Promises I Made My Mother - 9780307577139

The promises Sam Haskell made to his mother guide him from a small-town Mississippi boyhood, through the cutthroat world of Hollywood as Worldwide Head of Television at the William Morris Agency, to a life of philanthropy, in this inspirational, moving, and heartwarming memoir

When he was growing up in small-town Mississippi, Sam Haskell saw a TV commercial promising that “The Cheer Man” was visiting homes across America, distributing $10 checks to anyone who could produce a box of Cheer detergent. Sam was convinced “The Cheer Man” would come to his house. Nearly a year later—to everyone's surprise—“The Cheer Man” arrived and young Sam was ready for him.

In this powerful and inspiring book, “The Cheer Man” becomes a parable for Haskell's extraordinary life and a metaphor for the way he's lived it: believing in dreams, especially the unattainable ones, and making them come true.

Haskell's core beliefs—humility, integrity, character, honesty, and confidence—were taught to him by his beloved mother, Mary. Each chapter focuses on a promise Sam made to his mother to adopt those values and shows how they led him to a fulfilling and successful life: as a precocious boy, a student at Ole Miss, and a young man in Hollywood with no money or connections, who rose from the William Morris mailroom to become the Agency's Worldwide Head of Television.

In this heartfelt book, Haskell shows us how, even in the cutthroat, shark-infested waters of Hollywood, you can get ahead by being true to yourself.


From the Hardcover edition.