SUBTEXTsame attitude. Those who can do it send out a subtext of I'm in
charge here. The confident walk, the physical energy, and the
relaxed style all work together.PUT ON THE MASK
Marshall McLuhan once said, "TV will not take a face. It has to
have a mask." Face, in this statement, is "the expression that
projects the personality." Mask means an expression that reveals
very little about the person.
TV talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr., appeared without a
mask, in all the rawness of his personality. The audience saw
the abrasive character of the man and soon grew tired of him.
They felt they knew all they needed to know. There was no subtext
to uncover; what you saw was what you got.
On the other hand, people like Johnny Carson assume a mask;
in Carson's case, a faintly bemused expression. Viewers are never
sure that they know the real Carson, and so he is always intriguing.
Ted Koppel, who hosts ABC's "Nightline" program, also wears
a television mask, a rather bland one. "Such a mask," Mr. Koppel
has said, pleases the viewer who "watches me and... chooses
to believe that I believe what he believes."
How do you develop such a mask for television or business?
According to Mr. Koppel, it's a question of toning down your
own views, of not getting trapped in an inflexible image, and of
not allowing others to think that they've got you figured out.
It is not easy to assume an unreadable mask. Take Vice President
Dan Quayle, for example. In an article in the Sunday New York
Times, writer Philip Marchand suggested that for Quayle to escape
from his subtextual image as an inexperienced lightweight—a sub-