what did mr. rosen trip on

Mr. and Mrs. Rosen

Character analysis.

Even though they don't get quite as much screen time, Ellen's parents are just as victimized as their daughter. And you know what? They're just as brave, too. They have to abandon their home, their jobs, and their community, and they can't take anything precious with them. But despite this, the Rosens remain courageous:

They had nothing with them now […] [Annemarie] knew how frightened they all must be of the future. […] But their shoulders were as straight as they had been in the past. (11.40-42)

The Johansens risk their lives for the Rosens, and we believe the Rosens would do the same thing for the Johansens if their roles were reversed. What do you think?

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W hy's T his F unny?

Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry

Number the stars quotes and analysis.

"It is important to be one of the crowd, always. Be one of many. Be sure that they never have reason to remember your face." - Mrs. Rosen, Pg. 9

At the beginning of the novel, Mrs. Rosen gives Annemarie and Ellen valuable advice about how to avoid the Nazis. Although Mrs. Rosen might seem extremely cautious––or even paranoid––to modern readers, she had a good reason to be worried. In German-occupied countries, Jewish citizens were arrested and 'relocated' to concentration camps, where they were enslaved or killed. Although Ellen's dark hair makes it hard for her to hide her identity, she can avoid confrontations with German soldiers by making an effort to remain inconspicuous.

“Friends will take care of them. That’s what friends do.” - Mama (Mrs. Johansen), Pg. 22

Mama repeats this quote several times throughout the novel. To Mama and Papa, taking care of the Rosens is a non-negotiable responsibility. The two families have lived together for so long that they are like one family, and the Rosens would certainly sacrifice their lives for the Johansens if their positions were reversed. Mama's words also serve as reassurance to Annemarie, who is concerned about the the safety of other Jewish families she knows in Copenhagen, like the Hirsches. When Mama talks about friends, she is referring to the entire population of Denmark––all of whom see themselves as friends of the Jews during this challenging time.

“It was all imaginary, anyway—not real. It was only in the fairy tales that people were called upon to be so brave, to die for one another. Not in real-life Denmark. Oh, there were the soldiers; that was true. And the courageous Resistance leaders, who sometimes lost their lives; that was true too. But ordinary people like the Rosens and the Johansens? Annemarie admitted to herself, snuggling there in the quiet dark, that she was glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage.” - Narrator, Pg. 23-24

Early in Number the Stars , Annemarie watches others being brave around her but is relieved that she will never be called upon to show the same level courage. Peter Neilsen, for example, regularly risks his life for the Resistance. However, it is not long before Annemarie, too, must aid in the dangerous mission to rescue a group of Jewish refugees from the German soldiers. Although Annemarie is rightfully fearful while undertaking such a dangerous mission, she shows courage by acknowledging her fear and then overcoming it on order to carry out the task at hand.

“Once I had three daughters. Tonight I am proud to have three daughters again.” - Papa (Mr. Johansen), Pg. 33

In this passage, Papa references his eldest daughter, Lise. At this point in the novel, Annemarie thinks that Lise died in a car accident. However, she learns at the end of the novel that the German soldiers intentionally ran over Lise when they discovered that she was part of the Danish Resistance. Although the Johansens will never get their eldest daughter back, they use Lise's name and her baby pictures to shelter Ellen from the Nazis. In a way, this gesture keeps Lise's memory alive. Although she is gone, she is still able to fight for her cause and protect a little girl who was like a sister to her.

“My parents have always told me that education is the most important thing. Whatever happens, I must get an education.” - Ellen Rosen, Pg. 44

Ellen's father is a teacher, so it makes sense that he would teach his daughter the importance of education. Education is just one of the many sacrifices that the Rosens must make to save their lives after the Germans invade. Mr. Rosen loses his job, and Ellen cannot go to school once the Germans start arresting and 'relocating' Jews. Ellen shows great maturity in this scene. While many children might enjoy getting time away from school, Ellen recognizes that losing her access to education will hurt her in the long run.

“It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything. And so your mama does not know everything. Neither do I. We only know what we need to know.” - Uncle Henrik, Pg. 65

Many of the characters in Number the Stars show courage in the face of danger. At the beginning of the novel, Annemarie thinks that people like Peter and Uncle Henrik must not feel fear the way she does. However, after her involvement in rescuing the Rosens, Annemarie learns that everyone feels fear. Being brave does not mean ignoring your fears––it just means accepting them and trying to fight through them. Annemarie learns many strategies for being brave over the course of the novel. When she runs through the woods to deliver the packet to Uncle Henrik, she tells herself fairy tales to keep herself calm. Uncle Henrik also teaches Annemarie the important lesson that sometimes, ignorance can help one to be brave. His strategy serves Annemarie well when the Germans discover Uncle Henrik's handkerchief in the lunch basket. She does not know why it is important, meaning that she does not carry the burden of trying to sell a lie to the Germans.

“Annemarie felt a surge of sadness; the bond of their friendship had not broken, but it was as if Ellen had moved now into a different world, the world of her own family and whatever lay ahead for them.” - Narrator, Pg. 70

Although Ellen and her parents arrive safely in Sweden, the ending of Number the Stars is bittersweet. Annemarie has lost her sister, her brother-in-law, and her best friend to World War II––not to mention her innocence. Although Annemarie hates the idea of being parted from Ellen, part of growing up is recognizing that she must let people go. Because Ellen is safer in Sweden than she was in Denmark, Annemarie is able to accept the temporary loss of her best friend and move on. However, her decision to keep the Star of David necklace in Lise's trunk shows that Annemarie will never forget about Ellen and still hopes for her to return one day.

"It is he who heals the broken in spirit / and binds up their wounds, / he who numbers the stars one by one . . ." - Peter Neilsen, Pg. 74

After a close call with the German soldiers, Peter reads a psalm out loud just in case the soldiers are still eavesdropping. Although he picks a page from the Bible at random, he happens upon a very relevant passage––Psalm 147:4. It describes how God helped the Israelites––that is, the Jews––rebuild after they had been persecuted. It describes God as all-knowing: his understanding is so great that he can number and name the stars. The passage is supposed to offer comfort in times of trouble. Therefore, this choice is particularly comforting for the Jewish refugees in the house, who are about to take a great risk to save their lives.

"You will [see Ellen again], little one. You saved her life, after all. Someday you will find her again. Someday the war will end. All wars do." - Uncle Henrik, Pg. 108

Uncle Henrik reassures Annemarie that one day, the war will end and she will be reunited with Ellen. Uncle Henrik knows the horrors of war better than anyone. He risks his life on a daily basis to help the Jewish refugees, and he is fully aware that the Germans will murder anyone who resists their rule. However, even he is able to maintain hope that things will get better in the future. Despite the terrible events he has witnessed in the past years, he manages to maintain a sense of perspective and keeps faith that the war will eventually end. This hope keeps him motivated to stay brave and steadfast in the face of danger.

"[Peter] had written a letter to them from prison the night before he was shot. It had said simply that he loved them, that he was not afraid, and that he was proud to have done what he could for his country and for the sake of all free people." - Narrator, Pg. 110

Peter's courageous Resistance activities take on new meaning when readers learn at the end of the novel that the Germans eventually caught and executed him. Lowry based Peter's character on Kim Malthe-Bruun, a young Danish Resistance fighter who she learned about when she was researching Number the Stars . Like Peter, Malthe-Bruun wrote a letter to his family asking them to keep fighting for a world where human decency prevails over narrow-mindedness and prejudice. Peter's decision to make the ultimate sacrifice to fight for a higher ideal sets an example for all the characters in the book.

Number the Stars Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Number the Stars is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What was the real reason for Great Aunt Birte's death?

Aunt Birte didn't die.... because she didn't exist.

And Annemarie was quite, quite certain, though she said nothing. There was no Great-aunt Birte. She didn't exist.

At the beginning of Number the Stars , Annemarie loves Denmark but does not yet understand the true meaning of patriotism. As she matures over the course of the novel, however, she begins witness the harm the Germans are inflicting on her country....

What disturbs mama and annemarie when they find the packet for uncle henrick

They thought something had happened to Uncle Henrik. Inside the packet was a handkerchief. The handkerchief would attract the dogs then make them lose their sense of smell, so they would not smell the Jews hiding in the boats. The Ingeborg is...

Study Guide for Number the Stars

Number the Stars study guide contains a biography of Lois Lowry, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Number the Stars
• Number the Stars Summary
• Character List

Lesson Plan for Number the Stars

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Number the Stars
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Number the Stars Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Number the Stars

• Introduction

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Book Review

Number the stars.

Readability Age Range

• Dell Publishing, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, which has become an imprint of Random House. It is also published by Sandpiper, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
• Newbery Medal, 1990

Year Published

This historical fiction book by Lois Lowry is published by Dell Publishing, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, which has become an imprint of Random House. It is also published by Sandpiper, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Number the Stars is written for kids ages 9 and up. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.

Plot Summary

It’s 1943, and the Johansens live in a small apartment in German-occupied Copenhagen, Denmark. Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend, Ellen Rosen, who is Jewish, are frightened by the soldiers who stand guard on every street corner. Annemarie’s little sister, Kirsti, is bolder and scolds the soldiers who question them on their way home from school. The soldiers’ threatening presence becomes more sinister when the Rosens learn that the Nazis intend to relocate Denmark’s Jewish population. Ellen’s parents go into hiding, and Ellen poses as Annemarie’s sister Lise, who died in a car accident earlier in the war.

The first night of Ellen’s stay, German soldiers barge into the Johansens’ apartment. Annemarie breaks a gold clasp in a hurried effort to remove Ellen’s Star of David necklace. Annemarie’s father helps avert disaster by showing the soldiers old photos of his three daughters. As a baby, Lise had dark hair like Ellen has.

The next day, Mrs. Johansen takes the girls to visit Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik, hoping they will be safer in the country. Henrik fishes daily in the strait between Denmark and Sweden, and the girls help with farm chores. When Annemarie is told that her hitherto unknown great-aunt Birte has suddenly died, she is skeptical. She confronts her uncle, and he confirms that Birte is a fictional creation. Annemarie understands the funeral service that evening is a ruse to mask her uncle’s true activities — smuggling Jews out of Demark on his fishing boat.

Jews dressed as mourners arrive at the farmhouse and sit silently around the closed casket. Ellen’s parents are among them. A carload of German officers bang on the door, asking why so many people have gathered at the farmhouse. The suspicious soldiers initially demand that the casket be opened, but they beat a hasty retreat when Annemarie’s mother explains that Birte died of typhus.

When the soldiers leave, Peter Neilsen (a Danish Resistance leader who was engaged to Lise before she died) opens the casket. Instead of a body, the casket holds only blankets and warm clothes. The Jewish “mourners” bundle up for the voyage to Sweden. They leave in small groups and are escorted through the dark to Henrik’s fishing boat that is docked a half-hour walk from the farmhouse. Annemarie’s mother leads the last group but does not return that night.

It is almost dawn when Annemarie sees a trembling heap on the ground outside. She rushes to help her mother, who has broken her ankle. As she helps her mother up the steps, she sees a packet that Peter had given Mr. Rosen. It fell from his pocket when he tripped leaving the house. Knowing only that the packet must reach Henrik, Annemarie hides it in a basket and sets out under the pretext that she is bringing lunch to her forgetful uncle.

On the way to the boat, a group of soldiers and their dogs stop her. They question her, search the lunch and tear open the hidden packet. It contains a handkerchief, and the soldiers leave to search Henrik’s boat. Annemarie is free to deliver the contents of the basket to Henrik.

When Henrik returns from ferrying the Jews to Sweden, he tells Annemarie that the handkerchief had been treated with a drug that attracts the dogs, and then temporarily numbs their sense of smell. Her actions prevented the Rosens, including Ellen, and other Jewish refugees from being detected when the soldiers boarded the boat.

Two years later, the war ends, and Annemarie waits for Ellen and her family to return to the apartment her parents have cared for during their absence. Peter has been publically executed, and she learns that Lise’s death was not an accident: She was deliberately run down while fleeing a raided Resistance meeting. Annemarie retrieves Ellen’s necklace from its hiding place and asks her father to fix the clasp in anticipation of the Rosens’ homecoming.

Christian Beliefs

Kirsti recalls sitting still in church. Ellen mentions that Lise’s funeral was the only time she was in a Lutheran church. Peter reads Psalm 147 at great-aunt Birte’s funeral service. Verses 1 to 4 are quoted. The book’s title, Number the Stars , is a reference to Psalm 147:4, which says, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” Church bells ring throughout Copenhagen when the war ends.

Other Belief Systems

The Rosens attend a New Year’s worship service at the synagogue. Annemarie and Kirsti are invited to the Rosens’ apartment for the Jewish New Year. On Friday evenings, they remember watching Ellen’s mother cover her head, light the Sabbath candles and say a Hebrew prayer. Ellen wears a gold necklace with a Star of David pendant. Kirsti names a grey kitten after Thor, the god of Thunder.

Authority Roles

Mr. and Mrs. Johansen teach their children to do the right thing, even when the consequence is death. Mr. Johansen tells Annemarie the story of a boy who tells a German soldier that all of Denmark is King Christian’s bodyguard. Mr. and Mrs. Johansen would die to protect their king. When Annemarie says that all Danes must also be the Jews’ bodyguard, her father agrees.

The Johansens regard deception as essential during wartime. They feel it will be easier for their children to be brave when they don’t know everything. Annemarie embraces this concept as a right of passage, keeping the lie about great-aunt Birte alive to protect Ellen. Mrs. Johansen tells Kirsti that a series of night explosions are birthday fireworks. Annemarie’s parents say that Lise died in a car accident when she was deliberately run down.

Profanity & Violence

The Danish resistance sabotages the Germans. They deliberately sink their own Navy so the Germans can’t use it. Other acts of sabotage include damaging railroad lines, damaging German cars and trucks, and bombing German factories.

A soldier grabs Ellen’s hair, and a Nazi officer slaps Mrs. Johansen. Peter is publically executed and buried in a numbered grave. A German military car deliberately runs down Lise while she is fleeing a resistance meeting. Other resistance members are shot.

Sexual Content

When asking Mrs. Johansen why Ellen has dark hair, a soldier insinuates that she has a different father than the other children in the family.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at ThrivingFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Drugs/Alcohol: Peter brings Annemarie’s parents two bottles of beer. The words “a carton of cigarettes” are used as a code for Jewish refugees. Mr. Johansen misses smoking cigarettes. The men at his office smoke anything available, including dried weeds rolled in paper. A Jewish baby is drugged so it will stay quiet. A handkerchief is treated with a substance that attracts dogs and then temporarily numbs their sense of smell. In the postscript, we learn it is a powder made of dried rabbit blood and cocaine.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

For additional parenting resources, download a free issue of Thriving Family , a marriage and parenting magazine published by Focus on the Family, at ThrivingFamily.com/magazine .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Number the Stars

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Uncle henrik quotes in number the stars.

“So, Henrik, is the weather good for fishing?” Papa asked cheerfully, and listened briefly.

Then he continued, “I’m sending Inge to you today with the children, and she will be bringing you a carton of cigarettes.

“Yes, just one,” he said, after a moment. Annemarie couldn’t hear Uncle Henrik’s words. “But there are a lot of cigarettes available in Copenhagen now, if you know where to look,” he went on, “and so there will be others coming to you as well, I’m sure.”

But it wasn’t true. Annemarie was quite certain it wasn’t true. Cigarettes were the thing that Papa missed, the way Mama missed coffee. He complained often—he had complained only yesterday—that there were no cigarettes in the stores. The men in his office, he said, making a face, smoked almost anything: sometimes dried weeds rolled in paper, and the smell was terrible.

Why was Papa speaking that way, almost as if he were speaking in code? What was Mama really taking to Uncle Henrik?

Then she knew. It was Ellen.

“How brave are you, little Annemarie?” [Uncle Henrik] asked suddenly. She was startled. And dismayed. It was a question she did not want to be asked. When she asked it of herself, she didn’t like her own answer.

“Not very,” she confessed, looking at the floor of the barn.

Tall Uncle Henrik knelt before her so that his face was level with hers. Behind him, Blossom lowered her head, grasped a mouthful of hay in her mouth, and drew it in with her tongue. The kitten cocked its head, waiting, still hoping for spilled milk.

“I think that is not true,” Uncle Henrik said. “I think you are like your mama, and like your papa, and like me. Frightened, but determined, and if the time came to be brave, I am quite sure you would be very, very brave.

“But,” he added, “it is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything. And so your mama does not know everything. Neither do I. We know only what we need to know.

“Do you understand what I am saying?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

Annemarie frowned. She wasn’t sure. What did bravery mean?

“The old man stumbled. But Peter helped him up. He didn’t seem to be hurt. Maybe just his pride,” she added, smiling a bit.

It was an odd word: pride . Annemarie looked at the Rosens, sitting there, wearing the misshapen, ill-fitting clothing, holding ragged blankets folded in their arms, their faces drawn and tired. She remembered the earlier, happier times: Mrs. Rosen, her hair neatly combed and covered, lighting the Sabbath candles, saying the ancient prayer. And Mr. Rosen, sitting in the big chair in their living room, studying his thick books, correcting papers, adjusting his glasses, looking up now and then to complain good-naturedly about the lack of decent light. She remembered Ellen in the school play, moving confidently across the stage, her gestures sure, her voice clear.

All of those things, those sources of pride—the candlesticks, the books, the daydreams of theater—had been left behind in Copenhagen. They had nothing with them now; there was only the clothing of unknown people for warmth, the food from Henrik’s farm for survival, and the dark path ahead, through the woods, to freedom.

But their shoulders were as straight as they had been in the past: in the classroom, on the stage, at the Sabbath table. So there were other sources, too, of pride, and they had not left everything behind.

“Uncle Henrik,” [Annemarie] asked, “where are the Rosens and the others? I thought you were taking them to Sweden on your boat. But they weren’t there.”

“They were there,” he told her, leaning forward against the cow’s broad side. “You shouldn’t know this. You remember that I told you it was safer not to know.

“But,” he went on, as his hands moved with their sure and practiced motion, “I will tell you just a little, because you were so very brave.”

“Brave?” Annemarie asked, surprised. “No, I wasn’t. I was very frightened.”

“You risked your life.”

“But I didn’t even think about that! I was only thinking of—”

He interrupted her, smiling. “That’s all that brave means—not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do. Of course you were frightened. I was too, today. But you kept your mind on what you had to do. So did I. Now let me tell you about the Rosens.”

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

What did Mr Rosen trip over after he walked out the door?

he tripped on the loose step outside the kitchen door

Mr. Rosen tripped over a skateboard that was left on the porch outside the door.

Add your answer:

How do you make a rope trap?

you get a thin peace of rope and tie it to the end of your door in your bedroom and then tie the other end of your rope to something at least a meter away and then you can open and close your door and so if someone opens your door they step in and they will trip over the rope.

What are examples of trip?

A trip is to stumble and fall over (trip up). A trip can be a short period of travel, as in a trip to the seaside.

What are the example of trip?

What are the safeties on alternator onboard ship.

1) over current trip 2) over volatage trip 3) under voltage trip 4) reverse power trip 5) low frequency trip 6) alternator body earthing

How do you use the word tripping in a sentence?

"Trip" has two meanings. 1--- verb, meaning to stumble over an object. "Harry tripped over the rubbish lying on the ground." 2---- noun, meaning a vacation or holiday "The Browns took a trip to go camping in the desert."

What are the release dates for Trip Over Colorado Midland - 1906?

Trip Over Colorado Midland - 1906 was released on: USA: June 1906

Cheer up Leigh or you'll trip over your lower lip?

It means that it seems like your going to trip over your lower lip.

What verb to fall over something?

To trip or stumble over something.

Can sims in The Sims trip over gnomes?

What did trip over on the black staircase, what are the release dates for a trip over the manhattan elevated railroad - 1899.

A Trip Over the Manhattan Elevated Railroad - 1899 was released on: USA: April 1899

How open car door if inside and outside handles not working?

Roll the window down. Carefully wedge a nonmetal object in between the glass and the door panel. Try to pull the trim panel up over the top of the door edge. Sight down to the door latch with a flash light. It helps to do this in the dark of night or indoors. Then take a long rod of some sort and trip the release mechanism. After you get the door open. Remove the trim panel and correct the problem. Don't try to slip the trim panel over the top before removing it. This is when the panel could be damaged.

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He’s the Man Who Sets the Table

By Allen Salkin

• April 17, 2009

JON ROSEN, agent for a particular brand of talent, was watching the screen, judging.

Another agent wanted Mr. Rosen’s opinion on a woman he was thinking of signing. The woman, Claire Robinson, a former television producer, had sent a DVD of herself demonstrating a recipe as she pursued her dream of having her own show on the Food Network.

Within minutes Mr. Rosen had seen enough.

“Lock her up,” he recalled saying that day last August. “She’s going to be a star. She pops off the screen. Sign her today.”

This weekend, the third episode of Ms. Robinson’s show, “5 Ingredient Fix,” will be shown on the Food Network.

Mr. Rosen, 39, knows what he is talking about. He heads the “branded lifestyle” group at the William Morris Agency in New York and is agent to a pantheon of stars in food show business, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Al Roker, Katie Lee Joel and Giada De Laurentiis among them, many of whom credit him for the scope of their success.

With “Top Chef,” “Iron Chef” and dozens of cooking shows commanding top ratings, and the shelves of mass market retailers crowded with Rachael Ray knives and Bobby Flay blenders, it is easy to forget that celebrity chefs did not always hold tenderizing mallets over American culture. Jon Rosen’s name may not be familiar, but he is the force behind a lot of the food entertainment on television and celebrity-endorsed kitchen products on shelves — and perhaps even what you eat for dinner. If agents were chefs, he’d be Thomas Keller.

“He has been a huge part of building what is not just my business and my career, but something that is home to so many friends — a magazine, a talk show, all these different product lines,” said Ms. Ray, the earthy, relentlessly chipper kitchen presence who was No. 76 on the 2008 Forbes list of most powerful celebrities, with $18 million in annual earnings. “It wouldn’t be this story without Jon.”

The stocky Mr. Rosen — taking calls, asking his assistant to hold all calls, striding the halls of William Morris with paperwork in hand — is like a prowling bear in a sharp blue Tom Ford suit and shiny loafers.

On a recent Monday, he was pulled into a mélange of meetings and a noisy lunch at a restaurant partly owned by Mr. Flay. His assistant repeatedly popped his head into his office to announce callers: “I have Giada for you.”

“Do you need Katie Lee?” Josh, the assistant, asked later.

Mr. Rosen started his career out of college at Boston University working as an intern at the Broadway-oriented Fifi Oscard agency. When an aunt who was an actress helped him find a job in the William Morris mailroom, where would-be agents traditionally start, the salary was not enough to support him, so he took a second job working as a stockboy at a Macy’s in New Jersey.

He became an agent in 1997. A year later he helped another agent negotiate a deal between a cookbook author and the fledgling Food Network.

The timing was perfect. Mr. Rosen was looking for a source of untapped talent, clients whose careers he could help shape, helping them and himself. He realized that food celebrities were giving viewers something useful — recipes, zesting tips — that could have huge marketing potential.

“I don’t view these people as chefs,” Mr. Rosen said. “I view them as lifestyle personalities who we can build great businesses for.”

His first food client was Ming Tsai, the owner of an Asian restaurant in Boston who has become a television personality. Mr. Rosen added Sara Moulton and signed Mr. Flay. Then, about nine years ago, he saw Ms. Ray during her first season on the Food Network. She was represented only by her lawyer. Mr. Rosen called her when she was on vacation in France. “I told her I felt like her personality translated directly across the screen and made you feel like she was in the room with you,” he said.

As the stars of Ms. Ray and of the Food Network rose, so did Mr. Rosen’s.

Brooke Johnson, president of the Food Network, said: “Jon was instrumental in turning these chefs into A-list celebrities through choosing appropriate endorsements, merchandising deals, venues, etc., to build their brands. It was trailblazing.”

Mr. Rosen is not a fast-talking schmooze machine like the fictional agent Ari Gold on “Entourage.” Raised in Leonia, N.J., in a home where money was sometimes short, he “has a little bit of street edge in him,” said Henry Reisch, a senior vice president in charge of William Morris’s broadcast division. “Some of us are more refined.”

When Mr. Rosen went to Mr. Flay’s Bar Americain on West 52nd Street for lunch, he was treated as royalty. The kitchen sent over a free trio of shellfish cocktails.

Mr. Rosen discussed the challenges he has faced in persuading some television executives to allow their talent to branch out into unexpected areas.

“I remember when I had to do that with Rachael Ray and the Food Network when many studios wanted to do a talk show with her,” he said. “We had to bring the Food Network into the process to make them happy, to make CBS happy, to make Rachael happy, to make Oprah Winfrey happy and to continue all that moving forward.”

In 2006, William Morris appointed Mr. Rosen to be head of East Coast Television. And in June 2008, he was appointed to the company board, one of the youngest agents ever to make it there. He also represents the TV hosts Lara Spencer, Cat Deeley and Donnie Deutsch.

Mr. Roker, the “Today” weatherman, became a client in 2007. After he told Mr. Rosen he was a fan of the old game show “Family Feud,” Mr. Rosen forged a deal with a production company, which sold a prime-time version to NBC with Mr. Roker as the host. A number of episodes ran last summer and the network is considering ordering more, Mr. Rosen said.

Mr. Rosen’s own still-rising star makes his group an important cog in talks about a potential merger between William Morris and the Endeavor Agency. Endeavor’s strength is having many A-list Hollywood celebrity clients. William Morris is stronger in television and other areas.

Neither Mr. Rosen nor other William Morris executives would comment on a potential merger.

In the evening after the lunch at Bar Americain, Mr. Rosen was to attend a book signing by Mr. Deutsch, during which Mr. Roker would lead a question-and-answer session with the author. After that, a business dinner was planned at the Waverly Inn with a friend and occasional client, Philip Levine, an entrepreneur.

There is only a vague line between Mr. Rosen’s personal and professional lives. But there is a part of himself rarely displayed to the celebrities he works for. In his office is a guitar autographed by Bruce Springsteen that he bought at a charity auction. He does not play, but he sometimes takes a break to listen to mournful Springsteen songs in his corner office on the 16th floor of the William Morris building on West 53rd Street.

“Johnny works in a factory and Billy works downtown,” goes a favorite, the song “The Promise.”

“Terry works in a rock ’n’ roll band

Looking for that million-dollar sound

Me I don’t do nothing much,

I spend a lot of time alone.”

Mr. Rosen, who is not married, recently took his mother on a birthday cruise, joined by his older sister. His stepfather died of a heart attack in 1989, and his father, who separated from his mother when Mr. Rosen was 7, died in 2006 of a stroke.

“I have always felt the minute I went into the workplace, it didn’t matter where I was going to go, but I had to be successful,” he said. “There was no fallback for me. I don’t have a fallback in my own mind that if something doesn’t work out I can fall back onto something.”

Ms. Ray said that she has a hard time getting Mr. Rosen to talk about himself, but that she can tell when he is troubled by personal problems and plies him with wine and food until he opens up.

“He doesn’t think of himself as important enough,” Ms. Ray said by telephone between tapings of her show “30 Minute Meals.” “I think he may even have self-worth issues, because he puts himself last all the time.”

But the clients benefit.

“His utter and complete faith in his clients leads him to be bold,” said Suzanne Gluck, one of the heads of the William Morris book division.

She said that when they wanted to attract interest in a book from the chef Daisy Martinez, who was signed by Mr. Rosen in 2006, they brought publishers into the William Morris offices one at a time to sample two dishes prepared by Ms. Martinez — a Mexican chicken and cilantro soup, and a chocolate, coffee and rum mousse.

There were seven bids on the yet-to-be-titled book. Simon and Schuster won.

Ms. Robinson of “5 Ingredient Meals” spent $3,000 of her own money making the demo DVD Mr. Rosen saw. Although the Food Network has committed to only six episodes of her show so far, ratings have been promising. She continues to dream big.

“I wear aprons on every show,” she said by telephone last week. “I could see that being a future product. Also I am really into knives, culinary knives. So I’d love to have my own brand of knives.”

This is what Mr. Rosen has wrought, a world where such dreams might come true. As for himself, his dream seems mostly to be that he never ever has to move to a low-rent apartment in Leonia. He spends many weekends at his house in Beach Haven on Long Beach Island in New Jersey.

“I saw both my father and my stepfather do O.K. for themselves in the upper middle class and lose everything, both at different times in their lives, and never be able to rebound,” he said, after showing a reporter a photo on his desk of his father in his 20s.

“When I think about it, I don’t want that to happen to me.”

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