Peggy Schleiff, Arlene Alda, Alan Alda,
Henry Schleiff, Abraham H. Foxman. |
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
Alan
Alda Had An Operation
But Can’t Turn Down His Pal
Story by Nina and Tim Boxer
 ENRY
SCHLIEFF, chairman of Court TV, was being honored by the
Anti-Defamation League and desperately wanted his close friend, Alan
Alda, to be by his side.
Alda, who had just returned from a visit to
Chile where he had emergency surgery, said he was under doctor’s
orders to lay low for a few weeks.
“What??” Henry exclaimed, meaning he’s
not taking no for an answer.
“Henry, I turned down CBS on their 75th
birthday celebration. How can I go to yours and not to them –
they won’t hire me!”
“Don’t worry,” Schleiff said,
“they’re not going to hire you—your career’s over.”
Naturally, Alda came to his friend’s dinner
at the Plaza Hotel where he told ADL national director Abe
Foxman, “You picked the right guy and I’m glad I lived to
be here.”
Time Warner chairman Richard Parsons
praised Schleiff as a real mensch. “That’s Swahili. It means
he won’t steal your tent.”
Regis Philbin, who served as emcee,
said he paid the price of fame recently when someone said, “You
look like someone on television.”
“You mean Regis Philbin?”
“Not that jerk!”
The highlight of the evening was a thrilling
performance by Italian-American tenor Michael Amante. He
tore the house down with several magnificent arias, just as he
does every Monday at the celebrity eatery Rao’s.
“All the Reform Jews here thought you sang
beautifully,” Schleiff said, “and half of them thought you
sang in Hebrew.”
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