From Red Hot Momma to Evangelical Preacher

The passing this week of renowned evangelist Oral Rogers brought to mind the extreme variety of clients represented by the agency in its earlier years, before we settled into our current niche of leisure travel, destination and maritime clientele.

Famous for her 1939 movie “My Little Chicadee” one-liner, “Come on up and see me sometime,” Mae West gained fame as an uninhibited “red hot momma” in her many film roles. The agency provided her South Florida publicity in a 1960s supper club booking in Miami Beach.

An even more unlikely client was evangelist Oral Roberts’ revival in the late 1950s at Miami’s Dinner Key Convention Center. Although the attendance was large enough to earn the agency Roberts’ praise for the publicity buildup, he failed to convert his jaded publicist to his Pentecostal agenda.