CBS Sunday Morning

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Prudential Insurance Company of America, New York, New Jersey. Good morning. I'm Jane Pauley, and this is a very special edition of Sunday Morning. We're celebrating, one day early, the 40th anniversary of Sunday Morning's very first broadcast on January 28, 1979.

Happy birthday to us. All through the morning, we'll be looking back at some of our favorite moments. We'll be revisiting special places, remembering notable conversations, taking a second look at outstanding performances and great art, while also making time for life's lighter side. But we begin at the beginning. Good morning.

Here begins something new. I'm Charles Kuralt, and this is Sunday Morning. We dreamed up a program about music and art and nature because of its necessary preoccupation with politics and wars and calamities. Television journalism doesn't get around to those gentler subjects very often.

From the very beginning, Sunday Morning has stayed true to Charles Kuralt's vision, to make sure those gentler subjects got their due. Do you think this is me? Oh, definitely. As the world changed, so did we. Time for us to part, you and I. In 1994, after 15 years at Sunday Morning, Charles Kuralt said goodbye in his own inimitable style.

Tiddly, widdly, toodle-oo. All I want is to stay with you, but here I go. Goodbye. Good morning. I'm Charles Osgood, and this is Sunday Morning.

I know it sounds strange to me, too, but here we are. Another Charles did his best to fill Kuralt's shoes. For the next 22 years, Charles II informed and delighted. Excuse me.

Excuse me. I'm with Charles now. Jane Pauley, congratulations and welcome. Two years ago, the page turned again, and a new chapter began. Yes! Thank you very much. Yep. Oh, I'm sorry. Too much enthusiasm?

No, that was perfect. As we celebrate our 40th year, we try our best each week to stay true to Sunday Morning's original mission. Whatever road we travel on, our goal remains the same. To take our viewers, all of you, wherever something remarkable is happening.

We're a television program, a little more leisurely and experimental than most, we hope, but a news broadcast after all. Our inaugural year, 1979, like every year, provided plenty of news. March brought the partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. May saw the election of British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

While in November, Iranian students seized those American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the start of a more than year-long standoff. 1979 also saw the deaths of Hollywood leading man, John Wayne. Composer Richard Rogers, half of the legendary Broadway duo, Rogers and Hammerstein.

And that most famous of circus clowns, Emmett Kelly. And beginning with that first year, all of us at Sunday Morning have been on the move, few more than our Lee Cowan, who's here to log our travels. Good morning, Lee.

Good morning, Jane. You can sort of think of this broadcast almost like a Sunday drive. For 40 years, we've meandered from exotic destinations to the mundane, from out-of-the-way places to our very own backyards, so that you could enjoy the view without moving an inch.

We stick to the back roads, which are full of surprises. Sunday Morning was born in part out of an affliction, Charles Corral's incurable case of wanderlust. When Francis Johnson started saving twine, he just couldn't help himself. It's just crazy.

Well, you don't have to be crazy, but it helps a lot. On any given Sunday, his itinerary could take you from the largest ball of twine in Minnesota to the historic attempt to unravel communism in Beijing. It's become something much deeper and stronger. Giant sequoia trees in California's Sierra are more than 2,000 years old. In our 40 years, we've tried to maintain that tradition, hoping that each new dot on a map might reveal a new side of ourselves.

The total darkness and harsh winters make it nearly impossible to maintain a year-round camp. We've seen the adventurous spirit of tourists exploring the top of the world and the determination of freezing scientists researching the bottom of it, too. We witnessed the wisdom of setting nature aside as we trekked through our national parks, 59 of them in all. Walking across sand and soil from the lowest point in the United States to the base of our highest peak.

From the brilliant pastels of Holland's tulips, colors only mother nature can paint, we've marveled at the palette of the globe, even the shades of space. Is it a spiritual experience? It is very spiritual.

As the heavens go, we haven't gone, but we've gotten pretty close. A visit to the Vatican might suffice. The Holiness Saint Francis of Assisi. And we bathed in the voices of angels.

It was Christmas night, 1776. Even joining the throng once or twice. The Canary Islands have a song of their own and a whistle carried on the wind. It's a language born long ago that we learned could be quite a mouthful.

Keep practicing, Tracy. We've seen the charm of children on the frigid shores of Iceland, lending their hands to help wayward puffins take their first flights out to sea. We encountered some wayward polar bears, too.

Some a little too close for comfort. There were more cats than we could count on an island off Japan. We've sailed the oceans on ships of old and aboard the ships of tomorrow. Instead of lookouts, you now have video monitors.

We don't have to have sailors do it, we have cameras do it for us. It looks pretty vintage. It is vintage.

It's actually made out of real wood. You don't find that in aviation anymore. We've soared above stadiums in the Goodyear blend and hovered over cities with a photographer who preferred his helicopter have no doors. I like what you're literally leaning out over the edge of the chopper.

You forget about it after a while. We've rolled on the rails of the Maharaja's Express as it chugged through Northern India. And we've taken the wheel and vehicles ourselves and every shape and size. But now in trying to turn this ancient capital into a modern one, every year brings strong Along the way, we've stopped off at places that caught our fancy. This building, the Guggenheim Museum on New York's Fifth Avenue, is one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century. Museums you've heard of.

It's the Elvis is Alive Museum. And those you probably haven't. National Pie Championships. The World Beard and Mustache Championships.

And competitions. That might leave you wondering. For 40 years, we've had the privilege of watching the sun set all over the world. The only thing better than its parting rays is knowing the next day we get to set out all over again. At Sunday morning, we've always found time for stories from the heart. Stories of insight and compassion that show people great and small at their best. Tracy Smith has been looking back at a few of the ones that touched us the most. Good morning, Tracy.

Good morning, Jane. When it comes to revisiting some of those pieces, there may be no better place to begin than with the man who showed all of us how it's done. Tracy, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you so much for watching us how it's done. Jim Richardson is back in town taking more pictures. His deepest interest is in the lives of the 300 people of Cuba, Kansas. Sunday morning's first anchor, Charles Corralt, was also its storyteller in chief. When you hear Jim Richardson talk about the people in Cuba, Kansas, about the children they raised here, you understand why he comes here to record ordinary American lives in such a persistent way.

Corralt was long known for capturing the humanity and grace found in everyday life and the rest of Sunday morning's gang soon made inroads of their own. This summer, Lewis turned 13. Moving to a new school can be a scary thing, especially when you know that growing up and growing tall are not the same thing. I'm still small and I want to, you know, I want to be, I want to be taller.

You know, I wish I was doing right my regular size. Stories about life's challenges became something of a signature. Three-year-old Edie Gilger is more familiar with a doctor's bag than any kid should be. Oh, what's that? And along the way, some pretty inspiring people came into view. Did you ever wonder what happened to that little girl?

You can call me Kim or Kim Fu. I'm 52. So 43 years ago. That I got burned. Was the day that defined the rest of your life. Yeah, that day. Maisie's Community Swimming Pool made possible by Maisie Devore. Maisie Devore discovered there was cash in aluminum cans to start saving for a pool. Are you stubborn? I guess. Or it wouldn't have got this far.

Can by can, the nickels and dimes added up to more than 6 million cans collected. I really am so happy. Is it okay for the kids to come in? It feels good. It feels good to say!

Time and again, seemingly unbeatable odds met unparalleled spirit. From the very moment that I had cancer, my kids knew. Julie Yip Williams hopes her daughters won't fear her death. Sometimes when you practice your instruments, I close my eyes so I can hear better.

She's written a letter to reassure the girls after their mother is gone. And when I do, I am often overcome with this absolute knowing that the music will beckon me and I will be there. We were there when those leaving the limelight revealed their more vulnerable moments. I'm happy to be here.

I'm happy to be anywhere. Glen Campbell is here to say goodbye. Is knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk. Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's. Do you think we got that? You do.

I do? I don't feel it anywhere. Tired, exhausted.

That's the main symptoms and forgetfulness. Lift six. Ted Turner begins most mornings these days with some yoga. His willingness to be shown on network television in what is certainly a diminished state is a testament to courage and a surprising absence of vanity. Sometimes things got personal. That's my husband, Aaron Latham. He and everyone else in the class has Parkinson's. Sometimes you saw our pride.

The father of the bride is the first to see his daughter in her wedding dress. I was on the verge of tears and beyond. Some stories didn't just include music. They were almost lyrical. Is playing the harp cool?

Yes. There's not a lot of kids that play the harp. You have your trumpets and your flautists and run-of-the-mill percussionists. But who can say, oh, I played the harp? So what do these tales have in common? I clicked my ski on.

I felt like I was gliding and it was a feeling I had never felt before. Like some gems. They're rare. Every day is the best day to remember.

They're precious. There's no ifs, ands, and buts about it. I want to be a heart surgeon.

I want to go to Temple, Yale, or Princeton. We're going to persevere and we're going to follow our dreams. And as we look back, each one is enduring.

You can do it! I learned by being engaged with people who were different from me. All I want is the world to just keep moving in that direction. Our distinctive suns are sort of a Sunday morning trademark.

Many of you ask us just how we choose them. A question Serena Altschul is happy to finally answer. No one can control the weather. But there is someone at CBS who can make the sun come out. You are officially the keeper of the suns.

Right. This is quite a responsibility. Meet our associate director, Jessica Frank. For 20 years, she's been handpicking every shining example of sun artwork to appear on our program.

That's about 9,000 and counting. Do you dream about suns? I do. This woman has sent me so many suns. They all come from the same place, our viewers.

They come with great notes and each one has a story. I've watched Sunday morning since the day it aired. It's a tradition that started decades ago when the first unsolicited suns showed up in our mailbox.

I love this one because it has a sun on the front and it's got Charles Kuralt on the back. This is a hubcap. What? Bird seed. Bird seed. This is a personal favorite. They're made from every material under the sun. Ta-da.

I love it. Yeah, it's figs and vegetables and pieces of broken glass and seashells and chili peppers. Post-it notes crunched up into a whole bunch of little pieces and we used it. Jessica finds her inspiration. I have a really good son for this.

By watching the stories themselves. And sometimes a fan stops by. Hello.

Hi, Jane. To cheer her on. The magic. The magic. This is the, this is the, you are the special sauce.

I think three is the winner. Very nice. Good. Some suns she uses as soon as she gets them. Awesome.

Perfect. Others she saves for a rainy day. I'll have a sun for four years or five years and I don't have a place for it and then I'll watch the piece and I'll go, oh, thank goodness, I can finally use the whatever sun, you know, and I get so excited. There was never any question about the suns she gets every year from Jim Stella's high school art class in Philadelphia.

She's used about 60 of them so far. Hello, Mr. Stella. Back in 2015, after Stella sent in his first batch, Jessica wrote the teacher a note. I am wowed at the beauty of these suns. And I love to use them on our show. Your students are enormously gifted and I am truly honored that you would think of submitting them to us. All the best, Jessica Frank. How did the class feel when you first heard back from Jessica? I gave them the Andy Warhol line.

It says I'm going to make you famous for at least five seconds. For five seconds, yes. Did you ever think when you started out in television and at CBS that you would somehow land here? No, no, absolutely not.

If somebody told me to draw a sun, it would be a disaster. And thankfully, she doesn't need to. From A-list entertainers to politicians and athletes, tycoons and writers, we visited with them all. So let's talk about it with Rita Braver. Good morning, Rita.

Good morning, Jane. Over the years, we've been able to bring our viewers interviews with some of the most fascinating people in public life. We always figure if we think they're interesting, you'll probably agree. Whenever I asked President Nixon, did he have knowledge of or was he involved in Watergate? I was assured by him personally, he was not. There were past presidents. You've been quoted as saying that you think maybe you've had a better ex-presidency than presidency. Well, that may be true. Certainly my reputation has been better in the post-presidential years.

And future presidents. When was the last time you flew commercial? Donald Trump showing off his private plane. Gold here, gold fixtures in the bathroom. That was a choice you made. That was a choice we made. And you know what tops it? Nothing. Nothing.

And a first lady who tried to become president. So I'm wondering, how are you? I think I am good, but that doesn't mean that I am complacent or resolved about what happened. It still is very painful. It hurts a lot. And the pain was apparent as well when we spoke to Senator Edward Kennedy about his brother JFK's love for his daughter Caroline. And little games they'd play. And then they'd find the great sense of joy that they shared.

And it's difficult to talk about. We witnessed history through the eyes of those who were there. Civil rights pioneer John Lewis took us back to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he was brutally beaten in 1965.

At this point, I can see lines and lines of state troopers. And we learned how spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama experience joy. Not only just on a physical level, but mentally. Peace. Compassion. Compassion. That's his joy.

Oh, he got it. We scoped out prodigies. That is huge. Including a very young Tiger Woods. Oh, it's a lot of fun. Except for in a tournament. Because I'm not relaxed in a tournament.

I'm all pumped up and hyped and I'm jazzed. We chatted with champions. When I went to the ballpark, I tried to do things a little different sometime. And make sure that the fans got their money worth.

When I came through, I didn't have a role model. I didn't know that the young girls were supposed to run, jump, and skip. Oh, you try to be cool. You try to convince yourself, you know, all right, this is another game, man.

You know, I'm ready. And we introduced our viewers to some of the leading literary lights of our time. How do you feel about critics? Playwrights. I love every one of them. And I can't get excited about them anymore. Because either I outwitted them or I outlasted them or something. Poets.

When we talk to our God in whatever language, however we see it, we use poetry. And how about making magic that inspired a generation of young readers? I never thought I was going to do that, but there is nothing better than that, is there? There's nothing better than that. We learned how titans of business think. You've had some stomach-churning days.

Not very many, no. If the market is falling or something like that, that's opportunity for us. We got in the mood with the original Playboy. We were there to ignite the flame that became a sexual revolution, I think. It takes some pride in that.

And heard from musicians who defined entire eras. Said it before, said it again. Black man will never be free in America. You still believe that?

Black man will never be free. I'm living it. And we learned that even prima donnas worry about getting it right. Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress.

I've never arrived. I'm still learning all the time. We put the biggest stars of the big screen onto your screen. Who knew Tom Hanks had a soft spot for typewriters?

Isn't that a fine, manly, manly typewriter? So many interviews. But for me, well, there are a couple I will never forget. Art Garfunkel's self-analysis. I know myself to be a creative guy. And I think my profile out in the show business is the guy over Paul Simon's right shoulder. And this irrepressible Oscar winner. So if you had to sum up Shirley MacLaine, who she is, write me a headline.

Shirley MacLaine. Oh no, it's my phone too. That's good enough. That's fine.

I'm a musical comedy performer who dabbles in spirituality and jewelry. Everything will be all right. Well, here we go again on the road. We have Sunday morning a lot to Charles Kuralt's travels on the road.

Steve Hartman carries on that tradition these days, finding the stories everyone else has missed. For most of us, being a good neighbor means loaning a stick of butter. Maybe the occasional social visit. Hello. How are you, Kathy?

But Kathy Felt of Sandy, Utah, says whatever your standard, it pales compared to what her neighbors did for her. What was your reaction? I cried, just like now. I was so moved.

It's my miracle. Kathy's miracle began about 10 years ago. Her MS had progressed to the point where she couldn't even get into bed.

And since she lived alone, the only logical long-term solution seemed to be a nursing home. Until one day, the guy next door came over and presented Kathy with a list. A list of about 60 men from the neighborhood who were willing to come over in teams of two to put Kathy to bed. Take off her slippers, take off her socks. One guy gets on one side and one guy gets on the other side. Lift her up, put her on the bed.

It's a process. You got to have a pillow under this foot. Things need to be just so. She finally says, I feel good. Pull the covers up, and she's tucked in for the night. We leave the kiss out.

Yeah, yeah, good, okay. Kathy's two sons and an aide help her in the morning. But this nightly ritual has been going on seven days a week for 10 years now.

We're going to be here as long as she needs us. Keith Pugmire is the main organizer. Our challenge is to get everybody a time. Wait, wait, wait.

You've got more volunteers than you need? Yeah. Okay. What kind of neighborhood is this? This is a great neighborhood.

Clearly. There's some houses for sale. You want to move in? Before you call a realtor, though, one caveat. When Keith first started soliciting volunteers, he says not everyone was a natural Florence Nightingale.

I can't say I was excited. I'll tell you that. Coming into somebody's home, it's a woman.

And I have no health care background at all. Here's that. Here's your phone. There was definitely an evolution, and it was most evident in this man. Did you want to do this? His name is John Keller.

No. John now admits the only reason he agreed to help Kathy was because he knew he would look bad if he didn't. That's hard for me to say. I had always considered myself a good person, Christian.

Then I realized maybe I'm not. I wanted to be a better person. Today, John says the simple act of lifting Kathy week after week has made him a profoundly better person, a good reminder that burdens are sometimes blessings in disguise. Yeah, no problem. Anytime time now to salute my Sunday morning predecessor, Charles Osgood, who, of course, will forever be the poet laureate of CBS.

But it seems this morning, Charlie has a little competition from our senior contributor, Ted Koppel. It's been four decades now, and what used to be norms aren't just different or changed. They're completely transformed. The things we relied on, outdated, passé, is the new world much better?

Well, that's hard to say. For example, when driving, we once employed maps. Ask directions to get there before there were apps.

Just imagine the tension, the unrivaled stress, the nervous exhaustion before GPS. In those pre-Apple days, we stuck coins into phones, made our planes out of paper before there were drones, sent our film to be processed, and then we would wait. Now our cameras are digital.

Isn't that great? You can upload and download. It's really quite quick, and in a flash, it's transferred to a memory stick. It's all so convenient. Even at home, you can use a search engine to check your genome. It's hard to remember, but we weren't always free to watch movies at home on our own DVD. We can pick our own music, orchestral or voice.

I can see! It's free and it's easy. MP3 gives us choice. When so much has changed, there's a tendency to yearn for something familiar. Something like an old shoe.

Something substantive, warm, and reliable. Yes, it's still here. Sunday morning on old CBS. He was everything. I mean, he could play any instrument.

He could dance like a maniac. To the founding father, who just doesn't seem to get much respect. This guy did everything wrong.

So there's no statue, there's no signature on the Declaration of Independence. You'll learn new things about people you thought you knew. Were you aware that the day of your inauguration, Audrey Hepburn died?

No. You'll learn about people who aren't real. They did not have room in the writing for the older brother, because the Fonz became the older brother. So join me this premiere season of Mobituaries. As all you loyal viewers know, we close each Sunday morning with a peaceful moment of nature. So how do our camera people get those pictures?

We asked Connor Knighton to find out. The sun has just barely come up. You see the a-grid up on the right? But photographer Scott Miller is already out on the lake with his camera. This is church. Miller will eventually spend all day in this Cathedral of Cyprus, winding around Caddo Lake in East Texas, shooting great egrets. Can you go into these at the right here that are backlit? And green lily pads.

All to create what amounts to just one minute of television. What I try to do is capture the essence, the sense of a place. And I'm very lucky that I go to places that it's really not all that difficult to romanticize.

Miller's travels have taken him from the vastness of the Valley of the Gods in southeast Utah. To the serenity of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. He's captured a charismatic fox in snowy Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. And an elusive alligator at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. A lot of the places that I show, most people will never experience themselves. I pinch myself sometimes.

It's very special. Miller is part of a network of photographers. Spread out all across the country, who capture our moments of nature.

A 27 hour drive away in northwest Nevada, Derek Reich is on the hunt for some desert bighorn sheep. And obviously, because we have come to record him, Where are you guys? Trying to record them.

He has not been finding too many. Until finally, a family appears. Listen closely. When you first got out and saw them up here, we were listening to your mic on our audio setup.

And your heart was beating so fast that we could hear it. Seriously? Yeah. Is that, I mean, is there an excitement for you?

Yeah, there's always an excitement. Derek has been shooting our nature moments since the early 90s. Ranging from bees in the Central Valley of California, to porcupines in snowy Antelope Island, Utah, to mustangs in the Pine Nut Mountains of Nevada. Look at that little guy. Sometimes, his favorite subject is what you can't see.

He once spent an afternoon recording wind at Canyonlands National Park. When you just stop and listen, it's amazing what you'll hear. Ever since their debut in 1979, We thought you might like a couple of minutes of silence now. It's a silence interrupted only by the cries of birds. The segments have avoided showcasing any people, man-made structures, or man-made sound.

But Reich says those places are getting harder and harder to find. I was thinking back on the ones I've done in the past, and how much more difficult it is to not have a jet flying overhead, or not have a leaf blower firing up down the street, or a traffic going by. And that's just the state of our natural world today. If you did away with it, what do you think the following would be?

Oh, people would riot. When I meet people and tell them what I do for a living, oh, that's the show that's got the nature of the end of it. See, that makes me happy. It tells me that there's some hope that people feel strongly about this stuff. For any television reporter, it is more than a little humbling to find out that the most beloved part of our show is the moment that doesn't show a single person. But really, how could I ever compete with this?

I'm Jane Pauley. Please join us when our trumpet sounds to launch our next 40 years, next Sunday morning. There are bad people in the world. The best way to protect the good people is to convict the bad. So here's to us. The Good Fight, the final season, now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.