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There are people who will tell you our city's Edmund Oliverio is the best publicist in the country. Maybe even in all of North America.
He simply tells you a top-notch publicist operates on three little words whether it involves promoting a Hollywood star, promoting a one shot event or promoting a provincial centennial.
"You need buzz, you need hype -- and you need integrity," says the man the Who's Who Directory of the Academy of Canadian Cinema describes as "Western Canada's publicist extraordinaire for 32 years."
"If you don't get the buzz going in a community for an event, you won't get people buying tickets. To get the buzz you have to have hype. If you don't have integrity -- if you don't do it honestly and give people great value for their money -- neither the stars nor the audience will come back a second time."
The list of the stars for whom he has served as a tour or unit publicist ranges from Burl Ives to Crystal Gayle, from Raymond Burr to Phyllis Diller, from Emmylou Harris to David Brenner, and let's not forget his unforgettable experiences with Pink Lloyd and Sir Elton John.
He can handle the Royal Winnipeg Ballet one month and Three Dog Night the next, or Led Zeppelin and Murray Hatfield's Illusion Show back-to-back.
Oliverio was awarded the job of promoting the 1970 Manitoba Centennial without ever having been in that province, and that provincial centennial is generally regarded as being the benchmark for all other provincial centennials.
"To be a great publicist, the word impossible is simply not in the dictionary. No star, no movie unit director or no trade show chairman wants to here his publicist say something can't be done. They want to see the production rolling and the audience coming through the doors. You keep focused on putting bums on seats."
A roly-poly figure of a man with a mischievous grin always on his face, Oliverio looks like a character out of a Charles Dickens novel.
An uncle, Archie Laurie was publicist for United Artists film studios -- the company that was basically the foundation of the movie industry in Canada -- and hearing so many stories about the movies led him as a teenager to get a job as an usher in the theatre so he could see as many movies as he liked for free.
"The job paid just 20 cents an hour, and then I found out the Willowdale Enterprise newspaper would pay me 20 cents an inch for any story I would cover. So I did both jobs, and started to hone some publicist talents. Once I learned the tricks of the trade, contacts and contracts just seemed to flow in."
He’s served on the boards of both the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Calgary Convention and Visitors Bureau, and founded the Aboriginal Tourist Authority, a not-for-profit organization based in Calgary. He's been president of the Alberta Recording Industries Association and the Professional Arts Publicists Association. He's been executive director of the Canadian Film Celebration where he earned the nickname "wizard" after raising $1 million in less than 3 months. He has sat on boards ranging from the Alberta Centre for Ethics to the Calgary Region Arts Foundation He received a special citation from the United Nations for his work promoting the culture of peace. His memberships still range from the prestigious Canadian Club where he is the national association vice president, to the world-renowned Variety Club, from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television to the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Edmund has served as a judge on scores of film and music festivals and awards juries throughout North America. His business colleagues describes him as one who gives back to the community. What a citizen!
He organized two national aboriginal tourist conventions and trade shows that attract more than 1,000 delegates from coast to coast, as well as organizing 10 aboriginal tourist workshops across Western Canada." And along with Robert Blair and Chief Roy Whitney, Edmund organized two of our country's most successful aboriginal economic development congresses that brought First Nations chiefs together with chiefs of our industries. It was successful mainly due to Oliverio's determination not to accept any government funding for the events. "I'm a great believer in working with the private business sector to get funding for aboriginal people's projects. Government handouts just don't seem to work."
Amidst this kaleidoscope of a background, he has just been reappointed for his third-term as the Alberta representative director of Canada's world-acclaimed Street Kids International.
"Street Kids has achieved some amazing things. In the Sudan, for instance, we raised money to buy street kids bicycles and taught them how to run a courier service. Again, you don't change anyone's life with piecemeal handouts. You have to give them long-term opportunities. Street Kids has now touched more than 200,000 street youth in 110 countries."
Sitting at a sidewalk cafe, he can hold anyone spellbound with his anecdotes of the people he's met and the things he's done.
"When I was working with Burl Ives, he once he told me to keep an eye on both his wife and his credit cards while he was taking a nap! Phyllis Diller was as madcap off stage as she is on. She's a lady with a 1,000 one-liners for every occasion and every disaster. Crystal Gayle is a wonderful lady.
"If she thinks you've got too much on your own plate she'll offer to phone up newspapers, radio and television stations and set up the interviews herself. Just plain down to earth."
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