Although he never went beyond secondary school, Aaron Russo became a millionaire in show business. He managed the Kinetic Playground in Chicago in the late 1960s where he booked The Who, Jefferson Airplane and other popular bands of the day. For seven years, Russo managed Bette Midler. In 1979, he produced "The Rose" which gave Midler her first starring role. After producing a string of films and directing "Rude Awakening." Russo turned to blending radical politics with entertainment. He tried to sell a pilot for a television show called "Aaron Russo's Mad As Hell" in the early 1990s. When he was unsuccessful in selling the controversial program to networks, he began selling the pilot as a video in 1996. In 1994 he tried to start a political party called the Constitution Party. In 1998, however, he ran for the Republican party nomination for governor of the state of Nevada. (He lost.) In 2000, he supported the Libertarian party.
