Toasts of L.A.: Oprah Winfrey, Marla Gibbs

Two wildly successful women, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and actress Marla Gibbs--public personalities who happen to be black--were honored this past weekend.

Barbara Walters, emceeing the National Conference of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award Dinner on Saturday night, probably explained the significance best, first noting that it was the organization’s 40th year:

“I remember Adolf Hitler. I remember how Japanese citizens were treated in this state. I remember segregated schools . . . a segregated army . . . I can no more imagine a dinner in honor of Oprah Winfrey 40 years ago. . . .”

Winfrey, accepting the Humanitarian Award from dinner chair Thomas Murphy, Capital Cities/ABC chairman and CEO, pointed to Walters and her “Today” show stint as providing the role model needed for a 10-year-old in Mississippi.

“There were no role models for me but Buckwheat and nobody wanted to be Buckwheat but Buckwheat,” she said. Saying that she opposed children being taught “victimization,” Winfrey said, “I stand on solid rock because I come from a great legacy of black people. I was never taught oppression.”

The dinner, the 25th annual such event sponsored by the NCCJ Entertainment Industries Division, netted more than $200,000 for the organization, which sponsors programs to reduce prejudice and promote interracial and interreligious cooperation and social justice. The organization committee was made up of 17 top names in the entertainment world--but only a few of them managed to make it to the event, among them Lorimar’s Merv Adelson (Walters’ spouse), ABC’s Brandon Stoddard, CBS exec Kim LeMasters and MCA’s Sidney Sheinberg.

The low attendance by top execs raised yet more questions about big charity bashes. It used to be that such events served not only to support charities and the arts, but also to establish executives and the companies they represent in the social world. Now, at many black-tie events, it seems top execs buy their way out, not in, by purchasing tables and then filling those tables with middle-level employees.

A spokesman for the NCCJ said the organization was “very disappointed” at the absent committee members--some of whom were ill, others out of the city, still others just not there. He, and the few members who did attend, said that having the event on a Saturday night--a scheduling necessity because of Winfrey’s schedule--might have contributed to the missing execs.

Too bad--because the speeches and tributes were both personal and moving, and, for star watchers, seeing Winfrey curl up on the shoulder of her steady, Stedman Graham, was something sweet. As she told the audience, “I prayed myself up a man . . . supportive and loving and did not want my money and . . . tall too.”

In her ruffled gold dress, Marla Gibbs looked like Glinda the Good Witch from “The Wizard of Oz.” And, as Columbia Pictures Television chairman (the very clever) Gary Lieberthal stressed at a lavish party in her honor Friday night, Gibbs was certainly magical--now into her 15th consecutive year on network television.

With clips from “The Jeffersons” and “227,” and appearances by her once co-star Sherman Hemsley and current co-stars Jackee, Alaina Reed, newest addition Countess Vaughn, Curtis Baldwin and Helen Martin, the party at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Room turned out to be--well, a great party.

Gibbs was cited not just for televised longevity, but for what she has done since she’s been on TV, especially her founding of Crossroads Academy, the working theater school here. The show-stopping appearance of Tasha Scott, one of the school’s young singers, was proof of Gibbs’ success--but then someone had gotten the clever idea to do entertainment that really entertained. Torch singer Vaughn, the young winner of “Star Search,” and the Carly Moultrie Singers brought the audience to its feet.

Also coming in for commendations was NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff (there with his wife, Lily), praised by many as being “a man ahead of his time.” NBC currently has three major shows with black actors: “Cosby,” “227” and “Amen.” Tartikoff said: “When we (NBC) were No. 3, in order not to be No. 3, we had to do things differently. We had to take risks . . . and we tapped into a tremendous resource.”

After an evening of tributes, Gibbs reponded first by thanks and then by singing “Almost Like Being in Love.”

One backstage note: The newly-thin Jackee (“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t turned down for anything anymore”) made a late and flashbulb-popping entrance, was close to Gibbs just long enough for pictures, and the rest of the time had quite a bit of spotlight to herself.

Among the audience: Columbia TV exec Fran McConnell, complimented by Jackee on her sparkly dress, explained, “It’s just a little something I traded my car for.”