New York ? From his well-polished desk in the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, David Letterman usually rules the roost in Midtown. But not when Oprah Winfrey is in the neighborhood, and finally a guest on “Late Night With David Letterman,” despite having declined to chat on Letterman’s couch for more than 16 years.

In the space of barely an hour Thursday night, Winfrey’s incomparable celebrity wattage reduced the typically caustic Letterman to little more than a sycophantic escort. He humbly walked Winfrey down Broadway, past a media frenzy and all the way to the front door of the Broadway Theatre and into the opening night of “The Color Purple,” the new musical for which the talk-show host serves as a late-arriving, high-profile producer.

With his daunting guest deposited under the marquee that bears her name more obviously than the title of the show, and his hosting done, a clearly nervous Letterman then emitted a visible sigh of relief on the red carpet and disappeared fast into the dark of the early evening.

That left Winfrey to cavort happily for the flashbulbs with an ebullient A-list of celebrities in waiting, a group that included Tina Turner, Angela Bassett, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx and Sidney Poitier.

“This is a night for celebration,” Poitier said, as Winfrey twirled nearby with Ruby Dee.

The unusually deep and powerful array of the rich and famous – far eclipsing the regular attendees at most Broadway openings – had been drawn by Winfrey’s participation in a show that is gaining inestimable promotional benefits from her very visible involvement.

In this photo provided by CBS, Oprah Winfrey appears with David Letterman during a taping of The

“Oprah’s bigger than all of us, baby,” said actor David Hasselhoff, standing nearby, shaking his well-coiffed head at the frenzied scene, and stating the obvious.

The studio-to-theater stunt was the conclusion of Winfrey’s much-hyped appearance on the pre-taped Letterman talk show and was immediately followed by Winfrey’s immediate re-emergence from the theater to pose for photographers. It may all have been staged for the cameras, but the mood of gentlemanly deference was the perfect match for the chat that had gone before.

Winfrey’s arrival on the Letterman show was preceded by a drum roll. “In 20 years,” said Letterman to band leader Paul Shaffer, “we haven’t had timpani.”

There was some joshing shortly after Winfrey first sat down, with Winfrey declaring that the two hosts had never actually had a 16-year fight, despite its widespread characterization as such.

“There is no feud, only peace and love,” Winfrey said.

“And admiration?” Letterman asked.

Once she figured he was actually being serious, Winfrey answered in the affirmative.

Thereafter, Letterman settled into unusually deferential tones, apparently deciding on-air and at that very moment that his style and profession were overly trivial.

“You have meant something to the lives of people,” Letterman said, sounding like a man suddenly lost in a mid-life crisis. “We are just a TV show.”

At one point, Letterman seemed to envy Winfrey’s close relationships with her celebrity guests. “I’m not close to him like you are,” Letterman said, referring to Tom Cruise. “Come to think of it, I’m not close to anyone.”

And so it went throughout the show, with Letterman behaving more like a guest – or a therapy patient – than the sardonic man behind the desk that built his reputation. He told Winfrey that his show, unlike hers, has no mission whatsoever.

“I just do what I want to do, Dave,” said a bemused Winfrey, engaging in a little celebrity counseling.

“God bless you,” Letterman said. “How nice is that.”

The self-deprecating subtext was obvious: Letterman, who has to rely on a youthful, late-night audience, doesn’t have that kind of clout. But Winfrey does, of course.

For most of the show, she seemed little short of amazed that Letterman had no apparent desire to spoof her show or her image, preferring instead to queue-up touching but familiar Winfrey biographical stories and allow Winfrey to promote her various good works throughout the globe.

“I cannot believe you are being this nice to me,” Winfrey said. “I didn’t expect it.”

In no time all, she was off to the theater across the street – celebrating the show she belatedly decided to bless, with all of her powerful friends in support. And as Winfrey rushed out through Letterman’s lobby, the thin late-night host in the suit was grasping tightly onto her hand.