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family name from Rothstein), he built
New York City
a chain of movie theaters and in 1987
he CBS-Viacom merger
took over Viacom, an also-ran cable-
doesn't just redefine media.
and-syndication company. Redstone
It redefines the Jewish role
turned it into one of the biggest forces
in American entertainment.
in Hollywood, acquiring Paramount
There was a telling moment midway
Pictures, MTV and much more. But
through the Sept. 7 press conference
he never joined the Tinsel-
announcing the CBS-Viacom
town set. He won't even move
mega-merger. It came when one
out
of his hometown, Boston,
of the unmentionables of Amer-
where
he's a major donor to
ican entertainment peeked
the local Jewish federation.
through the veils for an instant.
The CBS-Viacom marriage
It came when a reporter asked
is the biggest media merger in
CBS president Mel Karmazin
history. It combines two Holly-
why he wanted this merger. His
wood
giants to form America's
reply: "This is the deal I've
second
biggest media company.
wanted to make, I think, from
It's
also
a historic milestone in
the time I was bar-mitzvahed."
J. J.
the
long,
complicated relation-
The reporters laughed ner-
GOLD BERG
ship
between
Hollywood and
vously. Nobody commented
Spec ial to
the
Jews.
They're
coming back
afterward. Nobody would have the Jewi sh News
to
Hollywood's
boardrooms,
brought it up if Karmazin
after a lengthy exile.
hadn't.
Jewish
media ownership is a sturdy
Americans consider it downright
myth,
but
only partly true. Yes, Jews
rude to talk publicly about Jewish
"invented Hollywood." Thomas Edi-
ownership in the media. Marlon Bran-
son invented the motion-picture cam-
do mentioned it two years ago on
era, but it remained a novelty item. A
Larry King Live and nearly got
generation of immigrant Jewish entre-
lynched. Three years earlier, journalist
preneurs — Sam Goldwyn, Jack and
William Cash caused an international
Harry Warner, Louis B. Mayer and
uproar with a scathing 1994 article in
others — built a multibillion-dollar
The
Spectator,
the British newsweekly
dream factory around it. A later gen-
also about Jewish influence in Holly-
eration of Jewish entrepreneurs creat-
wood. It's just not something you dis-
ed the broadcast networks: William
cuss in conventional society.
Paley's CBS, David Sarnoff's NBC
But Karmazin isn't conventional. The
and Leonard Goldenson's ABC.
son of a New York cabdriver, he was a
But those Jews died years ago. Jews
fast-talking ad salesman who built his
no
longer owned the Hollywood lam-
own radio network, Infinity Broadcast-
pooned
by Cash in 1994. Hollywood
ing, best known as the home of shock-
had been taken over by public corpora-
jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus.
dons with little Jewish leadership. In the
CBS bought Infinity in 1996. Two years
course of the 1980s, Columbia Pictures
later, Karmazin took over CBS.
was
bought by Sony Corp., Universal by
In an industry dominated by cor-
Matsushita,
20th Century-Fox by
porate suits, Karmazin is a throwback
Rupert
Murdoch's
Australian-based
to an older era of seat-of-the-pants,
News
Corp.,
NBC
by General Electric
shoot-from-the-hip Jewish media
and ABC by Capital Cities Corp.
entrepreneurs. "He's always refreshing-
The only exceptions were Warner
ly straightforward about who he is,"
Bros., bought in 1969 by Jewish park-
says a friend. "He's doesn't make a big
ing-lot mogul Steve Ross, and CBS,
deal of his Jewishness, but he's right
bought in 1985 by hotelier-philan-
out there with it."
thropist Laurence Tisch. Tisch bailed
How Jewish is that? It's hard to find
out in 1995, selling CBS to Westing-
out. Your correspondent sought an
house after a decade's missteps. By
interview the Friday after the merger,
then, though, the pendulum was
but was told Karmazin had left early
swinging back.
for Rosh HaShana.
In 1990, Steve Ross merged his
Karmazin's new boss, Viacom
Warner
Communications with Time
chairman Sumner Redstone, is cut
Inc.
to
create
Time Warner, the world's
from similar cloth. The son of a night-
biggest
media
company. Ross died two
club owner (his father changed the
years later and was succeeded as chair-
man by a little-known Time Inc. execu-
J.J. Goldberg is a national columnist
tive named Gerald Levin, who had once
and author on Jewish issues. He can be
considered a rabbinic career.
reached via e-mail at
Levin represents a new breed of
jjg@compuserve.com

T