putle dear prize winner journalist george lardner reminded us that the skins fight song nearly didn't happen. in 1959 the men who aimed at bringing the dallas cowboys to dallas, the cowboys to dallas, bought the rights of hail to the redskins out from under the team. and he said he would only give the song back if redskins owner george preston marshall would lift his veto on n.f.l. expansion to dallas. thus the cowboys were born and they were in dallas and d.c. got the song back. lardner calls it basically legal extortion. >> yes, it was perfectly legal. >> reporter: it's just business. >> yes. they bought the rights. they had the rights. they threatened to gettage -- get an injunction if the redskins played that song again. >> imagine if it was not happening. rights to the song came back in 1959 and traded hands for $2500. again, the promise that he would lift his veto on the expansion to dallas. >> hail to the cowboys just doesn't -- inextricably linked these two teams are, whether it's hatred or legal extortion. >>> 4:53, time for the question of the morning. >> women tend to run l

lardner calls it legal extortion. >> yes, it was perfectly legal. >> reporter: it's just business. >> yeah. they bought the rights. they had the rights and they threatened to get an injunction if the redskins tried to play that song again. ♪ hail to the redskins ♪ . >> the rights back in 1959 to hail to the redskins, they were worth only 2,500 bucks. >>> caught on tape tonight snow may be pretty, but too much of it builds up and well, it will cause problems. this is surveillance video from turkey on a pedestrian bridge which just collapses. it collapses under its own weight and the weight of the snow. a high school student suffered minor injuries when it went down. the student is expected to be fine and they're still trying to figure out why that bridge collapsed, but they're already in the midst of repairing it. >>> money to rebuild in the aftermath of hurricane sandy was the hot topic at the white house today. as emily schmidt reports, emergency emergency's governor made a house call to make his plea for more aid. >> reporter: it didn't take long to see hurricane sandy's damage was

i ask for your ring lardner. in the name moment organization is uber does but when you're not a you were just blown. away by a organizational. change or of people contained by things. now i would go out of my sis in group. but as we take into jokes given to the fights. and the roof over here he's ok which can carry him over money for the first years of the. new war our friends and i kill all the people. i was in this group of students movement. you can see does amanda has a home. and no one who does not want to. take a shit is caught in addition she should. check. in on her from the old people nine down to no it was so sad so sad to see something i want to ask. we just go but it's wrong move on we just bought by this kid to alcoholism it is a mark. from the onset of drones i walk to the door and also from all three know documenting was taking place when i was close to interest around as an artist. because i felt i was mildly different problem recorded accounts artistic even though i was doing there was doing so.

probably one of the most famous names of writers that -- that would be on the list would be ring lardner. but there is a list of -- not just, screen writers, but it was directors, producers. you know, all of this was sort of hush-hush. these folks sort of went underground and wrote to keep their jobs, they, they wrote with assumed names, because no one would hire them. and it is a great story about -- about survival. yes, ma'am? >> didn't the soviets use -- [ indiscernible ] >> they did. in order to choacquire that man personnel. they are forcing, best way to put it not only men in service, women into military service as well. you don't really have any options. >> even though you are just trying to -- >> we are going to get the ho chi minh. i have a look chur on streectur. i need to introduce it. you need to understand that vietnam is a part of the cold war. and i just wanted to bring it to attention, your attention today, and -- and -- two lectures from now we are going to talk about, u.s. involvement in vietnam. so, hang on to that. i will get to it later. >> i hope not. yeah. no, actu

one by p pg woodhouse and one by lardner.o stories have in common, they were both in a big fat book of short stories that my father read to me and my sibs when we were kids. one in particular i read to him when he was near death and it sort of kept him alive. >> joy: oh. >> it has meant what stories mean to me. >> joy: and you write children's books. you were aright up there with milne. >> well. >> joy: i can't think. >> throw in maurice. >> joy: and madonna. >> well, yes. >> joy: she has a couple. >> i have a children's book coming out next year. and i do concerts for kids. >> joy: yeah you're a renaissance man. >> i do what i enjoy doing. >> joy: what else do you do, do you play an instrument. >> a really mediocre guitar. >> joy: that's good enough. thank you so much, john. lovely to have you here. >> good to see you. >> joy: and to see you. if you're in new york again camp the-- >> the "columnist." two or three weeks left. >> joy: first, are women funny? i thought we settled this question. >> voila. >>it would be terrible

john lardner -- they were fine writers, and i always listened to them. there was a little guy from sports illustrated who was a researcher. the guy knew everything. i used to listen. you know, tremendous. and then i hung out around the new york journal american, the hearst place, and you had a lot of people there -- gangsters, everything. it was great. i think out of that came an interest and an energy in this business that is not there today. i mean, most of the writing in newspapers today and the talking on television is done as if the people doing it keep their arms folded across their chests. there's no freedom. there's no energy, and it's reflected. the newspapers don't read well. they're boring. it's a tough go to a 42-word lead sentence in one of these newspapers. that's a tough go when a john steinbeck only wrote 15. norman mailer -- what does he write -- 14, 15 words. that's a sentence. mailer does 14 or 15 words. then you get somebody sitting in a newspaper who is going to give it to you in 42, and couldn't make a living unless he had the job i