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TV's Kuralt Praises Nation's Life
PAGE 8 — The Southern Cross, May 24,1990
NEWSMAN HONORED — CBS
newsman Charles Kuralt and
Sister Rita Jeanne Abicht renew
their friendship at Viterbo College
in La Crosse, Wis., May 3. Kuralt
received the college’s Pope John
XXIII award. (CNS photo by
Jerry Ruff, Times Review)
A Look
BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Sunday, May 27, 8-9:30 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“National Memorial Day Concert.” Actor
E.G. Marshall hosts this tribute to those
who gave their lives in defense of the
United States, with readings by James
Earl Jones and Colleen Dewhurst in a pro
gram of patriotic music performed by the
National Symphony Orchestra, the U.S.
Army Chorus and the Old Guard Fife and
Drum Corps.
Monday, May 28, 9-10 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“Revolutionary.” A new three-part
historical series, “Stalin,” begins by ex
ploring the formative years of the future
Soviet leader and then charts his growing
political power in the aftermath of the Rus
sian Revolution.
Monday, May 28,10-11 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“The Global Connection.” The final pro
gram in the “Local Heroes, Global
Change” series shows that nations no
longer function as economically separate
entities and that economic policies must be
decided as part of a complex world
economy.
Jim Henson
BY SISTER MARY ANN WALSH
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Jim Henson,
inventor of the Muppets, who entertained
America for three decades, was
remembered as “humble” and “a very
special light” by Catholic leaders who
praised his contributions to entertainment.
His felt-and-foam puppets, including the
pushy Miss Piggy, affable Kermit the Frog
and shy Big Bird, had become a U.S. in
stitution and were a featured part of
“Sesame Street,” the award-winning
educational TV program aimed at 1- to
5-year-olds.
Many Catholic groups, including Loyola
University in Chicago and Unda-USA,
bestowed honors on the puppeteer, who
died unexpectedly from pneumonia May 16
at 53.
Father John Catoir, director of The
Christophers, which honored the CBS-TV
program “The Muppets — A Celebration
BY JERRY RUFF
LA CROSSE, Wis. (CNS) - After more
than 30 years of reporting on this nation,
CBS newsman Charles Kuralt says he’s
found “a lot out there on the road to be con
fident about.”
In La Crosse to accept Viterbo College’s
Pope John XXIII Award, Kuralt talked op
timistically about the America he’s
discovered, particularly in his series “On
the Road.” Viterbo is a liberal arts college
in La Crosse run by the Franciscan Sisters
of Perpetual Adoration with an enrollment
of about 1,200.
The United States is not the “crises-
ridden” nation found on the front pages of
most newspapers, said Kuralt.
“The country is not in flames. Many peo
ple are still making friends with their
neighbors,” he said.
Kuralt was one of five recipients of the
award, given annually to individuals who
have exemplified the spirit of the late pope
in providing outstanding service to the
community, humanity and higher educa
tion.
Kuralt, who was presented with the
award May 3, called receiving an award
“with a saintly pope on it... kind of a rush
for an old sinner.”
Tuesday, May 29, 9-10 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“The Dallas Drug War.” Rebroadcast of a
1989 “Frontline” documentary investiga
tion of the battle waged by one
neighborhood in Dallas to combat the
drugs and violence that threaten the entire
community.
Tuesday, May 29,10-11 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“The Truth about Lies. ” In a rebroadcast
of the final program in the 1989 series,
“Moyers: The Public Mind,” journalist
Bill Moyers looks at how America’s
political culture relies on manipulated im
ages to avoid delving into troubling but
critically important social problems.
Wednesday, May 30, 8-9 p.m. EDT
(PBS) “Gregory Peck: His Own Man.”
Rebroadcast of a 1989 documentary on
Peck’s movie career, featuring the actor
talking about his professional background
and various film roles, from “Spellbound”
and “To Kill a Mockingbird” to “The
Omen.” A “Hollywood Legends” pro
gram.
Thursday, May 31, 10-11 p.m. EDT
(PBS) “Black on White.” The fifth of nine
of 30 Years” with a 1987 Christopher
Award, said in a May 16 telephone inter
view that with Henson’s passing “the
world loses a very special light.”
“We thank God for the gift he brought to
us in this good man,” said Father Catoir,
who once hosted Henson on his weekly
public affairs TV program, “Christopher
Closeup.”
Jesuit Father Raymond Baumhart,
president of Loyola, who presented Henson
with the university’s Sword of Loyola in
1982, said May 16 that Henson was “a great
man” who was “good, human and
humble” despite all his accomplishments.
He recalled that when Henson visited
Loyola to accept the honor, he stopped at
the university’s Foster McGaw Hospital.
“He brought Kermit the Frog and went
over to our pediatrics ward and entertain
ed the children,” Father Baumhart said.
That night, in a brief speech, he captivated
alumni and university friends attending a
“We meet in the name of a great man,
John XXIII,” Kuralt told a full house at the
Viterbo Fine Arts Center. “The world
remembers him so well, loved him, not
just for his holiness, but for his humanity.
We can’t all hope to have the saintly
qualities of that pope. But we can emulate
his love of human beings,” he said.
Currently anchor of the CBS program
“Sunday Morning,” Kuralt is best known
for his “On the Road” series, begun 23
years ago as what he called a “three-
month project” that no one told him to
stop.
During that time, he said, “the world has
become more neighborly, human and just
than it used to be.”
Reporting on the lives of the not rich and
not famous, Kuralt said the people he’s
met “press upon you a cup of coffee, slice
of pie, and great gobs of local history.”
He thinks journalists should report the
bad news as well as the good. “I don’t want
to live in places where nothing ever goes
wrong in the papers.
“But the will for justice, humaneness,
dignity — these impulses are stronger than
they used to be in our national life,” he
said.
“We Americans carry with us the naive
idea there’s a solution for every problem,’ ’
he said. “When something goes wrong, so
episodes in a rebroadcast of the fine 1986
series, “The Story of English,” examines
the roots of black English, from the U.S.
slave trade to current developments in ur
ban slang.
Friday, June 1, 9-10:30 p.m. EDT (PBS)
“Cinderella.” The Lyon Opera Ballet’s
version of the classic fairy tale is peopled
by figures both benign and fearsome,
bringing to life the playthings of childhood
— dolls, candy canes, wooden horses and
wind-up toys.
TV FILM FARE
Sunday, May 27, 8:30-11 p.m. EDT
(ABC) — “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971)
— This time around James Bond’s adver
sary (Charles Gray) is intent on cornering
the world diamond market in order to
finance still worse villainy. Directed by
Guy Hamilton, the British production
lacks the wit and wizardry with which the
007 series began and everything about this
entry seems tired, including superagent
Sean Connery’s performance. Usual styliz
ed violence and sexual bypiay. The U.S.
Catholic Conference classification of the
$400-a-plate fund-raiser for Loyola’s
Stritch School of Medicine, the priest said.
The educator said he was impressed by
Henson and, after meeting him, could see
why “his characters were so wholesome.”
The award-winning CBS special on 30
years of the Muppets marked “a personal
triumph” for Henson, said Henry Herx,
director of the U.S. Catholic Conference
Office for Film and Broadcasting, in a
review of the program.
Henson’s program “had been turned
down by the networks when he originally
offered them ‘The Muppet Show,”’ said
Herx, who had interviewed Henson. He
noted that the series went on to become
“one of the must successful shows in
American syndication.”
Henson also was honored by Unda-USA,
an association of Catholic broadcasters
and communicators, which awarded him
one of its Gabriel Awards for personal
achievement in 1981.
meone forms a committee, hires a hall, as
if there is a solution.”
That attitude is especially strong in the
Midwest, he said, where people do ‘ ‘unlike
ly things” in the belief that “one man, one
woman can make all the difference.”
As examples, he cited the semi-serious
and the sublime: a 78- year-old man who,
thinking there should be “a straight
highway from Duluth (Minn.) to Fargo
(N.D.),” sets out with a shovel and an “old
John Deere tractor” to build one.
And then, he said, there are the La
Crosse Franciscan Sisters and their
perpetual adoration of the Eucharist.
Kuralt first came to La Crosse 12 years
ago to feature the 100th anniversary of
their perpetual adoration.
“Praying for 100 years is fairly unlikely
if you stop to think of it,” he said.
“People have come to see the grace and
worth and joy of taking part in themselves,
of binding up wounds, solving problems,
attaining a level of spirituality,” he said.
“So many Americans are concerning
themselves, care about their communities
and country,” said Kuralt.
“I have hope we may be growing. Not
just in the local community or in wealth.
But in the way the sisters have in mind in
that chapel — in wisdom and humanity,”
he said.
theatrical version was A-III — adults. The
Motion Picture Association of America
rating was PG — parental guidance sug
gested.
Monday, May 28, 9-11 p.m. EDT (ABC)
— “Heaven Can Wait” (1978) — In a
charming remake of the 1941 classic “Here
Comes Mr. Jordan,” Warren Beatty plays
a quarterback who dies prematurely, then
thanks to a bungling angel (James Mason)
returns in the body of an eccentric
millionaire who has been done in by his
wife (Dyan Cannon) and cloddish lover
(Charles Grodin). Beatty gets back into
shape with the aid of his former coach
(Jack Warden) and falls for an
Englishwoman (Julie Christie). Directed
by Beatty and Buck Henry, the entertain
ment succeeds in being very innocent, yet
wise and funny. The U.S. Catholic Con
ference classification of the theatrical ver
sion was A-II — adults and adolescents.
The Motion Picture Association of
America rating was PG — parental
guidance suggested.
MUPPET MAGICIAN — Mup
pet creator Jim Henson poses
with some of his entertaining
friends during a wintry outing.
Henson, who died unexpectedly of
pneumonia May 16, was honored
by Catholic groups for his artistic
contributions and rememered as
“a very special light.” (CNS
photo from UPI)
Called "A Very Special Light"
At Next Week's TV Programming