Don Hewitt: Helping invent the wheel of TV news
If the only thing that Don Hewitt had done in his six decades starting at the birth of TV News was to invent the phenomenally successful "60 Minutes," he would still have been one of the most influential producers in the history of the medium.
But Hewitt's legacy extends well beyond "60 Minutes." To a large extent, each time viewers tune into a newscast, they are experiencing a Hewitt invention.
No one else in television has played a larger role in shaping the face of television news -- from nightly newscasts and prime-time newsmagazines to special events and election coverage. Hewitt's list of credits reads like the index of a television news history book.
He began in 1948 as producer-director on the network's first 15-minute-long attempt at a nightly newscast, "Douglas Edwards with the News." He was also the director for "See It Now," Edward R. Murrow's landmark documentary series that ran from 1951 to 1958. When Edwards was replaced at the CBS nightly news anchor desk in 1963, Hewitt became executive producer of the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite."
Under his direction, CBS became in 1948 the first television network to cover the national political conventions. Hewitt oversaw convention coverage every four years through 1980. In 1960, he directed the television debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon -- an event that, for better or worse, changed the way campaigns are conducted. He directed CBS' around-the-clock coverage of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, and produced coverage of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
And that list only takes his story up to 1968, when he invented "60 Minutes," television's most honored (75 Emmys) and most popular program (higher ratings than "Lucy," "Gunsmoke," "Cosby," "M*A*S*H" or "All in the Family").
"Don Hewitt can't be replaced," Morley Safer, a longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent, told me in an interview for a profile I wrote of Hewitt when he stepped down from the newsmagazine in 2004. "No one is going to have those kinds of instincts and that frenzied enthusiasm. The trick has been controlling him. If we didn't control him, we'd all be as crazy as he is."
There was no such thing as a television newsmagazine before Hewitt came up with "60 Minutes." "Dateline," "20 / 20," "48 Hours" are all made in its image. Beyond its award-winning-brand of watchdog journalism, "60 Minutes" has earned more than $2 billion in profit for CBS, annually contributing $100 million a year to the network's bottom line through the 1980s and 1990s.
"I don't think there is any disputing that he and Roone Arledge [the late president of ABC News] are the two most influential producers in the history of television news," said Andrew Heyward, then the president of CBS News. "Don doesn't like the "L" word, legend, and he doesn't like the "G" word, giant, but he is both. Having Don here is like being in the aircraft industry and coming into the plant every day and having one of the Wright Brothers on the assembly line."
This is one of my favorite Hewitt stories.
One morning in 1952, Hewitt was eating breakfast in a Chicago diner. In town to direct coverage of the Republican National Convention, he was puzzling over how to identify speakers at the podium without interrupting their remarks with a voiceover. Then he noticed a menu board with "little white letters stuck on a black background" on the wall.
"Bingo! It suddenly hit me: white letters superimposed on a black background is the way you superimpose names on the screen because the camera will not pick up the black, and you can superimpose that shot over anything you want to and show the letters and the picture simultaneously," Hewitt said.
When the waitress came to take his order, he said: "I'll have the board."
He bought it for $45 and within hours, the menu board -- and the concept of television subtitles -- made their national debut on CBS.
Part showman, pure storyteller, the irascible and iconoclastic Hewitt peppered his conversations with four-letter words, vivid imagery and allusions to Hollywood formulas -- many of the same elements that have come together to form the look and feel of 60 Minutes.
"I feel like I'm living a sort of movie life," he said to me in 2004 trying to explain his worldview. "I've always seen my life through the movies. I mean, I grew up with the movies. To this day, I'm not sure that you're here, and I'm here, and this isn't a movie. I mean that really -- I'm just such a child of the movies."
Hewitt's rise at the network was meteoric, but not without bumps. In 1965, at the age of 32, he was fired as executive producer of Cronkite's nightly newscast by Fred Friendly, another legendary figure who was then president of CBS News.
"Friendly called me one day and he said, 'Don, the Cronkite news is not big enough for you -- you're so much bigger than that. I'm going to take you off the nightly news and have a special unit.'" One of his new tasks was to rethink how the network presented documentaries.
"Now, I'm stupid enough to believe all that," Hewitt continues, "So, I leave Friendly feeling great, and I walk into the office of Bill Leonard, who's the vice president of CBS News and also my pal, and I say, 'Bill, guess what? Friendly just told me the evening news is not big enough for me, and he wants me to have a special unit all my own. Isn't that great?'"
"And Leonard looks up from his desk and says, 'Kid, you just got fired.'"
In his CBS memoirs, "In the Eye of the Storm," Leonard says Friendly felt Hewitt's "talent lacked depth and intellectual commitment." But true to form, Hewitt attacked his new assignment with his usual enthusiasm -- and invented "60 Minutes."
Until 1968, most television documentaries were long, evenly paced and often dull. "As I studied the ratings," Hewitt says, "I saw that no matter what network a documentary was on and what it was about, each and every one -- good, bad or indifferent -- got the same share of the audience: 8 percent. So I thought, what if we made a program that was multi-subject and packaged reality as attractively as Hollywood packages fiction?"
To create his new show, Hewitt looked beyond television. He patterned "60 Minutes" after "Life" magazine, which packaged sociology and pop culture as successfully as it's ever been done.
"You can look in Marilyn Monroe's closet, if you're also willing to look in Robert Oppenheimer's laboratory," Hewitt says. "The secret is to put them together -- but with Marilyn Monroe on the cover. Do heads of state, but put them together with George Burns or Lena Horne or Jackie Gleason," he adds, naming some of "60 Minutes" most celebrated celebrity profiles.
He looked to films for inspiration when choosing correspondents. "At the start, I had two guys, Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace, the white hat and the black hat," Hewitt says. "Harry was the guy who came from the heartland and brought Iowa to New York, and Mike was the tough guy in the trench coat. ... People tuned in each week to see the adventures of these correspondents."
More important than anything else, according to Hewitt, is storytelling -- creating a narrative that brings information to life and allows the viewer to fit it into a model of the world that makes sense. Hewitt titled his 2001 autobiography, "Tell Me a Story." It is, he said, the mantra that made "60 Minutes."
"There are four words that every child knows: Tell me a story. That's the secret.
"Even today, I will sit in our screening room looking at tape, and I'll say, 'This tape is pretty fantastic,' " Hewitt said during our 2004 conversation in his office and around the "60 Minutes" shop. "'But what is the story we're trying to tell here? Tell me a story. Tell me the story.'"
The ticking stopwatch. Hidden cameras. Ambush journalism. In 36 years, "60 Minutes" has reflected and shaped popular pop culture. Its correspondents, from Mike Wallace to Ed Bradley, are instantly recognizable. It inspired a Saturday Night Live parody starring Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd. In the late '90s, two PBS documentaries, "Smoke in the Eye" (1996) and "Inside the Tobacco Deal" (1998), were made about a "60 Minutes" episode that was delayed and ultimately aired in a watered-down way that left no one happy except perhaps the lawyers who were involved. A 1999 feature film called "The Insider" and starring Russell Crowe further popularized the same episode.
That segment, which has become the show's most infamous, got its start in 1994 when Wallace and producer Lowell Bergman proposed featuring a biochemist named Jeffrey Wigand, a former executive at the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company. Wigand was willing to say on air that his former employers had deceived the public by ignoring evidence of the health hazards of their cigarettes.
Ultimately, Laurence Tisch, then the chairman of the network, and his lawyers did not allow Wigand's segment to be aired. That decision was made as Tisch was attempting to sell CBS to Westinghouse, and it was feared that an expensive lawsuit brought by the tobacco companies would decrease his company's value. The debate over the decision and Hewitt's role in accepting it will probably never end.
As Hewitt described it to me in 2004, he had no choice. "The only way I could have got that broadcast on the air would have been to go out and hire a bunch of guerrillas and take the transmitter at gunpoint," he says. "It's their transmitter. I can't get the story on the air if they don't want it on the air. They own the transmitter to transmit the stories to the public. You can't get past that."
Like I said, the debate on that will probably never end.
Most of the material in this appreciation appeared in my 2004 profile. The morning after it ran in the "Sun," Hewitt was on the phone bright and early.
"Hey kid, nice piece," he said. "Really, I hope I can get you to write my obit with all this great stuff in it."
I promised I would try.
UPDATE: CBS News announced Wednesday afternoon that it will devote all of Sunday's broadcast of "60 Minutes" to Hewitt. I can't wait to see it.
Comments
D..Z. TOPS!
Sorry for the lame intro, but I really enjoyed your kind of back-hand homage to T.V pioneer/ producer-extraordinaire, creator and former ringmaster of the multi-award winning (Emmys. Peabodies, you name it) "60 Minutes", the incomparable Don Hewitt.
Your genuine admiration, respect and sheer state of awe at the man's myriad accomplishments, and innovative contributions to today's T.V news and newsmagazine mediascape comes thru loud and clear.
I'm almost jealous of you David, in your account of your face-to-face 2004 interview (maybe via phone?) w/ this behind-the-scenes broadcasting icon; what at the time must have been such a career high-point for you (even though you were, then, a highly seasoned T.V. critic). To receive that follow-up call of praise from 'the Man' himself, must have been such a special moment, and now a fond memory for you.
Is there any chance you could at least write an appreciation of Hewitt for the Sun in the next few days, w/ your personal slant, because I suspect the Paper already ran a pre-researched, ready-to-go obit today? If not, I still appreciate your personal anecdotes w/ Hewitt that you shared w/ us in your article.
Earlier today I read, (I believe it was an on-line AP feed), the obit on Hewitt's passing at 86, and it was suggested that Hewitt's unique approach to this newfangled T.V. newsmagazine format, which he, in essence, single-handedly invented, was always informed by Hewitt the born entertainer and wit, as well as by Hewitt, the guy who since he was knee-high-to-a-grasshopper just loved, almost more than anything in his world, to BE entertained. ( David, you touched on his enduring passion for Hollywood films.)
Someone in his coterie of "60 Minites" colleagues claimed Hewitt operated like a circus ringmaster/ juggler, always the frenetic hard-news/entertainment impresario.
The way I see it, HIS Big-Top was that CBS prime-time 7:00PM-8:00PM Sunday time slot, for over 30 years, masterfully producing and airing w/ the signature ticking watch,, what for decades was, bar-none, the "THE GREATEST (T.V.) SHOW ON EARTH"----"60 Minutes". (Apologies to "Barnam & Baily"). Well, at any rate, the most watched for years.
I remember a number of years ago "60 Minutes" ran a segment (perhaps marking a benchmark anniversary date for the show) on the behind-the-scenes survival-of-the-fittest, highly-competitive weekly ritual of which regular reporters' story-for-the-week, be it the late Ed Bradley's, veteran newsman Morley Safer's, the tough-as-nails Mike Wallace's, or the probing, yet fair, Lesley Stahl's, would win the favor of the feisty, demanding, irascible producer Don Hewitt, and be aired that coming Sunday.
Boy, could the sparks fly in those head-to-head, one-on-one story pitch sessions w/ Hewitt, who knew exactly what he wanted from a story when he saw it, and if he didn't see IT, he might demand a rewrite, a start-from-scratch, or just nix the whole darn thing.
It was well known in the biz that Mike Wallace, kind of the on-screen face of "60 Minutes" for decades, the in-house elder-statesman, aside from Andy Rooney, had countless famous dust-ups and explosive confrontations w/ Hewitt, staunchly defending his material despite Hewitt's insisting it just didn't cut-the-mustard.
Two tremendously bright, news-savvy guys, going at it tooth-and-claw, both w/ gargantuan egos and not willing to give an inch. Yet, thru it all, these huge T.V. legends remained fast-friends, till the end.
I too am so looking forward to Sunday's "60 Minutes" full-show-coverage of Don Hewitt's incredible T.V. news legacy, about as much as I was resisting the temptation to watch last week's Michael Vick segment, which was a whole lot. (For the record, I DIDN'T watch.)
Thanx again for the personal touch, David.
May Don Hewiit, the ultimate media maestro, RIP.
ALEX
Hi ALEX: I have an appeciation in Thursday's Sun, which I just finished. But it is shorter than the blog piece. I did talk to him in New York for that 2004 piece. I talked to him on the phone over the years with some regularity. He was great. He was always spinning and working you as a reporter, but I delighted in kind of matching wits with such an orginal thinker. His wits almost always beat mine. Maybe I'll blog some more about him tomorrow if there is still an appetite. let me know how you feel about it. Thaanks. Z
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | August 19, 2009 5:53 PM
Z,
Thank you for telling us this story! The diner/ sign story was I really liked. Look what was created because a smart mind was able to take an idea and put it to use. Sounds like he had a sense of humor also with his response to the waitress. More people should not be afraid to think outside the box. The way he was fired reminded me of an episode of Mad Men. It seems kind of like they secretly like to toy with you, must have been something from that era. Thankfully though we were let with 60 Minutes. I remember that show, I enjoyed it. This was a nice story and made me remember something funny with my toddler size daughter and a funny moment. She saw a marque sign in town when we were in the car and said "Mommy look those ABC's are running, and they truly were if you thought about it from a 2 year-old persective. This is the joy of life, people who can enjoy life in a childlike way and see the world as one big movie.
Thanks Z-
Thanks, Sherry. He had a great sense of humor, and he loved to kibbitz and tease.. At this moment, I really do feel his loss. He was always very kind to me. I admired -- and liked -- him a lot.Z
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 19, 2009 5:55 PM
Z,
I would really like to read more, please do write more. - Sherry T.
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 19, 2009 6:23 PM
David Z,
Because of your on-going warm, and spirited 'conversation' w/ Don Hewitt over the years, I'm sure you must have regarded this engaging, witty, wise, and cerebral gentleman as an ad hoc mentor of sorts, as well as a dear, and valued friend.
I sense from your heartfelt response to Sherry T.'s initial comment that his passing pains you a great deal, and I know it will take time to process your loss, and I offer my deepest sympathies.
It's very cool that your Don Hewitt appreciation, even though shorter than your original blog piece, will appear in the Sun tomorrow. Would it run in the Entertainment section, and can we bloggers check it out on-line?
David, I'm all for you continuing a blog tribute to Don Hewitt tomorrow (and beyond), as I'm sure many of our fellow bloggers would relish other juicy tidbits, memorable personal anecdotes, or zany reminiscences about this truly original and creative thinker, major innovator, and bona fide media impresario, who demanded the very best from his elite on-air "60 Minutes" team of reporters, and usually got it in spades.
I thought Sherry T.'s closing line in her thoughtful, and philosophic commentary in response to your enlightening, and reverential Don Hewitt piece was quite poignant, and insightful.
As you may recall, it read: "This is the joy of life, people who can enjoy life in a childlike way and see the world as one big movie."---a pretty heavy notion, yet oh so true!
Three seminal, world-renowned filmmakers immediately come to mind, from three different generations; namely Walt Disney, Japan's Hayao Miyazaki (creator of the just-released charming animated feature "PONYO", and Tim Burton (the creative force behind "Nightmare Before Christmas").
All as super-creative adults retained, and drew on that childlike wonder and burning curiosity about the World at large, which in turn stimulated their fertile imaginations to create new worlds of make-believe, and pure magic, to ultimately share w/ the entire World.
I feel that all true artists, or any creative person, for that matter, never really loses that inner-child perspective.
And clearly the late Don Hewitt appeared to be ever in touch w/ that striving, inquisitive, inner voice which spoke to him and informed him throughout his whole life.
Being always in touch w/ those whimsical, fun, childlike aspects of his personality, combined w/ his fertile and inventive mind, must have played a huge role in his meteoric rise to the pinnacle of his profession, creating the formative T.V. news
and newsmagazine template for generations to come.
We in T.V.-Land are all truly blessed that that childlike, fun core of Don Hewitt never quite grew up, and the T.V news genre is all the better for it.
Keep up the great work, Z.
ALEX
FOOTNOTE:
Hate to be an anal-retentive schmuck, but I confess I got a little chuckle out of your very minor spelling faux pas, in your reply to Sherry T.'s thoughtful comment re/ the humorous, lighter side of Don Hewitt.
I'm certain you intended to type "kibbitz" w/ an "i" meaning to talk in a meddlesome
manner, but you actually typed "kibbutz" w/ a "u", the familiar term for an Israeli collective/ co-op community. OOPS!
Granted the "u" and "i" keys sit-check-to jowl on the standard keyboard, so no real biggie. An honest slip-up, for sure.
At least both words have Hebrew roots, w/ "kibbitz" being a Yiddish word, while "kibbutz", frankly I'm not quite sure.
Go ahead Daviid, I know deserve one giant "noodge" on my noodle. Where are those "Three Stooges" when you need 'em?
Hi ALEX: You do deserve a noodge on your noodle, ALEX. (kidding) You are a delight. I just read this comment on Thursday at about 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, and am still laughing. With all the writing I did Wednesday ranging from Don Hewitt (tops) to Octomom (low), I am surprised I was still writing in English at the end of the day. I see actually I was lapsing into mangled Yiddish. If one more story had come along at 9 p.m. when I finally left the office, I would have probably been writing ion tongues. But I shall correct kibbitz/kibbutz i my reply to Sherry. I'm still smiling. Thanks. Z
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | August 20, 2009 12:02 AM
ALEX, Your comments are so great. Yes, I think I know which word you are talking about. How about marquee signs? Sorry, some words elude me. I have to keep my mind focused so much on medical terminology in my profession that regular English is confusing for me at times. Also, I had a migraine yesterday that didn't help too much. I would have had to look that word up anyway. ALEX - try spelling gastroduodenoscopy three times backwards really fast - haha. Anyway as always ALEX keep up the great posts. Thanks for the compliments! I want to see PONYO, I fell in love with him from the English trailer, yes there is on trailer out in Japanese??? Z's article was great. I will have to read the appreciation column.
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 20, 2009 8:18 AM
I believe it was Hewitt himself said that 60 minutes had destroyed news in that it changed news from public service into a money making proposition.
I don't see tv as ever impartial in that it will simply not bite the hand that feeds it- ie-advertising.
Public Television comes closest to true news- but even they now are relying on sponsors- as the must under a capitalist system.
The only true news must be oppositional- as is "Democracy Now" or Fox News- that is, at least in the case of "Democracy Nows"- news that is honest about its left agenda. Fox is plainly dishonest- in that it is blatantly Republican-(but pretends to be "FAIR AND BALANCED" while it is as biased to the right as is WBAL am radio in Baltimore.
Like most figures of his generation, and I am now one myself, American men are sell outs to one degree or another. You want some one w integrity viz a viz tv?
Keep looking.
"The business of America is business."...not honesty, not morality. It's only about the benjamins.
Am I being too harsh? Or am I being truthful?
Hi David, For all the money it has made, 60 Minutes has given us some of the nation's greatest TV journalism over its long history. And it has fought many First Amendment battles on behalf of everyone who cherishes free speech. Good buisiness and great journalism can go hand in hand -- and, I believe, 60 Minutes proves it. It's rare, I admit. But it happensd. I listen to Democracy Now, and it has a lot to recommend it. I agree with you on that. But I totrally disagree that news should be "oppositional" -- or pro. Thanks. PS And thanks for the health care debate you were part of on this blog. I appreciate it, and thought it was illuminating. Z
Posted by: david eberhardt | August 20, 2009 12:57 PM
Z,
The audio story rememberance that you have out there was really nice. What a legacy Mr. Hewitt leaves.
I have had enough to sleep to muddle through tonight. I'll be back.
Thanks for giving it a listen, Sherry. I appreciate it. Z
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 20, 2009 5:41 PM
Sherry T.,
I had to check for a squiggly-wiggly little pink tail and flattened schnozzle when I arose this fine California morn, because it appears I'm morphing into one of those annoying, un-kosher, 'wind-bags'........ the dreaded 'BLOG-HOG ERECTUS - Canadensis' (The "erectus" part has nothing to do w/ my state of arousal, but the fact that I'm bipedal........ yes I'm "bi"........ pedal that is. HA! HA!) You know .....like Homo Erectus?
By the by, Sherry, thanks for your recent generous comments; you are too kind.
Re/ the "PONYO" flick, yesterday I thought I had correctly posted my rather pithy and glowing review of the film on our local NPR/ KPCC's "Air Talk" host Larry Mantle's personal blog, to discover that when I had clicked "Post Comment", the 'page' went totally blank, and I assume all my efforts went up in smoke...... or into dissolving pixels. Very, very frustrating and what a royal waste of time and effort.
I still urge you and your girls, at some point, to check out this wonder-filled, visually stunning film. (One hint.......hope you guys don't suffer from seasickness? ----just joshing.
That "gastroduodenoscopy" spelling-challenge was definitely way out of my league. Frankly, I have a heck of a time just trying to get maybe two, out of every 10 required words in that annual teen "Scripps National Spelling Bee" contest, which I look forward to watching on ESPN every Spring.
(Who'd of thunk it?...... Spelling as a SPORT!...... and there are those diehard purists, out there, who claim golf and curling don't really pass muster as bona fide sports. Oh well.)
Frankly, spelling "sigmoidoscopy", or "colonoscopy" "three times backwards really fast" would be no piece of cake either. Not only are these 'delicate', invasive GI screening procedures difficult to take as a patient, they are equally as difficult to spell.... backwards, or forwards. (HA! HA!)
Interestingly, since birth I've had a congenital heart defect that creates a murmur that sounds louder than the NIKE Swoosh, which on occasion (seeing a new dentist, for example) I have to divulge. To spell this tongue-twisting medical term "fast backwards", why i don't think even former brainiac "Jeopardy" grand- champion Ken Jennings could handle it, even "forwards".
It's termed a "right ventricular septal defect" (RVSD). Basically, I have a very tiny hole in the wall (septum) of my heart's right ventricle which creates a minor 'backwash' of oxygenated blood rushing thru the abnormal opening which can be easily picked up by the cardiologist's oscilloscope as swishy-sounding murmur.
Sherry, I seem to recall from a much earlier post where you mentioned, in passing, that you also had a heart murmur, as did your mom, and brought up the issue of there being a genetic, or familial link. I think the preponderance of hard evidence, and recent research points in that direction.
For the record, my dear Mom was born w/ a slight murmur (a hole, not a faulty valve). Fortunately, she outgrew her murmur as a young teen, and now at 84-years-young is very much alive and doing relatively well, health-wise, considering her advanced age.
I have lived and thrived all my 63 years and counting w/ few, if any physical restrictions, never viewing this hole-in-the-heart deal as a handicap, or burden. Broken hearts are MUCH more problematic, and we've all had those.
I've just been judicious in having my heart thoroughly monitored every couple of years w/ echocardiograms, stress tests w/ radio-active dyes and EKG tracking on the treadmill, and all that fun stuff. My Kaiser Permanente cardio-folks really keep me on my toes, and I'm thankful for that.
So far no undo heart enlargement, which can be a key signal that there may be a problem, indicating that the heart has been working overtime in dealing w/ a greater flow of backwashed circulating blood.
Whew! Enough already w/ all this medical mumbo-jumbo! I'm sure it's got to be boring the begeebers out of our fellow bloggers, if they haven't tuned out already. Can you say "shut that @#&^%*(@= blog hog up boys and girls?
Sherry, yesterday on 'the tube' I caught a ton of vintage footage on Don Hewitt's amazingly rich life, and incredible career in T.V. news broadcasting.
I must say, I wasn't far off the mark when I pointed out in my earlier post that Hewitt and Mike Wallace often went at it like two combative media gladiators in those heated weekly story pitch sessions.
I watched film of one particular clash where Wallace was hammering home his argument, defending the framing of his proposed piece w/ a contextual preamble, and Hewitt brashly insisting, " No Mike, no Mike, no Mike, it ain't gonna work......you DON'T need the damn set-up!", as he shook his head back and forth starring intently at Mike's first draft, while pounding his fist on his paper-strewn desk.
Wallace, like a mastiff clinging desperately to a withdrawn bone, trying ever so valiantly to keep his cool, continues, undaunted, to defend his story, trying to hold his ground, which merely escalates Hewitt's fury and self-righteous resolve. They didn't come to blows, but they sure could have used a good referee.
When millions of North Americans watch that always-polished, literally running-like-clockwork, (Tick! Tick!) multi-faceted gem of a show, "60 Minutes", each and every Sunday evening for all these many decades, few loyal viewers realize that what we are all riveted to each week is a truly amazing distillation of a lot of blood-sweat-and-tears (and humor); a synthesis of ideas and narrative styles, and a clash of giant egos, all orchestrated, behind-the-scenes , in the news trenches, if you will, by the master media-wizard, producer Don Hewitt. This demanding taskmaster accepted nothing short of perfection from his loyal, loving and super-talented staff and on-air correspondents. To make the grade, to pass the Hewitt litmus test, each and every "60 Minutes" story that aired had to have the potential to immediately capture the attention, then the hearts and minds of the viewer. Any piece that fell short of that standard ended up in the trash heap.
To this point, Hewitt was said to have said, some years back, in an interview w/ Rolling Stone magazine , "The trick is to grab the viewer by the throat, not let his mind wander and start thinking about what else might be going on."
A Washington Post critic of Hewitt, way back when, claimed he had "the attention span of a hummingbird,"
But the proverbial "buck" definitely stopped at the desk of Don Hewitt.
Not only was he a tremendous catalyst for cajoling, noodging, and extracting the very best work possible from his celebrated staff of reporters, but I understand he had a very sharp pecuniary instinct, as well. Just as much as consistently entertaining, informing and stimulating a T.V. audience was key to "60 Minutes" enduring success, high ratings, ipso facto, the steady flow of shekels into the CBS Network coffers was as integral a part of the show's winning Hewitt formula.
I see so many uncanny parallels between T.V. news impresario Don Hewitt and the great entertainment force-of-nature, Walt Disney, both being blessed w/ that keen ability to recognize and exploit (in a good way) creative talent when they saw it.
Disney, often attracted world-renowned artists to his animation-works, the likes of the renowned Danish children's book illustrator, Kay Neilson, for the "Fantasia" feature, and the flamboyant, mustachioed surrealist creative genius, Salvador Dali, who came on board at Walt's urging to create designs for an ill-fated, sadly unfinished project for Disney Studios.
Both these creative geniuses, as well as being great discoverers and delegators of great talent, still HAD to have their finger on the very pulse of production and the creative flow, and nothing that left the Studio in Disney's case, or aired on Hewitt's "60 Minutes" could be any less than of the highest quality; the most engaging, entertaining and honest product humanly possible.
When it came down to it, both were essentially great spinners of yarns wrought large, skilled raconteurs, genuine story-tellers. In fact, Disney would often act out entire animated scenes in the pre-production/ storyboard phase of a feature film, giving his key animators and story-men his own take on how the characters should 'act' (and interact) per the script and storyboard, right down to the voice inflections and nuanced, or broad body language. His animators just ate this stuff up, and it helped them to carry out Walt's ultimate vision.
Hewitt knew that story, be it a tough, investigative piece, or a light-weight, entertainment celeb profile, was what, in the end, made "60 Minutes" tick. (pun-intended)
His guiding barometer was that he could only focus on any one T.V. story segment for roughly 12 minutes, after which he would invariably drift off and lose interest in the piece. So it was no accident that the de rigeur 3-segments for each "60 Minutes" one-hour broadcast, all lasted roughly 12 minutes in length; Don Hewitt's attention-span limit.
Sherry, of course THIS coming Sunday we will be treated to almost a full-hour of a "60 Minutes" tribute to Don Hewitt; the inventor of the show; that pesky noodger, kibbitzer, and much-loved and much-admired inspirational mensch who orchestrated the whole "schmegegy" (spelling?). (Where''s mine Yiddish Mama when I need her?)
So Sherry, I'm sure, along w/ the millions of folks who saw the fruits of Don Hewitt's labor on screen every Sunday for some 35 years, but maybe knew very little about Don Hewitt the Man, will be tuning in at 7:00PM this Sunday evening.
There will, I'm sure, be a few tears shed, but hopefully more chuckles and smiles will be had by all.
ALEX
P.S.:
Sherry, how do you 'spell' relief? (No not Rolaids). Our fellow bloggers might just say, " When one of that (#$%!@&-ing) MCCRAE guy's interminable blog commentaries FINALLY ends. UGH!!!
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | August 20, 2009 8:40 PM
Hi ALEX,
I would like to watcth the special on 60 minutes. Z are you watching it???
Yes, my heart problem is a MVP (mitral valve prolapse) and it has a loud enough swish for them to hear. Seems like it is congenital. One of the things it causes is migraine headaches, which I get frequently. Other than that I don't have too many problems. Heart failure is a concern later that is why I walk so much. Yours VSD can be right or left, but a hole is a little worse. Lucky you didn't have to have surgery. WOW that was a long post ALEX. Nice to hear from you. And, yes there is very little room for normal English, my brain is so crowded with medical terminology. But it is what I enjoy.
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 21, 2009 7:37 AM
All my commentary - even re Hewitt and television-is throu left colored glasses. I want to change the world, as did John Lennon who said- "you may call me a dreamer- but I'm not the only one." I'm like the poet Bert Brecht in that I see things in terms of class. I see injustice, I see inequity, racism violence, etc. and the only approach is, for me, to change it. I don't mind being entertained as in "National Geo" programs on PBS, but the other stuff- I'm left thinking- that which doesn't help us?(and we may destroy the planet)? if it doesn't help us, it's sub par. I mean- it may be skillfully put together- as a lot of American advertising (a la Mad Men) is. But it falls short. And don't assume non-violence is passive. I studied under Martin Luther King (and Martin Luther)! And so, for me, a program like "The Wire"- as over the top as it is- was helpful AND entertaining (and I work at the Jail)
Hi David, Thanks. Your voice with comments like this has been a welcome addition to the conversation here. Z
Posted by: david eberhardt | August 21, 2009 9:49 AM
ALEX,
One more question, I wanted to know. Did this close when you were an infant so that you did not need surgery? Just curious. I had the ASD and the VSD mixed up and the ASD is a shunt from left to right and what you have is a shunt from right to left with the blood flow through the septal wall? This is facinating to me. Guess I should have just gone to medical school. I transcribed from home for Dr. VanGilder and Dr. Brantley two local cardiologists, Oh and full time for a while for Dr. Stephany Moore, a cardiologist. It is my favorite kind of work that field, but I rarely get on it at work because the cardios are done by day-shift pepple and I have to do mostly surgical or radiology on night-shift . Sorry Z, how can I make this relate to the post? Maybe we can dig around and see if Mr. Hewitt suffered from any heart problems, but that would be a violation of HIPPA. Poor Z, you don't have to post this if ALEX and I have driven you to your absolute limits in sanity.
Posted by: Sherry Tellitocci | August 21, 2009 11:52 AM
Sherry T.,
For once, I'll try to keep my comments short and sweet. I too am feeling a bit of 'blogger's guilt', as this Don Hewitt post has become a quasi-Face Book-like back-and-forth conversation between you and yours truly; poor Mr. Hewitt is getting shorter and shorter shrift. Not good! (Z. IS inordinately patient, indeed!)
To answer your cardio queries, I believe you were correct in your distinction drawn between the two differently located heart anomalies (holes), ASD and VSD, and the varied blood flow of each. Mine is definitely the right-ventricular one (VSD).
I still have the hole in the septum, but as I pointed out in my earlier posting, since it hasn't gotten any larger over all these years, and my overall circulatory system is functioning normally, the surgery option is definitely on hold, till an appreciable change occurs (heart muscle enlargement, chronic shortness of breath, etc.).
As you pointed out Sherry, the cardio branch of medicine is totally fascinating, and I can see how you enjoyed working in that critical specialty field when you had the opportunity.
Oh, I'm glad my comedy stylings along w/ those of our witty blogmeister, "Shecky" Zurawick, helped to lift your spirits , a tad. Sounds like you may be burning that old candle at both ends, lately.....NOW might just be the time to take that "PONYO" movie break w/ your girls, for sure..... that was a little Valley Girl-ese("for sure"). I guess I'm entitled, having resided and worked in The (San Fernando) Valley for almost 25 years.....OMG!
Have a super wonder-filled, relaxed weekend, Sherry.
Stay well.
ALEX
P.S.: Going to see jazz-stylist Diana Krall perform at the Hollywood Bowl tonight, and check out the film "Julie & Julia" w/ my girl-friend and a few other folks tomorrow. Meryl Streep is supposed to be outstanding in her portrayal of the incomparable Julia Child. I've heard only glowing, positive reviews.
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | August 21, 2009 5:01 PM
THANKS ALEX and Z,
I get it the hole never closed, but is manageable. That is good! Yes, I enjoy all of it, but cardiology would be my favorite. Medicine is filled with lots of abreviations, I feel like a dictionary for abreviations. One that gets me is BNP (brain naturetic peptide) and BMP (basic metabolic panel) keep that straight when half of the doctors are foreign and barely speak English. At least they are both lab values. Burning the candle at both ends pretty much sums it up! But, I am starting a new schedule next week, which they say is supposed to make my life easier. We'll see. PONYO sounds like a great escape idea. Just one more night to get through first.
David Z, thanks for being patient with your two wild posters. Have a wonderful weekend!
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 21, 2009 6:59 PM
Z, I did it again, I just erased a whole post!! ARGGH. Anyway I think I said that 60 minutes was perfect! I can see why you liked Don Hewitt. He seemed like an honest person solely devoted to his job. I thought it was really great that he keep his hands on from the journalists to the editors. I liked that fact that he said the Bible tells stories and that is what gets peoples attention. I love the Bible stories from Daniel to Jonah. I really like the 15 minute attention span and that is why 60 minutes was done in sections - loved that ticking clock. I can only do things in 15-minute invervals too, so I can relate to that!! I did manage 60 minutes though a new record! Anyway I loved it. And Alan Alda was a highlight - I like him. Looks like Don Hewitt enjoyed his retirement with grandkids.
Z, now we get to look forward to MAD MEN!
Hi Sherry, Great stuff. Thanks for sending this enthusiastic reaction to the Hewitt tribute. I loved it, too. Z
Posted by: Sherry T. | August 23, 2009 8:12 PM
Back when I was watching TV, I really enjoyed "60 Minutes." It did such a good job of filling a niche for me that I can hardly remember a time when it wasn't there. (NPR fills that niche now ...)
Godspeed, Mr. Hewitt, and thanks.
You've done a great job of putting him and his creation into context for us, Dave.
Thanks,
Jane
Jane
Posted by: Jane Horsman | August 24, 2009 10:37 AM