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6407 ORCHARD LAKE RD, WEST BLOOMFIELD
ORCHARD MALL-ORCHARD LAKE RD & MAPLE

8 5 1 - 6 4 0 0

ORIENTAL
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CUISINE

The Founder Of ABC-TV
Still Going Strong At Age 85

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EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE
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MICHAEL ELKIN

Special to The Jewish News

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43317 Grand River &
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70

FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1991

D

apper and dashing,
Leonard Goldenson
dresses for success in
a business tailor-made for
his talents.
At 85, his strong suit re-
mains TV. The broadcasting
pioneer has not only seen it
all — he has created much of
it, too. Ensconced in offices
here high above the mad-
ding crowd, Mr. Goldenson
talks of achievements that
crowd his lengthy bio.
As founding father of ABC-
TV, Mr. Goldenson has
parented many a landmark
program over the years, ever
since merging his Para-
mount Theatres with the
nearly bankrupt network
close to 40 years ago.
In the intervening years,
Goldenson has networked to
acclaim, working deals with
some of the most talented
names in the business, risk-
ing and roaring his way
through season after season.
This is yet another cham-
pionship year for the sea-
soned broadcaster. Mr.
Goldenson — with co-writer
Marvin J. Wolf — is basking
in the golden glow of his
autobiographical Beating the

Odds, the Untold Story
Behind the Rise of ABC: The
Stars, Struggles and Egos
That Transformed Network
Television by the Man Who
Made It Happen.

And what did Leonard
Goldenson make happen?
"The Mickey Mouse Club,"
"Make Room for Daddy,"
"American Bandstand,"
"Peyton Place," "Soap" and
"Happy Days" are among
the many shows he shep-
herded to stardom.
Mr. Goldenson doesn't look
like a gambler. But in a
business as dicey as broad-
casting, he boasts an in-
credible streak of beating
the odds.
The man who once rode
herd over "Cheyenne" never
shied away from a challenge:
He pioneered the Western on
network TV with the in-
troduction of that '50s series
starring Clint Walker.
He also excelled in bring-
ing the action/adventure and
medical genres to a medium
where "well-done" is a rare
epithet.

Michael Elkin is the
entertainment editor for the
Jewish Exponent in
Philadelphia.

Leonard Goldenson:
Network notable.

But then, Mr. Goldenson
has always been up to a
challenge, dating to his
boyhood days in Scottsdale,
Pa., where the Ku Klux
Klan cornered the local
market on bigotry.
In an atmosphere where he
was taunted as a "sheeny,"
Mr. Goldenson credits his
mother as a "leveling in-
fluence" in his life, a woman
who taught the youngster to
take pride in his Jewishness.
"That sunk in," he says of
Esther Broude Goldenson's
lessons of tolerance.
Leonard Goldenson well
understood these points of
pride and prejudice. He has
always relished, he says, let-
ting others know he is a Jew.
Those who have known
him over the years also
know that Mr. Goldenson
channels his energies
creatively. Currently chair-
man of the Executive Com-
mittee of Capital Cities/ABC
Inc., a merger Mr. Golden-
son engineered in the '80s,
the octogenarian peers down
at a kingdom of ac-
complishments.
But nothing in life is ever
as easy as ABC — and as we
talk, this living TV guide for
the ages relates stories
behind the stories of his per-
sonal achievements.
On "Peyton Place," the
fabled nighttime soap opera
that cleaned up in the '60s:
"I saw (the film) Imitation
of Life with Lana Turner and
thought it was a deluxe soap
opera. I talked to (network
executives) Tom Moore and
Edgar . Scherick and asked
them to come up with a
property."
What they came up with —
the ongoing saga of a seduc-
tive and sexy series based on
the best-selling book by

Grace Metalious — was TV's
first smash nighttime soap,
a precursor of "Dallas" and
"Dynasty."
On "Twin Peaks," the
decidely demented mirror
image of "Peyton Place": "I
don't care for it. It was too
complicated for the average
person to follow."
On "Chicken Soup,"
Jackie Mason's starring
vehicle that got canned
quickly: "It was hard for the
public to understand what
Mason was saying."
On "Monday Night Foot-
ball": He credits Roone
Arledge, head of ABC News
and Sports, "for introducing
a lot of things in that pro-
gram," a prime example of
good prime-time TV sports
programming.
On "thirtysomething": "I
felt it was something diff-
erent. I'm not a fan of the
show. It's too narrow-cast.
But it was worth trying."
On "All in the Family,"
which was ordered by ABC
but wound up at rival CBS:
"I brought that over from
England." ("All in the Fami-

Those who have
known him over the
years know that he
channels his
energies
creatively.

ly" was based on the English
series, "Till Death Do Us
Part.") "The first pilot was
no good; the second was very
funny, but I felt it had too
many attacks on ethnic
groups and that there would
be a public uproar."
Mr. Goldenson shrugs his
shoulders. The roar was of
laughter; after ABC passed
on the project, CBS grabbed
up the show — as well as
years of good ratings.
Among Leonard Golden-
son's many bio credits there
is no mention of the word
mentsh — but it is implicit
in his everyday dealings.
Mr. Goldenson is not afraid
to credit others for ac-
complishments while
challenging his own col-
leagues to create excellence.
"We've got to seek diff-
erent things on all the net-
works," says Mr. Goldenson,
who likes to surround
himself with young people.
"I have no interest in aches
and pains," he says.
Competition with the
other networks is healthy,

(