Recently, when Howard Morris passed away, I directed you to this video link to watch what some have called the funniest sketch ever done on television — The Sid Caesar take-off of This is Your Life. If you remember the sketch (or go watch it now), you'll note that before Carl Reiner "surprises" Sid in the audience, he briefly hovers over a slim gentleman seated in an aisle seat. That man was David Tebet, who was then the publicist for Mr. Caesar's program.
Not long after, Mr. Tebet was hired by NBC where he quickly became Vice-President in Charge of Talent. He was the guy in charge of luring Big Stars to the network and keeping them happy once they were there. His job involved stroking large egos, fielding complaints, distributing compliments and keeping out of the ugly side of negotiations. Rumor had it he was empowered to bestow an endless array of gifts whenever he thought appropriate, and RCA products were the most frequent present. Johnny Carson once joked that at his funeral, the graveside services would be interrupted as a truck pulled up and delivered a Color TV from Dave Tebet. As far as I know, this did not happen.
Tebet was often credited with being the guy who suggested Carson for the Tonight Show post. Others claimed it as well, but Tebet seemed to have the strongest claim. In the seventies, when Johnny negotiated for ownership of that show (for the length of his tenure) and set up his own production company, he hired Tebet away from NBC to help him run it. The network, it was said, suffered for the loss. When a star was irate about something, they no longer had Dave Tebet to go in and smooth things out. This especially applied to disputes with Mr. Carson.
Dave Tebet died on Tuesday at the age of 91. If Carson were still around, he'd probably send a Color TV to the funeral.