Veteran Hollywood Publicist Dan Harary has released his first book – a memoir – which recounts his unique show-business career. Entitled FLIRTING WITH FAME: A HOLLYWOOD PUBLICIST RECALLS 50 YEARS OF CELEBRITY CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, the new book has just been published by Bear Manor Media. To find the book on Amazon.com, please CLICK HERE
For more information about Dan Harary, please see: www.danhararyauthor.com and www.asburypr.com
NOTE to Los Angeles-based readers of SHOOT: To promote FLIRTING WITH FAME in LA, Dan will be signing books at 2pm on Saturday, July 9, at Barnes & Noble at The Grove; at 5pm on Saturday, July 16, at SideShow Books, 1639 La Cienega Blvd.; at 6pm on Tuesday, July 19, at Chevalier’s Books in Larchmont Village; and at 7pm on Wednesday, August 10, at Book Soup in West Hollywood.
Dee Wallace, star of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and a longtime colleague and friend of Harary’s, said, “I enjoyed Dan’s book because he is so open and honest about his encounters and adventures with celebrities–some very funny, some odd, and some even hard to believe–but all told from an ‘everyman’s’ point of view. In this book, Dan successfully encapsulates his 50 years of celebrity close encounters, all while serving the reader as a skillful narrator.”
In FLIRTING WITH FAME, Harary cites hundreds of stories about his 50 years of interactions – between 1972 and 2022, and the ages of 15-65 – with well-known celebrities from the fields of film, TV, rock and pop music, politics and pop culture.
Among the amusing anecdotes presented in FLIRTING WITH FAME:
- Dan literally “opened the door to fame” for Bruce Springsteen at a small concert venue in Asbury Park, NJ, in February 1973, years before “The Boss” became famous;
- While being introduced to actress Meryl Streep, Dan was so nervous, he called the actress – one of the world’s most famous women – BY THE WRONG NAME while shaking her hand!
- Bumping into Jerry Seinfeld at a car wash in 1981, LONG before the comic was famous, Dan told Jerry, “I’m your biggest fan!” to which Seinfeld replied, “Really? Gee, I didn’t know I had ANY fans”!!
- In 1973, Bruce Springsteen’s Sax Player Clarence Clemons asked Dan and his best friend Steve Walter (today the owner of New York’s famed Cutting Room nightclub) if they would go on the road with the E Street Band as their road crew. To this request, Harary replied, “Sorry, Clarence, we can’t. We’re only 16, we don’t even drive yet, and I’m pretty sure our fathers want us to go to college!”
- When meeting Steven Spielberg, Harary and the iconic film director discussed Spielberg’s mother’s blintzes! When meeting Billy Crystal, Harary and the famed comedian discussed Chinese food – when Dan met Bea Arthur, they were inhaling massive quantities of jumbo shrimp at a Beverly Hills party for Bob Hope and Steve Allen. And speaking of food, Dan had lunch with his childhood idol, Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz, in 1986 at Columbia Pictures – during which time, Dolenz asked Harary if he knew of “any mansions in Bel Air” for sale!
- While escorting SEINFELD star Julia Louis-Dreyfus on a red-carpet showbiz event, Dan realized the comedienne had a huge SALES TAG sticking out from the top of her dress! Harary quickly tore off the tag, before the entirety of Hollywood’s press corps would have memorialized that moment on film for eternity.
- While introducing his mother, Joan, to Mel Brooks, Dan told the legendary comic and director, “Mr. Brooks – you and my mother went to the same high school!” Mel and Joan then continued with a 15-minute conversation about growing up in Brooklyn.
Dan Harary was born and raised in Ocean Township, New Jersey – a town just adjacent to the famous city of Asbury Park. Starting in 1972, at the age of 15, he began working with famous celebrities – including Bruce Springsteen – during his time as the Stage Manager and Lighting Director at The Sunshine Inn concert hall in Asbury Park. A graduate of Boston University, Dan relocated to Los Angeles in 1980, and has held in-house positions with Columbia Pictures, the American Film Institute, the Playboy Channel, Columbia Pictures Television, and two large, prominent entertainment PR agencies, before launching his own company, The Asbury PR Agency, in 1996.
