombie (Dead Heat, 1988). Crazy public information officer Lt. Col. Dan Lerner

(Dirk Benedict) helps cover up the arrival of aliens on Earth by attacking anyone who disagrees

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with him before he is finally brought to justice (Official Denial, 1994).

(6) The female public relations practitioner who uses her sex appeal to win clients

and get promotions.50 Publicist Rebecca Flannery (Alison Doody) seduces a major league ball

player to get his business (Major League II, 1994). Alicia “Allie” Brayman (Elizabeth Berkeley)

is a young and rising public relations executive dead set on advancing her career in any way

possible. She meets a strange man after a cocktail party and is framed for the murder of her

biggest client. The person framing her turns out to be her boss and mentor, the head of the PR

firm, Blake Preston (Barry Flatman) (Random Encounter, 1998). Publicist Samantha Jones (Kim

Cattrall) owns her own PR firm and is as sexually active as any womanizing man in securing

clients and success (Sex and the City, 1998-2004; Sex and the City: The Movie, 2008; Sex and

the City 2, 2010). Publicist Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is a single, 30-something working

for a publishing firm who sleeps with the boss to get ahead before coming to her senses and

quitting her job (Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2001). Publicist Jessie (Jill Richie), who is hired to

improve a family’s image, tries to have sex with the family spokesman and ends up with mud on

her face (Arrested Development, 2003-2006: “Public Relations” 2004).

(7) The alcoholic public relations man is a staple throughout the history of movies

and television.51 These PR practitioners drink for a variety of reasons ― to keep their clients

happy, to escape the pressures of their job, and to forget the horrendous things they often have to

do to keep an account. Many films featuring PR men and women have scenes of serious social

drinking, but few seem to consider alcoholism a problem. Films and TV programs that emphasize

drinking by PR practitioners are either played for comedy or end up being deeply tragic dramas.

In Murders in the Zoo (1933), press agent Peter Yates (Charles Ruggles) gets a job doing

public relations for the zoo and is drunk in practically every scene. His alcoholism is played for

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laughs as he escapes one tricky and occasionally dangerous situation after another. Yates is

typical of the popular drunk character of the 1930s before the seriousness of alcoholism was

recognized in the movies. In Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962), press agent Billy

Campbell (Dan Dailey) is always drunk as he goes from town to town to publicize a show before

the actors arrive. The young Hemingway tries to take care of him, but the situation is hopeless.

The seriousness of alcoholism as an occupational hazard in public relations was made

crystal clear in Days of Wine and Roses (1962) in which public relations practitioner Joe Clay

(Jack Lemmon) is an alcoholic who turns his wife into an alcoholic before struggling to regain

his sobriety and keep a job. He eventually realizes his work as well as his personal life will be

destroyed forever unless he gets sober, so he does. But the woman he introduced to alcohol

won’t give it up and that final shot of Clay looking out the window as she walks away with the

reflection of a neon bar sign next to his face is hard to forget.

An even more horrific picture of the PR practitioner as an alcoholic is a movie-made-for-

television titled The Morning After (1974). PR man Charlie Lester (Dick Van Dyke) is an

alcoholic who can’t control his drinking. At first, he simply makes mistakes that his secretary

catches. But at a presentation meeting, his boss realizes Lester is drunk and confronts him in the

restroom, telling him to clean up his act or he will be fired. A drunken Lester tries but can’t do it,

beating his wife when she refuses to give him liquor, and ending up in a hospital with delirium

tremens. He’s given one chance after another, but finally ends up alone and sick on a beach

crawling on the sand, trying to get away from the demons he sees around him. It is a desperate,

haunting final image.

Conclusion

This analysis of 222 films and 105 television programs reveals that the images of the

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public relations practitioner are far more varied and more positive than previously thought. When

they are good, they are very, very good, and when they are bad, they are horrid.

It is obvious that males overwhelmingly dominate the image of the PR practitioner in the

movies, but by the 21st century, women are represented in almost equal fashion, especially on

television. We also discovered that there are far more negative images in film than on television.

TV series may have more impact on the public because of their frequency and necessity to have

likable people as leading characters, resulting in more positive than negative images of PR men

and women.

Negative images range from press agents and their outrageous ballyhoo to publicity men

and women who will do anything for their clients, from alcoholics and PR women who use their

natural charms to win clients and get ahead in the profession, to true villains who are willing to

lie, cheat, steal, and even commit murder to save their reputations.

Positive images range from those who will do anything within the law to get their clients

publicity and to protect them in crisis situations to efficient and often likable press secretaries

and military-police public information officers. The PR professional as a hero who rebels against

unethical practices and quits his or her job before doing something immoral is a frequent image,

especially on television.

Nevertheless, there is much work to be done. Karen Miller in her ground-breaking study

on “Public Relations in Film and Fiction, 1930 to 1995,” wrote that scholars should not dismiss

“the stereotypes as foolish or uninformed.” Rather, she said, scholars “should do well to try to

understand if and in what ways these representations have influenced public knowledge and

attitudes about PR.”52 That is as true today as it was then.

Although there have been a few papers on the image of the public relations practitioner in

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film, there has been virtually nothing on the image of the public relations practitioner in

television, in novels, or other aspects of popular culture. This is a rich field for future academic

research and we encourage colleagues to mine this field as a means of understanding how the

image of PR men and women influences the public’s understanding of a profession that seems to

be coming into its own in the 21st century.

Endnotes

1 Those who helped with the finalization of this article include Research Associate Liz Mitchell; Xing Ju, a graduate student in public relations at USC Annenberg; and Jennifer Saltzman. 2 The original sample included more than 500 films and television programs, but the list was reduced to 327 films and television programs because the portrayals of PR practitioners in the items eliminated were either insignificant or unavailable to review. The final study includes 222 movies and 105 television programs. 3 Karen S. Miller, “Public Relations in Film and Fiction: 1930 to 1995,” Journal of Public Relations Research 11:1 (1999), 3-28. 4 Larry Tavcar, “Public Relations on the Screen: 17 Films to See,” Public Relations Quarterly 38:3 (1993), 21-23. 5 Donn James Tilson, “Public Relations and Hollywood: A Fistful of Publicity,” Public Relations Quarterly 48:1 (2003), 10. 6 Carol Ames, “PR Goes to the Movies: The Image of Public Relations Improves from 1996 to 2008,” Public Relations Review 36:2 (June 2010), 164-170. 7 Mordecai Lee, “The Image of the Government Flack: Movie Depictions of Public Relations in Public Administration,” Public Relations Review 27:3 (2001), 297-315. 8 Mordecai Lee, “Flicks of Government Flacks: The Sequel,” Public Relations Review 35:2 (2009), 159-1961. 9 Emily Kinsky, “The Portrayal of Public Relations Practitioners in The West Wing,” a paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco, CA, 2006. “The practitioners were coded based on demonstrated traits and work performed or discussed. Significant differences were found between male and female

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practitioners being included or disciplined, appearing as major characters, dealing with government officials and the media, discussing speech writing, and appearing silly.” 10 The study focused on 10 programs, 384 episodes, and 16 characters. The shows analyzed were Arrested Development (2003), Commander in Chief (2005-2006), The District (2000-2001), Entourage (2004), Jake in Progress (2005), Las Vegas (2003-2004), Mad About You (15 random episodes), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Spin City (11 random episodes), and The West Wing (1999-2006). 11 Youngmin Yoon and Heather Black, “Learning About Public Relations from Television: How Is the Profession Portrayed?” (Unpublished paper.) 12 Miller, 4 and 8-10. 13 Ames, 164. 14 Ibid., 169. 15 The Online IJPC Database includes more than 80,000 entries. Using key words such as “public relations” (1,371 entries) and “publicist” (560 entries), it was possible to isolate more than 500 movies and TV programs of interest. In addition, various online databases, including the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), were searched for verification and new possibilities. 16 There seems to be little current distinction in production values among films made for theatrical release, non-network outlets, or broadcast TV programs. Since one of the primary resources for the public is the home screen, the point of origin of productions is less important today than it was in the mid-20th century. Also, the image of the PR practitioner in England is similar to the image of the PR practitioner in the U.S., so those films and TV programs are included as well. 17 Miller, 7-8. Miller also notes on pp. 12-13: “Because most sources do not provide explicit definitions of PR, audience members might deduce its meaning by watching what its practitioners do. The characters have an incredibly wide range of duties. They organize open houses, guide tours and handle corporate contributions to political campaigns; plan parades, movie premieres, and beauty competitions; and conduct research and refer to opinion polls and market surveys. They prepare clients and employers for interviews, debates, and Congressional testimony; plan national speaking tours; form clubs; make awards; plan parties; write purpose statements and newsletter articles; sign autographs for their famous clients; work in graphics and production; and attend meetings. However, the details of work are regularly omitted: Many practitioners are never seen doing any work.” 18 Very Positive Films: O.S.S. (1946), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), Let’s Make Love (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Very Positive TV Programs: The West Wing (1999-2006).

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19 Miller, 10. 20 Ibid., 10. 21 Positive Films: The Cohens and Kellys in Atlantic City (1929), Gentlemen of the Press (1929), The Guilty Generation (1931), Going Hollywood (1933), The Lost Jungle (1934), The Old Homestead (1935), Here Comes Carter (1936), Speed (1936), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), The Preview Murder Mystery (1936), Racing Lady (1937), Waikiki Wedding (1937), Four’s a Crowd (1938), The Leopard Man (1943), Wilson (1944), See Here, Private Hargrove (1944), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Miracle of the Bells (1948), Woman Hater (1949), King of the Rocket Men (1949), Mighty Joe Young (1949), Let’s Make It Legal (1951), Rhubarb (1951), The Pace That Thrills (1952), Call Me Madam (1953), The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), The Great Man (1956), Foreign Intrigue (1956), The Harder They Fall (1956), Top Secret Affair (1957), Don’t Go Near the Water (1957), Loving You (1957), Slim Carter (1957), Beau James (1957), Kiss Them for Me (1957), Kathy O’ (1958), Pork Chop Hill (1959), Ada (1961), Return to Peyton Place (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968), Airport (1970), The Towering Inferno (1974), Tribute (1980), Gung Ho (1986), Making Mr. Right (1987), The Palermo Connection (1990), My Life (1993), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), SubUrbia (1996), The Big One (1997), Air Force One (1997), A Piece of Eden (2000), Isn’t She Great (2000), The Kid (2000), The Rats (2002), Jersey Girl (2004), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Just My Luck (2006), The Oh in Ohio (2006), Hancock (2008), Somewhere (2010). Positive TV Programs: Hour of Stars: The Miracle on 34th Street (1955), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp: “The Buntline Special” (1955), Make Room for Daddy: “Too Good for Words” (1958), Mr. Broadway (1964), That Girl: “Fly Me To the Moon” (1969), Miracle on 34th Street (1973), The Missiles of October (1974), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1975-1976), The Love Boat (1977-1986), Supertrain: “Express To Terror” (1979), Benson (1980-1984), City in Fear (1980), Hotel (1983-1986), Kennedy (1983), Murder She Wrote: “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes: Pilot” (1984), Leg Work (1987), Drop-Out Mother (1987), Growing Pains (1989), thirtysomething: “Three Year Itch” (1990), Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990), Palace Guard: “Pilot” (1991), Mad About You: “I’m Just So Happy for You” (1992), Murphy Brown: “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are” (1992), Murder She Wrote: “Murder in Milan” (1992), Parallel Lives (1994), The Nanny: “Oy Vey, You’re Gay” (1995), Spin City (1996-2002), The District (2000-2001), The Growing Pains Movie (2000), Baby Bob (2002-2003), What I Like About You (2002-2006), Las Vegas (2003-2007), This Time Around (2003), Monk: “Mr. Monk and the Blackout” (2004), Medical Investigation (2004-2005), Commander in Chief (2005-2006), Criminal Minds (2005-2011), Jake in Progress (2005-2006), Six Degrees (2006-2007), Reaper: “Acid Queen” (2008), 12 Men of Christmas (2009), Too Big to Fail (2011), Blue Bloods (2011). 22 Miller, 10. 23 Ibid., 8.

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24 Ibid.,10. 25 Negative Films: Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901), The Goose Woman (1925), Hook, Line and Sinker (1930), Follow the Leader (1930), The Half-Naked Truth (1932), Professional Sweetheart (1933), Murders in the Zoo (1933), Bombshell (1933), Bureau of Missing Persons (1933), Made on Broadway (1933), Hard to Handle (1933), King Kong (1933), Lady by Choice (1934), A Night at the Ritz (1935), Another Face (1935), Cheers of the Crowd (1935), Cain and Mabel (1936), The Golden Arrow (1936), Something to Sing About (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), Shall We Dance (1937), When Love Is Young (1937), Expensive Husbands (1937), Thunder in the City (1937), Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938), Annabel Takes a Tour (1938), The Great Man Votes (1939), Dancing Co-Ed (1939), Second Fiddle (1939), Playmates (1941), I Wake Up Screaming (1941), For Beauty’s Sake (1941), Born to Sing (1942), Four Jacks and a Jill (1942), Government Girl (1943), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Zombies on Broadway (1941), Eve Knew Her Apples (1945), The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947), Sepia Cinderella (1947), All the King’s Men (1949), A Woman of Distinction (1950), Trigger Jr. (1950), Studio Stoops (1950), Vicki (1953), It Should Happen To You (1954), A Star Is Born (1954), The Big Knife (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962), Night of Evil (1962), Summer Holiday (1963), Man’s Favorite Sport (1964), The Americanization of Emily (1964), The Patsy (1964), Strange Bedfellows (1965), Winter A-Go-Go (1965), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), The Oscar (1966), Smashing Time (1967), Blast-Off Girls (1967), The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), The Candidate (1972), The Werewolf of Washington (1973), Buffalo Bill and the Indians (Or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson) (1976), The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978), A Dream of Passion (1978), The Idolmaker (1980), Final Assignment (1980), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Woman in Red (1984), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Dead Heat (1988), Ladykillers (1988), The Dead Pool (1988), Roger and Me (1989), The Godfather, Part III (1990), Memphis Belle (1990), Bob Roberts (1992), The Bodyguard (1992), Speechless (1994), Major League II (1994), The Great White Hype (1995), Mars Attacks! (1996), The Big One (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Bulworth (1998), Random Encounter (1998), Sliding Doors (1998), The Big Tease (1999), Amy’s Orgasm (also titled Amy’s O, 2001), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Monkeybone (2001), Rock Star (2001), America’s Sweethearts (2001), People I Know (2002), Phone Booth (2002), City by the Sea (2002), A Mighty Wind (2003), King Kong (2005), The Queen (2006), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), For Your Consideration (2006), All the King’s Men (2006), Sparkle (2007), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008), The Human Contract (2008), Sex and the City: The Movie (2008), State of Play (2009), Sex and the City 2 (2010). Negative TV Programs: Amos ‘n’ Andy: “Kingfish Becomes a Press Agent” (1951), All-Star Revue (1952), That Kind of Woman (1959), McCloud: “A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley” (1972), The Morning After (1974), The 2000 Year Old Man: The Animated TV Special (1975), Emergency!: “Rules of Order” (1976), Washington Behind Closed Doors (1977), Blind Ambition (1979), Dynasty (1983-1984), Who’s The Boss?: “Charmed Lives” (1986), Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987), Running Mates (1992), Absolutely Fabulous (1992-1996; 2001-2004), Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Bye Bye Birdie (1995), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Queer as Folk (United Kingdom, 1999), Clerks: The Animated Series (2000), P.R.: Operation

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Overload (2000), Girlfriends: “Blinded by the Lights” (2002), Wanda at Large: “King Rat” (2003), Entourage (2004-2011), Arrested Development: “Public Relations” (2004), NYPD Blue: “Stratis Fear” (2005), The Comeback (2005), Boston Legal: “Shock and Owww!” (2006), Bones: “The Bodies in the Book” (2007), NCIS: “Corporal Punishment” (2007), Big Shots (2007-2008), The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007), Ugly Betty: “Tornado Girl” (2008), Lipstick Jungle (2008-2009), Cold Case: “Breaking News” (2009), Mad Men: “Public Relations” (2010), Family Guy: “Brian Writes a Bestseller” (2010). 26 Miller, 9. 27 Ibid., 9. 28 Ibid., 8. 29 Very Negative Films: The Miracle Woman (1931), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), The Great Man (1956), Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The China Syndrome (1979), The Electric Horseman (1979), Mob War (1989), Syngenor (1990), Cover Up (1991), No Angel (1992), Dave (1993), Gordy (1995), Evil Ambitions (also titled Satanic Yuppies, 1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Goodbye Lover (1998), Thank You For Smoking (2005). Very Negative Television Programs: Suspense: “The Brush-Off” (1950), Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “Madame Mystery” (1960), Dallas (1981), The President’s Child (1992), Official Denial (1994), Mr. St. Nick (2002), Absolute Power (2003), Boston Legal: “It Girls and Beyond” (2005), The Thick of It (2005-2009), Huff (2006), Melrose Place: “Cahuenga” (2009), Leverage: “The 15 Minutes Job” (2011), Blue Bloods: “Silver Star” (2011). 30 Miller, 9. 31 Neutral Films: The Black Camel (1931), Millie (1931), Britannia of Billingsgate (1933), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Shining Hour (1938), Mr. Moto’s Gamble (1938), Heartaches (1947), The Girl from Jones Beach (1949), Easy Living (1949), To Please a Lady (1950), The West Point Story (1950), Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951), As Young As You Feel (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Roman Holiday (1953), The High and the Mighty (1954), Gypsy (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963), What a Way to Go! (1964), Fate Is the Hunter (1964), Interlude (1968), Stardust Memories (1980), The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988), Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Liar Liar (1997), Contact (1997), Lost in Translation (2003). Neutral TV Programs: The Twilight Zone: “The Fever” (1960), Lace (1984), The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story (1990), Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story (1999), Spooks: “Thou Shalt Not Kill: Pilot” (2002), Extras (2005-2007), Castle: “Flowers for Your Grave” (2009), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: “Unforgivable: Finale” (2011), Royal Pains: “But There’s a Catch” (2011).

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32 Ames, 168. 33 The 11 films Ames studied are Mars Attacks! (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), The Kid (2000), America’s Sweethearts (2001), People I Know (2002), Phone Booth (2002), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Jersey Girl (2006), For Your Consideration (2006), Sex and the City (2008), and Hancock (2008). 34 Very Positive TV Series: The West Wing (1999-2006). Positive TV Series: Mr. Broadway (1964), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1975-1976), The Love Boat (1977-1986), Benson (1980-1984), Hotel (1983-1986), Leg Work (1987), Growing Pains (1989), Spin City (1996-2002), The District (2000-2001), The Growing Pains Movie (2000), Baby Bob (2002-2003), What I Like About You (2002-2006), Las Vegas (2003-2007), Commander in Chief (2005-2006), Criminal Minds (2005-2011), Jake in Progress (2005-2006), Six Degrees (2006-2007), Blue Bloods (2011). 35 Very Negative TV Series: Dallas (1981), Absolute Power (2003). Negative TV Series: Dynasty (1983-1984), Absolutely Fabulous (1992-1996; 2001-2004), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Queer as Folk (United Kingdom, 1999), Clerks: The Animated Series (2000), P.R.: Operation Overload (2000), Entourage (2004-2011), Big Shots (2007-2008), The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007), Lipstick Jungle (2008-2009). 36 Films and television programs showing press agents doing outrageous publicity stunts include Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901), Hook, Line and Sinker (1930), The Miracle Woman (1931), Professional Sweetheart (1933), Bureau of Missing Persons (1933), Made on Broadway (1933), Britannia of Billingsgate (1933), Hard to Handle (1933), Another Face (1935), Lady by Choice, 1934), A Night at the Ritz (1935), Cheers of the Crowd (1935), Cain and Mabel (1936), The Golden Arrow (1936), Something to Sing About (1937), Shall We Dance (1937), When Love Is Young (1937), Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938), Annabel Takes a Tour (1938), Dancing Co-Ed (1939), Second Fiddle (1939), I Wake Up Screaming (1941), For Beauty’s Sake (1941), Four Jacks and a Jill (1942), The Leopard Man (1943), Zombies on Broadway (1944), Eve Knew Her Apples (1945), The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947), Studio Stoops (1950, in which the Three Stooges are mistaken for studio publicists), Amos ‘n’ Andy: “Kingfish Becomes a Press Agent” (1951), Vicki (1953), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp: “The Buntline Special” (1955), Loving You (1957), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Summer Holiday (1963), Man’s Favorite Sport (1964), Winter A-Go-Go (1965), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), Blast-Off Girls (1967), The 2000 Year Old Man: The Animated TV Special (1975), Buffalo Bill and the Indians (Or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson 1976), Emergency!: “Rules of Order” (1976), Bye Bye Birdie (1995), Monkeybone (2001), Family Guy: “Brian Writes a Bestseller” (2001). 37 Miller, 13. 38 In the 1930s, Lee Tracy played various reporters, gossip columnists, and publicity men. In Blonde Bombshell (1933) Tracy does memorable turn as Press Agent E.J. “Space” Hanlon, a

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two-faced publicity man for Monarch Studios who will do anything for a story and usually does. 39 Films and television programs showing public relations men who would do anything to help a client, even if it’s bending ethical rules and the law include Follow the Leader (1930), The Guilty Generation (1931), The Black Camel (1931), Going Hollywood (1933), The Lost Jungle (1934), The Old Homestead (1935), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Racing Lady (1937), Expensive Husbands (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), Waikiki Wedding (1937), Thunder in the City (1937), Mr. Moto’s Gamble (1938), The Shining Hour (1939), Born to Sing (1942), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Sepia Cinderella (1947), The Girl from Jones Beach (1949), Easy Living (1949), Woman Hater (1949), Mighty Joe Young (1949), Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951), As Young As You Feel (1951), All-Star Revue (1952), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), It Should Happen to You (1954), The High and the Mighty (1954), A Star Is Born (1954), The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), Slim Carter (1957), Kathy O’ (1958), Make Room for Daddy: “Too Good for Words” (1958), That Kind of Woman (1959), Gypsy (1962), Night of Evil (1962), Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963), The Patsy (1964), What a Way to Go! (1964), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), Fate Is the Hunter (1964), Strange Bedfellows (1964), The Oscar (1966), Smashing Time (1967), Interlude (1968), McCloud: “A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley” (1972), The 2000 Year Old Man: The Animated TV Special (1975), The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978), The Electric Horseman (1979), The Idolmaker (1980), Stardust Memories (1980), The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980), Lace (1984), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Who’s The Boss?: “Charmed Lives” (1986), Mob War (1989), Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990), The Bodyguard (1992), Barbarians at the Gate (1993), The Great White Hype (1995), Queer as Folk (United Kingdom, 1999), The Kid (2000), Clerks: The Animated Series (2000), America’s Sweethearts (2001), Phone Booth (2002), People I Know (2002), A Mighty Wind (2003), Entourage (2004-2011), Jake in Progress (2005-2006), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), For Your Consideration (2006), NCIS: “Corporal Punishment” (2007), Big Shots (2007-2008), The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007), Cold Case: “Breaking News” (2009), State of Play (2009). Films and television programs in which public relations women do their jobs efficiently and compete with men on an equal basis include Speed (1936), Playmates (1941), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Heartaches (1947), A Woman of Distinction (1950), Hour of Stars: The Miracle on 34th Street (1955), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Miracle on 34th Street (1973), The Love Boat (1977-1986), A Dream of Passion (1978), Dynasty (1983-1984), Murder She Wrote: “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes: Pilot” (1984), Making Mr. Right (1987), Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987), Drop-Out Mother (1987), Growing Pains (1989), The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story (1990), thirtysomething: “Three Year Itch” (1990), Absolutely Fabulous (1992-1996; 2001-2004), Mad About You: “I’m Just So Happy for You” (1992), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Parallel Lives (1994), The Nanny: “Oy Vey, You’re Gay” (1995), SubUrbia (1996), Liar Liar (1997), Contact (1997), Sliding Doors (1998), Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story (1999), The Growing Pains Movie (2000), Rock Star (2001), Girlfriends: “Blinded by the Lights” (2001), Monk: “Mr. Monk and the Blackout” (2004), Boston Legal: “Shock and Owww!” (2006), Bones: “The Bodies in the Book” (2007), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008), Castle: “Flowers for Your Grave” (2009), Somewhere (2010), Family Guy: “Brian Writes a Bestseller” (2010).

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40 Mr. Broadway (1964). In this TV series, public relations man Michael Bell (Craig Stevens) is a sophisticated Broadway press agent and owner of a public relations firm in Manhattan. 41 Films and television programs in which public relations men do their jobs efficiently while trying to do the right thing include Gentlemen of the Press (1929), Millie (1931), Speed (1936), Here Comes Carter (1936), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1935), The Preview Murder Mystery (1936), Four’s a Crowd (1938), The Miracle of the Bells (1948), King of the Rocket Men (1949), The West Point Story (1950), Let’s Make It Legal (1951), Rhubarb (1951), The Pace That Thrills (1952), Foreign Intrigue (1956), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), The Harder They Fall (1956), Let’s Make Love (1960), The Twilight Zone: “The Fever” (1960), Return to Peyton Place (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Mr. Broadway (1964), Hunter (1964), A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968), The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), The Towering Inferno (1974), City in Fear (1980), Tribute (1980), Final Assignment (1980), Hotel (1983-1986), The Woman in Red (1984), Gung Ho (1986), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Murphy Brown: “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are” (1992), My Life (1993), A Piece of Eden (2000), Isn’t She Great (2000), Baby Bob (2002-2003), Lost in Translation (2003), Jersey Girl (2004), The Comeback (2005), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Reaper: “Acid Queen” (2008), Hancock (2008), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: “Unforgivable: Finale” (2011). Films and television programs in which public relations women do their jobs efficiently and professionally include The Guilty Generation (1931), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), A Woman of Distinction (1950), Hour of Stars: The Miracle on 34th Street (1955), Slim Carter (1957), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Miracle on 34th Street (1973), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1975-1976), Dynasty (1983-1984), Murder She Wrote: “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes: Pilot” (1984), Roger and Me (1989), Palace Guard: Pilot (1991), Mad About You: “I’m Just So Happy for You” (1992), Murder She Wrote: “Murder in Milan” (1992), The Big Tease (1999), Amy’s Orgasm (also titled Amy’s O, 2001), What I Like About You (2002-2006), The Rats (2002), This Time Around (2002), Las Vegas (2003-2007), Six Degrees (2006-2007), Just My Luck (2006), The Oh in Ohio (2006), Lipstick Jungle (2008-2009), 12 Men of Christmas (2009). 42 Ames, 169. 43 Ibid, 169. 44 Films and TV programs that show press secretaries and political aides in a good light include The Great Man Votes (1939), Wilson (1944), Call Me Madam (1953), Beau James (1957), Ada (1961), The Candidate (1972), The Missiles of October (1974), Blind Ambition (1979), Benson (1980-1984), Kennedy (1983), The Palermo Connection (1990), Running Mates (1992), Speechless (1994), Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Spin City (1996-2002), Contact (1997), Air Force One (1997), The Big One (1997), The West Wing (1999-2006), Commander in Chief (2005-2006), Medical Investigation (2004-2005), The Queen (2006).

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45 Films and TV programs that show press secretaries and political aides doing unethical things include All the King’s Men (1949), The Werewolf of Washington (1973), Washington Behind Closed Doors (1977), Final Assignment (1980), Bob Roberts (1992), The President’s Child (1992), Dave (1993), Mars Attacks! (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Bulworth (1998), Primary Colors (1998), The Growing Pains Movie (2000), Spooks: “Thou Shalt Not Kill: Pilot” (2002), Wanda at Large: “King Rat” (2003), All the King’s Men (2006), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), NCIS: “Corporal Punishment” (2007). 46 Films and TV programs that feature military information officers include See Here, Private Hargrove (1944), Don’t Go Near the Water (1957), Top Secret Affair (1957), Kiss Them for Me (1957), Pork Chop Hill (1959), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Americanization of Emily (1964), That Girl: “Fly Me To the Moon” (1969), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Memphis Belle (1990), NCIS: “Corporal Punishment” (2007). The officers are usually treated with humor or portrayed as good people. 47 Films and TV programs that feature police public relations officers include City in Fear (1980), The Dead Pool (1988), The District (2000-2001), Monk: “Mr. Monk and the Blackout” (2004), Criminal Minds (2005-2011), NYPD Blue: “Stratis Fear” (2005), Blue Bloods (2011). 48 Films featuring public relations men and women as villains include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Suspense: “The Brush-Off” (1950), The Big Knife (1955), The Great Man (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Werewolf of Washington (1973), Washington Behind Closed Doors (1977), The China Syndrome (1979), Dallas (1981), Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987), Dead Heat (1987), Ladykillers (1988), Mob War (1989), Syngenor (1990), Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990), Cover Up (1991), The President’s Child (1992), No Angel (1992), Official Denial (1994), Gordy (1995), Evil Ambitions (also titled Satanic Yuppies, 1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Goodbye Lover (1998), P.R.: Operation Overload (2000), Mr. St. Nick (2002), Absolute Power (2003), NYPD Blue: “Stratis Fear” (2004), The Thick of It (2005-2009), Thank You for Smoking (2005), Boston Legal: “It Girls and Beyond” (2005), Huff (2006), Sparkle (2007), The Human Contract (2008), Melrose Place: “Cahuenga” (2009), State of Play (2009), Leverage: “The 15 Minutes Job” (2011), Blue Bloods “Silver Star” (2011). 49 Ames, 167. 50 Films and TV programs that show public relations women using their sex appeal and natural charms in their work include Major League II (1994), Random Encounter (1998), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Arrested Development: “Public Relations” (2004), Sex and the City: The Movie (2008), Sex and the City 2 (2010). 51 Films in which an alcoholic PR man is featured include Murders in the Zoo (1933), Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Morning After (1974). 52 Miller, 24-25.

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