this is the "cbs overnight news." i'm thom hansen and we've got a lot more to tell you about this morning starting with an unseen danger on the road. the holiday season is a time for celebration, and if that celebration includes alcohol, you may be taking a cab home. but how safe is that car you just jumped into. kris van cleave has a look. >> reporter: the baltimore area has nearly 1,000 cabs picking up passengers. now, they're required to get an annual inspection by the state of maryland, but the only way a rider would know if any of these cabs have an open safety raffl for a defect would be to pull the v.i.n. number before they get in. baltimore is not alone.

a refuel for the center of auto safety found more than 35,000 cabs licensed in nine of the ten u.s. cities with the most taxis are not required by their regulators to get safety calls fixed before picking up passengers. >> there's no way for a customer to know. >> reporter: dlerkt jason lavine found only san francisco requires cabs to be screened for recalls. >> there are no cosmetics recalls. recalls are only done for safety reasons, defects or violation of standards. >> but in your mind, this is something that should get addressed. >> in my mind, yes, there are potential safety concerns here. >> reporter: the maryland public service commission regulates cabs in baltimore. transportation director says the center's letter has prompted a very view of the state's regulations. >> safety is paramount. as far as looking at the safety recalls, it's complicated. that's why we want to take a deeper dive. >> but is it complicated? can't the state of maryland say you as a licensed taxi cab operator have to do this? >> we certainly can. and, again, that's why we're very much interested in looking at this. >> can we grab the v.i.n.?

>> reporter: last year cbs affiliate wusa found many as one in six washington, d.c. cabs had open recalls including for defective takada air bags which have killed at least 24 people worldwide. >> it's not fair for the unsuspected public. >> reporter: kelly knows the danger of unrecalled recalls. both her daughters died after a recalled steering hose broke, starting a fire in their rental car. >> you don't get over it, what you do is you get through it. and it remains with you until you die. it never goes away. >> reporter: accidents caused by an unrepaired safety defect are not directly tracked so it's impossible to know how many injuries or even deaths are related to them. the center for auto safety has called on companies like uber and lyft to require their drivers to also fix open safety recalls before taking passengers. the center says so far that hasn't happened. kris

why do wrinkles happen at the worst times? with new bounce rapid touch up spray, you just spray smooth and you're fresh and ready to go wherever you are. new bounce rapid touch up spray. bounce out wrinkles anywhere. ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ ♪ just like the ones i used to know ♪ you may recognize that. it wouldn't be the holiday season without the music of irving berlin.

he wrote "white christmas" along with literally thousands of other tunes, many of them you can still hum along to, even decades after his death. mo raqqa looks back on berlin's life and incredible legacy. >> reporter: that king cole lit up a room with him. ♪ blue skies smiling at me ♪ what will i do >> reporter: judy garland broke hearts with him. ♪ are far away >> reporter: and fred astaire danced to him. ♪ and you don't know where to go to ♪ ♪ why don't you go where fashion sits ♪ >> reporter: as did gene wilder and peter boyle, sort of. in "young frankenstein." as a fellow songwriter once said, the man who wrote all

those songs, irving berlin has no place in american music, he is american music. ♪ there's no business like show business ♪ ♪ like no business i know ♪ everything about it is appealing ♪ ♪ everything that traffic will allow ♪ >> reporter: broadway musical director andy is a longtime fan of irving berlin's. >> i think what's interesting now is we hear these songs and we define them the term that people always say, why are they timeless? you know, he spoke directly to our heart. ♪ >> reporter: berlin wrote more than 1,500 songs. for every mood and every occasion. ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ >> reporter: yes, berlin wrote "white christmas," which bing

crosby first performed on his nbc radio show on christmas day 1941. ♪ ♪ with all the thrills upon it >> reporter: he also wrote the classic "easter parade." ♪ the grandest fella in the easter parade ♪ >> reporter: perhaps surprising when you consider that berlin was a jewish immigrant. >> irving berlin is actually the quintessential american dream. ♪ in the easter parade ♪ >> reporter: irving berlin was born israel baylene in russia in 1888. as a 5-year-old he watched as his family's house was burned to the ground, victims of religious persecution, they found refuge in america, settling in new york city's lower east side. when berlin was 13 his father died. the family needed money.

>> one of the things he did was busking. >> singing on the street? >> yes. yeah. singing on the street, singing for, you know, at restaurants, singing in clubs. >> reporter: josh perlman is chief curator at the national museum of american jewish history in philadelphia. berlin soon started writing his own songs. words and music. >> he bought this piano at 21 and this was the first piano he owned personally. and he owned it when he composed alexander's "ragtime band." his first international hit. ♪ come and hear alexander's ragtime band ♪ >> his process was to often imagine the music in his head and then use what skills he had as a pianist to find the melody. >> this is the first piano i ever owned. >> reporter: berlin was not a great pianist. he could only play in onco. >> i only play in f-sharp. >> you see?

>> oh, the black keys. >> that's right. >> reporter: so he bought this special piano. by pulling this knob, the whole keyboard moved, changing keys. here's berlin explaining it to d dina shore. in the 1920s berlin fell in love with a young heiress, ellen mackie. >> if you tell young people today he was jewish, she was irish catholic, they'd say so what. it was a big deal, right? >> her father did not approve. >> well, he initially disowned her, right? >> yes, that's right. >> reporter: but the marriage lasted 36 years. katherine is their granddaughter. >> what is the story behind where we are right now? >> this house was bought by my grandfather for my grandmother in 1948. >> sweat came here for the k

catskill mountains every summer until she was a teenager. >> would you like to hold it? >> reporter: here's berlin's 1942 academy award for "white christmas." a song with an origin story that wasn't exactly merry and bright. >> it has a mel cauley underpinning. my grandparents had a baby boy and he died on christmas eve when he was just four weeks old. >> were you aware growing up that privately they were grieving on that day? >> it's not something that we could talk about. we're very private about it. ♪ while the storm clouds gather ♪ ♪ far across the sea >> reporter: in 1918, while berlin was serving in the u.s. army, he wrote a musical review for his fellow troops that initially included a song called

"god bless america." >> it wasn't quite making it up to snuff, so they decided, okay, this isn't the right piece, so he put it away in his trunk. >> 20 years later with hitler threatening the world order, irving berlin thought the song's time was right as a message of peace. >> he ended up slightly revising the lyric and then he gave it to the singer kate smith. ♪ god bless america land that i love ♪ >> reporter: smith sang it on her radio show in 1938. ♪ and guide her through the night with a light from above ♪ >> reporter: and it quickly became a kind of second national anthem. but for berlin, the song was personal. >> my mother always likes to point out that it's god bless

america, land that i love. right? not we, but his love of america and i think that's very sincere. i think he really was very grateful to this country. >> reporter: kate smith raised hundreds of millions of dollars in war bonds singing "god bless america," but this year, the new york yankees and philadelphia flyers stopped playing her version and the flyers removed a statue of her after it was discovered smith had sung two songs with racist lyrics in the 1930s. a different kind of controversy swirled around "god bless america" early on. >> there were anti-semites who said who is this jewish man to call on to bless america? ♪ god bless america land that i love ♪ >> i'm a fifth generation america. "god bless america," i can be singing here for the whole america and stay true to who i am. >> this man is an ultra orthodox

jewish singer who grew up in brooklyn. >> when is the first time you heard it, do you remember? >> actually, the first time i heard the song was in yiddish. it was a yiddish version. >> really? >> yeah. ♪ >> there's an album -- >> yes, i know that album. >> he has "god bless america" and he sings it in yiddish. >> he has sung the song at major league baseball games. ♪ god bless america our home sweet home ♪ ♪ >> how do you feel when you sing it? >> very grateful. very grateful for the united states of america for their involvement in world war ii. especially us as jews, who knows what the population would be if

not the american involvement in world war ii. so i feel very grateful, and as an orthodox jew, what better way

now to my favorite story. there's a young girl in massachusetts who's the talk of the town this holiday season. steve hartman paid her another visit on the road. >> reporter: at the far end of this road in newton, massachusetts lives a little girl near and dear to the neighborhood. samantha is deaf. but as we first reported about a year ago, she loves to talk to anyone who knows sign language. her parents, rafael and glenda. >> she's super engaging. she wants to, you know, chat up with anybody. >> yeah, her whole personality changes when it's someone who can communicate with her. >> reporter: likewise, if someone can't, well, that makes sam just a little sad. her desire for engagement was painfully obvious to everyone in the neighborhood.

whenever they saw her on a walk or in her yard and sam tried to be neighborly, they found the s themselves in a frustrating loss for words. >> i didn't know what to say back. wouldn't you like to talk to her? >> basic conversation one would have with a child. >> and make her feel that she is part of the neighborhood. >> just be her friend. >> reporter: unfortunately, this isn't something you can solve with a casserole. you'd need the whole community to learn sign language just for a little 2-year-old girl. can't expect neighbors to do that. you can only appreciate them when they do. on their own sam's neighbors got together, hired an instructor, and are now fully immersed in an american sign language class. the teacher, reese mcgovern, says this is remarkable, because a lot of times eastern the parents of deaf children don't bother to learn sign language. >> but here sam has a full community that's signing and communicating with her and her family and it is a beautiful story.

>> reporter: after we first told this story even more neighbors signed up for the classes, about 40 altogether. so now sam, who just turned 3 last month, can engage in meaningful conversation with many of the people on her block. her parents say there aren't words in any language to express their gratitude. >> it's, yeah, it's really shocking and beautiful. >> reporter: in fact, they're already seeing a difference in their daughter. >> you should see her when she comes in at the end of class. >> the first thing she says to us is friend. i think your heart would melt just as mine did. >> reporter: sometimes it feels like america is losing its sense of community. but then you hear about a place like this where the village it takes to raise a child is alive and well and here to remind us that what makes a good neighborhood is nothing more than good neighbors. steve hartman on the road in newton, massachusetts.

and that's the overnight news for this day after christmas. from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm tom hanse it's thursday, december 26th, 2019. there is the "cbs morning news." north korea tension. kim jong-un's christmas gift is yet to be delivered. what president trump is saying about it. post-holiday havoc. a powerful winter storm is dumping rain and snow as travelers make their way home. ♪ dance boogie boogie dance ♪ and she was the songwriter behind some of the most memorable hits of our time. remembering allee willis. good morning from the studio