Of Fun, Fashion & Sang-Froid

The big Cable Hall of Fame dinner came off late last week and oooh, la, la! What a scene! The dignitaries (both old and new) were all there looking, well, dignified. John Malone chatted with all and sundry; John Sie scooted around taking pix; one of our favorite people ever, Rosa Gatti, threatened to steal one of our best employees. (Two years, Rosa. TWO YEARS!) Inductees George Bodenheimer, Dick Green and Ray Joslin all had good jokes to tell ; Susan Packard made by far the most moving speech while Hub Schlafly (inventor of the teleprompter) startled everyone by confessing it was the first time he'd ever used ... you got it ... a teleprompter. The best came last, however, as Michael Willner's video and self-deprecating sense of humor kept everyone from taking it all too seriously.

On the fashion front, Henry Ahn won the men's category hands down with his casual-tux look. Competition was a bit tougher on the ladies side. In the end, the award had to be split between Shellie Rosser with her patterned pants, 1950's-glasses look and Leslie Ellis in one of her ethereal party dresses.

Of course, not all was perfect. (The dinner wine was virtually undrinkable and the Denver Convention Center is not what you'd call a festive place.) But, hey, this is a dinner for 500 people not a corner table at a four-star restaurant.

Most interesting during the evening was the sense of cable sang-froid that came with the induction of Cable Labs' Dick Green. Not that the cable guys were acting ****y. (Don't forget that John Malone has now gone to the dark side with satellite and the FCC is still in the hands of Kevin Martin.) But with Cable Labs, and Dick, the industry has accomplished an incredible ... and, as far as I know, unprecedented ... feat, creating a set of common standards and technologies that have allowed them to hold their own in this era of uber competition. It's a startling example of what can happen when people actually work together on difficult issues. And in my current incarnation as a political wishing-well, I can only hope that our next Congress catches just a little bit of that cooperative magic.