contracts, and big agencies like MCA could then negotiate stronger terms for their clients. Agents like Wasserman would pitch packages, for example a writer client, director client, and actor or actress, to the studios who then needed only to finance it. Therefore, in some respects, agencies began to do the job previously done by the studios – namely, assembling films. Wasserman expanded on practices established by earlier agents. For example, Feldman and Selznick realized in the late 1930s that an actor could pay much less tax by turning himself into a corporation. The corporation, which would employ the actor, would own part of a motion picture in which the actor appeared, and all monies would accrue to the corporation, which was taxed at a much lower rate than was personal income. Wasserman used this tax avoidance scheme with actor James Stewart, beginning with the Anthony Mann western Winchester '73 (1950). This marked the first time an onscreen talent ever received "points in the film" – a business tactic that skyrocketed after Wasserman's negotiation and Stewart's ensuing success. Following the rising postwar popularity of television and the resulting near bankruptcy of many studios, Wasserman purchased Universal Studios and Decca Records in 1962 and merged them with MCA. In 1966, he singlehandedly installed Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Together they orchestrated and controlled much of how Hollywood operated, and was allowed to do business, for the next several decades. Wasserman ran the combined company for nearly 30 years before selling it to Japanese consumer electronics conglomerate Matsushita Electric in 1990. According to the 2003 book When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence, Wasserman was interested in acquiring The Walt Disney Company in 1984, and this deal came within inches of actually happening: As a tribute to the man who essentially built the park, the New York section of Universal Studios Florida possesses a statue of Wasserman with an accompanying plaque. It is routinely decorated for various events, such as Halloween Horror Nights, and is removed for the Macy's Holiday Parade, as to not interfere with the various balloons. Political connections According to Dan E. Moldea's survey Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (which inspired Clara and Julia Kuperberg's 2017 TV documentary Ronald Reagan: un président sur mesure), Wasserman was the link between the