Mitchell: Success Comes Home

dents individually," senior Rebecca Johnson observed. "He was very busy Success Comes Home when he came here last fall, but he gave me 20 minutes of his time and I The professions of Anthony Malara and Richard Merkin know he gave as much to other stu­ could scarcely be more different. But in their commitment dents as well. "What I liked most about meeting to the University and their willingness to share with current him was that he showed me that there are real people in this business-that students, these alumni are very much alike. you don't have to lose your warmth, your humanity, to succeed." It is easy to see why the words by Alix Mitchell "warmth," "honesty," and "open­ ness" come up when people speak of nthony C. Malara, president of color, red, and black lacquer tables, Tony Malara. During his visit this past ACBS Television Network, was Malara recently explained the relation­ fall, responding to questions, Malara surrounded. Eager broadcast stu­ ship between the network and the affil­ fixed individual students with his di­ dents pressed around him in the center iate stations. rect, open gaze as he listened to their of the Newhouse Lounge. ''CBS affiliates are under no obliga­ queries. In both of the classes he ad­ Malara had just spent the day ad­ tion to air even a minimum amount of dressed, Malara was asked the same dressing broadcasting classes and CBS programming," he said. "It is the question: " How do I get ajob with the talking with Newhouse students; in network'sjob to see that the affiliates national network?" It was a simple the evening he had presented the film give us maximum shelf space, so to question with an obvious answer, yet "Making Television at CBS" and speak." Malara responded patiently and fully. fielded questions from an auditorium Malara travels regularly, talking to "Learn everything you can by full of would-be Dan Rathers and Di­ potential advertisers and affiliate sta­ working at a local station," he said. ane Sawyers. Now at a reception, this tion managers. Each spring he sells " Remember, too, that timing and luck former Syracuse University student potential advertisers on the new sea­ also play a big part in success. The was available, once more, to talk with son's prime-time programming; year­ network has on file a tape of every students. round he meets with affiliate managers anchorperson in the country and one A tall boy wearing a WJPZ T-shirt to discuss everything from how CBS day you may get a lucky break." bounced nervously on his toes as he was handling Ted Turner's ill-fated No matter how often students asked waited for his chance. When it came, take-over attempt to why a manager him how to succeed in broadcasting, his voice began to shake. would preempt a CBS show in favor of Malara never tired of answering. ''I'm a student at Newhouse," he other programming. Malara's business "How am I going to run my life? That said, "and I don't know if any of the and social engagements can keep him is the most important thing a student students have thanked you for coming, busy seven days a week and take him can ask," he said. "It is as important but, well, I just want to thank you for from an affiliates meeting in Los An­ as a plea that says, 'Help me, I'm talking to us. It is so exciting to hear geles to a White House reception. sick."' you speak." Yet he fits in time for Syracuse Uni­ When he talks to students about When the boy finished his speech, versity. He often attends special func­ their futures, Malara can't help but re­ his hands began to wrap around each tions such as the opening of the Schine call his own shaky beginnings. other again and again. Malara, who Student Center or a dinner honoring Malara came to SU in 1954 only be­ had been listening intently, now gently former football coach Floyd ''Ben' ' cause teachers and family pushed him asked him about the WJPZ T-shirt. Schwartzwalder. In 1984 he received to do so. He would rather have been in What does he do at this student-run the Syracuse University Alumni a two-year business school with his station? The hands stopped. Relieved, Award, and he has returned twice to friends. Once on campus, he had little the student began to talk of himself. speak to broadcasting students. academic or professional drive. At a Once again, Tony Malara had dem­ "We think Tony Malara is one of our friend's suggestion, he began an­ onstrated his secret to success. Ma­ most outstanding alumni," Edward C. nouncing for WAER, SU 's radio sta­ lara runs CBS Television Network Stephens, dean of the Newhouse tion, but then, in a tense moment, he with the same sincerity with which he School, said. "By virtue of his posi­ let slip a four-letter word on the air and greets Newhouse students. His staff tion at CBS, he is making a major con­ was fired. He had just learned the im­ sells more than $2 billion in advertising tribution to public communications. portance of Rule Number I in broad­ space and sees to it that the 200 affili­ He is also warm and articulate and the casting: Always assume that the mi­ ate stations around the country air as students are very enthusiastic about crophone is on. many CBS programs as possible. him, so he is one of our favorite That spring, Malara learned another From his New York office, which speakers." classic lesson: Don't count your features plush chairs in his favorite "Mr. Malara is willing to talk to stu- chickens before they're hatched. After

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strengthen relations with affiliate sta­ tions. Three promotions later, affiliate relations are stronger than ever, and Malara is now network president. But he has not forgotten his past. "I want to give back to SU ,"he said. "There was absolutely no chance that a broadcasting career was in my future until I got to Syracuse." Seeing Malara adeptly handle media interviews, chat with deans and pro­ fessors, and listen to students during his visit last fall, it was hard to imagine that success had ever eluded this self­ confident executive. But as he grasped the hand of the anxious young man from WJPZ, it seemed for a moment that Malara saw a bit of himself. In his handshake, in his steady way of listening, Malara told the student not to worry. Everything would be all right.

t exactly 10:00 on the morning ARichard Merkin was due to arrive From his office in New York, CBS Presi­ the fall of 1956 and took a late-night job on the SU campus this past fall, dent Anthony Malara oversees advertising as the WOLF disc jockey, The Sand­ Patricia "Trish" Johnson, a senior sales and affiliate relations. Last fa//, he man. Feeling burdened by long hours painting student, rushed into the stu­ took time out from these duties to visit SU. of school and work, Malara again de­ dio arts office and breathlessly asked, cided to quit school when WWNY of­ "Is he here yet?" landing a part-time summer job as an fered him yet another job- in this The office assistant smiled. "No, announcer for WWNY in Watertown, case, full time. Then, once more, the not yet,'' she said, "but he should be Malara returned home in high spirits offer was rescinded-this time in fa­ on his way from the airport right now.'' at the thought of becoming a radio per­ vor of an older person. Johnson went back to her studio to sonality. Then he was told the position "I couldn't control my temper," wait. Merkin arrived 15 minutes later had been filled with a full-time em­ Malara recalled wryly. "A friend who to begin two days of intensive critiques ployee. Instead of being a radio star, happened to walk by kept me from of work by seniors and graduate stu­ Malara spent the summer working for killing the guy." dents enrolled in the School of Art's the state road crew. After this second disappointment at Visiting Artists class. Trish Johnson Instead of returning to school that WWNY, he worked as a theater man­ was first on his list. fall, Malara took a full-time job con­ ager and, again, emcee; Malara de­ Mounting the steps of Smith Hall to trolling production costs for a factory cided to try espionage. He passed se­ Johnson's fourth-floor studio, the six­ in Watertown, and a part-timejob as curity clearance and was going to learn foot-two-inch artist carried with him an emcee. Russian. an aura of Edwardian refinement. "I was making $52.50 at Airbrake "That was it," he recalls. "I was Wearing a fitted, double-breasted, Manufacturing and $125 a week at the going to be a spy!" navy blue jacket featuring a silver link nightclub, doing two shows a night. I Flat feet were his undoing that time. chain running into its pocket, an or­ thought, 'This is not very logical, that Despondent, Malara went home and ange and white striped shirt with an entertainer can tell jokes and sing hibernated, until WWNY called with shamrock cufflinks, a green and white songs and make three times what yet another job offer. Malara hung up tie, tan slacks, maroon socks, brown someone else does who works very on the caller, but his father convinced shoes, and a dusty derby, Merkin hard and uses brainpower.' Somehow him not to burn his bridges so hastily. swept into Johnson's studio with the that discrepancy brought me back to He reconsidered, accepted the offer, drama of an actor or a dandy. A cape school- maybe to figure out what this and was hired to work for three and cane were all that was missing. was all about," Malara says. months. He left 21 years later. Carefully dusting off a paint­ Having tasted the 'real world,' and In 1978, CBS Television Network spattered chair and seating himself, realized that an education might open hired Malara away from Watertown to Merkin began asking Johnson about some doors, Malara returned to SU in run a department that was intended to her work, which was spread out before

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him. The questions came hard and fast, in the shoot-from-the-hip style typical of his native Brooklyn. Why had she done her "lyrical abstrac­ tions" in both thick and thin paint? Which came first? Which did she pre­ fer? Why were they all done in the same small size? Interspersing his questions with tales of his own career, Merkin seemed to be jumping from subject to subject with no goal in sight. But just as it seemed he'd lost the thread, he picked it up again. Within a few minutes, he had zeroed in on an artistic crisis that Johnson was facing. ''I was getting into a lot of confusing ideas I didn't understand," Johnson admitted, "so I started doing these lit­ tle paintings to straighten myself out." "That's okay," Merkin assured her. "I go through periods when I don't paint at all or when I'm on a wild goose chase. You're in a kind of pas­ sage, and there's an element of neu­ trality because maybe these are things you feel a little neutral about. It's al­ most like building your wind up for the next sprint." "It was very reassuring to talk to someone like that, who can relate to what I am going through, because he has already gone through it," Johnson said. This artist's reassurance carries a great deal of weight. A 1961 graduate of the SU art school, Merkin is a lead­ ing representational painter whose largest pastels and oil paintings com­ mand prices ranging from $6,000 to $10,000. His work has been shown in the United States and abroad in 35 solo exhibitions and 24 group shows. The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts are among the top museums that in­ clude Merkin's work in their collec­ tions. His shows are widely reviewed tasy and reality. bare-breasted women. In nearly every among the top art journals in the coun­ For some 20 years, their content has work, he has combined disparate ele­ try, and he is represented by Terry sprung almost exclusively from the ments-such as a woman wrapped in Dintenfass, one of the most respected 1930s and the jazz age. Although Mer­ fur standing in the desert-into a dealers in New York. kin is turning away from that influ­ dreamlike unity. Merkin's success springs, in part, ence, it still dominates his work. Black "This is an art that stems from his from the fact that while he was trained porters stand in deserted train sta­ own 'universe of associations,'" in the 1950s, a time when abstract art tions. Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Hit­ wrote Barbara Dayer Gallati, assistant was the rage, he emerged with a dis­ ler, and shadowy gangster-like charac­ curator of the Brooklyn Museum. tinctly different vision. His paintings, ters people recent works. There are Much of his work is filled with refer­ with their bold, flat blocks of color, are also dogs and baseball players-Mer­ ences to the passions of his youth: almost cartoon-like, combining fan- kin is an ardent fan of the sport-and baseball games at Yankee Stadium,

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pointed out. ''It gave me the confi­ dence to come back to New York." In 1971, Merkin returned to SU as an artist-in-residence, and this fall he attended the opening of his one-man show, "Broken Blossoms and Other Pictures: Recent Paintings by Richard Merkin," at the Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery. (The show moved to the Dintenfass Gallery in February.) Two weeks later he was back on campus as a visiting artist. Marching through Smith Hall, going from one student's studio to the next, Merkin exuded the confidence of a man who knows his worth . Talking to senior William Coombs, he noted: "You have been working on developing your own little lexicon, Painter Richard Merkin's place ofbusiness teachers. "It was Robert Marx who your own vocabulary of symbols. All is his New York studio (opposite, top), but gave me the first glim.ner of what I right, that's understandable. Did you last fall he visited campus for an exhibition wanted my pictures to be about," he ever look at Philip Guston's pictures? of his works-shown at left is "Broken recalled. "By the time I was a senior, I There's a guy who really knew how to Blossoms" -and to advise students, such wanted to make pictures as much like invent symbols. I like the personal as­ as graduate-level painter Leonard Tickner Robert Marx as I possibly could." pect of your smaller pictures. They (above) . But when Merkin wanted to return have a sense of conviction about them­ to SU after spending one year on a fel­ selves. But I also like the larger pic­ cartoons, movies, and Eddie Con­ lowship at Michigan State University, tures-their grandiosity, their paint­ don'sjazz nightclub. "Together," Gal­ Marx refused to write him a recom­ erly largesse. They seem benevolent in lati wrote, "artist and viewer enter mendation , asserting that it was time a large kind of way." into a partnership and the product is a for Merkin to move on. "I was heart­ In 15 minutes, Merkin let 25 years of unique experience as their respective broken," Merkin remembers. "Here experience tumble out. His talk sets of associations merge." was my teacher, my mentor, my spiri­ streamed on, to the validity of differ­ Merkin himself regularly appears in tual guide saying, 'We don't want you ent sizes and mediums, to Paul Klee his own paintings as a mysterious, here.'" and "those Pollocks that go on for a moustachioed figure dressed in the Merkin took an assistantship at the week-and-a-half," to the creative pro­ studied style of the '30s. As Gallati Rhode Island School of Design, in­ cess, and whether one should think of noted, this reminds us that these paint­ stead, where he has taught part time the audience at that point-Merkin ings are, above all else, his. for 25 years. Over the years he has re­ does not. The voice, shaded with hu­ The artist's work has not always alized that Marx was right. "It's one mor and larger than life, boomed been so self-assured and personal. At of the best things Bob did for me," throughout the studio. first, Merkin had no idea of what his Merkin said. "It showed me that the Later, back in his Manhattan apart­ style could be. In fact, as a freshman mentor relationship ends at a certain ment, the show resumed. Readying for at SU, he had never studied painting or point and after that, baby, it's your a photo session in his studio, Merkin drawing. For a time he was torn be­ world." asked," Are you shooting color?" tween majoring in zoology and art. Merkin took control of his world Yes. Despite his lack of training, art won. early on. Exhibiting in Boston while Quickly he examined his costume. During his recent visit to campus, living in Providence and studying and A tailored blue-green jacket set off a Merkin recalled what first drew him to teaching at RISD, he was discovered tight-fitting yellow jersey that accen­ the art world. by Brian O'Doherty, a New York art tuated his broad chest. Pink socks "I fell in love with the people at the critic, who included three of his pieces peeked out from under tan slacks held art school," he said. "In those days it in an exhibition at the 1964 World's up by blue and white suspenders. was a rather exotic little place. It was Fair. All three sold. O'Doherty intro­ "Am I colorful enough?" he asked. small and had a wonderful esprit, a duced Merkin to Charles Byron, a Rifling through a rack of scarves, he wonderful innocence about it, and you New York art dealer, who gave the art­ selected a pink one and threw it on for were learning all the time. The whole ist his first show in 1967. Held in Man­ a final splash of color. business was tremendously exciting." hattan, the exhibition was well Yes, Richard, you are. Merkin quickly became enamored received. of the work of Robert Marx, one of his "That was very important," Merkin

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