Synopses & Reviews
When Chris Snyder first arrived in Hollywood, having long dreamed of film glamour while growing up in upstate New York, little did he realize the embodiment of his dreams would be five-foot-two, with a leopard-skin coat, a throaty voice, and a hide like a rhino. Iris Burton won the Most Beautiful Child in New York contest when she was nine, was a dancer in Martin and Lewis comedies and in Cecil B. de Mille's The Ten Commandments, and dated everyone from Gene Kelly to Steve McQueen. Then, when she became an agent for young actors, she helped create River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Kirk Cameron, and Fred Savage, among dozens of others. She had become a legendary power in Hollywood by the time Snyder started working in her pool house office and witnessing what it takes to make it in showbiz. Iris Burton was the first to get grown-up money for child actors, who also brought to Snyder's desk a raft of tragically grown-up problems, as Snyder meanwhile kept a semi-successful grip on his own health and sanity. This captivating and wildly entertaining account takes readers into the belly of the beast in a way that is both impossible to put down, and ultimately quite tragic.
Synopsis
Iris Burton is a child performer turned child agent. Chris Snyder;s dreams for when he arrived in Hollywood did not include a five-foot-two woman with a throaty voice and a hide like a rhino. But Iris Burton was an agent for Kirk Cameron, River and Joaquin Phoenix, Fred Savage, and other budding stars. Snyders captivating and wildly entertaining account takes readers into the belly of the beast that makes this book impossible to put down.