40 May 2017 V I D E O A G E Susan Leigh Bender does things differently. First she entered show business from the “show” portion, as a nightclub singer to be exact. Later, she moved into the industry from the “business” side, and, in the process, she ended up selling programs to Latin American TV stations without speaking Spanish. In addition, when she started in the industry, the TV business was a male-dominated field, with women relegated to secretarial jobs. In this respect Bender is a pioneer, similar to other female international TV sales executives such as Claude S. Perrier and Gilberte de Turenne in France, Giuliana Nicodemi in Italy, Mex Hartmann in Germany and Alice Donenfeld in the U.S. Finally, TV distributors usually start working in indie companies and then move to studios; Bender instead went from a studio position and became an independent distributor. But before that challenge, which saw her moving from a studio to an indie and culminated in a 45-year career that is still going strong, Bender went through a dramatic, if short, interlude as a sales executive at Harmony Gold, which was in the midst of international intrigue and court action. As vice president, Latin American Television Sales, Bender worked at Paramount International Television for 20 years, starting in 1986. Before that, she was executive director, International Sales at Metromedia Produces, a company she joined in 1972. At Paramount she worked under three division presidents: Bruce Gordon, Gary Marenzi and Armando Nuñez Jr. “But,” she said, “even though I was paid up until 2006, I actually left in 2005.” Bender added that during that time she “never did output deals. I simply didn’t believe in them.” At Metromedia she worked with Paul Rich and, for two years under Herb Lazarus. Rich recalled: “Susan pretty much ran the Latin American sales operation by herself. At MIP-TV in 1980, she approached me and said, ‘Paul, I’ve got this client from Argentina who has owed us a lot of money for a while and wants to see you immediately.’ As the client approached me, he was carrying a large manila envelope, and blurted out, ‘This is for you to pay the balance of what I owe you.’ I opened it, and inside was $100,000 in bonds! I loved it when our clients paid their bills (especially Latin Americans), but, at the sight of all that money, I panicked, but the ever-reliable Susan remained cool, took the envelope, walked across the street to a bank, and deposited it in a Metromedia account we had established there.” During an interview at NATPE Miami last January, Bender admitted that she didn’t know how the bonds worked. “The bank took care of cashing them,” she said. While on the subject, Bender reported that throughout her TV sales career, she never had collection problems in Latin America. “Late payment, yes, but we always got paid,” she added. In effect, the bonds were the only possible form of payment at that time, when TV stations purchased their government bonds with local currency and used them to pay foreign suppliers. For a discount on the face value banks bought the bonds, which were re-sold or cashed when interests matured. Bender is a product of America’s heartland, born in Youngstown, Ohio. She was a Theater Arts major at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. As such, she was the typical no-nonsense, practical person with good, downto-earth common sense. Indeed, from the time Bender started on stage in 1969 as a singer in Santa Monica, California, to when she entered the TV business at Metromedia Producers, only three years had passed. And from there she went to become vice president, Latin America Television Sales at Paramount TV International 14 years later. Here’s how Bender recalled the start of her career and especially meeting an American star like Bob Hope: “When I turned 21 years old, Los Angeles was the place to start a singing career, so I auditioned for a very famous nightclub in Santa Monica, California called The Horn. It was famous in the ’60s and ’70s for showcasing aspiring talent – including Steve Martin, Andy Griffith and Phyllis Diller, to name a few. I was accepted, the youngest to showcase there, and one night the manager of ‘The New Christy Minstrels’ was in the audience. After my performance, he asked me to come and audition for the group, [which I joined].” Founded in 1961, the “Minstrels” is still an American large-ensemble folk music group also famous for having recorded the 1940 song, This Land Is Your Land. Bender continued: “In 1970, ‘The New Christy Minstrels’ went onaUnitedServiceOrganizations (USO) Tour to entertain our troops in Korea and Japan. And there, I met Bob Hope.” The singer, comedian and movie star had been involved with USO Tours since World War II and the U.S. government honored him with A Military Order of the Purple Heart and named a vessel, “USNS Bob Hope.” “I eventually became a very close friend of Bob Hope’s niece, Avis Hope,” Bender added, “and over the years Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, became ‘Uncle Bob and Aunt Dolores,’ when I was in their company with Avis.” Not long after, Bender left the “Minstrels” to embark on her own nightclub act, but she recalled, “I had a period of six weeks with no club dates, and needed to earn some money. I went to By Dom Serafini Susan L. Bender: Welcoming New Challenges Wasn’t a Challenge Int’l TV Distribution Hall of Fame The tradition of inviting TV stars to mingle with L.A. Screenings buyers started in 1980, when Metromedia hosted an after-screenings party on the rooftop terrace of KTTV. Pictured with Bender during the 1980 cocktail is the star of Dynasty, Linda Evans and, on the left, Paul Rich. Bender and Sally Treibel at NATPE 2015 Bender at the Paramount stand at MIPCOM 1993 with Bruce Gordon (left) and Pat Stambaugh (right). (Continued on Page 42)
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