Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 501502503504505506507508509510511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549 of 755

of pace, so when people want to eat and have a change of scenery, they don't want the same kind of interior that they've got in their offices. Let's do a slate floor and let's do wood tables and wood chairs and certain other things.” And, indeed, that's the way we went.

At one end of the room, from 51st Street to 52nd Street--because it was an enormous floor-- there was a wall that had to have some kind of treatment, and Lew Dorfsman [?], who was the art director and probably as close to me as anyone on the non-substantive side of CBS, said to me that he had an idea for a door. There had to be a door. Fire rules had to have an exit in that big room. And that he wanted to do a door based on cooking utensils. Sounded pretty corny to me, and I said: “Go ahead and let's do it.” Do a mockup and see what it's about.

Well, it turned out it was beautiful. And I said: “Let's do the whole wall.”

He said: “I can't get enough antique pots and pans and things to do it.” But he'd give a try to it.

It got a lot of attention in the art world, and so forth. Knoll fell in love with it, and it was just great. That space was going very well. We had moved into the building, but there were certain floors that weren't finished yet, and that floor wasn't finished. And it was just such an unusual floor that I said: “Let's give a big reception for the art critics and 57th Street people. The museum people and so forth. Just to let them see what could happen in this building. If they come and see this, then maybe they'll want to see the rest of the building, in which case I'd be very happy.” Because I looked upon it as, in part, my child.