Secrets of His Success

Bruce McNall’s book of success is about to end at Chapter 11.

According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records, Time Warner’s Warner Books division currently has a contract to publish the beleaguered Los Angeles sports mogul’s autobiography.

According to the contract, signed in late 1993, McNall agreed to “share his secrets of success, wealth and power” in the book. McNall received $100,000 as an advance, 10% of which went to his agents at the William Morris Agency, the contract says.

The only problem with the success story is that McNall is in bankruptcy proceedings. He also sold a majority interest in his Los Angeles Kings hockey team, and in December pleaded guilty to four criminal counts stemming from a federal bank fraud investigation.

Lawyers representing the trustee in McNall’s bankruptcy are now moving to have the book deal rejected, arguing that the trustee can’t exactly assume what amounts to a personal services contract. What’s more, they note, McNall’s success story has drastically changed.

“While the trustee could write a biography of McNall, it would be a very different book than that contemplated by the Warner contract,” wrote Susan I. Montgomery, a lawyer for the trustee.

Watching the O.J. Watchers

Like millions of other Americans, Ursinus College economist Bernard Lentz is interested in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, but not for the usual reasons.

The suburban Philadelphia college economist studies worker distractions, such as how much productivity is hurt the day after the Super Bowl when people are talking about the game or settling bets.

According to Lentz, one bit of proof that the trial has affected productivity can be found in New York Stock Exchange activity. Trading dropped off by 4.17 million shares in the first half-hour at the trial’s start to a rate much lower than normal for that time of day, he says.

He says he will try to monitor the trial’s impact, although he has some reservations about spending too much time on it.

“I don’t want to detract from my own productivity,” he says.

No Endorsement

Sony is inadvertently getting plenty of exposure this week on television due to the Simpson trial because a terminal with its name on it sits in view of the court cameras when witnesses testify.

It’s not a new form of product placement. Indeed, Rogers & Cowan executive Frank Devaney, who specializes in product placement, notes that while product placement for a fee is common in movies, there are much tighter federal restrictions on the practice on television.

Briefly. . .

Several sports trivia buffs pointed out that an item here last week incorrectly said that the Washington Redskins football team won its first Super Bowl in 1988. It was 1983 at the Rose Bowl. . .Unpredictable business: An ad in Daily Variety from a “world class Beverly Hills psychic clairvoyant to the stars” says the psychic “is finally accepting, after many years, new clientele.”