By Sylvia Gurinsky
"Subtle" will not be one of the words used to describe much of Oprah Winfrey's farewell to her talk show this week.
Yet, subtle goodbyes have historically been the best ones. Here are some examples of classy ones (I suspect Jim Lehrer, stepping down from PBS' "NewsHour" in coming days, will join them:
*Chet Huntley, NBC, July 31, 1970: Along with David Brinkley, Chet Huntley anchored the very successful "Huntley-Brinkley Report" from 1956 until 1970, along with various political conventions and countless special reports. Huntley's goodbye and Brinkley's response are winners:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYf3eyRjfYA
*Walter Cronkite, CBS, March 6, 1981: Cronkite, the anchor of the "CBS Evening News" for 19 years, said a gracious goodbye, with one of my favorite quotes: "Old anchormen don't fade away, you see, they just keep coming back for more:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QEUfkRkZ0
*Johnny Carson, NBC, May 22, 1992: Carson (who, incidentally, did a hilarious send-off of a Cronkite farewell the night before Cronkite said goodbye) had an exit that was much covered in the press. At one point, he joked that he'd been in the news so much that his employees had started referring to him as "warm and approachable," rather than "cool and aloof."
Carson had two emotional goodbyes. The first one actually came on his second-to-last show, when comedian Robin Williams and actress/singer Bette Midler were guests. Midler and Carson sang one of Carson's favorites, "Here's That Rainy Day":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xty-L4Pp2CA&feature=fvst
The following night, Carson kept to the basics, showing clips from years past and saluting Ed McMahon, Doc Severinsen and the band - as well as the audience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9LuLqsWgiQ
"If I could, magically.....make it run backwards, I'd like to do it all over again," are the comments Carson made at the beginning of that last show. We agree, Johnny, we agree.
*Charles Kuralt, CBS, April 3, 1994: Kuralt had hosted "CBS News Sunday Morning" since its 1978 creation. In his introduction to his last book, "Charles Kuralt's America," he would compare his parting from CBS to a divorce ("I realized I didn't love her anymore," he wrote.). But that Sunday, the tone ranged from a cheerful handoff to new host Charles Osgood (still going strong today) to the humor of those noisy geese ("My heart knows where the wild goose goes.") to the bittersweet poem of Clarence Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQM3Yr18TjU
Bet Oprah didn't get a "tiddly-widdly-toodle-oo."
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Honor to all who have served on this Memorial Day weekend.
See you next week.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Week of May 20: Saluting One of "Murrow's Boys"; Katie Couric and Mary Hart Back When
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Joseph Wershba was a brave man.
One of the reporters and producers who worked with Edward R. Murrow, Wershba was part of the team responsible for the discrediting of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy's campaign to weed out Communists during the 1950s.
That campaign started with Wershba's own reporting in 1953 on Murrow's program, "See It Now," about United States Air Force Lt. Milo Radulovich, who was discharged as a security risk because family members were suspected of having Communist sympathies. That was the first in a series of reports that ultimately led to a direct confrontation between Murrow and McCarthy, who went on an episode of "See It Now" and basically did himself in with his words.
Years later, Wershba would produce documentaries - including "Gideon's Trumpet: The Poor Man and the Law," the saga of Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor man in Florida jailed for a felony without legal representation and eventually acquitted. The real story would later be turned into the acclaimed 1980 CBS television movie "Gideon's Trumpet," which starred Henry Fonda.
Wershba was one of the original producers in what has become a CBS institution, "60 Minutes." He stayed there until 1988, working quite a bit with correspondent Morley Safer. Twice, the team won Emmys: In 1971 for a look at the Gulf of Tonkin incident that triggered the Vietnam War, and in 1978 for a profile of Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.
Here's a link to a tribute by Safer:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20063653-10391709.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
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Katie Couric has given up her anchor chair at CBS, probably for an immediate future as a talk-show host, possibly with ABC.
Whatever her future, her past included time in Miami, at what was then known as WTVJ-Channel 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbpHgMvM918
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Meanwhile, Mary Hart is leaving "Entertainment Tonight" after 29 years of enthusiastic coverage of celebrities.
Here's a clip from 1983 - back when there were actually celebrities worth covering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOBNaU0fQY&feature=related
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See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Joseph Wershba was a brave man.
One of the reporters and producers who worked with Edward R. Murrow, Wershba was part of the team responsible for the discrediting of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy's campaign to weed out Communists during the 1950s.
That campaign started with Wershba's own reporting in 1953 on Murrow's program, "See It Now," about United States Air Force Lt. Milo Radulovich, who was discharged as a security risk because family members were suspected of having Communist sympathies. That was the first in a series of reports that ultimately led to a direct confrontation between Murrow and McCarthy, who went on an episode of "See It Now" and basically did himself in with his words.
Years later, Wershba would produce documentaries - including "Gideon's Trumpet: The Poor Man and the Law," the saga of Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor man in Florida jailed for a felony without legal representation and eventually acquitted. The real story would later be turned into the acclaimed 1980 CBS television movie "Gideon's Trumpet," which starred Henry Fonda.
Wershba was one of the original producers in what has become a CBS institution, "60 Minutes." He stayed there until 1988, working quite a bit with correspondent Morley Safer. Twice, the team won Emmys: In 1971 for a look at the Gulf of Tonkin incident that triggered the Vietnam War, and in 1978 for a profile of Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.
Here's a link to a tribute by Safer:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20063653-10391709.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
*****************************************************************************************
Katie Couric has given up her anchor chair at CBS, probably for an immediate future as a talk-show host, possibly with ABC.
Whatever her future, her past included time in Miami, at what was then known as WTVJ-Channel 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbpHgMvM918
*************************************************************************************
Meanwhile, Mary Hart is leaving "Entertainment Tonight" after 29 years of enthusiastic coverage of celebrities.
Here's a clip from 1983 - back when there were actually celebrities worth covering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOBNaU0fQY&feature=related
************************************************************************************
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Week of 5/13: Remembering Cooper and Wynter; Royal Weddings Past
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Jackie Cooper, who died last week, had two show business careers: The films he did as a child and the television and theater he did as an adult.
The latter undoubtedly satisfied him more; he had a chance to prove himself as an actor and director, and won accolades for both.
During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, he was a mainstay on televised live drama programs such as Kraft Theatre and Studio One in Hollywood. During the late 1950s, he had his own situation comedy, "The People's Choice," on NBC for three years, and from 1959-62 was in the dramedy "Hennesey" on CBS.
From the 1960s through the 80s, Cooper made numerous guest-starring appearances on various shows, including "Hawaii Five-O," "The Rockford Files" and "Murder, She Wrote."
Doing his own series, Cooper got behind-the-camera experience as a director and would put it to good use for three decades. He directed numerous "M*A*S*H," episodes during the show's first two seasons - including "Carry On, Hawkeye," for which he won an Emmy. He won a second Emmy for directing the pilot episode of "The White Shadow" and also directed episodes of "Magnum, P.I.," "The Rockford Files" and "Cagney & Lacey," among others.
Alas, we wait for the live drama presentations to be released on DVD, but many of his guest-starring roles and directed episodes are available.
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Dana Wynter, who died earlier this week, also had a long and steady career guest-starring in live dramas and television series. A few of those, including roles in "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I.," are available on DVD.
One that could get a release, given royal wedding interest, is "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana," shown on CBS in 1982. Wynter played Queen Elizabeth long before Helen Mirren did.
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One final note for those who enjoyed watching the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge): ABC News not only has the highlights, but also has past royal weddings, going back to Princess Anne's first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973.
The site also includes highlights of Prince Charles becoming Prince of Wales in 1969:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Wedding
***********************************************************************************
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Jackie Cooper, who died last week, had two show business careers: The films he did as a child and the television and theater he did as an adult.
The latter undoubtedly satisfied him more; he had a chance to prove himself as an actor and director, and won accolades for both.
During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, he was a mainstay on televised live drama programs such as Kraft Theatre and Studio One in Hollywood. During the late 1950s, he had his own situation comedy, "The People's Choice," on NBC for three years, and from 1959-62 was in the dramedy "Hennesey" on CBS.
From the 1960s through the 80s, Cooper made numerous guest-starring appearances on various shows, including "Hawaii Five-O," "The Rockford Files" and "Murder, She Wrote."
Doing his own series, Cooper got behind-the-camera experience as a director and would put it to good use for three decades. He directed numerous "M*A*S*H," episodes during the show's first two seasons - including "Carry On, Hawkeye," for which he won an Emmy. He won a second Emmy for directing the pilot episode of "The White Shadow" and also directed episodes of "Magnum, P.I.," "The Rockford Files" and "Cagney & Lacey," among others.
Alas, we wait for the live drama presentations to be released on DVD, but many of his guest-starring roles and directed episodes are available.
************************************************************************************
Dana Wynter, who died earlier this week, also had a long and steady career guest-starring in live dramas and television series. A few of those, including roles in "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I.," are available on DVD.
One that could get a release, given royal wedding interest, is "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana," shown on CBS in 1982. Wynter played Queen Elizabeth long before Helen Mirren did.
*************************************************************************************
One final note for those who enjoyed watching the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge): ABC News not only has the highlights, but also has past royal weddings, going back to Princess Anne's first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973.
The site also includes highlights of Prince Charles becoming Prince of Wales in 1969:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Wedding
***********************************************************************************
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
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