Hollywood heavyweight throws effort into Salvation Army gala

David Mirisch’s event planning comes to fruition on Saturday, March 22, with “We Can Swing It,” a 1940s and ’50s gala featuring live music by Swingin’ On High, silent and live auctions, dinner and dance, vintage car show and dance competition from 5:30 to 10 p.m. in the Expo Building at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

Tickets are $40 ticket and proceeds benefit The Salvation Army. Tickets are available at the Salvation Army community Center, 110 Bountiful Drive, Salvation Army Value Center, The Bookshelf and Kalispell Toyota in Kalispell; Third Street Market and Trails West Real Estate in Whitefish; Cimarron Cafe in Columbia Falls; Trails West Real Estate in Bigfork; and the Salvation Army Value Center in Polson.

By HILARY MATHESON

The Daily Inter Lake

David Mirisch of Missoula wakes up every morning at 5 a.m. and goes straight to work producing star-studded events around the country and the world.

He is currently producing the “We Can Swing It” fundraiser March 22 in Kalispell for the Salvation Army.

In addition to producing more than 2,500 celebrity events and raising more than $35 million for charity organizations, Mirisch’s namesake carries with it a legacy of legendary Hollywood fame.

David is the son of Irving Mirisch, who along with his brothers Walter, Marvin and Harold created the famous motion picture production business Mirisch Company in 1957.

The Mirisch Company produced favorites such as “Some Like it Hot,” “The Pink Panther,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Magnificent Seven.” The Mirisches also had a hand in producing Best Picture Oscar winners “The Apartment,” “West Side Story and “In the Heat of the Night.”

David Mirisch’s more than 50-year career in the entertainment industry began in his hometown of Milwaukee, where he helped out with his family’s candy business responsible for supplying goodies to roughly 1,000 movie theater concession stands across the Midwest.

When he was in his 20s he and his family moved to Southern California. While the Mirisch brothers produced movies in Tinseltown, David was tasked to travel around the country promoting the movies through newspaper, radio and television to stir up excitement for opening night.

“I was very fortunate to have a family that said ‘we have a job for you,’ and so my door was open to get into the publicity business because I graduated with a degree in speech and that didn’t have anything to do with the film business,” David said with a smile.

He soon transitioned into public relations for the entertainment industry. His big break came when he was offered a job as a  personal assistant to Henry Rogers of Rogers and Cowan.

“He got me into my routine,” David said about waking up early in the morning.

“I had to be in the office and have every newspaper and magazine read with every Rogers and Cowan client name underlined so when Henry Rogers walked into his office at 7 a.m. every newspaper was on his desk,” he recalled. “I learned from the best public relations man in the entire entertainment industry.”

After about a year, David struck out on his own and started his own firm. Over two decades he built a clientele list of 500 actors, actresses, musicians and performers.

“I represented a lot of major musical stars such as Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Merv Griffin,” David said.

He was also the publicist of TV superheroes such as The Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner, and Wonder Woman, Linda Carter. Not limited to representing talent, he also discovered it — including a young Farrah Fawcett in 1968.

David’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he described two of his greatest public relations coups. The first involved Gary Lewis, the son of comedian Jerry Lewis.

“I put on a national contest for a girl to give Gary Lewis his very last kiss before he went into the United States Army,” David said. “We chose a girl in Des Moines, Iowa, to give Gary Lewis his last kiss on network television before he went.”

It made the front page of the New York Post the next day.

His second buzz-worthy moment was organizing Fifth Dimension lead singer Florence Larue’s nuptials in a hot air balloon.

“They had the No. 1 record hit “Up, Up and Away,” so I said ‘why don’t we get you married 100 feet above the parking lot of the Century Plaza Hotel in a balloon,’” David said.

“The picture broke in every newspaper in the world because they were the No. 1 recording act at the time.”

Along the way David found another talent — coordinating celebrity events.

“My first event was in the early 1970s when tennis player Tony Trabert — he won the U.S. Open — hired me to promote the opening of a summer camp. He said to me ‘David, do you have any ideas of how we should promote our camp?’ and I said ‘why don’t we do a celebrity tennis tournament?” David recalled.

With a golden contact list of more than 6,000 Hollywood personalities at his fingers, he found a new calling.

Using his talents to help nonprofits be successful has been one of the most rewarding parts of his career. His niche appears to be celebrity sporting events.

 From hot air balloon races to deep-sea fishing and miniature golf, his ideas run the gamut.

“That’s the fun in my business. You gotta be creative to be a good event coordinator,” David said.

The personal touch he puts into his events is thoroughness.

“If you’re thorough, you don’t forget things. Also, follow through with what you start,” he advised.

Over the past 35 years he has mentored college interns who want to get into event production.

“It’s a great opportunity for young people to go into events all over the world, I mean every hotel, as you know, has an event coordinator,” David said.

Building such a career takes chutzpah, persistence and extensive networking.

“In our business you have to be outgoing. You can’t be afraid to talk to anybody,” he said.

At 78, he has no plans of retiring. He’s similar to Walter, the last living Mirisch brother, who at 92 still goes into the studio every day.