Two other programs are coming up here on tuesday novemh at noon Richard Brooke heiser will talk about give me liberty to examine americans history through 12 documents on thursday novembe november 14 at 730 we will have a veterans day tribute from the u. S. Army signal corps for co authors of the new book entitled aftershock will join historians for the less wellknown images of the war. You will receive email updates and find information about her other National Archives programming. To support the outreach activities and there is members of the board from the archives foundation. And a littleknown secret that i tell everyone nobody has ever been turned down for membership. [laughter] with our archives as a place for dead things and many often fall back on dusty or musty or crumbling much to the those of our professionals. Rather than being custodians of life they are filled with many lives and billions of pages of stories of those people who intersected in history. Mo rocca discovers those stories and sends them out into the world he takes a fresh look at the lives of men and women and shares their stories of the new audience. Host of the henry ford Innovation Nation and creator of grandmothers ravioli i just watched three videos of grandmothers making ravioli. Check it out. [laughter] also a frequent panelist and began his career as a writer and producer with the awardwinning pbs series wishbone spending four seasons as a correspondent on Comedy Central bailey show. As an actor starring on broadway the 25th annual Putnam County spelling bee author of all president s pets historical model of all pets and the role of decisionmaking. [laughter] no comment. Rita is a National Correspondent reporting from arts and culture to foreignpolicy before joining cbs sunday morning the chief White House Correspondent for four years spotting a decade as the news chief correspondent winning Nine National emmy awards presented by the Correspondence Association for american women in radio and television ladies and gentlemen please welcome mo rocca and rita. [applause] and you believe theyre doing this on a friday night . After this go get a life. [laughter] but its just such a pleasure to interview mo. Is unlikely to be a normal interview im afraid if thats what youre here for i hate to disappoint you. When we get to this great book called mobituaries but youre here because you want to know about mo rocca that man. This is your life. [applause] you grew up in washington outside of the city you are a suburban kid. What we like as a kid quex. I was a shut in for a lot of it and i watched a lot of tv by the age of nine i memorized a tv guide granted this was before cable there wasnt that many channels until basically they threw me into the backyard and said get some sunlight the woman across the street that they only had two children but they had three. [laughter] my Middle Brother they thought was the younger brother then i spent a lot of time teaching myself gymnastics. [laughter] mcgee went to georgetown prep. The same school that Justice Kevin i went to i wonder if your experience there. [laughter] spirit during my confirmation hearings it got a little contentious it never went to the full senate prick i had a great time in a school. I love my teachers and im very grateful they sent me there he had a great experience i would help tell you if it helped my book to make headlines. [laughter] but you were a law clerk if you want to go in that direction. The Theater Program was not great i have been told its a little better now. Talk about that. Because its clear you have a passion for the store shows and us president. I do. I wonder it seems to me growing up in washington a case for politics you only get it by osmosis i wonder if the gates of the white house are the equivalent of what it would be cheaper outside of paramount studios. Maybe not magic but an interest in it. Yes i do thank you feel that way its like to be above the title movie star in the case for old movies came from my father i have older parents my mother doesnt like to hear it but i always liked that my friends parents were baby boomers but my parents proceeded that so i grew up watching a lot of black and white old movies of my father in the old theater do you remember that in one place i remember i said to my father i know my memory is not playing tricks on me but the very next day they played to respond that quickly. Then you went to harvard. I went to school in boston. [laughter] but you were the president and you performed on stage in drag. So the question is. I know thats a highly sought after thing to do at harvard what did you get from that . The hasty pudding show pretty much all student run into co. Wrote the musical enacted in it for four years. You can find it online. [laughter] just like a lot of theater looks ghastly me as a woman is really ghastly. [laughter] that because it is student run its like less well lets put on a show there were professionals and we hired them so each week was run and it was a Creative Experience harvard then had a fairly conservative curriculum you could not major in drama and it was just as well thats why put my energies. You seeing and you dance and sometimes do professional productions did you really thank you have a career in show business . Yes. We heard all of your deserved accolades and some journalist dont love hearing this but i do still consider myself in showbiz that i think interviewing and doing stories on cbs sunday morning to be on a continuum with performing on stage and writing for a kids tv show called wishbone i think of that is formative not as in makebelieve its truthful but when i interview someone i like to think of myself as the supporting actor. Not the costar but to engage with an audience to create that relationship. I will jump ahead because i found myself wondering looking at your resume which i know about that coming to talk to you because you have so many if you could do so many other things when a job like mine thats all i can do . We are on a pretty great tv show and its like going back to college and only taking electives which i really wish i had done the first time around. [laughter] one week it could be a piece of history as a pencil than the assassination of president garfield then the next week im profiling the game or. Im doing a piece on snails right now for the food show. They are cute up close they are a great protein source and those that were long dead. That makes it better. [laughter] the two grass feed the fresh ones but i had a variety pack of cereals because i didnt like the big box that some i feel about subject matter. You are funny. Do you have to take it down and i have to behave myself because im on National Television . [laughter] yes. I think so. Different pieces call for different. I just try to stay in the momen moment. To say i had a vocal coach to audition for musicals. But i play at the company way wherever they put it there i will stay. So the steaming number two in the show and the vocal coach and she looked at me and said be easy to take. [laughter] she really knew what she was doing. She said they will get it you dont have to cram it down their throat. They will get it. Im still working on that. [laughter] but it was a great piece of advice. Be easy to take the audience is mark long smart dont try so hard. But you started a podcast called mobituaries i remember when you told me about this. That you see dead people. [laughter] is the stuff you just want to complain about . [laughter] i always wondered if you thought of the title first and then you had to do something with it. No. Thats funny. Mo is convenient so thank god they did not name me cecil but i do i want to do something with obituaries because those are profiles of people and endlessly refillable and then i thought i dont remember the working title at first. Im sure everybody is here because they have listened to mobituaries but we will get ready to look at one on video. I loved when you first did it because i didnt know anything about it but this is a piece about the original siamese twin twins. This week on mobituaries the original Siamese Twins the brothers board inside em now thailand in 1811 connected at the store and buy a 4inch long band of flesh piquant ages 17 the set sail for america to become two of the first celebrities of the 19th century. They would have been a celebrity whatever. The early version of what would become as a traveling freak show. That then their story gets really interesting. They spent the rest of their lives normal young men who wanted to have a family between them they father 21 children. How do we know what the outhouse looks like quex. It had two holes for twins. [laughter] the twins reunite every year in South Carolina to celebrate their legacy. Today they tell and extraordinary tale of grit and courage. And they came here with nothing. [applause] i have learned so much. In the book and in the podcast i wanted to trust my instinct something i thought personal attachment or genuine excitement. When i was little there were three things that would get my attention quicksand tarantulas or hearing about conjoined twins. Im serious if you heard about the birth of them i think there is something in us hardwired as a curiosity. Some of us. [laughter] my mother listen to the podcast im glad she ended up liking it. I love their story because they were the indentured servant. How did you find out . I found out about the reunion i thought it sounded interesting so we looked into it and then to read the scholar and the author of that speech read a summary of the book and i also found it intriguing by the way theys settled in North Carolina which is the home of Andy Griffith mayberry which is the quintessential american story but they are the quintessential american story because they come over as immigrants indentured servants pull yourself up by their bootstraps they settle down and mary sisters and have all these children and then they own slaves and thats part of the story you are with them you are with them you are with them and then you think i wanted to love you completely but now its a more important story and a more american story of the good the bad and the ugly. All of it. Did you genuinely think of a tb story first or a podcast first . A podcast. It has to be satisfying for 50 minutes. Some go to an hour but interestingly the longer ones have done better we do think the intention span everything has to be short but the three most popular ones were the longest do you have a process to build the podcast each time . It has changed regret this point it is a producer and i work very closely with her. But we have been trying after we try to decide what is the central question that will be answered . You might have a couple personal connections i looked at in macys and then the floor fell silent. You knew not to do that but with the rise of social media i thought what is it about her . Why she who was a big star there were others that were bigger than she was. There is a yearning and a platitude to say its almost starving to death that gave her this quality that punches through on the screen with those other actresses that were beautiful and they didnt have the same effect. That one of the clips that we have pertains to that Audrey Hepburn moment. Lets roll the second clip. Were you aware the day of your inauguration Audrey Hepburn died . Know. You did not know that . No. It was a very busy time i did not know that for a few days. She was on the front page just a little box. She was only 63. I do remember how young she was but i didnt think about it. She was amazing. I loved her i loved funny face and sabrina i liked the remake. [laughter] your you thank you have a story about Audrey Hepburn. The book is full of these little surprises beside all of these interesting stories thats probably the reason i liked it so much. There is a whole section in the book that people died on the same day. Jim henson and sammy davis junior. Too much talent. That was unfortunate. Gandhi and Orville Wright obviously that was one year after from the british fire so of course that was the banner headline orville lived 45 years after the First Successful flight Margaret Thatcher and died on the same day and they both had very eventful lives i like to imagine a freaky friday type of thing. [laughter] orson welles . Thats interesting. Dying of lung cancer and actually taking a message to people. That was a fairly new thing back then for that so his death dominated not that its a competition but it kind of is. Even when ross perot died on the same day. I had to show you how we work at the program i got the pharaoh moment others got four or five other people to do Michael Jackson. Sarah was great. I have a theory i think audiences can see into a person if they are in the public eye long enough and theres a reason that Farrah Fawcett we liked her long after her pinup days there was something decent about her the way she dealt with her cancer at the end and cutting off her hair in public. She could have hidden away obviously Michael Jackson was the bigger story but Farrah Fawcett. That she had been sick and Michael Jackson was a surprise. We jumped ahead. The big question about this book. But you talk about why you decided to write the book. Give us a sense of what is in i it. I try and i thank you do this to balance. Wanted the fun and then the protein is the substance and to surprise you so the chapter of the death of sitcom characters is fun talking about the to darrins or cunningham. But also makes you think about the disbelief. But i have everything from the death of the belief of dragons. I was reading a tom paine biography death of a forgotten founding father and i found a parenthetical that i mentioned 1735 from the swedish botanist who went to germany for an exhibition of the seven headed hydra everybody was talking about the 701 seven headed hydra. It was a mob scene. He shows up and says its a bunch of snake skins sewn together with wiesels goals and monkey gets. And a creature with more than one head. Now im thinking of the Siamese Twins. [laughter] they were not they were two different people but very soon after the belief they had for millennia that dragons and creatures were real just fell. I thought that deserves a mobituaries that moment. So the book is how many things are in the book that you have a podcast and how many that you think of doing a podcast . Let me tell you 75 percent of the book is the podcast. So much i almost had to write my own mobituaries. [laughter] you say in the book you are bad you cannot write about Barbra Streisand because shes still alive she is still mortal. Do everything i cant wait for that person to die . [laughter] no. Not never Barbra Streisand. But have i thought people that will make the mobituaries . Yes. Like vultures circling overhead. [laughter] like in the cartoons. No. There are people i have interviewed that when the time comes it would be an honor putting it as nicely as i can because i love that they have the story. And that this will make a great profile and then its not that interesting . And then you try to thank you can do this quex. This is a because she wasnt interesting but i had this idea i couldnt execute it about the great buck raker who was in an island in the east river. So you can do ghostwriting. So i have this idea to have the screenplay treatment to try with a different format it didnt work. But if there is a sequel i would like to do that because her story is amazing. And then based on jules vern 80 days around the world she went around the world and beat it. She was an extraordinary figure. Its extraordinary there is not, to me i want to do a whole section and give her an oscar. You reference tom hanks we are here at the archives. Mutual friends knew him because most of us have heard about tom paine but what happens to him afterwards was news to me. 200 years ago so talk about that. Tom paine wrote common sense which was published six months before the declaration of independence and it galvanized to support and even more than that before common sense marylanders and virginians american was also a derogatory term. It was rebranded with common sense. Most of the country was illiterate at that point it sold there are varying estimates but its a safe bet it was the biggest selling american publication in history. That yet when he died only six people showed up at his funeral three were the housekeeper and the two children and the obituary at the time was very paltry saying he lived long done some good and much harm. In the book and then to in the french revolution and that he had attained so he was thrown in jail and the other Founding Fathers wanted nothing to do with him so he wrote an open letter trashing washington then he wrote age of reason where he refuted so father of his countrys son of god. [laughter] he was alienating everybody. But he had one setting the other Founding Fathers were revolutionary but he was a statesman. Like a Cocktail Party surrogate. Hes the guy you just want to say we get it. But just give it a rest for ten minutes but he was capable. I dont thank you would have cared he was a first year founding father. And that you cared about our did not know things about. People that you never knew that you cared about. What about lawrence welk. And then you have done the pull to with my sisters. There are so many great people. I hope that readers will be delighted. Delightful is a word my father love to use. Its a great word and it is not used enough. Not enough importance is placed on its value for i hope that people are delighted by it and have fun by a. And to learn about reconstruction like to take on challenging topics i didnt expect to choke up over the story of billy carter and talk to president jimmy carter its a poignant story. And as a producer behind the scenes and billy would always drop by. He was both complementary i have interviewed president carter but now its worth reading. And now with tgi fridays. Or we will let you dedicate antarctica. I loved all of these personal asides in the book. And for many ways. Thats great i havent thought about that. And with sharing a perspective of any of these stories this seemed like the right way to do it and i think of that quote everything you do let it come from you then it will be you. So then i thought the tale of Elizabeth TaylorPeople Living and dying with aids. But im telling it because it is me. Celebrities who put their thoughts on the line. Very serious and historical. But she was a screen star and she really did. You say in the intro to the book everybody is eventually forgotten. I thought of you. Thank you for that because rita is in the introduction to the book in 2002 you interviewed nora efron about the Imaginary Friend which was film story between the two and you sent to nora in the middle of the piece how do you want to be remembered . And she laughed and said remembered . These two women were incredible they went on for ten or 12 years and no one knows how they are i dont expect to be remembered at all. Now last year when i was working on the podcast for Audrey Hepburn i wanted use a piece there was a great story its a small group of people who worked on the podcast all under the age of 35 and they had no idea who nora efron was. And shed been dead only five years. Everyone is forgotten. [laughter] but you are doing your job to revive these figures but really you have this weird ability to make us care about things that we never thought we would care about. Especially with the people not with the things but prussia and the station wagon. [laughter] is very difficult to write in the station wagon. [laughter] i try also and i thought about this to be compassionate with the past and cut some slack because there is a tendency to disqualify people from the past and that i talk to with David Mccullough for a piece that said it will air soon but Doris Kearns Goodwin said my god fdr should have allowed more jewish refugees in the country the internment was terrible thing but he brought us through world war ii he brought us to the Great Depression and the simpler things about Abraham Lincoln so i air on the side of generous and our colleague also writing with Charles Kuralt but mary lou said its okay to like the person youre interviewing. And i feel that i like all the people in this book. Now we have a great audience of the world take some of your questions. Please come up with questions not speeches. [laughter] [applause] the biggest round of applaus applause. So i will ask you a quex line. Obviously we know you have a soft spot for Audrey Hepburn is at your favorite . Its one of my favorites Herbert Hoover pre presidency and John Quincy Adams post presidency they had lackluster terms in office but extraordinary lives on either side so i love that. Thinking of Charles Kuralt i thought that would be a great opportunity for you to go Cross Country and interview people is that something you would consider doing like his grandmothers ravioli . I would love to do that. I think its a great idea and i would drive. [laughter] that was the missing link. And the impulse to perform. I call it performance others call it corruption disruption i am fortunate my parents encourage me to perform with the Bethesda Academy of performing arts with a large amount of energy that i had and chiseled it in a productive way. I performed at the post office pavilion. And a perform there with the sequence. Once a teacher always a teacher but as a retired teacher my hat off to you. [applause] im interested in your sourcing of material. In terms of the Research Process the journalism side of you but i think the actor side has you get lost in the character so how do you sort that out . Theres a lot of youtube. I will tell you that. There is a story that sticks in my mind from rogers and hammerstein from the king and i plan to get so involved in that richard had to stop them and try not to go too deeply with the substantive history part and the more personal side to figure out what i needed. If i was doing this again if i had the opportunity i would try to identify the take away so it doesnt sprawl out of control. My guest tonight could not make it but i was asked to ask you, there is a story in mobituaries about a relative of yours and a trumpet that we should hear about tonight. The feedback i got maybe you can share part of that. As i wrote this book i mentioned the word delightful i felt that so many of the things i wanted to write about her talk about were things i inherited from him and even more than that i thought i lost my father in 2004 would he like them thats a good motivation. Then on fathers day i sat down and started writing about him. I wrote about him at the age of 54 christmas my mother went down to a pond shop in dc with her mother who was visiting from columbia my mother bought my father trumpet he played a little bit as a kid and in life intervened he got married and had three sons and he longed to play the trumpet again for go he played it for a short time as a kid growing up in a factory town. And i can remember that Christmas Morning he was so excited every morning he would play in the cellar in our house and scales they were taped on the wall xerox sheets how to form your lips around the mouthpiece its really really hard. And then for a night every hour he would play dixieland jazz i would put on metal rollerskates that go over your sneakers. [laughter] and skate around and spin like i was doing a sound cow. In the dryer had crapped out in the late seventies so then they were playing the basin street blues my father did not thank you get a record contract or playing clubs in new orleans or new york he was doing it because he loved it and it made a big impact so after i finished writing that my editor said that should be my final mobituaries in the book i made that the dedication. My father wasnt cynical he had a real sense of the romance of life i know he would have love sunday morning. Him at the comedy show its really hard but he does and im frequently one of them. And its really important. But in life you have to fall on your face. You dont go man with prepared jokes so i dont really prepare and when you block the listener rewrite that on her own so this book is also im sure you feel that way to trust your own instincts but i would hope if im interested and execute it well if im not i cannot fool you. And similar to that and then i tried to sound like someone else. And then i let go of that ahead of time. So if you appreciate in some way you are artistic. And someone that you thought i will not write about this person that people may have sentimental attachment but then i was told they were not that interesting or kind of awful. [laughter] dead people i highly recommend. They dont have publicist or handlers. But im more careful about trashing the ones. Im almost out of time. Last question. All these people and they were so inspirational but i cant help to think about would you ever consider doing wishbone that they can learn about these people as well . Wishbone was a show i wrote and produced that youre going to ask if ever consider doing mobituaries for wishbone the dog. In fact we did start one on the podcast for the dog and i do want to do one because people have a huge attachment to them. But for kids . I dont know that might be tricky. Somebody just went away for a long time. [laughter] the good news is you can go out and buy the book and watch him on his Television Programs he has worked for tonight weve had a tiny smidgen mo rocca. Thank you. [applause]. I think its fair to su move