ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040138
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ERIC MINK NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
The rise, the fall and now the death of Helen Kushnick at age 51 is the stuff of Greek tragedy. It is a story of talent, ambition and determination that brought her fabulous success, only to be undone by an overbearing arrogance that seemed, in classical terms, to invite the wrath of the gods.
Kushnick died last Wednesday at her home in New York. For those who don't know or don't remember the name, here is a brief look at her public life.
Kushnick was the detonator who blew up late-night television in the early 1990s.
As Jay Leno's long-time manager, her relentless behind-the-scenes scheming - at least some of it without Leno's knowledge - infuriated Johnny Carson; embarrassed, frustrated and bamboozled the top executives of NBC, and utterly outmaneuvered David Letterman, whose career was poorly managed at the time.
It also won for Leno the coveted position of hosting ``The Tonight Show,'' indirectly propelled Letterman into a prosperous relationship with CBS, and altered forever the dynamics of a television time period worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year in advertising revenues.
Once Leno was assured of the ``Tonight'' job and Kushnick was assured of becoming the show's executive producer, however, things quickly deteriorated - as documented in the 1994 book ``The Late Shift'' by New York Times reporter Bill Carter.
In the months leading up to Carson's farewell in May 1992, Kushnick managed to alienate the king of late-night and his staff with a dismissive and condescending attitude. On Leno's first night as ``Tonight'' host, he failed to even mention his predecessor - on Kushnick's specific instructions.
Within weeks, stories began to circulate that Kushnick also was relying on intimidation and verbal abuse in her dealings with the ``Tonight'' staff, in booking guests, in her conversations with NBC brass and sometimes even with Leno. On the air, the show began to feel dysfunctional, and it was blasted by TV critics.
After four months, concerned for the very viability of its generations-long late-night franchise, NBC fired Kushnick. She tried to persuade Leno to quit rather than stay without her, but he refused.
Leno believed that Kushnick's conduct and her lack of candor with him had placed his career in jeopardy. The Leno-or-Letterman melodrama that followed her dismissal suggests he was correct.
A ``Tonight'' spokeswoman said that Leno did not wish to comment on Kushnick's death, and she flatly denied a supermarket-tabloid report that Leno recently had visited his former manager.
Through all her professional victories and defeats, personal tragedy always shadowed Kushnick. In 1983, her 3-year-old son, Samuel, died of AIDS contracted through a blood transfusion. In 1987, Kushnick herself was diagnosed with breast cancer, received extensive treatment and recovered.
Two years later, Kushnick's husband and business partner, Jerrold, died from cancer. A recurrence of her breast cancer followed, with another round of aggressive treatment and another remission.
Press accounts of Kushnick's death last week at her Manhattan home - she had been born and reared in an Irish neighborhood of Harlem - referred only to a long battle with cancer.
It should be noted that Kushnick filed a $30 million libel suit against Carter and his publisher, alleging numerous defamatory misstatements in ``The Late Shift.'' The suit was settled out of court under undisclosed terms. The statements Kushnick claimed were false have remained unchanged in all subsequent editions.
In HBO's ``The Late Shift'' movie, Kushnick was played by actress Kathy Bates, whose performance has been nominated for - and is considered likely to win - an Emmy.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB