13th Cable Awards Gala: ACE Is the Place

The scene: Party Sunday night after the 13th annual Awards for Cable Excellence (ACE) presented by the National Academy of Cable Programming. The whole evening--encompassing paparazzi- driven arrival hoopla, a three-hour awards presentation and frantic rush to the bar at the gala afterward--can loosely be compared to the Emmy and Academy Awards events, without Tawny Little.

Who was there: Limo-loads of producers (who travel in packs of eight to 12), managers and agents, plus Mr. and Mrs. Ted Turner, Beau Bridges, Jane Curtin, Peter Coyote, co-host Danny Glover, Elliott Gould, Kenny Loggins, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Louis Gossett Jr., Evander Holyfield, the show’s executive producer Dick Clark, Mimi Rogers, Charles Kimbrough, Larry King and Christopher Reeve. Among those at the awards, but not necessarily in the party crush were Mr. and Mrs. Tom Arnold, co-host Cybill Shepherd, actor Graham Greene, Sir David Attenborough, Rosanna Arquette, Marsha Mason, Teri Garr, Blythe Danner, Nina Blackwood, Gen. Thomas W. Kelly and Christine Lahti.

Flavor of the month: The undisputed stars of the evening were Cable News Network’s Gulf War team, all present, including Peter Arnett and Bernard Shaw. CNN received the “Golden Ace” for its coverage of the war; president Tom Johnson and founder and chairman Ted Turner accepted the spade-shaped statuette. Offering a typical comment was comedian Garry Shandling who said, “News people have become the real celebrities and I was thrilled to see them.”

Quoted: “We have these movie stars come up and say, ‘We watch CNN all the time.’ To be on this end is weird,” admitted CNN reporter Charles Jaco. “We’re usually on the other side of the camera saying, ‘Senator, why are you lying?’ ”

Reality Check: Said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “I feel like a reporter who’s been into whatever Hollywood is, but tomorrow I fly back to Washington and Tuesday I cover the Pentagon’s budget, and I’ll be right back to Earth.”

Dress code: Black-tie, with black being the operative word. Nearly every woman on stage and off wore black, with black suits being predominant. Laura Dern wore the singularly best-fitting black trouser suit. Also noteworthy: Mimi Rogers rebelled with an exceedingly tight, exceedingly red tube dress; Lolita Davidovich pinned her hair up with a gold fork.

Peter Pan Syndrome: Alarmingly high numbers of top-earning, award-winning male producers and writers continue to rent their formal wear, refusing to grow up and actually buy tuxedos, tuxedo shirts and tuxedo shoes. Hey guys, it’s not the prom.

Transportation note: White limousines and female chauffeurs (chauffeuresses?) have inexplicably become terribly swank.