We have a choice: to remember William S. Paley as the television tycoon lionized by the media throughout his life, or to remember him as portrayed in Sally Bedell Smith's new biography, "In All His Glory." The two portraits are not the same, and it remains to be seen which has the greater power - the biographer or the press

Konner, Joan

English

Columbia University Academic Commons

THE NEW YORK TIMES THE ARTS SATURDAY NOVEMBER 24 1990 . , . , Books of The Times Pinning Down a Force in 20th-Century History By JOAN KONNER We have a choice: te} remember ' William S. Paley as the television tycoon lionized by the media through-out his life, or to remember him as portrayed in Sally Bedell Smith's new ' biography, "In All His Glory." The two portraits are not the same, and it remains to be seen which has the greater power - the biographer or the press. Ms. Smith has actually written three books in one, and no wonder! Such a force as Mr. Paley, such a personal and professional history, is at least a mini-series, to borrow a teleVision term, if not a weekly dra-ma. The Ewings of "Dallas" have nothing on the Paleys when it coines to power, wealth, business intrigue, family troubles and sex - complete with stunning sets in magnificent lo-cations, a fabulous cast of supporting characters, and the context of Ameri-can' media history. The Smith trilogy comprises Paley the brilliant entrepreneur; Paley the broadcaster and programmer, and Paley the social impresariO, eaCh . with its chapters and subthemes, like the history of CBS. Ms. Smith has researched and written each of those stories in impressive and· colorful de-tail, and she has managed to weave them together into one coherent and compelling story. With skillful preci-sion, Ms. Smith nails Mr. Paley to the cross of his inner contradictions: Pa-ley the radio visionary versus the Paley who was shortsighted about the new medium of television; the perfec-tionist executive versus the absentee playboy ; the innovator and initiator versus the purloiner of other's ideas; the shrewd calculator and the impul-sive actor; the social climber and the high-society magnate; the committed husband and the philandering lover; the generous friend and the emotion-ally bankrupt parent; the architect and the censor 'pf the best broadcast news organi4ltion that ever was, and the definer and destroyer of quality in mass communications. • An accomplished and tenacious re-porter, Ms. Smith assumed 1he role of a one' woman truth squad, intent on setting the Paley record straight. With a parade of witnesses and testi-mony, again and again she contra-dicts previously accepted versions of old stories, and dra'wing on hundreds of hours of interviews from Mr. Pa-ley's business associates, family members and social acquaintainces, . she adds juicy new episodes and an-ecdotes to the odyssey. Her reporting includes a few scoops from Paley intimates who have remained silent until now and from others identified simply as confidential sources (in an Joan Kanner is dean of the Colum-bia Graduate School of Journalism and a former producer in network and public television. In All His Glory The Life of William S. Paley, the Legendary Tycoon, and His Brilliant Circle By Sally Bedell Smith 782 pages. Wustrated. Simon l!? Schuster. $29.95. The New York Times, 1988 Willi~ S. Paley extensive appendix of unnumbered; hard-to-follow footnotes). In the end; we emerge with a portrait of a man whose life we may find fascinating, but a man who was hard to admire, . no less to like or love. The book captures the full sweep of' an exceptional individual who touched and influenced almost every aspect of American life in our time. Ms. Smith begins by placing her sub-ject in the broad context of late 19th-century Russian Jewish immigration, The many Paleys: entrepreneur, broadcaster, social . . Impresano . .' a'ld. she gives Mr. Paley's obsessive hunger for economic and social as-cent a deeper sympathy than his obvi-ous climbing might otherwise evoke. She finds the roots of his insecurity and desperate need fo r acceptance in hl~h WASP SOCial circles in the early rejectIOn of the Paley family by Phil-adelphia's German Jewish establish-mE'!nt. His mother's deep social disap-. pomtment led the 19-year-<>ld Billy to say, "I'm going to New York, and I'll not only make lots of money, I'll marry a Vanderbilt." So he did liter-ally and metaphorically. ' • "In All His Glory" is filled with effectIve, precisely realized physical descriptions of newly decorated apartments, pedigreed knickknacks and collectible masterworks, includ-ing the members of the "brilliant circle" with which Mr. Paley sur-rounded himself. The book is at its best in describing, through anecdote, chOIce quotes and clear narrative the fascinating relationships and ~on­trasts between Mr. Paley and the other key architects of the age: Da-VId Sarnoff, the rival broadcasting pioneer; the brilliant CBS president Frank N. Stanton; the genius inVen-tor Peter Goldmark; and the singular broadcast journalist Edward R. Mur-row. To those are added the rest of the cast who helped make Mr. Paley and CBS great, including both of his wives, first the intellectually curious Dorothy Hearst Hirshon, and then Barbara Cushing Mortimer, known as Babe, a trend-setter in matters of taste. . Ms. Smith repeatedly exposes the InconsIstent nature of the values Mr. . Paley brought to broadcasting, con-trasting his image of quality and in-tegrity with the esthetic, ethical and journalistic compromises he made in his drive to acquire "lots of money." The story concludes where Mr. Pa-ley's life ended a few weeks ago, at the age of 89: still checking 'in at his CBS office; receiving guests in his New York apartment, ill and forget· ful off and on, resuming, despite past difficulties, relationships with his child~en, always missing Babe, who dIed In 1978, but continuing to delight, dally and party with a passing parade of attractive young women. Quality gossip, especially if you're interested in sex. • Observing the scale of Mr. Paley's . career and accomplishments, one cannot help but revive that old ques-tlon: does the man make the times or do the times make the man? Cert~in­ly there was the coincidence of Mr: Paley's life and the emergence of th~ technology that created a new elec-tronic media business that was par-tIcularly suited to his natural talents The high cost of research, develop: ment and fisk, both in technology and programming, forced a union of com-merce and art that has yet to settle Into a peaceful marriage. Where would television be without vision, idei\s, taste and talent supported by the. blunt club of business? A pro-grammer was a new character in search of an author until Mr. Paley came along and in the peculiar alche-my of the business, converted it into ' gOld. Ms. Smith's book burns away the rosy mist of corporate press releases . and memorial homilies that sur-rounds the late chairman's public im" age, particularly the notion of Mr. Paley as some sort of patron saint of journalism. For this we owe Ms. Smith a debt of gratitude, or we might have been left with the image of Mr. Paley created by his ever-present f1ackery. But then think of the pic" tures of the world we might never ' have seen, the number of journalists anq. entertainers we might never have met, the characters that might not fJave been created, the laughs and songs we might not have enjoyed. Imagine a world without Paddy Chayevsky, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, Lucille Ball, " M·A·S·H." and "Captain Kangaroo." Imagine a world without this global emblem of fr~om of thought and the press, ' , w~lch operated, for a time at least, WIth the resources, public interest and taste to demonstrate what a net-work can be at its best. That is the choice: which matters more, the poet or the poem? The press covered the poem, the world that Mr. Paley created. Ms. Smith takes to account the poet. Of course, in a 'case of such power and influence we Wish both - the poet and the poe~ - were more inspired, more noble . . But where exists that more perfect world? If anywhere, it lies only in the realm of possibility that is network television and, finally, the essential Paley legacy. It remains to be seen what his professional heirs make of it. . 

Pinning Down a Force in 20th-Century History

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Pinning Down a Force in 20th-Century History

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