Jun. 5, 2003 - The white tablecloths hung perfectly. The cutlery gleamed; the glasses shone; the entire table was set, almost to a fault. But the banquet captain in training, a man named Jonathan Tisch, was unable to master the art of folding linen napkin into fans. 

"He's doing very good, except for the napkins," said Danny Outerino, a banquet captain at Loews Miami Beach, peering at the near-perfect table set in one of the hotel's ballrooms. 

"The napkins are clearly an issue," Tisch somberly agreed. 

Fortunately, Tisch already has a job; he is chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels Corp., a string of 19 high end hotels, and his job paid him $1.7 million last year. 

Yet for four days ending Saturday, Tisch will toil in more mundane corners of the hospitality trade. He will work as a banquet server, line cook, room and pool attendant and bellboy. A three-person camera crew will record his every step, and the footage will be used for a TV program tentatively titled Down the Ladder, in which CEOs spend a few days with their company's rank and file. 

"It's a great way for me to know more about our business, to come down from the office and see how things work" said Tisch, 49, who lives in New York. "The air definitely gets thin when you're a CEO." 

Based on a British Broadcasting Corp. show, Down the Ladder is being produced by New York Times Television, progenitor of Maternity Ward, a "documentary verité" that runs on The Learning Channel. TLC will also air Down the Ladder, likely late this fall. The segment's producer, Alastair Bates, hopes his program will air after the hit Trading Spaces, in which neighbors decorate each other's homes. 

Tisch's adventures and misadventures will be aired on the first installation of the show. The second installation is expected to be filmed at Club Med in Ixtapa, Mexico, with John Vanderslice, the company's CEO. 

Tisch's identity will not be revealed to guests, and the camera crew has been instructed to inform any askers that they are filming a trainee. 

Much of Tisch's childhood was spent at hotels. His father, Preston Robert, and his uncle, Laurence, spent the post-World War II years opening Atlantic City's Traymore, the Americana in New York and the Americana Bal Harbour, now a Sheraton. In 1959, the brothers bought majority interest in Loews Theaters and converted the bankrupt movie houses into hotels. 

Tisch remembers working as a hotel operator at the Americana Bal Harbour at the age of 7. He later ascended to bellboy, front desk clerk and waiter. 

On Wednesday, outfitted in a bow tie, a name tag and an ivory blazer, Tisch insisted he was not worried about the challenges ahead. He admitted to slight trepidation, though, about the prospect of working the front desk. 

"I've done all these jobs before," he said. "But at the front desk now everything is computerized. The pressure of not screwing up is looming large." Should Tisch blunder, chances are the staff will not mind. 

"When employees see their CEO going their daily lives, it builds morale," Outerino said. 

-----To see more of The Miami Herald -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com. 

(c) 2003, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. LTR, CMI,