captioning made possible by johnson & johnson, where quality products for the american family have been a tradition for generations >> osgood: good morning. i'm charles osgood and this is sunday morning. traditionally this past week was reserved for festive family reunions. this morning our concern is family secrets. what if when you were a young child a member of your own family was suddenly gone but

none of the adults would tell you where or why? where's molly will be this morning's cover story told to you by john black stouffer. >> reporter: for most of his life jeff daly wondered why his baby sister molly just disappeared when she was three years old. >> i would often look at her photo and i would say, tell me again, who is this? well, that was molly. where is molly now? she's not here anymore. >> reporter: an old family mystery finally solved later on sunday morning. >> osgood: the many volunteers who protect our lives and communities all year long deserve our heart felt thanks this weekend. and that's what our peter greenberg will be offering. >> reporter: every 23 seconds somewhere in america, a firefighter responds to a call. and three quarters of those firefighters are volunteers. >> they are the backbone of our rescue system. i mean, what would we do without them. >> reporter: we give thanks for a tradition as old as

america itself. volunteer firefighting later on sunday morning. >> osgood: singer lionel ritchie has been entertaining audiences for a few generations now. with bill whitaker this sunday morning he makes it sound so easy. >> this is a sunday morning show. >> reporter: from beautiful ball adds to funky beats, lionel ritchie knew music was his calling when he first joined the come dores 40 years ago. >> easy like sunday morning. you pick up a microphone. you grab the band and girls started screaming. >> reporter: we'll sit down with lionel ritchie later this sunday morning. >> osgood: a secret shareded is another story about a family mystery, one that centers around the remarkable act of generosity only recently come to light. >> reporter: when ted opened

an old family suitcase, he didn't expect to find 150 letters all dated december 1933. what was in these letters? >> this was a portal on the great depression. >> reporter: later on sunday morning, how a secret gift brought cheer during hard times in ohio. >> osgood: that story from rita braver. harry smith visits humorist andy borowitz. katie couric speaks the king's english with actor colin firth. fast draw looks at the fine print of warrantees. first the headlines for this sunday morning the 28th of november, 2010. law enforcement officials in portland say there's no evidence any foreign terror group was directing the 19-year-old arrested in an alleged bomb plot friday night. terry mccarthy has the latest on the foiled oregon attack. >> 3, 2, 1.

>> reporter: the plan was to kill as many people as possible. and thousands gathered for a tree-lighting in portland's pioneer square 19-year-old mohammed osman mohammed allegedly parked a van at the corner attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb. but according to the justice department the public was never at risk. the somali-born u.s. citizen had been given a fake bomb by undercover agents in a month- long f.b.i. sting. agent arthur. >> the threat was very, very real. all the information we have up to this point is that he acted alone. >> reporter: mohammed had been under surveillance by the f.b.i. since 2009 when he was communicating with an oversea associate in pakistan and publishing articles in jihadist magazines. according to an f.b.i. affidavit, mohammed chose portland to attack because they don't see it as a place where anything will happen. the mayor praised law enforcement officials for their patience in handling the case. >> this is an issue that obviously rattles all of us. >> reporter: mohammed

meticulously planned his attack down to the parking spot he wanted to use for maximum impact. he purchased bomb making materials but the f.b.i. agents assembled a fake bomb. they repeatedly asked if he wanted to go through with it. >> it will be a fireworks show he told them, a spectacular show. "new york times" will give it two thumbs up. in fact, nothing happened. after attempt to go detonate the bomb twice using his cell phone he was arrested, kicking at agents and screaming "god is great." he's due to make his first court appearance in court tomorrow facing charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. for sunday morning this is terry mccarthy in los angeles. >> osgood: now for the latest on the situation in korea. tensions remain high after north korea's deadly attack on south korea on tuesday. today the u.s. and south korea began long planned joint military exercises in the region. in response, north korea reportedly positioned service to service missiles along its southern border. and china this morning issued

an urgent call for a summit to resolve the crisis. a shopper tracking firm says retail sales on black friday was just 3 tenths of one percent compared to the day after thanksgiving last year. that is still enough to set a record for today. the state department is braceor for another leak of classified government documents that would come courtesy of the wikileaks website which has already published thousands of confidential files related to the wars in iraq and afghanistan. one day after he was elbowed in the lip during a pick-up basketball game, a cut requiring 12 stitches, president obama was court side yesterday. the president saw the oregon state team coached by his wife's brother defeat howard university 84-74. now today's forecast. post thanksgiving travelers can ex-expect some snow in the midwest, cold up north. sunny and pleasant down south. for most of us the week to

come will bring more wet and chilly weather. next, a brother and sister reunion. and later, actor colin fir

>> osgood: where's molly? that's the poignant question a little boy used to ask many years ago. the answer to that question was a long time coming.

our cover story is reported now by john blackstone. >> reporter: if a picture is is worth a thousand words, then the pictures of the daly family in the 1950s tell the story of a typical american family. the handsome husband, the perfect wife, and the happy kids. but then the pictures change. and a family secret was born. >> i would often look at a photo. i would say, tell me again, who is this? that was molly. where is molly now? she's not here anymore. >> reporter: when older brother jeff was 5, molly disappeared. for a while jeff asked constantly, where's molly? he stopped asking after being told repeatedly by his mother he had to forget his baby sister. >> i was fairly well brain washed. i think i can say that molly never crossed my mind for 20 years, maybe 30 years. >> reporter: that is until someone else from his past

came back into his life. >> i had not seen him in probably 25 or 30 years. >> reporter: cindy thompson grew up with jeff in a... oregon. the two dated in middle school. they met again in 1994 after their high school reunion. >> one of the first things she said to me was how is your mom? how is your dad and what's molly doing? i almost fell off the chair. how do you remember molly? >> i said everybody knew about molly. >> he said what do you know about molly? >> i said she was sent away. i don't know where she went. i never heard what happened to her. she's still alive. jeff said, i don't know. >> it almost ended our relationship right there. cindy was so upset saying how could you not know where your sister is. >> reporter: sneferls jeff and cindy's relationship grew. they got married but it would take another ten years before the mystery of molly's disappearance began to unravel. it was only after jeff's parents sue and jack passed

away. >> my father died, cindy said time's up. i'm going to find molly. >> reporter: turns out jack daly kept information in his wallet about his only daughter. and the secret file hidden away. within 24 hours of jack's death, the mystery of where's molly was solved. >> cindy picked up the phone, started making some phone calls. after the third call she found the group home in hillsboro just outside of portland where molly was actually living. >> reporter: three days later jeff daly reunited with the sister he last saw when she was just shy of her third birthday. molly was now a 49-year-old woman. >> i wasn't sure what to expect, but the first time i saw her was pain. i felt pained that i hadn't seen her. i knew that i was wrong. >> reporter: you knew that you

were wrong not trying to find her sooner. >> here indeed is this individual that has personality, and she's my sister. and i let her go for 47 years without ever being part of her life. >> reporter: because molly couldn't tell jeff and cindy about those missing 47 years, they set about filling in the details. which brought them to the institution where molly was sent back in 1957. the oregon fairview home. fairview has now been closed for almost a decade. the buildings where molly and thousands of other children liveded are in decay. but a film that shows what life was like here in the 1950s gave cindy and jeff a disturbing look at how molly spent her childhood here. >> first stop in the journey of the meantally retarded child. >> reporter: and the last thing jeff and cindy expected was to see molly herself in the film.

when she was just five years old. >> she was at the beginning of the film. when we saw that, we crumbled. >> reporter: at the time, the film was meant to be a testament to the state-of-the-art care given to patients with intellectual disabilities. fairview, founded in 1907, was originally named the oregon state institution for the feeble-minded. it was hardly alone. by 1962, 49 of the 50 states in the u.s. had at least one institution for the mentally disabled. in all, there were 123. >> after world war ii in the early '50s you increasingly had physicians who would tell parents to put their children almost immediately into institutions after they were born if they had an apparent disability. >> reporter: james trent is a professor at gordon college in massachusetts. and the author of a history of america's treatment of those once called mentally retarded. he says molly's parents

undoubtedly acted on what was common advice in the 1950s. >> most physicians would tell them for the good of the family, for the good of the other children in the family, for the good of the stability of the family, it was best to put the disabled child in a state institution. >> that was the way it was done. the state asked you to do that. the doctors told my parents it's okay. let molly go to salem. she'll be in an institution. she'll be better off there. >> reporter: but jeff believes molly was not better off. >> molly had some minor disabilities. but we believe that when she went into the institution, she became institutionally retarded. the environment created her, forced her into being what everybody else in an institution was, which were people surviving. >> reporter: in combing through molly's records, the dalys discovered that despite the family mandate to forget her, molly did have some family visitors through the

years. >> my mom went there once from what we understood. she went there one time a few years after molly was sent there. we don't know why. we just found a little note in her records that mother had visited. but other than that she didn't visit. >> reporter: was it shame that kept your mother from doing this? was it just that she didn't want to acknowledge even molly's existence? >> i never could understand as how a parent that you could just throw up this fire wall between you and a daughter. but to send her away and say, no more conversation, she is not part of our lives. we're not going to talk to her about it. whether that's shame, it's a horrible dilemma i think my mother had to go through. >> reporter: at first molly's father visited often until fairview staff advised him to stop because molly would become inconsoleable after he left. but jack daly found an ingenius way to continue visiting his daughter. one that might bring a smile to her face.

>> he did go back only in a way that i suppose my dad could have figured out. he went back as a clown. >> reporter: jeff's father an executive at the bumble bee seafood company founded a troupe called the astoria clowns in 1957. the very year molly was sent away. the troupe traveled around oregon marching in parades and entertaining children wherever they went. and they visited fairview. >> and he was able to have this relationship with molly in disguise, painted face, an orange wiig wearing the clown outfit but he was able to still get back there and see his daughter. >> reporter: by profession jeff was a free lance cameraman who sometimes worked for cbs news. now he's made a film called, where's molly? about the search for his sister. >> we went to salem where we were able to go through dozens of boxes of oregon state records. >> reporter: he hopes his story encourages others to reunite with siblings lost

because of the wisdom of earlier times. he failed, however, to convince his own younger brother who was born after molly was sent away to spend time with her. >> i've not only lost my brother now, but he's missing out on a great opportunity to have a sister. >> reporter: for jeff, finding his sister has done much more than solve an old mystery. >> jeff has changed immensely since he found molly. as one person said, it filled a hole in his soul. it really did. >> i have family. i've lost some family but i've got family. i think that the family that i have now needs me. i'm glad to be there for her. that's the beauty of it. it's a lovely reward to be able to give back and to take care of your little sister. >> snapshot. snapshotment. >> by george, i think he's got

it. >> osgood: ahead, remembering gary moore. what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think--ben is new markets. ben is global access-- china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers... everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow.

ah, this is hey guys. what the eightsorry we're late. milk looks warm. finally got the whole gang together. maple brown sugar, strawberry delight, blueberry muffin. yeah, a little family reunion. [ wind rushes ] whoa! whoa! whoa! whoa! we're cereal here! what? just cooling it down. enough said. gotcha. safety first. whoo-hoo! watch the whole grain! [ female announcer ] try kellogg's® frosted mini-wheats® hot. just add warm milk and you've got a hot way to keep your kids full and focused all morning. oops. dude your eight layers are showing. [ female announcer ] mini-wheats® hot. keeps 'em full, keeps 'em focused. >> osgood: and now a page from our sunday morning almanac. november 28, 1993.

>> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to another.... >> osgood: 17 years ago today. the day legendary tv host gary moore died at the age of 78. a baltimore native with a crew cut, a bow tie and an easy going manner, gary moore was one of television's earliest stars. >> that one even better than when we rehearsed it. that was very good. >> reporter: it's long-running cbs variety show helped launch the careers of carol burnt and barbra streisand, jonathan winters, don knotts ♪ and the rain stops beating on my window pain ♪ >> osgood: he also hosted popular tv quiz shows such as i've got a secret and to tell the truth. in truth, it's no secret why gary moore was such a success. never shocking. he was the perfect tv house guest. invited back by millions time and time again.

>> until next week, good-bye out there. >> osgood: coming up.... >> not only did i write for the worst tv show in history.... >> osgood: the witt and wisdom of andy borowitz. >> ...i was the worst writer on the worst tv show in history. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, including celebrex,

may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor about your medical history and find an arthritis treatment that works for you. ask your doctor about celebrex. and, go to celebrex.com to learn more about how you can move toward relief. celebrex. for a body in motion.

>> osgood: his name is andy borowitz. it's a stand-up guy who seems thankful to walk out on a successful hollywood company career. he talks with harry smith of the early show. >> reporter: andy borowitz seemed destined to become one of the biggest names in hollywood but he walked away

from the glitz and glamor and is now merely one of the funniest people in america. >> o.j. simpson. >> reporter: he does a little bit of stand-up. >> now, when we think of o.j. simpson we all think of the same thing, right? author. >> reporter: he writes humor books. but mostly he is the author of "the borowitz report." >> it's basically a news site. if i do one fake news story a day. >> reporter: as years ago, 2010 has been target rich for borowitz's sharp satire. china, to stop spying on its people will use facebook instead. hillary to become vice president. biden named president of afghanistan. karzai traded to minnesota vikings. christine o'donnell favors separation of speech and thought. >> somali pirates say they are subsidiary of goldman sachs. one of them says we are

functioning as investment bankers only every day was casual friday. >> reporter: andy also writes for the new yorker. example. a drunk emily dickinson using her keys to scratch ralph waldo emerson's car door with the words "waldo sucks." he's written about 40 pieces. andy borowitz. have you heard of him? >> i have heard of him. >> reporter: david remnick is editor of the new yorker. >> i can wake up the next morning if not sooner and answer borowitz will have hit it on the head. when sarah palin signed a contract with fox, the next morning i can read andy borowitz writing about how sarah palin can at least simul- cast in english. >> reporter: 52-year-old andy borowitz has always loved making people beginning at shaker heights high school in cleveland. >> i was kind of tall and

awkward and gawky. i had a big nose. it's hard to imagine that now. but if you can just picture it. it doesn't lend itself to becoming the, you know, the star of the football team. you wind up doing things like drama. >> reporter: were you popular within that crowd some. >> i was popular within the group of unpopular kids. i would say i was in the upper 10% of the unpopular kids in school. >> reporter: he was editor of the school newspaper. >> the only thing that was interesting to me was the idea of making up the news. >> reporter: he went on to harvard where he was predictably president of the lampoon, the renown college humor magazine. and then in 1980, only two weeks after graduating, andy drove across the country to hollywood. >> i really never looked back. that was it. you know, it was a career in comedy in that moment. >> archie bunker's place. >> reporter: one year later he was writing for the sit-com archie bunker's place and its lead carroll o'connor. >> carroll o'connor who played

him was so powerful at cbs. he actually had the number one parking spot on the cbs television city lot. the president of the network had the number two spot. that was my introduction to hollywood. >> reporter: soon andy's lines were popping up on all kinds of shows, including the facts of life. borowitz has a special affection for this series and probably not why you think. >> it was the worst television show ever produced. >> reporter: it gets worse. >> i was the worst writer on the worst tv show in history. >> reporter: much worse. >> the only thing worse than being a whore is being a whore and totally sucking at it. >> reporter: so naturally in 1990 when nbc wanted to turn will smith into a star, it turned to andy borowitz. >> what's hilarious is i was 32 years old at the time.

and a white kid from shaker heights ohio. but in the universe of nbc, i probably had the most in common with will smith. ♪ now this is story all about... ♪ > what borowitz created and produced was the fresh prince of bell air. it ran for six years. >> come with me, master william. >> gee, gee, gee. >> all this master william stuff, man. >> back on the plantation all we heard was master william. >> reporter: the hits continue co-producing the movie pleasantville starring reese witherspoon. >> we're supposed to be at home, david. we're supposed to be in color. >> okay. >> reporter: andy's scar was ascending rapidly. but in 1995, borowitz did the utterly unthinkable. he quit hollywood and moved to a new york city suburb. you went to hollywood and you were wildly successful. why would you walk away from

something like that? >> well, you know, there's this concept called the hedonic treadmill. what that means is that if you go and you do a hit tv show, then the treadmill suggested to be happier, you then have to do another hit and it's got to be bigger. then you have to get a bigger house and, you know, a better dog. i realized, you know, if i looked at my life in the '90s, i was enormously successful but not terribly happy. >> reporter: today he is content. he lives in manhattan with his second wife writer olivia genteel. they had a baby in january. when he feels like it, he writes. he performs. >> this brings me to elliott spitzer. >> reporter: whatever. it sounds like a hollywood ending only borowitz would write. and funny. there's no punch lines. >> i think that's everyone's worst fear in hol... hollywood is they're going to become a

forgotten person. my feeling was i would like to kind of disappear for a couple of years. i'd like to do nothing and maybe just read and sort of think about things. and then see where i am at the end of that. that's exactly what i did. maybe that was crazy. i don't know. >> reporter: gutsy, i think. >> well, thank you, harry. >> osgood: ahead, to the rescue. >> and if it worked, it was going to be amazing. if it didn't work, i'm out of business. >> osgood: and sunday morning with lionel ritchie.

>> osgood: imagine a group of volunteers who would be willing to sacrifice their holiday for the rest of us and possibly even sacrifice their lives. no need to imagine. that's the way it is with these volunteers for whom our peter greenberg is one. here he is with their story. >> reporter: it happens every 23 seconds. somewhere in this country firefighters are responding to a call. >> responding to the residential fire at....

>> reporter: and what you probably don't know is is that three quarters of them are volunteers. taking their lives in their hands and sometimes paying the ultimate price. last month thousands converged on the town of emmitts burg at the national fire academy in northern maryland to pay tribute to these men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty. >> we are awed by their service. we are humbled by their sacrifice. (bell tolling) >> reporter: this year 105 firefighters were recognized. and 43 were volunteers.

volunteers like steven kaiser "peanut," to his friends and family. >> one way to describe him. he had a heart of gold. >> reporter: kelly met kaiser seven years ago. not long afterward they became a couple. >> he was jack of all trades. he loved his daughter. >> me. >> yep. >> reporter: so a few weeks ago he traveled from the village of saint ann in central wisconsin to remember and honor the father of their daughter lexus. >> steven "peanut" kaiser. >> reporter: it happened last december. koeser, a 15-year veteran volunteer responded to a call, a dumpster fire at a metal foundry. >> explosion for the dumpster. >> reporter: the dumpster exploded, injuring eight and

killing steven koeser. >> injury. we need an ambulance out here. i need an ambulance out here. >> i freaked out. the first thing on my mind is her. >> reporter: at first four-year-old lexus didn't quite understand. >> she'll say once in a while when is daddy coming? he's not. after a couple months she started asking questions about what happened. i answered them honestly. i think she understands now. >> i do. >> reporter: towns across the country rely on volunteers like steven koeser to respond when the call comes in. in wisconsin alone of the state's 8 70 fire departments some 800 are volunteer. in this town with a population

of 775 just about anyone can join. >> i'm an attorney. i'm a retired criminal prosecutor. >> retired school teacher. >> jordan white. i work down here at the local news. >> i'm reggie nelson. i work for the telephone company. >> troy. i work for organic valley. >> reporter: the department's budget is is just $35,000 a year. nationwide it's estimated that volunteer safe communities... save communities $37 billion a year in labor costs. phil is the chief. >> in addition to providing coverage here for the village, we provide coverage to all parts of seven surrounding townships too. we have a coverage area of about 135 square miles. >> they are the backbone of our rescue system here and across the united states. what will we do without them? >> reporter: jamie smith is the director of the museum of firefighting in hudson, new york. smith says the very first volunteer fire brigades in america were organized by

peter stuyvesant governor of the dutch settlement of new netherlands. >> he did a lot. he appointed fire wardens to go around and examine chimneys. if they were not clean to fine those people. >> reporter: the museum's collection chronicles the legacy of volunteer firefighting in america. >> i mean it's part of our culture. they've always been there and then they're taken for granted. no one thinks twice about it. >> reporter: but not in towns like this one. volunteers aren't part of the fabric of the community. they are the community. so when they respond to a call there's a 100% chance that the person in need will be a neighbor, a friend, or someone even closer. >> on the way out there, they were talking how this is bad. get moving, guys.

>> reporter: it was on a march day seven years ago that andy siegel responded to an accident call. >> when i got on scene and i saw it was his vehicle.... >> reporter: the victim was siegel's 17-year-old son, randy. >> i was at least comforted by i had my friends with me. they took over, you know. i pretty much just stepped back. >> reporter: he died at the scene. >> a tough situation but i wasn't about to give this up. i said that won't do anybody any good. you know, i'm here to try to help the community. help people that need help and giving it up wasn't going to help. >> reporter: as tough as it can be sometimes, helping a neighbor in their hour of need is what volunteer firefighting is all about. >> their legacy will endure. the lives protected. the neighborhoods made safe.

>> thank you. when a person comes up and shakes your hand and says thank you for saving my house, thank you for cutting my child out of that crashed vehicle, thank you for saving everything in the world that's important to me, that's payment. >> osgood: next, hollywood for the holidays. hey, guys. printer's out of ink.

just shake it. [ rattling ] [ male announcer ] need ink? staples has a low price guarantee on all the ink you need. find a lower price at another store, and we'll match it. that was easy. of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. it's the way to individually brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew, hon. [ female announcer ] choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. [ female announcer ] choose. brew. enjoy. [children screaming] [growl] i met my husband here. i got to know my grandkids here. we've discovered so much here together. but my doctor told me that during that time my high cholesterol was contributing to plaque buildup in my arteries. that's why i'm fighting my cholesterol... with crestor. along with diet, crestor does more than help manage cholesterol,

when diet and exercise alone aren't enough. crestor is also proven to slow plaque buildup in arteries. crestor is not right for everyone, like people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you are taking, or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of serious side effects. ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. i love it when we're here together. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> osgood: 'tis the season for movies. our david edelstein has some coming attractions. >> reporter: the holidays are a time when we eat too much, drink too much, and go to

movies for two things: the cinematic equivalent of eating and drinking too much and to get a gander at the oscar bait. and the chum is rarely for enticing than the king's speech, a royal crowd pleaser. >> what was your earliest memory. >> i'm not here to discuss personal matters. >> reporter: here is the gimmick. colin firth plays the future king george 6th father of elizabeth 2 and a man crippled by a stammer in a new age of mass communication. >> do you know any jokes? >> timing isn't my strong suit. >> reporter: a commoner played by jeffrey rush. >> i take that as a compliment. >> reporter: becomes his speech therapist. but doesn't want to focus on the larynx or diaphragm. >> it will be like maddening george the stammerer. >> reporter: he wants the king to spill his childhood trauma

and like a shrink to give the uptight monarch an emotionalen ma. >> he will have carved the names on it. >> listen to me. >> reporter: the film is a little uptight too for my tastes but god save the king. the fighter from director david o.russell tries too hard early on for a documentary look. and the actor's working class boston accents are, well, why do actors always hit the as so hard. >> you had a hard enough time. >> reporter: but the relationships are good and tumultuous and more bruising than anything in the ring. between hungry boxer mark wallberg and his messed-up ex-fighter brother played by cristian bail. between amy adams as his mouthy girlfriend. >> we're together. do we need to do this again. hi, i'm charlene. >> reporter: and that great

scenery chewer melissa leo as his overbearing mom. >> what are you going to do what does she know? >> reporter: they could be contenders. >> attractive. come on. >> reporter: natalie portman will get all kinds of awards as a ballerina in black swan. a battery portrait of female masochism and madness. >> i like the way she moves. effortless. she's not faking it. >> reporter: director has one aim. to give you a drug experience. and as the innocent portman surrenders to her dark side to play the black swan in swan lake it's a trip, all right. but sometimes the line between hypnotic and stupefying is very thin.

now i haven't seen the big release. gulliver's travels, the new narnia. the one i can't wait for is joel and ethan cone's remake of true grit. and, yes, john wayne was indelible and who needs remakes? but the cones don't need the work. they wouldn't do this with jeff bridges and matt damon and josh brolin if they weren't going to blow some new holes in the western genre. have a great holiday season and don't go too heavy to the popcorn and milk duds. >> i'm not here to discuss personal matters. >> why are you here then? >> because i bloody well stammer. >> osgood: you've heard the reviews. next meet the star. katie couric talks with colin firth. >> it's very moving because

it's not just a struggle.

>> osgood: we just heard david edelstein praise actor colin firth's performance at britain's king george 6th, father of queen elizabeth in the new movie "the king's speech." time to hear from colin firth himself interviewed by our cbs news anchor katie couric. >> westminster abby is the setting for the show of the century. >> couric: did you know much about george 6th before you took this role on? >> i think most of my generation are not particularly focused on the royal family unless a big moment comes along. >> reporter: for george 6th who was born prince albert or bertie to his family that big moment came in 1936. his brother king edward 8th stepped down from the throne to marry a twice divorced woman, wallace simpson. >> i have found it impossible

to carry the heavy burden of responsibility without the help of the woman that i love. >> couric: as great britain prepared for war albert prepared to reign while fighting a more personal battle. >> i'm sure that we are all.... >> couric: trying to overcome a debilitating stammer. >> happy to feel. >> you see him running into this problem it's absolutely heart breaking. i choked up watching him. it's very moving because it's not just the struggle. it's the courage with which he deals with the struggle. he just does it. he gets on with it. he grows through the silence which probably seems like an eternity. >> the generosity of his majesty (pause). >> and then something in your heart swells when you see him get beyond it and get another three or four words out before he hits another one. >> (pause) a second example to

all. >> couric: the king's wife sought the hell of a speech therapist played by jeffrey rush. >> my game, my turf. my rules. >> you look at jeffrey rush's character and you think that's the guy we wish we all had in our lives to turn to. he won't give up. >> i believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you. >> my physicians say it relaxes them... the throat. >> they're idiots. >> we've all been... (pause) >> makes it official then. >> if he reaches a barrier he will find a stealthy way around it to open this man up. >> do you know any jokes? >> timing isn't my strong suit. >> couric: but through his work with lionel.... >> jack and jill went up the hill. >> reporter: the king slowly finds his inner strength. at a time when his nation needed him the most. >> what did he say? >> i don't know. but he seems to be saying it

rather well. >> couric: bertie is fascinated maybe a bit envious of hitler's uncanny ability to communicate. >> you know, i think it's significant that he doesn't understand what hitler is saying. he's aware of the menace but he's tuning in to the brilliance of delivery. here i am, i can't even get two words out in front of a microphone. >> when (pause) when (pause) >> and here's this man who is using it to the most devastating effect on earth, on a global level. how do i stand a chance? you know, what would it be like to have that ability? >> get up. you can't sit back down. >> couric: what helped him through was an unlikely friendship that taught king george how to be heard. >> this is about two very brave men. one who has no idea that he's brave. and the therapist who decides he's going to find every means

possible to reach that damaged place. >> listen to me. >> listen to you, by what right? >> because i have a right.... >> i have a voice. >> yes, you do. >> people knew this man was facing his demons just by speaking to them. i think there was a sense that it cost him something. they found it valiant. >> osgood: next, reading the fine print.

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charging stations to make the electric car a reality. kinda makes you want to boogie woogie, doesn't it. nrg moving clean energy forward. >> osgood: thinking of buying the extended warranty for that new electronic gadget that you simply have to have? before you do, give a listen to josh landis and mitch butler of the fast draw. >> sometimes i buy those extended warrantees, yeah, from those pushy salespeople offering you peace of mind at a price. the only thing they can guarantee you is a profit for

somebody else. americans buy billions of dollars worth of electronics, appliances and computers every year all with the option of extended warrantees. take this drill. or this coffee maker. it's $80 and an extended warranty is $12 just in case it stops brewing. but it turns out that bet is a long shot. according to todd marks of consumer reports for that to be worth it the stars must align. >> you're really taking a long shot bet. it's almost like a sucker's bet, if you will. >> first of all you're betting that the product will break. and that it will break after the regular manufacturer's guarantee runs out but before your extended warranty expires and that the cost of the repair will be more than the price of the extended warranty in the first place. this is a real gamble because statistically none of these things is likely to happen. the chance that all three things will happen, it's very low. >> it just doesn't happen. over the years it's been absolutely positively unmistakably consistent.

it just doesn't make good economic sense to buy one. >> if you still want that peace of mind, mark says take the money you could have spent on extended warrantees for your computer, television, refrigerator or coffee pot, and just put it in the bank. >> in the end you'll be able to pay for any unlikely repairs. if your stuff doesn't break, well, all that cash will be left over. >> cash that you could use to gamble on something else. >> osgood: ahead, lionel ritchie still filling the house. >> but there's no hint of what was really in here. >> osgood: and later, a secret shared. a cold? [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] confused what to get? now robitussin makes it simple. click on the robitussin relief finder at robitussin.com. [ nose blowing ]

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♪ hello ♪ i've just got to let you know ♪ >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: lionel ritchie has been making music and making fans happy for a long time now. making him one of the few constants in a business that

never stands still. bill whitaker has this sunday profile. ♪ the time has come ♪ to raise the roof and have some fun ♪ >> reporter: four decades after starting his meteoric rise to super stardom lionel ritchie is still packing them in. ♪ all night long ♪ all night long >> reporter: at places like the o-2 arena in london. long after many of his contemporary stars burned out, lionel ritchie's still shines, these days with a warm glow. his generations of fans flock to basque in it. ♪ we played the games that people play ♪ >> reporter: as he romances his audience. ♪ we made our mistakes along the way ♪ >> reporter: women weep when

he sings. men? >> men don't say much. >> they call my name and give the secret signal that says everything. lionel! you're all right, man. >> reporter: last year he released his 14th solo album "just go," a collaboration with contemporary songwriters half his age. >> i decided instead of trying to figure out what should lionel ritchie be, it would pose that question to some of the greatest writers of the time. >> reporter: like chart-topping hip hop artists. >> they know their generation, their technology. they know their sound better than anybody. the only thing i can deliver that's different is i sound like lionel ritchie. can't change that sound. >> reporter: what is it like working with a legend? >> this is a totally happening feeling, like i know a lot of

artists who would love to be in my position, thank you. >> reporter: in position to work with an artist who has sold more than 100 million records. >> bill, this is the blood, sweat and tears room. >> reporter: he's won a golden globe, an oscar, five grammys. remaining a music heavyweight by never resting on his laurels. >> the industry keeps changing. it's never the same. you can go to bed tonight and the star was this way. you wake up the next morning and the style has changed. >> reporter: his style certainly has changed since his breakout with the funky r and b band the come dores in 1968. >> i was a full fledged afro- wearing platform-shoes wearing come dore. >> reporter: he grew up in alabama and went to tuskegee university where the six

commodores met as freshman. lionel was planning to be an accountant. they soon found the stage has greater appeal and bigger rewards than the books. >> it was the most amazing thing in the world for me when you pick up a microphone, you grab the band and girls started screaming. over and out. it was the beginning of something. >> reporter: something big. ♪ it's a brick house >> reporter: the band played at a top of the charts through the 1970s with funky beats and ball adds. ♪ three times a lady >> reporter: they set out to be the black beatles. they ended up with a sound all their own. ♪ you're once, twice, three times a lady ♪ nobody, not one r and b band in the world was in this

category. >> reporter: nobody was doing that. >> and if it worked, it was going to be amazing. if it didn't work, i'm out of business. >> reporter: but it worked. >> but it worked. >> reporter: lionel's song writing was working too. ♪ my endless > a duet he wrote and sang with diana ross was ross's biggest-selling single ever. that, right on the heels of the smash hit "lady" he wrote for kenny rogers. ♪ lady ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: by the early '80s lionel's star was outshining the rest of the group. how did they respond to that? >> it wasn't good because you could see the anxiety on their faces because, you know, it wasn't lionel ritchie and the commodores. i was part of the group. >> reporter: these were your buddies. >> not even buddies. these guys were family.

>> reporter: but it was time to go. lionel broke from the commodores to launch a solo career but there was definitely an up side. >> that rocket took off. ♪ because i'm truly >> reporter: flying solo richy's career hit warp speed. >> ♪ i'm truly in love with you, girl ♪ > his first solo album sold more than 4 million copies. >> can't slow down, lionel ritchie. >> reporter: his second earned two grammys. >> i want to say it. i want to say it. outrageous. >> we have mikes in front of us but what we'll do is.... >> reporter: richy and michael jackson wrote the super mega hit we are the world for african relief in 1985 ♪ we are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving ♪ >> reporter: now a bona fide super star, he was, like the title of his next album,

dancing on the ceiling. ♪ what a feeling > so you're constantly album tour, album tour. were you able to enjoy it? >> you know, get a car to 100 miles an hour, roll down the window and stick your head out the window. tell me what you see. that's pretty much where it was going. you know.... >> reporter: a blur. >> little vignettes happening along the way. >> reporter: vignettes like closing the '84 olympic games in los angeles. ♪ say you, say me > and winning the oscar for "say you, say me" from the movie "white night." in... you were as big as they get. >> at one point i had to bail out. just stop. >> reporter: at the height of his career, exhausted, his first marriage breaking up, he went home to care for his ailing father. >> i'm thinking it's going to be a couple of months. and then i'll get back to work.

it was two-and-a-half years. >> reporter: after his father died in 1990, lionel ritchie returned to music. only to find that music had moved on. r and b eclipsed by rap. though his recent releases have been moderate hits here in the u.s., he remains a huge star in europe, asia and the middle east. his fans adore him. critics haven't always been so kind. they have said, you know, sappy. cheesy. >> and then you realize the biggest heavy metal guys sooner or later they're going to say i love you to somebody. >> reporter: with lionel ritchie play,the background. >> the lionel ritchie playing in the background. >> reporter: these days he's attracting a new generation of fans who have one burning question. >> are you nicole richy's dad. >> reporter: his adopted daughter nicole best known for her reality tv show with paris hilton the simple life was

getting more press than richy. and not all good. it must be painful to see her as tabloid fodder. >> well, i told her when she got into it, i said, you know, when you say you want to be famous, what comes with that is the survival of it. famous looks simple but it consumes you. >> reporter: but now that she's the mother of his grandchildren. >> the most amazing thing happened. she got it in balance. >> reporter: today divorced from his second wife at 61 he's got two younger children, a grand house, and he'll tell you a good life. >> as i'm sure somebody in alabama would say, son, you've done well. >> done good. >> reporter: he makes it all sound so easy. ♪ easy >> for years i used to drive the ferrari.

i tried to drive it as fast as i could. then i found out the secret to having a ferrari. you want to drive it as slow as you can so people can see you in it. i slowed it all down to the point now where i'm enjoying the ride. ♪ i'm easy like sunday morning ♪ good night, everybody. we love you. god bless you. thank you very much. ( cheers and applause ) >> osgood: rita braver hears wit and wisdom from novelist steve martin next sunday morning. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow.

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and this too. does your card do this? i'm going to need a supervisor over here at gate 4. sign up for this quarter's bonus today. chase what matters. go to chase.com/freedom. daddy, i'm bored. almost. it converts the car's braking force into electricity, so it's more efficient. so i thought... what if we put that same system onto one of these? [ people screaming ] who knows? we might be able to create the world's first self-sustaining amusement park. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood. >> osgood: a recent high profile congressional judgment has prompted ben stein to make a judgment of his own. >> by now everyone who follows politics knows that charlie rangel, the 20-term democratic representative to congress from new york's harlem

district, has been found guilty of ethics violations by the house ethics panel. he apparently failed to report represental income from a dwelling in the caribbean used his office stationary for fund raising for a school named after him and used the rent stabilized apartment for public profit. now just to me, and you know i'm a lifelong republican, rangel's misdeeds seem like extremely trivial matters. the i.r.s. has not prosecuted him for tax evasion. when you're a busy man small tax issues can get lost in the shuffle. he is a very busy man. the other two matters just seem like total and utter nothing. but what i really want to say about charlie rangel is that this man is a genuine american hero. this in unbelievable difficult service in the koreaian war his unit was overwhelmed by chinese soldiers crossing into korea. in the worst cold weather

imaginable under fire, starving, acting sergeant charles rangel in a black unit led mostly by white officers took a large group of men, led them by example, lifted their morale and they fought their way out to safety. for this leadership, sacrifice and courage, mr. rangel was awarded a bronze star with a v for valor. after that, he served as a prosecutor and then for 20 distinguished terms as a member of congress, for a brief time as chair of the powerful ways and means committee. he earned high marks throughout his career. now he's been humiliated over what seems to me like almost nothing. i hope history will record that a truly great man charlie rangel a hero of the first rank rank was laid low by trivial matters censured by people who mostly have no clue what frost bite and the hell of korea means. charlie rangel does know what those things mean. to me he is still a hero.

>> osgood: commentary from ben stein. time now for some transitions of note here at sunday morning. richard roth our london bureau is leaving us after some 30 years as a cbs news correspondent. war zones to royalty to art. celebrities and beyond. richard has been a valued friend at sunday morning and we wish him god speed. we offer farewell and thanks to associate director jeff salgo who has been with sunday morning from the very beginning in 1979. jeff plans to pursue his life of undersea photography, some of which you've already seen in our nature end pieces. and congratulations are in order to editor and his wife alicia proud parents of new born twins ann and rose. part of sunday morning's next generation. i must have the wrong house. sister? we missed you. they waited up all night for you, you know. it's a long way from west africa. ahh...coffee. [ inhales deeply ]

he's here. i brought you something. [ chuckles ] really? ♪ [ chuckles ] what are you doing? you're my present this year. ♪ the best part of wakin' up ♪ is folgers in your cup but i knew that i was going to need a day job. we actually have a lot of scientists that play music. the creativity, the innovation, there's definitely a tie there. one thing our scientists are working on is carbon capture and storage, which could prevent co2 from entering the atmosphere. we've just built a new plant to demonstrate how we can safely freeze out the co2 from natural gas. it looks like snow. it's one way that we're helping provide energy with fewer emissions.

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>> osgood: a lon g ago series of secret holiday gifts has at long last become a secret shared. 'tis the season. here's rita braver. >> there was a suitcase under a people of stuff. she pulled it out and she handed it to me. >> reporter: an old suitcase bearing a simple label: memoirs. when ted gupp's mother handed it to him that day in 2008 he could never have imagined the secret it contained. >> days later i opened it up.

i popped the latches. i opened it up. and then inside this were stuffed a couple of hundred letters. they were all from the same week in december of 1933. we were all addressed to someone named mr. b. virdot. >> we lost our furnishings and had to separate with our children. >> i have a family of six. struggle is the word for me now for a living. >> this was a portal on the great depression and its impact on individual lives and on the life of a community, canton, ohio, my hometown. this is a steel mill town. this is a town where they made things that were hard and tough. >> reporter: gupp, a reporter and author, knew that his hometown, like the rest of the country, suffered during the great depression. >> people were being laid off left and right. there were a couple of banks here in town that failed.

life savings were gone. in 1933, there was nothing to catch these people if they fell. they just descended. they could watch themselves and their children starve. >> reporter: you can almost feel their desperation in the letters ted gupp found in that old suitcase. >> i am 14 years old. i am writing this because i need closing. sometimes we run out of food. >> i don't care for myself but i would love to see the children made happy at christmas for we have had so much bad luck. last year they had no christmas. >> reporter: then gupp discovered what prompted the letters. an ad in the town paper, the canton repository, offering small gifts to struggling families. >> so they will be able to spend a merry and joyful christmas. the writer pledges that their identity will never be revealed. please write b, virdot general

delivery in canton ohio. >> reporter: at first he was baffled. who was b.virdot. then the light went on. it was your grandfather who must have been the benefactor. >> virdot was an invention of his, an barbara, virginia and dorothy known as dot. >> reporter: ted's mom is virginia. did you remember your parents being involved or had you ever heard of this before? >> no, i do not think so. >> reporter: but she is not surprised at the generosity of her father sam stone. who owned this elegant house and a successful canton clothing store. >> any person who... a down and out person, yes, my father was interested. >> reporter: your dad was jewish. >> yes. >> reporter: but he wanted to give kind of a christmas gift. why do you think that was? >> dad loved christmas.

it was the spirit of giving. >> it looks pretty dark sometimes but we still hold on to that ray of hope. >> reporter: ted gupp believes there must have been many more people who wrote than the 150 his grandfather helped with a small check. >> you can see they're all on the bank for $5. >> reporter: and while it may not sound like much, today it would be like getting nearly $100. >> it wasn't going to reverse the momentum of the great depression but it could reverse the feeling of isolation and abandonment for these families. >> i'll never forget you. you look great. >> hello. how are you? >> reporter: he started tracking down the descendents of the families. their stories are documented

in his book "a secret gift." ♪ from all over the city they came the week before christmas and tried to remember ♪ ♪ thought it was likely that food on the table ♪ > ken richards was not yet born when his mother maddie wrote saying the 37 cents an hour her husband made part time does not mean a thing in the way of christmas. when you were contacted by ted and you read you this letter, what went through your mind? >> total disbelief. my mother was never one to ask for help. for any reason whatsoever. >> i had to see it with my own eyes. i had to see my mother's handwriting. >> reporter: his sister betty was 5 in 1933. she knew nothing of the letter but now, 82, still remembers the tricycle she got that year. >> my sister and i searched that house for i think three

weeks straight and never found anything. anything. and. >> reporter: and then on christmas mrng. >> the tricycle was mine. >> reporter: only one of the original letter writers is still alive. helen palm, now hitting 91, was 14 when she wrote. >> my father does not want to ask for charity, but us children would like to have some clothing for christmas. >> reporter: she still remembers the patent leather shoes she bought. she had a chance to talk about it all with families of other writers earlier this month at a gathering at the old palace theater in canton. >> it's a night to remember our parents and our grandparents, those who went before us, and who sacrificed a great deal that perhaps we might have a better life. >> reporter: ted gupp also told the audience he now knows that the man who gave the secret gift had a secret of his own. gupp's grandfather, the jewish

clothing store owner, sam stone, had always claimed to be born in pittsburgh. but gupp learned he was really born in romania, arriving penniless in the u.s. in 1902 to escape religious persecution. a past he wanted to forget. >> i now believe that he intentionally reached out to the wider and gentile community of canton because he wanted to express his gratitude to the community and to the country for accepting him when other countries did not and providing him a home. >> reporter: and that community will never forget his generosity. >> i put my arms around him and i would kiss him and thank him for being so kind. >> reporter: it all happened almost 80 years ago. yet this past week history repeated itself in canton, ohio.

a story front and center in the town newspaper offered $100 to folks in need in the spirit of b.virdot.

sunday morning's moment of nature is sponsored by... >> osgood: we leave you this sunday morning after thanksgiving in montana's flat head valley, home to some very thankful wild turkeys.

>> osgood: i'm charles osgood. please join us again next sunday morning. until then, i'll see you on the radio. copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things. and i'm a guy who likes to go exploring ... get my hands dirty... and try new things. so i asked my doctor if spiriva could help me breathe better.

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