Make us proud.”
Yesterday I wrote about the passing of a second legendary TV news figure in just a month: Don Hewitt died at the age of 86. I told you several of the ‘firsts’ that made him a legend, a man historians and those in the TV news business will remember for a long time: he directed the first network TV newscast; he was the first to use cue cards for news anchors; he created the lower-third supers for news; he created the best TV News magazine show in history, “60 Minutes.”
I saved one more ‘first’ for today, because it’s such a great story. Don Hewitt also produced the first televised presidential debate, in 1960.
If you’re old enough to remember the debate, you remember that John F. Kennedy looked fit and tan; Richard Nixon looked pasty white, perhaps even ill. Or if you're not that old, perhaps you learned from your American History classes that Nixon refused to put on any facial makeup before the debate which, TV being what it is, help him lose.
Don Hewitt tells us the rest of the story. After all, he was there: He was producing it!
The story goes: Hewitt first asked JFK if he wanted makeup; Kennedy, tan from sailing, didn’t need it and said no. And when Hewitt then turned to Nixon and asked him, Nixon also said no, apparently because Kennedy did! But Mr. Nixon was anything but tan…and so went the debate, Kennedy looking enthusiastic, alive; Nixon looking glum, dour, dull. The debate turned on appearance. Nixon lost.
What might have happened if Hewitt had asked Nixon first?
Hewitt was often quoted as saying the accepted wisdom for television news writers before "60 Minutes" was to put words to pictures. He stated that was backward.
Hewitt recalled in his 2001 memoir that when "60 Minutes" began in September of 1968, CBS news boss Bill Leonard told him, "make us proud."
"Which may well be the last time anyone ever said ‘make us proud' to anyone else in television," Hewitt wrote.
Today’s extra Qudoku puzzle set finishes Hewitt’s thought about “making us proud.”
QUIRKY
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the words exactly once
BLANCH
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
FASTED
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
UMP VOW
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid to spell out the quote
Solutions first thing in the morning.
Thanks,
--Dave
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