Leonard Goldenson

"It all began when Leonard Goldenson placed an urgent call to speak with Len Goldberg. Len wasn’t in the office, and Goldenson needed someone from the program department in *his* office immediately, and there I was. Goldenson said, “Please come up right away. I have Charles Bluhdorn in my office.”"

"When I got to the Waldorf, I called Marty Starger, the person to whom I reported, and told him I’d just been offered the chairmanship of Paramount. There was a long pause; he was astounded that his underling had been offered such a job—a Houdini-like escape from his poor performance running series television. I ended the silence by saying, “I don’t think I’m going to accept it.” At that point, I still hadn’t been able to think coherently. I just wanted it to go away. It was way too much, way too soon. Like Charlie, Starger thought my response was inane. I had to tell Marty right away about the offer, because Charlie had said he was going to call Leonard Goldenson first thing the next morning to ask permission to make me a formal offer. I had told Charlie not to do so until I decided what I wanted, but I knew that Charlie Bluhdorn had a will not governed by what anyone else wanted. The next morning I was summoned to Mr. Goldenson’s office. For Goldenson, the idea that I had been offered the chairmanship of Paramount was equally astounding. In his kindly old crocodile way, he told me gently, “You can’t turn this down.” He probably would have fired me as an acknowledged dolt if I had stayed."