Cirque du Chuck

At the wheel of a dusty 1997 Chrysler convertible on this warm, cloudless mid-September afternoon is a shortish, roundish, 66-year-old man known mostly these days as Chuck Harris. With his moptop of white hair, the unlined face of a child actor, which indeed he once was, and the square black Swifty Lazar-type eyeglasses of extreme magnification, he pulls up to the guard gate at the KTLA studios in Hollywood. "Chuck Harris for 'Steve Harvey's Big Time!' " he says jauntily.

The twentyish security guard is unimpressed. He stares dully at his clipboard.

"Nothing here for Chuck Harris," he says.

Harris sighs patiently--a subtly nuanced sound rarely heard hereabouts. The guard motions him to drive forward to a holding area, then disappears into his shack to make further inquiries. After no small amount of time the quasi-cop reemerges and grudgingly allows Harris onto the lot. Harris parks and proceeds on a brisk quarter-mile walk to the WB Network variety series' production office. There are many odd-shaped holes in the show's lineup of future guests, and he knows just what it will take to fill them.

Once there, a receptionist informs him that Madeleine Smithberg, the executive producer he has come to see, is "tied up in editing." He sinks deeply into a couch in the waiting area, still jaunty, and waits.

At this point some might suspect that they're reading about a loser, a man at the self-deluded fringes of show business, a West Coast cousin of Broadway Danny Rose. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

This is a success story about a man who's turned many of the supposed rules of The Industry--you've gotta make it by 30; you have to operate on the cutting edge of technology and pop psychology; there are no second acts; it's who you know--on their heads. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Chuck Harris is a theatrical manager who mainly represents freaks, geeks and assorted other oddities and novelties. He's making quite a good living, thanks for asking, as do many of his clients, and the argument could even be made that he's closer to the real beating heart of show business than the legions of moguls, moneymen, brand managers, lawyer/agents and MBA-degreed yes-men who've never heard of him.