Veteran Adman Della Femina Stepping Down : Marketing: The well-known agency head’s move comes after a year of bickering with the firm’s French parent. He may pitch spots elsewhere, write a screenplay or open an eatery.

Jerry Della Femina, the Madison Avenue adman as well known for his trademark bald pate as his offbeat sense of humor, stepped down Friday as head of the agency he founded 25 years ago. The move followed a year of nasty bickering with the firm’s French parent.

Della Femina has been succeeded as chairman by Louise McNamee, 42, the agency president who is an extremely close confidant to Della Femina--and whom he previously appointed to the No. 2 post.

The 55-year-old Della Femina, whose agency Della Femina McNamee created the ultra-slick car pitchman Joe Isuzu, said he expects to open a new agency or head an existing New York ad firm.

While the Big Apple has a grasp on Della Femina’s heart, it looks like Hollywood is attracting his creative eye. Della Femina said he plans to write a screenplay about his life in the ad business. And, he said he soon plans to open an Italian restaurant--named after himself--in posh East Hampton, Long Island. If that restaurant succeeds, he hopes to open a second eatery in Los Angeles.

“I can use all the unemployed actors from my commercials to wait tables,” he joked.

But there has been little joking at the agency over the past few years, ever since the French ad giant Euro RSCG took control of the company. Della Femina has been openly critical of the firm, which refused to give Della Femina control over its two other U.S. agencies, Tatham RSCG in Chicago and New York-based Messner Vetere Berger Cary Schmetterer. Della Femina’s departure could set the stage for Euro RSCG to reshuffle--or even merge--the three agencies.

The past year was not a good one for the agency. Client billings in excess of $175 million fled the agency, including its two largest West Coast clients, Isuzu and Carl’s Jr. That put a severe strain on the Los Angeles office, which saw its billings and payroll cut almost in half.

It also caused tension between Della Femina and Peter Stranger, president of the beleaguered Los Angeles office. But on Friday, Stranger called his former boss the last of a breed.

“It is the end of an era in advertising,” said Stranger, who noted that few of those who founded New York’s creative agencies of 1960s are now running them. “It’s a sign of the times,” he lamented.

In a phone interview Friday, Della Femina sounded surprisingly upbeat. “I couldn’t be happier,” he said. “This is a chance to do something in advertising that will finally be fun for me.”

Della Femina declined to disclose details of any offers, but he said several had already crossed his desk. If he starts his own agency, he will be unable--at least for the time being--to wrap his own name into it.

“They own my name,” he said of Euro RSCG.

Of all the ads developed by his agency, Della Femina said he was most proud of the Joe Isuzu character, who incessantly told lies in TV spots--and in the process developed broad name awareness for client Isuzu. Although the campaign won dozens of top creative awards, auto industry analysts often criticized it for failing to sell many vehicles.

Long before condom advertising was acceptable, Della Femina’s agency created a provocative ad for Lifestyles brand condoms that emphasized how the condoms could protect users from AIDS. Most magazines and TV stations refused to run the ad, which featured an attractive woman who said, “I enjoy sex, but I’m not ready to die for it.”