Henry C. Rogers

Henry C. Rogers (April 19, 1914 – April 28, 1995) was an American publicist in the entertainment industry. He worked with notable actors and singers, such as Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Paul McCartney, and many others. Rogers wrote four books, titled Walking the Tightrope: the private confessions of a public relations man, Rogers' Rules for Success, The One-Hat Solution: Rogers' Strategy for Creative Middle Management, and Rogers' Rules for Businesswomen: How to Start a Career and Move Up the Ladder.

Personal life

Early life Henry Rogers was born in Irvington, N.J., where his father operated a dry goods store. He was of Jewish heritage. He attended the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, but when his father's store began to fail during the Depression, he had to drop out of school two and a half years into his program. Rogers died on April 28, 1995, due to a combination of longstanding heart and kidney problems.

Philanthropy In promoting the arts, Rogers served as chairman of the Center Theatre Group and was a board member of the Performing Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Music Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the American Council for the Arts. He was a vice chairman of the American Film Institute and chairman of an advisory committee to the U.S. Information Agency. He also served on the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Career

Early career After much trouble finding work, Rogers began his career in 1934 as a $5-a-week press agent's office boy for Grace Nolan, a Hollywood press agent. After working for Nolan for a while, Rogers was promoted to $12 an hour. It was then that he began meeting people in the movie business. Rogers was fired after accidentally taking home his boss' keys and causing her to miss an appointment.

Rogers and Cowan Henry Rogers founded his own independent public relations firm in 1935. In 1950, 15 years into the business, he partnered with Warren Cowan and changed the name of the firm to Rogers and Cowan. Rogers and Cowan then became the twelfth-largest public relations firm in the United States… Headquartered in Beverly Hills, also offices in New York and London.

Charles Champin of The New York Times wrote, "n 1965, Rogers & Cowan was the powerhouse among independent publicity agencies servicing the entertainment industry." This was attributed to the shrinking of the major studios in the growth years of television, and the decimating of the studio publicity staffs in particular, which had created boom times for the independents.

Rita Hayworth kick-started Rogers' career in the Hollywood industry. Rogers met Hayworth in 1939. After being a bit deceitful, Rogers was able to get Hayworth on the cover of Look Magazine, and as a result she signed a contract with him. Rita Hayworth's debut on the cover of Look made her famous, and as a result, Rogers became known as well.

In 1940, Rogers was hired by Claudette Colbert and was actually accepted into the publicity business. Joan Crawford then hired Rogers in 1945 after she had been fired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and blackballed in the business.

McCarthyism During the McCarthy era, in which many celebrities were accused of being communists without regard for evidence, Rogers took the difficult job of defending those who had been accused. He did so at the risk of his own career.