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Life & Times Transcript

12/27/07

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Familiar faces --

Jess Marlow>> For me, Life and Times was the best of times.

Warren Olney>> Well, I was delighted to be able to come and do a regular show on KCET.

Val Zavala>> Favorite stories --

Jess Marlow>> We had candidates and office holders of every stripe and there were one or two of them who should have been in stripes.

Val Zavala>> And the people we'll never forget.

Jack LaLanne>> "For a lot of you girls out there, you know, when you're in your short dresses, you got all this ugly fat around here. Do like this, see? Two, three, four. These are things you can do during the commercials. Why waste that time?"

Val Zavala>> We look back at the life of Life and Times, sixteen years of covering southern California.

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times --

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> Hello, I'm Val Zavala. Welcome to this second of three special programs looking back at the best of Life and Times. As you know, Life and Times is coming to a close this week and yet it has had the longest run of any local program ever produced by KCET.

Last night, we took a look at the Hugh Hewitt, Patt Morrison and Kerman Maddox days. But in 1998, we moved from political punditry to the news desk and at the helm was one of Los Angeles's consummate newsmen, Warren Olney.

Warren Olney>> "The assault on the Jewish community daycare center was horrific."

Warren Olney>> I was delighted to be able to come and do and regular show on KCET because I think it's a very important responsibility of public broadcasting to fill the gap between what used to be television news and what it is now.

Val Zavala>> "Richard Riordan became Los Angeles's thirty-ninth mayor in July 1993 and, four years later, he was re-elected to a second term."

Warren Olney>> "Now he's got a little more than one year left in office and the mayor has agreed to join us for a look at what he's accomplished and what's left to do. Mr. Mayor, good to see you with us. What about the Rampart Division, the scandal? Has the chief, has the District Attorney, been acting appropriately in that situation?"

Richard Riordan>> "Oh, absolutely. We have the best possible chief for a tough situation like this. These allegations happened before Bernie Parks was chief, but he stood up there. All of the information, all of the scandals that have come out, have come out because of his investigation and his staff's investigation, not -- "

Warren Olney>> -- "there seems to be more and more and more."

Richard Riordan>> "Not what you've read in the media. The newspapers have not discovered this."

Warren Olney>> I think that on Life and Times there were some very good reporters. I think they were doing material that the commercial news stations didn't do then, don't do now, won't do in the future.

Lester Tenney>> "I'm seeking justice, seeking them to apologize and seeking them to accept responsibility."

Saul Gonzalez>> "Lester Tenney is part of a growing movement, a movement of former prisoners of war and their families who are filing a barrage of lawsuits against the goliaths of Japanese industry, accusing the companies of profiting from slave labor during World War II."

Lester Tenney>> "Matsui is wrong. They were wrong in what they did and there should be some kind of compensation paid to the men that had to work for Matsui or Mitsubishi or Nippon Steel or any of the other large corporations that utilized slave labor for their benefit, to improve their position financially, economically and politically."

Saul Gonzalez>> "More than fifty years after the end of America's war with Japan in the Pacific, the lawsuits now being filed by former prisoners of war are opening old wounds and raising fresh questions, chief among them, "Can a new battle, this time fought in California's legal system, provide justice and a sense of peace to men who suffered so much, so far away and so long ago?"

Val Zavala>> Reporter Saul Gonzalez took us to Camp Pendleton where Marines were being put through their final and toughest test.

Saul Gonzalez>> "Surveying India Company's progress is General Charles Krulak, the outgoing commandant of the United States Marine Corps and the man who developed the Crucible as a response to a changing world."

General Charles Krulak>> "The Marine Corps believes that we're moving into a very chaotic world, a world that is not getting easier, but getting very much tougher. In order to prepare a young man or a woman to enter this chaotic environment, particularly a battlefield environment, they need to have more than just what we used to have and still do, and that's just physical, physical toughness."

What we also need is a great mental toughness and, in fact, a moral toughness and that's kind of what the Crucible and all that we're doing at boot camp now is intended to achieve in these Marines."

Saul Gonzalez>> "As they reach Reaper Summit, these men complete the Crucible and cross a threshold from civilian life to becoming full-fledged Marines."

Warren Olney>> "Saul joins us now. That is a really grueling experience. They don't use live ammunition, so they're really not creating a combat situation so much as they are creating these very rigorous conditions under which they can begin to have this relationship with one another, this solidarity."

Saul Gonzalez>> "They call it as close to a combat situation as you can come without actually spilling blood."

Val Zavala>> And he won awards for this story on the fragile Frank Lloyd Wright house in the Hollywood Hills.

Saul Gonzalez>> "Earthquakes, particularly the 1994 Northridge temblor, have caused much of the damage here. However, this home's chief nemesis has been water, water that over the decades has seeped into the textile blocks and ruined them from within.

The Getty Foundation has contributed a hundred thousand dollars to both stabilize the building -- that's what these girders are for -- and to conduct site surveys and engineering studies. However, much has to be done at a cost of ten million dollars if this architectural landmark is to be restored.

The building's retaining walls and the roof need to be repaired and thousands of damaged textile blocks replaced. Friends of the Ennis Brown House are trying to raise the repair money and Eric Wright is part of the architectural team drawing up plans to restore the home."

Eric Wright>> "I feel responsibility. I look at it as a responsibility and people have actually asked -- "

Saul Gonzalez>> -- "to your family? To your profession? To both?"

Eric Wright>> "To both, and to the public."

Val Zavala>> Reporter Gay Yee covered the high cost of building the new downtown cathedral.

Gay Yee>> "Few dispute that Los Angeles needs a new cathedral. A group of Catholic advocates for the poor consider it just too big and just too expensive. Critics have dubbed this or snubbed this as the "Taj Mahony" saying that it is a huge testament to Catholic and the Cardinal's vanity. They say that, instead of focusing on egos, the church should be focusing on the poor. For a year now, members of Los Angeles Catholic Worker have demonstrated outside the construction site."

Jeff Dietrich>> "Well, you go Staples Center, Murdoch Cathedral, what's the difference? That's how we see it, that this is the wealthy buying their way into the kingdom of God and we think that that's wrong."

Gay Yee>> "Jeff Dietrich is part of Catholic Worker. The group operates a Skid Row soup kitchen a mile from the construction site."

Jeff Dietrich>> "Our goal really is to be faithful, to be truthful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the message, which says that we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and we also challenge the reasons why people are hungry and impoverished and on the streets and unemployed."

Warren Olney>> "This is nothing new for the Catholic Church. The walls at the Vatican are lined with gold. It has one of the great art museums in the entire world. What challenges has the church had there and in South America and in Mexico?"

Gay Yee>> "Well, this is what they bring up again and again, that there are cathedrals in Europe, cathedrals in Latin America, beautiful, gorgeous, and quite often the greatest supporters are the poor. They want this place of worship and a gathering place for their community."

Val Zavala>> "Do the Catholic Workers understand that there is a place for a cathedral, that a great city like Los Angeles is appropriate for it to have a monument to God to go along with the Staples Center and everything else?"

Gay Yee>> "And they've also been sanctioned by the Vatican in 1904 to go ahead and build another cathedral. Back in 1904, it was deemed that St. Vibianas was inadequate. So they don't deny that this community does need a cathedral. Just not so expensive."

Val Zavala>> In the summer of 2000, national politics descended on Los Angeles. The Democratic National Convention came to town and took over the newly-finished Staples Center. Life and Times was there covering the local issues and events on the street with the help of veteran reporter Philip Bruce.

Val Zavala>> "From the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, welcome to this special edition of Life and Times Tonight. I'm Val Zavala."

Warren Olney>> "And I'm Warren Olney. Join us for local coverage of day two of the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, August 15, 2000. Here's a look at our top stories."

Philip Bruce>> "I'm Philip Bruce in downtown Los Angeles where more protestors were arrested today as tensions continue to build between demonstrators and police. LAPD wants to widen its security net even as protestors claim that the cops are out of control."

Warren Olney>> "The bottom line, what do you think the Democrats ought to be doing to appeal to the Latino vote? Obviously, that's an area of competition now. Both parties have said we're going for it."

>> "I think they should out-Bush Bush. I think they should talk about hope, talk about aspirations and talk about what we as Americans, including Latino Americans, can build. Talk about rebuilding government for Latinos who need it."

Val Zavala>> We also tapped the talents of the young radio host of Marketplace, David Brancaccio.

David Brancaccio>> "The term is called "swag" as in what pirates get, as in loot. In the context of the Democratic National Convention here in Los Angeles, it means all the free stuff that delegates as well as the media get to collect just for the privilege of being here. For instance, "Hi, I'm so sorry to interrupt. I'm David Brancaccio from KCET Life and Times."

Linda Lane>> "Linda Lane".

David Brancaccio>> "Where are you from?"

Linda Lane>> "Coon Rapids, Minnesota."

David Brancaccio>> "Now I hate to ask you a question not on the most profound point in the world, but I was curious. That's a nifty looking bag you're carrying. Where did you get it?"

Linda Lane>> "My delegation provided this."

David Brancaccio>> "Did you have to pay money for it?"

Linda Lane>> "No, no, no. We have lots of little goodies we're getting from, oh, from a union, from our delegation, from a lot of places."

David Brancaccio>> "Now you clearly picked up a lot of buttons along the way, but what else? Anything good?"

Linda Lane>> "Well, I don't know if I'm proud of this or thrilled about it, but it's cute. I have my first Barbie doll."

Val Zavala>> Patt Morrison did some reporting on things you didn't see on the national news.

Patt Morrison>> "Is this a little bit of a culture shock? West Hollywood is like the first gay city in southern California. It's also a very Russian city."

>> "Well, you know, I really didn't know that's what it was until I got there and the hotel told us because, still, all the people in the whole Hollywood area as well as Los Angeles have been very nice."

Patt Morrison>> "Now I want to hear about this haircut. We all heard of President Clinton's famous haircut on the tarmac. Who did yours, how much did it cost and why did you want to get it done?"

>> "I recently passed a major milestone birthday and I'm going to go to a really nice salon and get a makeover. So a year ago, I called some friends out here and said, "Where would I go?" They said to go the Frederic Fekkai salon on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and get a makeover."

Patt Morrison>> "Los Angeles gave you your money's worth on that."

>> "I'm from Kentucky. That's debatable. It was close to three hundred dollars for a haircut and a makeover (laughter)."

Patt Morrison>> "Clich�s are being shattered here. Delegates have told me that Angelenos are nice, that traffic is light, the cops are good-looking and downtown is real. That's news to some of us too."

Val Zavala>> And back at the studio, we also had our lighter moments.

Warren Olney>> "It looks like the pillowcase is moving."

Russ Smith>> "That's always a good sign."

Warren Olney>> "We'll see who's in there."

Val Zavala>> "Now this is the most common -- "

Russ Smith>> -- "this is a gopher snake, yes. This is the most common snake in this area."

Val Zavala>> "Oh, my gosh. Oh, it's huge."

Warren Olney>> "That's a beautiful snake."

Russ Smith>> "People quite often misidentify it as a rattlesnake."

Val Zavala>> "It's huge. I thought they were tiny little things."

Russ Smith>> "No. They get about six feet in length. How you can tell real quick a harmless snake from a venomous snake in California is you look at the head and neck. The gopher snake has the head and neck just about the same size like the other harmless snakes do. A rattlesnake has a big heart-shaped head on a small neck."

Val Zavala>> "Is that where the venom is?"

Russ Smith>> "It's in the venom glands in the jaw. That's how come he's got that big head."

Warren Olney>> "Okay, what do you do if you have been bitten by a snake? Do you cut your arm open and suck out the blood? What's the real word (laughter)?"

Russ Smith>> "Only if you're in a John Wayne movie would you do that."

Val Zavala>> Warren Olney left Life and Times to launch a national radio show for NPR called "To The Point". These days you'll find him at KCRW where he also hosts his long-standing nightly local program, "Which Way L.A."

Then in 2001, Life and Times was joined by one of southern California's most honored and respected news anchors, Jess Marlow. He's also one of the nicest people I ever worked with. He's now retired and living in Colorado, but he took time to talk with us about some of favorite moments from Life and Times.

Jess Marlow>> For me, Life and Times was the best of times. I enjoyed the people we were working with. I was always amazed at the ability to attract interesting guests to the program and the scope of the program.

Jess Marlow>> "You're both Democrats, but the surprise to many people is the fact that Congressman Berman is in favor of this war."

Howard Berman>> "I followed Saddam Hussein very closely for twenty years and I believe he presents a specially dangerous case."

>> "Why does he pose such a threat at this time to go in and get him in this way, in a pre-emptive, in a war, and certainly without many of our allies with us?"

Jess Marlow>> What KCET and Life and Times did was what we in commercial broadcasting had not been doing much of and that was detailed lengthy pieces that really gave you some background on the issues that were important.

Philip Bruce>> "The San Fernando Valley is well-known for the geographic fault lines that have rattled the city to its core, but these days the political fault lines here are the ones that threaten to tear Los Angeles apart in a way no earthquake ever could.

Secession is a battle cry and today all the people who'd like to tell Los Angeles to get lost got a major boost from the headlines, details of a new study showing how the valley could easily split off into its own independent city, but at a cost. About sixty-eight million dollars a year, the Valley would have to pay Los Angeles. Call it alimony, but it's a small for the divorce since a new Valley city could generate a billion dollars in yearly revenue.

Imagine what that means if you're one of the six candidates running for mayor for all of Los Angeles and not just a part of it. How do you deal with a secession issue without alienating one of the biggest voting blocks around?"

>> "Whoever wins in the end is going to have to be able to come up with a program that says their commitment is to the basic services of municipal life and not ideological questions. At least that would be my hope."

Jess Marlow>> "The secession sentiment and the LAFCO decision aside, unless the entire city votes in favor of secession, it doesn't work."

Phillip Bruce>> "It won't happen. It is a citywide issue. Right now, the polls indicate that, citywide, a majority of people in Los Angeles are opposed to this break-away, but a clear majority of the people in the Valley are very much for it."

Jess Marlow>> It was terrific when we were particularly doing candidates interviews. We had the time to ask the questions and to get the responses. It wasn't just a headline median. We had plenty of time to explore issues with them and I think maybe influence voter choices in the elections.

Jess Marlow>> "So you can be a centrist progressive?"

Antonio Villaraigosa>> "There's no question that I can be a pragmatist. Government has to work for people. I tell people that most people aren't Conservative or Republican in the extreme. They want government to work for them. They're not partisan warriors, if you will. They want their government to respond to their needs.

What is Valley secession all about if it's not a cynicism and frustration with a nonpartisan city government that just hasn't worked for them? I think I could get that government to work for them because I believe that democracy starts from the bottom up and not the top down. I understand what it means to come from a community that hasn't always gotten its fair share of city services."

Jess Marlow>> We had candidates and office holders of every stripe and there were one or two of them who should have been in stripes.

Jess Marlow>> "We've been calling it the tale of two mayors. One carries a gun and the other says he was a victim of a crooked election. They're both from Compton, a city that's no stranger to political controversy. Let me ask you about the thing we brought up earlier here and the Los Angeles Times reported on it also, the suggestion that you and former Councilwoman Marcine Shaw and your families took trips to China and Africa paid for by the man from Hub City Disposal who won the trash hauling contract, no-bid contract."

Omar Bradley>> "The Times also said that he had no facts and no paperwork to document his allegations, so why would the Times even produce an article like that? I believe that it was produced so that you can ask me these questions on this show."

Jess Marlow>> "Could we have an answer to the question?"

Omar Bradley>> "The answer to the question is, the city paid for us to go and, in his campaign paperwork, he criticized me for going to Africa and China on the city's tax dollars. Now he turns around and says something else.

The reality of the situation is that you have a prolific prevaricator who takes money from criminals and he's a District Attorney. He carries a gun without the permission of the state of California and you interview him like he's a saint. Don't ask me about frivolous statements made by a man who can't prove them. Ask me about my record of leadership.

Is murder down since I brought in the sheriffs? Forty-three percent. Is crime down? Over fifty percent. Are people safer? Yes. Is response time quicker? Yes. Is there inner-modal transportation? Yes. Are there plans to build entertainment centers? Yes. Is the hotel now open again? Yes. Is the infrastructure improved? Yes. These are the questions that should be asked a mayor, but instead --"

Jess Marlow>> -- "We didn't have to because you answered them and we appreciate your taking the time to be with us, but that's all the time we have for it."

Val Zavala>> At times, the story was so big that it warranted special attention. Remember the energy crisis in 2000? Life and Times took an in-depth look at the deregulation debacle that brought down Governor Gray Davis.

Jess Marlow>> "Joining us now by satellite from Sacramento is Governor Gray Davis. Governor, thanks for joining us. Citizens of California are mentioning two things: bailouts and rate hikes. Is either inevitable?"

Gray Davis: "In my view, neither is going to happen, Jess. We're working very hard to make sure that the rate payers don't have to shoulder any undue burden in the resolution of this issue."

Val Zavala>> Life and Times also produced a one-hour live special, a response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. We brought counselors into our studio to answer hundreds of questions mostly from parents looking to comfort their young children.

Jess Marlow>> "Many of you may have grown up on public television watching programs that were created for children. But tonight we've put together something different, a program that's about children and how terrorism has changed their world."

Val Zavala>> "We're calling it A Chance To Talk."

Gay Yee>> "Today classrooms are alive with a new sense of the new world we all live. We listen along as teacher, Rod Savant, led this discussion with a group of eighth graders at Luther Burbank Middle School in Los Angeles."

Student>> "Should we have a war? I put down, yes, I think we should have a war to punish the terrorists who did this."

Student>> "I don't think that we should have a war because a lot of people have already died and, if we go to war, a lot more people will die."

Jess Marlow>> "There is a challenge for the teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District, isn't there?"

Roy Romer>> "Oh, what a teachable moment. What a teachable moment to have all those children talk about war. Yes, we should and, no, we shouldn't. It is very interesting."

Jess Marlow>> I particularly enjoyed some of the lighter things and Jack LaLanne was a classic example. This iron man who's still going strong appeared on our program of Life and Times and demonstrated with the aid of a kitchen chair how you could maintain complete fitness without a lot of expensive equipment and without a personal trainer. He was an interesting guy and a southern California icon (laughter).

Jack LaLanne>> "For you folks that are sitting home right now, instead of eating all that junk during the commercials, pretend you're riding a bicycle. Come on and go with me. This gets your thighs. It helps your hips. It gets rid of your waistline. You're burning up fat. You're burning calories.

Another good one is like this. For you people, you know, the food you eat, ten seconds on the lips, lifetime on the hips, right? People accumulate big guts. Sit on this chair. If you're a beginner, just do one leg into your chest like that. Then if you're advanced, do both legs. Try to touch your knees to your forehead. If you can, that means you have long knees. Excellent. You inhale and you blow it out as you're contracting.

Another one for the inner part of your thighs and the outer part of your thighs for a lot of you girls out there, you know, when you're in your short dresses, you got all this ugly fat around here. Do like this, see? Two, three, four. These are things you can do during the commercials. Why waste that time?"

Jess Marlow>> One of the other guests who fascinated me was Art Linkletter. Art Linkletter, who'd been around for a hundred fifty years, proved to us that day that it's not only kids who say the darndest things.

Art Linkletter>> "Well, as my granddaughter said when she introduced me at her class out in the San Fernando Valley the other day, "This is my great-grandfather. He's ninety years old and still alive." (laughter).

Jess Marlow>> "Very good. There was a time when you talked mostly to children, we thought, but now you spend a lot of time talking to older people, to seniors."

Art Linkletter>> "Well, I tell them all the ways in which they can live longer and happier. I visit retirement homes all over the country and I speak to people with Alzheimer's. (Laughter) There was lady in Cincinnati, a little gray-haired lady, an Alzheimer's victim. I was giving out pictures after my talk and she looked up at me kind of quizzically and I said, "Do you know who I am?" She said, "No, but if you go to the front desk, they'll tell you." (laughter).

Val Zavala>> Over the years, Life and Times also produced documentaries spotlighting the work of extraordinary southern Californians like the doctor who talks wounded gangbangers out of the gang life, a disabled couple's fight for the right to marry, the Tongva tribe members who launched a dream, a principal who turned a troubled elementary school around, and a pilot who gives troubled kids the ride of their lives.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Tomorrow night is our final look back at the best of Life and Times. Now we've been making some tough decisions trying to choose our favorite stories from over a decade of covering southern California, so be sure to join us for that one. And we'd love to know your thoughts and memories about Life and Times and you can post them. Just go to kcet.org/lifeandtimes/blog.

And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. Join us tomorrow night for the final broadcast of Life and Times.

Warren Olney>> Congratulations to Life and Times for sixteen years of filling the gap between commercial television news and the real world.

Jess Marlow>> Congratulations to KCET and Life and Times. Sixteen years. It's a terrific performance.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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