it" into an upper echelon of rock and roll while retaining artistic integrity; according to his biographer Marc Eliot, this made him "spiritually closer to Bob Dylan than to, say, Bobby Darin". The duo chose William Morris as their booking agency after a recommendation from Wally Amos, also a friend of Wilson's. During the sessions for Parsley, Simon and Garfunkel recorded "A Hazy Shade of Winter"; it was released as a single, peaking at number 13 on the national charts. "At the Zoo", recorded for a single release in early 1967, charted at number 16. Simon began work for their next album around this time, telling High Fidelity he was no longer interested in singles. He developed writer's block, which prevented the duo from releasing an album in 1967. Many other successful artists at the time were expected to release two or three albums each year, and the lack of productivity worried Columbia executives. Amid concerns for Simon's apparent idleness, Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis arranged for up-and-coming producer John Simon to kick-start the recording. Simon was distrustful of label executives; on one occasion, he and Garfunkel recorded a meeting with Davis, who was giving a "fatherly talk" on speeding up production, to laugh at it later. The rare television appearances at this time saw the duo performing on network broadcasts as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Andy Williams Show in 1966, and twice on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Meanwhile, director Mike Nichols, then filming The Graduate, had become fascinated with Simon & Garfunkel's records, listening to them extensively before and after filming. He met Davis to ask for permission to license Simon & Garfunkel music for his film. Davis viewed it as a perfect fit and envisioned a bestselling soundtrack album. Simon was not as receptive and was cautious of "selling out". However, after meeting Nichols and being impressed by his wit and the script, he agreed to write new songs for the film. Leonard Hirshan, a powerful agent at William Morris, negotiated a deal that paid Simon $25,000 to submit three songs to Nichols and producer Lawrence Turman. When Nichols was not impressed by Simon's songs "Punky's Dilemma" and "Overs", Simon and Garfunkel offered another, incomplete song, which became "Mrs. Robinson"; Nichols loved it. 1967–1968: Studio time and low profile Simon & Garfunkel's fourth studio album, Bookends, was recorded in