White Women, Black Heart

Two of television's top producers—In Living Color's Tamara Rawitt and The Arsenio Hall Show's Marla Kell Brown—have stylishly ushered their shows to the top ranks while blazing trails for women. Both are white, but haven't found cultural differences a problem. "I come from a Jewish suburban background," says Brown. "Arsenio comes from urban Cleveland. But we still have a lot in common, and clicked." Brooklyn-bom Rawitt says, "With Keenen [Ivory Wayans, the writer-star] and I, there was an instant comedic telepathy. That's what we bank on." Brown comes from a long TV history (The Morning Show, The Late Show), while Rawitt went from film marketing to production (as vice president of Eddie Murphy's film-production company and co-producer of Wayans's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka). Both women work long hours overseeing talent, writers, research, finance, and promotion. In Rawitt's case, there's the extra task of duking it out with censors. That's when she assumes a male identity. "When I'm on the phone with them," she laughs, "I channel the spirit of Clarence Darrow."

MICHAEL MUSTO