Library hosts Dick Cavett and his wife Martha Rogers for Book & Author Luncheon

The annual Shelter Island Library Book & Author Luncheon was held on Saturday, June with 125 guests attending the sold-out event at the Ram’s Head Inn. Dick Cavett was the star attraction, introduced by moderator Gary Paul Gates as “the best late night talk show host ever,” to great applause.

Joining in the conversation, on a very different topic, was his wife, Martha Rogers, co-author of the recently published “Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage.”

Mr. Gate’s claim became clear as Mr. Cavett reminisced about his years as host of his own show on ABC in the mid-60s and 70s, followed by several years on PBS and most recently as an online opinion columnist for the New York Times and the author of “Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary and Off-Screen Secrets,” published in 2010.

Despite temperatures in the 90s, he kept the full house engaged and laughing out loud with his unerring ear for mimicry and his insights into some of his most unforgettable guests — from his great good friend Groucho Marx (who he first met at a funeral) to Katharine Hepburn, Jack Benny, Tallulah Bankhead, Norman Mailer and Mel Brooks, not to mention literary and political headliners too numerous to mention.

In her remarks, Dr. Rogers, an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a leading authority on customer-centered management strategies, presented the ways in which technology and social networking are changing business practices for the better in terms of “doing the right thing” on behalf of the consumer.

In her own right, Dr. Rogers is as compelling a conversationalist as her husband.

How they happened to meet was another good story, one they took turns telling at Saturday’s luncheon. It had everything to do with New Orleans and two Schnauzers — but you really had to have been there.