Kim Masters’s “The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip” is an unauthorized biography of the chairman, beginning with his wealthy, ties-at-dinner childhood on Park Avenue and ultimately including his sometimes strained relations with many stars and power brokers. “Keys” has long been billed as a hatchet job. Last spring Masters’s original publisher, Broadway Books, dumped the book and asked the author for its $700,000 back. Masters claimed Disney had somehow squashed the project–just as she’s now suggesting that the company is hurting her publicity tour by refusing to book her on shows on its sister network, ABC. Disney denies both allegations, and Broadway Books has said “Keys” simply wasn’t good enough.
That’s certainly plausible. Masters’s last book, a Sony expose she co-wrote with Nancy Griffin, was called “Hit & Run.” This one could have been called “Hit & Miss.” “Keys” is voraciously reported and sloppily written. It’s full of great, gossipy flotsam and jetsam, but it’s lacking any real revelations. Does Eisner come off badly? Absolutely. Masters portrays him as paranoid, “frequently impulsive, often duplicitous.” Hell, she calls him “Nixonian”–and not because he opened talks with China. Eisner, who has published his own autobiography, declined to be interviewed for the book. “Keys” is certainly weighted in Katzenberg’s favor, but, in truth, just about everyone comes off as arrogant and petty in the end. As Masters recounts the zillion projects that Eisner and Katzenberg oversaw, we see stars at their most unglossy: an allegedly coked-up Debra Winger terrorizing Shirley MacLaine during “Terms of Endearment,” a bored Madonna baiting Warren Beatty when there are delays on “Dick Tracy” (“Warren. I’m losing my hard-on”). We see executives at their most parsimonious (Disney paying Robin Williams $485 a day for “Aladdin,” then trying to appease him by giving him a Picasso he thinks is ugly) and at their most crafty (Katzenberg goading Steven Spielberg into joining DreamWorks: “If you’re so successful, how come Geffen has more money than you?”).
Masters, who’s worked for Vanity Fair and Time, is a dogged, well-connected reporter, but she’s weak on the big picture. “Keys” desperately wants to be the story of a rise and fall. Unfortunately, you’ll notice that Eisner is still standing. Katzenberg left Disney in a fury when Eisner wouldn’t promote him, then launched a lawsuit that cost the studio $270 million, according to Masters. It was a terrible moment for Eisner–had he not been so hardheaded, Katzenberg would have settled for $90 million. What’s worse, it followed Disney’s calamitous association with Michael Ovitz, who was given a $90 million severance package after a single disastrous year. Some of Disney’s shareholders were furious at Eisner, because in the midst of all the toxic PR he became the highest-paid executive in the country, making $589 million in 1998. Sadly for Masters’s book, Eisner survived all the flak–as well as heart trouble–and returned to form, so the book must settle for a cheesily ominous ending. Masters suggests the emperor can’t reign without a strong partner. But even she’s got to admit that things ain’t all bad when he can look out his window and see “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” “Toy Story 2” and “The Sixth Sense.” It may be lonely at the top–but it’s still the top.
