Mel and Sumner, Together Again

When the Paley Center for Media (né the Museum of Television and Radio) said it would hold a black-tie gala to honor Viacom and CBS chairman Sumner Redstone, the question was who would come to fete the famously irascible media mogul.

We have our answer.

In addition to the hired help — Steve Kroft and Andy Rooney of CBS's 60 Minutes, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, and current Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman — there was crooner Tony Bennett. (No, wait. He was hired help, too: The entertainment.)

Well, Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall and Playboy Enterprises C.E.O. Christie Hefner were both spotted heading into the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Somewhat surprisingly, former CBS Corp. president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin, now C.E.O. of Sirius Radio, also attended. While Karmazin is vice chairman of the Paley Center's board, his appearance was still something of a surprise because he had bailed out of CBS in 2004, fed up with Redstone's, er, hands-on leadership style. Tension between the two continued well into a year after Karmazin had left.

Considering that the Viacom family includes Comedy Central and MTV, among other popular networks, more current and funnier media personalities, like John Stewart or Steven Colbert, were nowhere to be found. Stewart was originally slated to MC the event, but had a scheduling conflict; that honor went to Charlie Rose, who arrived alone, with a stack of notes in hand.

The evening's program featured pages of shout-outs from various businesses congratulating Redstone for a lifetime of achievement. Among them, Hearst Corporation, Time Warner, Microsoft, News Corp., and Sony.

A few pages held congratulations and heartfelt messages from individuals, including former Disney C.E.O. Michael Eisner, actress Marlo Thomas and her husband, talk-show host Phil Donahue.

Karmazin's page of warm wishes was directed solely to the Paley Center. His greeting didn't mention his ex-boss.

by Andrea Chalupa

_{Photograph of Susan Crow, Tony Bennett, Paley Center president Pat Mitchell, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and his wife, Paula Fortunato, by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images.}