>> osgood: good morning and happy labor day weekend. i'm charles osgood and this is sunday morning. a weekend for honoring all who work we plan with your inindulgence to remember the work we've done during the last 30 years of sunday morning. believe it or not it was back in 1979 that my predecessor charles kuralt welcomed audiences to the first sunday morning with the words "here begins something new." between then and now we've seen a lot that's new as rita braver will be reporting in our cover story. >> reporter: in the last three decades, the cold war came to an end and the age of the internet, cell phone and black berry began. there have been other changes too. >> this blue pill came along and suddenly men could be boys. or they could be whatever they wanted to be. right up until their cardiologist told them absolutely not. >> reporter: later in our sunday morning cover story, looking back at 30 years of change and challenge. >> rose: change and challenge are also the order of the day for individuals who find themselves turning 30. our 30-something seth doane will take a look. >> reporter: what does it mean to turn 30? after 21, it's the age at which you really have to look at yourself and decide, am i on the right track? have i succeeded in the ways i've wanted to succeed? have i failed as spectacularly as i thought i might? >> reporter: is turning 30 a kind of rite of passage for everyone? we'll find out later on sunday morning. >> osgood: if all the changes of the past 30 years have given you a case of future-shock hold on, there are plenty more surprises where they came from. as tracy smith will show us. >> reporter: this is how we thought the future might be. but what can we really look forward to in the next 30 years? >> i will have a robot. >> maybe people will live in like big hollow tree trunks. >> there might not be an internet. >> reporter: in general, 30 years from now, will the world be better off than it is today? >> much of it will be better off. much of it probably won't be better off. >> reporter: we'll have a look ahead, way ahead, later on sunday morning. >> osgood: over the course of 30 years, we've compiled quite a guest list here at sunday morning. it's my privilege to meet and talk with some of the most accomplished people of our time. >> excuse me. i'm with charles now. >> in go the shrimp. >> reporter: it's hard to believe 30 years have gone by during which time i've had a chance to meet some of the most interesting people on the planet. >> it's the happiest i've ever been in my life, charles osgood. >> osgood: who taught me so many interesting things. later, we'll take a walk down memory lane. we'll also basque in the sun with martha teichner, shop for a 30th anniversary gift of pearls with barry petersen, get a crash course in the new media with jeff green field and more. first here are the headlines for this sunday morning, the 6th of september, 2009. from california reports of progress as the fight against the massive so-called station fire enters another week. the fire is now about 50% contained. investigators say it was intentionally set. and they've offered a $100,000 reward for information. president obama's green jobs advisor resigned early this morning. van jones was under fire for signing a petition suggesting that the government had prior knowledge of the september 11 attacks. jones calls it a smear campaign. in the fill philippines three people are known to be dead and dozens missing after a ferry sank. nearly 900 survivors escaped from the vessel. they were rescued by a pair of fishing boats and a navy gun boat. at u.s. open a day of upsets. number one women's seed lost and former champion maria sharapova was ousted by 17-year-old american melanie oudin. more of the same on the men's side. 5th seeded andy roddick lost in five sets. he's ranked number 55 in the world. coverage of the u.s. open continues today and tomorrow on cbs sports. now for today's weather most of the country can look forward to a lovely labor day sunday although rain will fall here and there. mostly nice weather should continue through the holiday itself with temperatures ranging from the summery 90s in the south to the ought autumn-like 60s in the northwest. next, 30 years of sunday morning. the changes we've seen. >> what does that say, charles. >> osgood: and later some of the people we've talked to along th >> osgood: 30 years of sunday morning. we first took to the air in 1979. the differences between then& and now are something to behold. our cover story is reported now by rita braver. >> reporter: it has been 30 years of transformation. of good times and troubled times. >> civil defense authorities had declared a nuclear alert. >> reporter: three decades of change in our culture. our communication, our politics, our enemies have changed too. >> in 1979 the cold war was still in full force. ten years later the soviet empire began to fall apart beginning with the collapse of the berlin wall. and after that, the soviet union didn't exist. >> reporter: niall ferguson, a scotsman by birth, teaches history and economics at harvard. now i think for most americans the great threat is islamic terrorism. >> i think almost certainly. >> more than 60 americans are still held hostage in iran this morning. >> it's remembering the extent to which 1979 was the year that that properly began to be a threat to the united states with the iranian revolution. >> reporter: it's been a time when the whole world seemed to be shifting. china became an economic power. >> i accordingly declare mr. nelson mandela.... >> reporter: south africa ended apartheid. >> the president of the republic of south africa. >> reporter: and the social order changed in this country too. it does seem that white men are no longer calling all the shots. >> you're asking a white man. >> reporter: i know that. i'm asking you to fess up. >> i think the answer is yes. i mean if there's one thing that has profoundly changed since 1979 it's been that women have significantly increased their influence in almost all walks of society. >> oh, he got it. >> and the status of african- americans and other racial and ethnic minorities has greatly improved. of course, the election of barack obama symbolizes what a transformation there has been. i think most people in 1979, if you polled them, will there ever be an african-american president would have said inconceiveable. >> reporter: if you had a way to define the age that we've just come through for the last 30 years, what goes through your mind? >> i think this has been the age of communication more than anything else. >> 30 years ago i was probably sitting in a dorm room trying to figure out how to make my i.b.m. selectric correct the paper i was typing. today i'm figuring how to twitter off my black berry while i'm using my second black berry to place a conference call. >> reporter: mary ann salzman is a spotter for marketing and communications company euro rfcg worldwide. she says the past 30 years have not only brought us advances in phones, computers and other technology but also in science. the hubble space telescope. awareness of global warming, cloning (sheep baaing) remember dolly the sheep. decoding of the human genome and many medical breakthroughs including new drugs and, anti-depressants, cholesterol reducers and then.... >> postoperative side effects like erectile dysfunction, e.d.. >> reporter: wasn't viagra kind of a major discovery over the last 30 years. it was a fountain of youth for a lot of men. >> it was a great liberator. this blue pill came along and suddenly men could be boys or they could be studs or they can be whatever they wanted to be right up until their cardiologist told them absolutely not. >> reporter: like any era, this one had its cravings. the dawn of reality tv. 24-hour cable news. celebrity culture. we even began using special words and phrases to describe things we started to be, have and do. multitasking. 24/7. googling. texting. ring tones. drama queens. metro sexuals. shop a alcoholics, big box. bling. in fact it's been an era of air quote ginormous dreams. >> the big market wasn't trading up. the first car you bought was about getting the next car. the first credit card was about trading up to the next level of credit card membership. >> reporter: we also super sized our portions and ourselves. in the late '70s15% of us were obese. now it's 35%. we grew taller too. both women and men grew about an inch these last 30 years. women now average 5'4", men 5'9.5". and families changed. we have children later. there are more single moms. our lives got busier but... there seems to be kind of of a sense that there's more communication but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's more meaningful. >> i do think that we have a lot more contacts today. a lot more people that we're loosely in communication with. i don't think the extended family has that same reach when you're connecting with them via g-mail. as maybe they did when you were connecting with them every sunday at your grandmother's house over a big kettle of soup. >> reporter: but before you get too nostalgic, in 1979, the year sunday morning went on the air, we were in the middle of an economic nightmare. inflation and mortgage rates reached 13%. >> you had not just a recession but remember you had stagflation, double digit inflation, high unemployment. >> the erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of america. >> and there was a sense, i think at the time, of profound national malaise. i think it was very widely felt to be a terrible time in the united states. >> reporter: we came out of it. and there have certainly been boom times since then. but there's no doubt that in the last third of this 30-year period, america has faced increasing challenges. the september 11 attacks, wars in afghanistan and iraq. the collapse of the housing and financial markets, the big three auto makers in crisis, and a jump in unemployment. mary ann salzman says americans of today will have to get used to a new way of living. >> some comforts but they won't be material comforts. they'll be comforts of the soul. people looking to find satisfaction that they can get from quality relationships and accomplishing something good. >> reporter: and niall ferguson reminds us that some important things have not changed. >> isn't this great? isn't it great to live in america? >> reporter: american optimism and creativity. >> my bet is that even in the midst of this financial crisis, americans will invent extraordinary but company s with extraordinary new technologies that will transform the world over the next 30 years. >> reporter: tragedies and triumphs-- behind us and to come. >> i see an empty sea. >> osgood: coming up, artist red grooms then and now. of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. come on. how about...a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. . unlock an outdoor dreamland for your indoor cat. exciting flavor combinations, plus a touch of garden greens make it irresistible. friskies indoor delights. feed the senses. teamwork... time together... real conversations... and memories. all for under $2 a serving. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. to buy raisin bran extra! i'm surprised nobody else is here for the big debut of the almonds. oh, guys, i can see it! they're setting it up right now! is it true? are there really going to be cranberries? yep, i can see the boxes, and there's definitely yogurty clusters in there too! i think this is a 24-hour store. introducing kellogg's® raisin bran extra! with cranberries, almonds and yogurty clusters, it's raisin bran with so much extra. ♪ raisin bran extra! it's a mouthful of awesome! >> osgood: we've seen many a sun on sunday morning during the course of these 30 years. most of them sent in by you, our viewers, for which we thank you. but when it came to our 30th anniversary, we decided to turn the tables and ask an artist to create a sun for us. and who better to capture the sun and all its shades of yellow, gold and red than our old friend red grooms. ♪ here comes the sun >> osgood: he has been an occasional guest on sunday morning from almost its earliest days welcoming us into his world of colorful mad cap 3-d kurri tagss, skull--o- pictoram as as he calls them. in the early '90s we went on a sightseeing tour of red's raucous manhattan so big that it took over the entire waiting room at new york's grand central terminal. just last year we browsed in the bookstore he created for the hudson river museum. we've held on tight at the ruckus rodeo he staged in fort worth. and more recently we watched red grooms hard at work in his studio inspired by the example of our own sunday morning sun. time now for the dawn. >> osgood: the dawn a.s it turns out, of seven suns, one for every mood and for every flight of fancy thanks to red grooms. ahead, sun worship. what's our favorite part of honey bunches of oats? the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. when morning comes in the middle of the night, [ rooster crow ] it affects your entire day. to get a good night's sleep, try 2-layer ambien cr. the first layer dissolves quickly... to help you fall asleep. and unlike other sleep aids, a second dissolves slowly to help you stay asleep. when taking ambien cr, don't drive or operate machinery. sleepwalking, and eating or driving... while not fully awake with memory loss for the event... as well as abnormal behaviors... such as being more outgoing or aggressive than normal, confusion, agitation and hallucinations may occur. don't take it with alcohol... as it may increase these behaviors. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath, swelling of your tongue or throat may occur... and in rare cases may be fatal. side effects may include next-day drowsiness, dizziness, and headache. in patients with depression, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide may occur. if you experience any of these behaviors or reactions... contact your doctor immediately. wake up ready for your day-- ask your healthcare provider for 2-layer ambien cr. >> osgood: for 30 years, we've been brightening up our sunday mornings with artistic suns sent in from all over the country. time now for martha teichner and a close-up look at the real thing. >> reporter: some show-off, that sun, performing its fire dance not just on sunday but every day. morning and night, the world over, for all of us earthlings, rich and poor, old and young, no ticket required. what exactly the sun? >> it's a big ball of hydrogen gas. >> reporter: not so big, in fact, kind of middling for a star. but enormous compared to the earth. >> this is going to be the earth. would you like to hold the earth?& >> reporter: i've got the whole world in my hand. >> right. i'm going to make the sun out of this meteorological glue. >> reporter: owen beginning rich is professor of astronomy and history of science emeritus at the harvard smithsonian center for astro physics. >> it's one thing to say, well, the diameter of the sun is 100 times the diameter of the earth but you don't really get the impression of how big the sun really is unless you can see it in three dimensions. >> reporter: how hold is the sun? >> about five billion years. it's just about halfway through its lifetime. >> reporter: it's really hot. approximately 28 million degrees fahrenheit in its core. and it's burning up. there are nuclear reactions going on inside it all the time. when that energy works its way to the surface, we see it as sunshine. at the relatively safe distance of 93 million miles away, the earth orbits around the sun. it takes 365 days, a year. life-giving time for planting and growing and harvesting crops. no wonder so many civilizations built great monuments like stone henge in england to plot the seasonal doings of the sun or cheech needs a in mexico or the sun temple in india. no wonder the sun was a god to the ancient egyptians, the greeks, the romans, the incas. they knew then that the sun influenced almost every aspect of their existence. we know now it even determined the color of our skin. >> our ancestors who evolved close to the equator have very darkly pigmented skin adapted to very high levels of solar radiation. >> reporter: nina jablonski is head of the and throw poll gee department at penn state university and an expert on skin. >> and then as we dispersed away from the equator in our evolution, we evolved lightly pigmented skin to cope with less solar radiation. >> reporter: around the equator, the earliest humans developed a kind of permanent suntan. this dark coloring containing something called melanin. how is this for amazing? melanin acted like a natural sun screen. it blocked ultraviolet radiation but allowed in exactly the right amount of vitamin d. >> we need vitamin d so the sun shines ultraviolet b shines on the skin and makes vitamin d. chemically in the skin. right there. >> reporter: now fast forward to, say, present day scandinavia where sometime around 10,000 years ago people lost their permanent tans. in northern weather under a weaker sun, they don't require protective color. speaking of weather, there is actually solar weather. we're all affected by it. >> this is back at a time in 2003 where there were lots of sun spots. >> reporter: richard fisher heads nasa's helio physics division which studies solar activity. >> these guys are pretty big, 40,000 kilometers across. >> reporter: sun spots are intense magnetic fields. when a lot of them appear it's a signal that a season of violent solar weather is on the way. the sun flings out swirling streams of electrical current. they're called solar winds. when they reach the earth's atmosphere, we see the spectacular aurora borealis, the northern lights. and this is a solar storm. nasa simulates eclipses in order to see these great explosions of radiation and magnetic particles erupting from the sun's atmosphere called its corona. >> we'll see one of these disturbances on the sun, understand its direction, and we just start the stopwatch and say, well, it's going to be about 50 hours. >> reporter: before there's trouble. an astronaut on a space walk could actually die from exposure to the radiation. communications systems on planes flying over the poles often fail. gps signals get screwed up. in 1989, a solar storm blew out a transformer in quebec leaving six million canadians without power. for nasa, learning how to predict solar weather so disruptions can be planned for or even prevented is a practical justification for the 27 satellites it has in space already analyzing the sun. with more to come. >> this is going to be our next satellite that we put into orbit. it's the most sophisticated solar observatory that's ever been in orbit. >> reporter: its planned launch is november. its mission: barely thinkable, even ten years ago. in effect, a sonogram of the sun's gasy interior. it's going to look inside. >> inside the sun. >> reporter: yes, deep inside. where solar weather forms. it should send back pictures ten times better than high definition television. but can they beat this? the sun with the horizon as its stage and the power to move us. >> osgood: ahead, a 30th anniversary gift. >> this string of pearls is more than 50,000 dollars. why? >> osgood: but first, turning 30. >> are we totally stupid? >> no, no, it's a very cool house. i mean i'd have bought it myself if i had the money to put into it. >> celebrating 30 years of sunday morning. here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: 30-something was a popular tv series 20-something years ago. of course people were dealing with the joys and challenges of turning 30 long before that. members of sunday morning most definitely included. seth doane has the proof. >> this is the road.... >> reporter: that's charles kuralt at age 30. >> that leans to the school in lecher county, kentucky. >> reporter: it was 1964, and america was said to be in an economic boom. >> beside these roads, the shacks of tar paper and pine which are the homes of a million permanently poor. >> reporter: but kuralt saw another seemingly ignored america. he spent his 30s bringing focus to the ordinary and overlooked. >> its many a mile we have been on this road. and it's many a mile we must go. >> reporter: it was as if theirs were the stories he was born to tell. but how likely is it that any one of us will find our true calling at 30? and do 30-somethings like me even know who we are let alone who we'll become? and should we? >> for this generation certainly, you know, 30 is more of a starting point than it a midpoint. >> reporter: former classmates jonathan, lockhart steel and joshua albertson settled their own anxieties about turning 30 by researching and writing a book filled with statistics ranging from a number of people who own a car to how many own guns. >> finding these little nuggets does paint a portrait of what it means to be 30 in america today. >> reporter: is 30 a landmark age? >> after 21 it's the age at which you really have to look at yourself and decide, am i on the right track? have i succeeded in the ways i've wanted to succeed? have i failed as spectacularly as i thought i might? >> i was about 30. >> reporter: in this picture here. >> yes. >> reporter: journalist gail sheehy wrote the books on the rites of passage literally. published in 1976 passages brought then 39-year-old sheehy wealth and worldwide claim. >> 50-year-olds saying 50 is the new 30. 40-year-olds are saying, you know, 40 is the new 30. interestingly when i interview people in their mid 40s, in their 50s and i ask how do you feel inside, they almost always say 30. >> reporter: the golden age? >> the golden age. >> reporter: more than 4.2 million americans are turning 30 this year. nationwide about 78% of women and 70% of men have been married by their early 30s. 55% own a home. and 82% of women have been pregnant. today's 30-year-old sheehy says are like peter pan. they don't want to grow up. but for the most part they're doing it anyway. >> it's a place of contradictions because i still feel 21 but maybe i better just apply a little more commitment to my life. >> reporter: and sheehy says there's one commitment most of them have made. 83% of people are in significant debt by their early 30s. median income is $55,000 but median debt $26,500. >> here we are in an economic squeeze and i think the 30-year-olds are going to be squeezed pretty hard. >> reporter: so this is not a good time to be turning 30? >> well, it's always a good time to be turning 30. you're at your peak physically at 30. >> reporter: but 34-year-old john points out if you're at your peak there's only one way to go. >> yes, at 30 your body begins a slow fade to the grave. >> that's a depressing thing to write. >> reporter: sadly, they're armed with statistics. >> your muscle mass is dropping at 10% a year. 25% of men are going bald by the age of 30. >> reporter: but 30-somethings, don't despair. these former classmates suggest a coping method. gauge your own 30-year progress against that of famous people. >> that was part of what fascinated us was people who went on to great fame. by the time they were 30, they were still nobodys. >> george clooney, for instance, was on his 14th or 15th failed pilot. >> ted turner was running, you know, his father's company that he had inherited that was an outdoor billboard advertising company in atlanta. >> reporter: and barack obama had only just graduated from law school. still, the authors point to others who found their, shall we say, inspiration at 30. that's when jesus gave up carpent reand began preaching. and both joe biden and ted kennedy took their seats in the senate. and then there are those few exceptions who hit their peak at 30 and held on to it. >> when bill gates was 30 microsoft went public. i think bill gates's net worth just at that time was somewhere north of $200 million overnight. >> reporter: it's not only money that measures success. sometimes it's the message told at just the right time. take this now 30-year-old weekly broadcast. "sunday morning" was born in 1979. how different was it then to turn 30 than it is today? >> well, we were in a cultural whirlwind in 1979. the women's movement was, you know, almost ten years old. couples were breaking up all over the place. there was just no single way to put your life together that anybody could hang on to. it was just up for grabs. >> one man looked at him and said, the pope is so young. >> reporter: for 30 years, sunday morning has been covering the news, of course. but also the arts. we could drop names. rembrandt, raurbenberg, renoir. >> reporter: music. ♪ and especially the kinds of stories that 30-something charles kuralt originally brought to national attention. >> it was her dream to buy a swimming pool for your hometown. a dream she pursued one can at a time. >> reporter: sunday morning has made some changes. perhaps the most important 15 years ago. >> i am retiring from cbs news. >> reporter: when one charles handed the reins to another. >> we'll be in the good hands of charles osgood starting next sunday morning. charles? >> nobody has ever been welcomed as genuinely as you are welcomed here. >> thank you, charles. a real honor to succeed you, not replace you on this broadcast. >> good morning. i'm charles osgood and this is sunday morning. i know it sounds strange to me, too. but here we are. >> reporter: the guidance about where to go from here can seem hard to come by. >> there's not a lot in here for tv broad casts but not a lot of tv shows have made it to 30. you're in a pretty elite audience there. ask yourselves, could you do sunday morning on a monday? >> reporter: maybe the best lesson, no matter your age, is know your strengths. build on them. when you're on a roll, stay the course. >> i have the ego and the ambition to feel like i belong on the cover of time. >> osgood: coming up, why sunday is a day like no other. business to the world. r invite customers into the design process. work with people far outside the firewall. collaborate with business partners... get insights from suppliers anywhere... unlock knowledge from our supply chain. smarter technology means the choice... ...between being open... ...and being secure isn't a choice anymore. i can have both. helping to secure an open world. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet. come on. good girl.] mollie's never looked better. i really was amazed to see the change in her coat. people stop us when we're walking, and they'll say, "did you shine up her spots?" 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(guitar music) >> osgood: whether planning your sunday brunch, taking a sunday drive or watching sunday morning, chances are you have your own sunday ritual. it's the first day of the week and for many it's their favorite day. >> i don't think sunday will ever be like every other day of the week. it's a special day. it will remain a special day. >> osgood: author steven miller. what's the best thing about sunday to you? >> it's a day when you don't have to do things. when you can just lie around, see people if you want or not see people. >> osgood: and seeing people is a sunday activity that americans enjoy. according to a recent survey by the bureau of labor statistics, 42% of us socialize on sundays. twice as many, eight out of ten, sit back and watch tv, an average of four hours. and then there's church. about one in four attends religious services. and about the same number goes shopping. >> here begins something new. >> osgood: but when sunday morning first went on the air in 1979 in many parts of the country it was impossible to shop on sundays. stores were required to be closed, says steven miller, who has written a book on the subject. americans once had a very narrow choice of permissible sunday activities. >> there were so many arguments in the united states especially in the 19th century. sunday legislation was the second most debated subject after slavery because there were different opinions about what you could or couldn't do on sunday. >> osgood: those opinions began with the puritans who settled in new england in the 1630s. they called it strict sunday observance. sunday was a day for church going. and blue laws made almost everything else illegal. >> there were connecticut blue laws in the 18th century which said you could not kiss your baby. you could not tell a joke. there was absolutely no frivolity on sunday. and you could not play an instrument. >> osgood: even the organ in church? >> except for, you know, hymns. there was a french soldier stationed in boston during the revolutionary war. he started playing the flute. he was arrested. no flute-playing on the sabbath. >> osgood: some blue laws still exist today mostly to regulate alcohol sales. miller says americans have come a long way from the age of strict observance. >> gradually in the 20th century, all the things that we associate with sunday now started. so sports started. sunday football. sunday drives. the sunday paper with the comics and the cross words became a major american phenomena. >> we continue to relax in front of the sunday newspaper. >> osgood: janice kaplan is the editor of parade magazine.& for almost 70 years now it's been a sunday institution. appearing in roughly 500 sunday newspapers across the country. with a parade of covers to show for it. parade, says kaplan, would not be parade on any other day of the week. >> the sunday paper is to invested with tradition. everybody in the family has that special section that they want, that they want to read. everybody pulls the one that means something to them. >> reporter: one favorite section is sunday sports. two words that for millions of americans have become synonymous with each other. sports, like the newspapers that cover them, are now a firmly established sunday tradition. >> it with as no small thing for super bowls to become an adjective for sunday. >> reporter: historian craig harlean has written about how professional football became a weekly ritual in america. >> now you look at the super bowl. it's this odd combination of religion and strip tease show. who knows what else. it's all kinds of things going on at once. but certainly it's bigger than football. it's about an american civil religion. >> reporter: which makes sense because football would have been unaccepted on sunday had it not first assumed a religious significance starting in the late 19th century. >> most americans considered themselves christians. they had to find a way to reconcile that. the way they did that was this is a different day. sunday is a special day. most civilizations celebrate their holiest day with sports. why wouldn't that be true in america as well? >> osgood: and so sunday became a day for games and celebrations. but not for everyone. ♪ sunday >> osgood: there was nothing festive about the song "gloomy sunday" recorded by billie holliday in 1941. steven miller says it reflects a larger theme in popular music. sunday as a dark day. >> ♪ gloomy is sunday ♪ with shadows i spend it all ♪ >> i began my study with the song "gloomy sunday" that was popular in the 1930s. i wondered whether people are very gloomy on sunday compared to other days of the week. >> you talk about being alone on a saturday night. that's sad. being alone on a sunday morning is tragic ♪ woke up sunday morning >. >> osgood: music journalist fred goodman says some songs about sunday sadness focused on failed expectations for our day off ♪ and the beer i had for breakfast wasn't bad ♪ ♪ so i had one more for dessert ♪ >> to me one of the great examples is chris's song, about a guy down on his luck. what do most people do on their sunday morning, with their family going to church, whatever. this guy is sleeping off a drunk on the sidewalk. he's got nothing. >> osgood: therapists have been listening to the real-life sunday blues for years. in fact, sunday actually has a psychiatric disorder named after it. historian craig harlene. >> there's the famous diagnosis in the early 20th century. sunday neurosis. the person who couldn't bear the coming of sunday. because it threw them out of their routine. sunday is timeless. it's open. there isn't that schedule that you have the rest of the week. some people can't bear that. >> osgood: not writer judith. in an upcoming book she offers just the opposite. she wants to keep sundays timeless. in a world of 24/7 commerce she's push for a return to laws that would shut down business one day a week. >> if everybody has to stop working, they have to sort of pay attention to their family, to themselves, to their community. >> osgood: this campaign, where does it even start since it is so.... >> i don't pretend to have the answer in terms of legislation. i just start by trying to point out the benefits. let's remember the sabbath. let's remember what it did for us in the past and let's think about what it could do for us in the future. >> it's fast becoming like other days because of the commercialization of sunday. we're sort of on all the time now. what effect does this have on our psyche? so i think we are losing something. >> osgood: which brings us back to the puritans of the 1630s. their measures may now seem extreme. but what if they were actually on to something? ♪ gloomy sunday ♪ with shadows i spend it all ♪ cc osgood: ahead, say it with >> osgood: how is this for a 30th wedding anniversary gift? the serving of oysters. it may not be the most romantic looking present you ever saw but as barry petersen reminds us with hollywood's help, it's what's inside that counts. >> reporter: they're there if you look. around the necks of women thought to be among the world's most beautiful. poets, philosophers, artists try to capture them with words or pictures. but really it's about getting lost in their deep luster. >> people have been using pearls since ancient times to adorn themselves. over the course of that long history, a lot of traditions have been created. the one we still celebrate today is about giving the woman you love pearls on your 30th wedding anniversary. >> i think it's only natural that they evolved into one of the foremost symbols of the wedding anniversary. >> reporter: gemologist peter, a true fan of the pearl. >> there are only gem material... they're our only gem material that comes out of the box ready to be born. meaning there's no additional interaction by man necessary to reveal their beauty. >> reporter: queen elizabeth could afford all the rare, expensive natural pearls she wanted. pearls created when an oyster coats a nucleus of grit to ease its irritation. and then the persistent son of a japanese noodle maker mikimoto invented a technique so man could imitate nature and stimulate oysters into making pearls with a big "thank you" to the united states. oysters rejected most materials tried as a nucleus until he discovered in the 1890s what it used to this day. it works if the nucleus is made from a mississippi river clam called the pig toe. once inserted it is layered by the oyster and in two or three years a cultured pearl is born. and a rare 5% make it to mikimoto's tokyo show room where this man has been adorning women for 40 years. this string of pearls is more than 50,000 u.s. dollars. why? >> because it's so difficult to get together. >> reporter: you've matched them all perfectly. >> yes. perfectly. >> joe dimaggio and his bride.... >> reporter: it was to mikimoto that joe brought marilyn on their japanese honeymoon. >> mr. dimaggio, the baseball player, brought a very lovely... bought a lovely necklace for her. >> reporter: in the '50s when hair yet ruled the kitchen in pearls, two modern woman working woman kerry bradshaw who finds them the perfect accessory, the look has been classic. now as pearl enthusiast explains, there are new designs for the woman who wants it all. formal and friendly. >> these pearls are for my mother. adding this placelet makes it more special and i can wear them all the time. >> reporter: back to tradition. our first ladies like jackie and barbara bush wore pearls. now michelle obama whose husband often harkens back to abe lincoln who gave pearls to his wife mary todd. >> these are black pearls from to heat owe. that is very popular right now. >> reporter: he presented his wife cultured black pearls on their 30th anniversary so we asked, what should barack give michelle when they reach 30 years of marriage? his advice? they should be matched and there should be many. >> if we make them whether three or four strands very long necklace, that is is really lovely. she will be very happy with this. >> reporter: think of it this way, gentlemen. maybe you can't take credit for nature's beauty. but he who gives them on that 30th anniversary can surely win her heart all over again. ♪ diamonds and pearls >> osgood: next, a few of the people we've met over the past 30 years. and later, what the next 30 years may bring. >> celebrating 30 years of sunday morning. here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: black and white clothing with no red or ermine, i freely admit i cannot pull a rabbit out of the hat unless it's there to begin with. >> osgood: over the course of 30 years we've welcomed any number of special live studio guests. call it the sunday morning menagerie. parrots like ophelia here. come on. turn around, ophelia. thank you. they're colorful, smart and talkative to boot. the same can't be said for our latest guest bruno here, the iguana who may not be much of a conversationalist but he sure is beautiful and friendly too. fortunately the very special people with whom we've visited over the past 30 years have more than filled the conversation gap. now a few assorted themes from our guest list. >> this is great. >> osgood: oh, the places i've been here on sunday morning. >> ta-da. >> osgood: from a piano roll factory in buffalo, new york. to the big dig in boston. any big dig jokes? >> i don't think people are joking about it. >> osgood: to the great stage of the mormon tabernacle in salt lake city. it's been an amazing journey thus far. the people i've met and introduced to you. ♪ just in time ♪ i found you just in time >. >> osgood: tony bennett, singer and painter for one. would it be fair to say you're both in the story telling business? >> that's a good way of putting it. >> osgood: and his friend and fellow painter everett raymond kinsler who even painted a portrait of me. i'd recognize it anywhere. and the remarkable painter andrew wyeth who died this year. when we ves itd with andrew wyeth on his island in maine he even gave us a peek into his studio. >> this is the first time i've ever let anyone photograph me actually working on something. i hope you will use it some way if they have enough guts to do it. >> reporter: do you like to shock people in a way? >> i don't think it's that. i just want to get to the truth of the thing. i like to see clear. i'm not ashamed of it at all. you have to believe in what you do. >> in goes the shrimp. >> osgood: julia child took me into her kitchen in cambridge. >> we have a little lemon in there. >> osgood: and taught me how to make a tasty shrimp dish among other things. if you're in the kitchen and something goes wrong, if you're not on television.... >> well if you're on television, you shouldn't worry. i think one of the most more interesting things is if it goes wrong, what are you going to do about it? >> osgood: fix it in front of the camera. >> with no hesitation. >> osgood: that's another lesson to teach, isn't it? >> exactly. well, that didn't go very well. >> excuse me. i'm with charles now. >> osgood: regis philbin brought me back stage and then off stage as guest on his television show and showed me just how he stayed on top for all these years. >> that bow tie is staring at me. >> when i was a kid i was radio freak like you. >> osgood: larry king, the curious and courteous talk show host. he gave me a few pointers too. it's easy, he told me, if you love what you do. >> 50 years is a freaking long time. >> rose: but you do it very well. >> i must be doing something right. >> osgood: from carol channing who reprieved her role as doley levi at the age of 74, a lesson in staying power. do you still enjoy playing this role. >> it's the happiest i've ever been in my life, charles osgood. it's the happiest. ♪ dolly, don't ever go away again ♪ ♪ then there's maud >> osgood: then there was maud. gold he girl bea arthur, old spoken, brassy and brave who died last year at the age of 86. but who went the distance with courage, grace, and humor. >> i came to realize she has a mouth like a long shoreman. >> osgood: why does somebody who is past conventional retirement age want to knock themselves out and travel around the country and stay up late at night? >> actors don't retire. people who are in jobs that they don't like retire. you know. it's glorious. >> osgood: doing what you love and loving what you do, a theme i heard again and again from joanne woodward, directing a small theater company off broadway. of all the things you've done and you've been... won every award there is and you still like to work in the little.... >> this is the best. this is the best. this is where theater to me begins. ♪ i've seen fire and i've seen rain ♪ >> osgood: from james taylor, a lesson in seizing the moment. not letting it slip away. you sit down and write a song or does it happen while you're taking a walk or taking a shower? >> you have to be ready to catch those things when they come down because they'll fall right through and you'll forget them. >> i love new york. absolutely love it. i mean, i love america. >> osgood: and the irrepressible irish tenor, doctor, athlete and inspiration. he has more than a few life lessons to teach. >> sometimes the doors aren't open that easy. but push hard enough and you'll force them open. >> osgood: including after september 11 a lesson in how to grieve. ♪ i used to be a young man >> osgood: i learned a few other things too along the way. folks finger liam clancy, for instance, told me where tommy makum and the clancy brothers got those sweaters they wore. >> my mother felt sorry for us. she got three sweaters made to send us out as a christmas present to her sons so they wouldn't get their cold, okay? and then she thought, well, poor tommy makum is going to be cold as well so she got a fourth one made. >> osgood: their managers saw something else in the sweaters, a signature look. >> he said, "that's it. we got it. " i said we're going to die in the heat. he said die then. it will keep your weight down. >> osgood: and learning how to live with grace and style. aboard the qe-ii she spent her goalen years circling the globe. at home, all over the world. >> i love it. i love it. everybody comes back to my house. ♪ come on to my house ♪ i'm going to give you candy ♪ >> osgood: the song "come on to my house" made the late rose mary clooney a star. she once confided in me that she didn't really like that song at all. >> well, it was the dumbest song. you could just forget all the words and say come on to my house, i'm going to give you... say whatever you want to say. >> osgood: she also told me how her very famous and very handsome nephew george clooney brought her new fans of a sort. >> very young girls, you know, young women come up to me and say we really love your music. i can't resist it. i say which one of my songs from the '50s do you think you like the best? they have no idea. >> what is it like inside my.... >> osgood: for richard, photography was collaboration. photographer and subject entwined. can you imagine yourself taking pictures of anything except people? >> i think i would turn to a tree and say smile. >> osgood: so many lessons learned. from this woman it was elocution. >> if i put it in my batter so she bought a bitter so it was a bitter batter bitter butter. >> (speaking french). >> osgood: carl reiner taught me french the carl reiner. >> (sounding like he's speaking french but he's not). >> osgood: it's been instructive. >> i would have leaned over and spoken into here. >> osgood: and edifying. >> serve yourself. >> osgood: and a lot of fun. meeting all these remarkable people over the years. and sharing them with you. let's raise a glass to sunday morning, long may it wave. >> what has happened in the last five years can't even be captured by the word change. >> osgood: ahead, a media revolution. >> this is a newspaper. a tv screen. >> osgood: at your finger tips. >> a file cabinet. now you can get unbeatable prices on the latest name-brand cell phones where you already save. well, actually just a few rows over in walmart's expanded electronics department. your new, fully-activated at&t, t-mobile or verizon wireless phone is a lot closer than you think. save money. live better. walmart. wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nuture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition... and helpful resources. ♪ purina cat chow. share a better life. >> osgood: much is different in america after 30 years. and that most definitely includes our own media of television. our friend jeff green field takes stock. >> reporter: when sunday morning marked its 25th anniversary i was invited back to survey how the media landscape had changed. when this broadcast was born, i noted there was no cable news, no abundance of cable channels, no c-span. reasonably big changes, sure, but what has happened in the last five years can't even be captured by the word change. it is as if the most fundamental laws of the media universe have been utterly overthrown. sure, some changes count as more of the same. the big three networks which divided 90% of the prime time audience 30 years ago now divide about 30%. but they are still the dominant players in prime time. and a major alternatives, basic cable like life-time, espn for sports, hbo for pay cable alternatives are thriving. but where the last five years have brought a revolution is in how information and entertainment are delivered and where. five years ago my space was the barest glimmer of an idea for a social networking site in los angeles. it's now a worldwide presence with well over 120 million visitors a month. facebook didn't even exist five years ago. it now draws more than 200 million visitors. ask anyone about you-tube before 2005 they would have thought you were talking about an ointment. last fall you-tube was drawing 100 million viewers a month and every minute ten hours of video are posted ranging from news, sports, entertainment clips to original creations. if you want to see what diet coke can create in combination you-tube provides the answer, dozens of them. well, okay. just more sources of media, right. wrong. what these and countless other examples represent is a sea change that has up ended all of our assumptions about how media are delivered. today everything we see and hear and read and digitizabled, a product of those countless ones and zeros. that in turn means that as far as technology is concerned, it's all the same. print, audio, video, no difference. so what? here's what. (sunday morning theme music) once upon a time, say, when sunday morning was born, every kind of information came in a different form. if you read mail, it came in an envelope. if you wanted to listen to news, you had to buy a radio. if you wanted to play music at home, you needed a turntable and records. you wanted to read a newspaper, you needed to buy the paper. a movie? that was a trip to the theater or maybe the vcr. a phone call away from home? you had to find a pay phone. write a report? get a typewriter and paper and then find a copier and a mailbox to accepted it and. now to use the buzz word convergence is here. every conceiveable kind of information. information in the broadest sense comes to us on the same device. this is a newspaper. a tv screen. a camera. a theater. a file cabinet. a radio. a walkman. a yellow pages. an editor room. a travel agency. and at root this revolution has shifted massive amounts of power away from the providers tohe users of information. you don't want to watch a program when it's on, hey, it's always on somewhere. you like one song but don't want to buy an album, i-tunes will oblige you. don't want to buy a newspaper, read it for free online. one reason why newspapers as we know them may not be around much longer. whether on a tv screen or computer or cell phone or toaster, the fundamental things still apply or should. a love of story telling, a love of clear, vivid language, a respect for history, the world did not start five years ago even if you-tube did. these still matter most. which may be one big reason why 30 years on, this broadcast endures. >> osgood: bill geist in dogged pursuit. >> good morning. >> osgood: next sunday morning. ♪ there's only one word for this ♪ ♪ it's bliss ♪ only one word describes chocolate this creamy, this rich, this indulgent. bliss. hershey's bliss chocolate. it's not just chocolate. it's bliss. if you get sick, or change jobs. eight ways reform matters to you. a cap on deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. no annual or lifetime limits on coverage. preventive care. covered. pre-existing conditions. covered. no higher rates due to gender. extended coverage for young adults. no more coverage denied if you get sick. and guaranteed renewal, even if you do. learn more today. so we can save on all our game time favorites. and if there is a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time... ...i'm just as ready as he is. game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. dinner with the girls tonight. mmm... mexican, or italian? i really want dessert tonight. i better skip breakfast. yep, this is all i need. ( stomach growls ) skipping breakfast to get ahead? research shows that women that eat breakfast, like the special k® breakfast, actually weigh less. the special k® breakfast, now in blueberry. so why skip? when you can eat all this... and still weigh less. victory is... sweet. it's hard to believe though it is true we know that this broadcast began 30 years ago. week after week year after year through good times and bad, sunday morning has been here. from the beginning we've tried to be true to charles kuralt's promise. here begins something new. we try to remember in all that we do that we're not the host here. the real host is you. we're guests in your home. and it's your space we share. we truly appreciate just being there. getting together each week as we do, sunday morning would not be the same without you. of course, it's equally true that sunday morning wouldn't be the same without you, bob schieffer. good morning and what's coming up on "face the nation?" >> schieffer: good morning, charlie. we're going to talk to secretary of education arne duncan making his debut on sunday morning. believe me there's plenty to talk about. >> osgood: i'll bet there is. thank you very much, bob schieffer. ahead here on sunday morning, a look at the 30 years to come. 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(announcer) you know you're gonna need it. why not stock up now? get everything you need for fall allergy season at an unbeatable price. save money. live better. walmart. we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful. new honey bunches of oats with pecan bunches. beautiful. >> osgood: here's one vision of the future. the robot commando. created by ideal toys back in 1961. all these years later, we still don't have household robots. but that doesn't stop the unstoppable futurists from planning ahead. right now tracy smith looks over their shoulders. >> reporter: high school... this is the future as seen from 1979. 30 years publications like the future and the futurist predicted travel in giant blimps, flat screen tvs, telephones without cords, and that we'd all live in giant domes. you guys predicted that there would be flat screen tvs, computers would be portable and we'd all be living in domes. >> do you not live in a dome? >> reporter: patrick tucker is senior editor of the futurist magazine. in general, 30 years from now, will the world be better off than it is today? >> much of it will be better off. much of it probably won't be better off. it depends in general on who and where you are. in the developing world, we can look forward to much longer life spans, much healthier living. >> reporter: another big question mark, natural resources like water. how important will water be? >> water in the 21st century is going to be like oil. like how we think of oil today. in 30 years, two thirds of the human population could be facing acute water shortages. >> reporter: still life in the future is usually pictured as clean, prosperous. and these kids from the elementary school in arlington virginia see their future the same way. >> in 30 years maybe people will live in like big hollow tree trunks or something like that. >> we might be using robots for all kinds of stuff. >> reporter: will people still get sick? how will medicine change? >> they will get sick but it will be very rare to get something like cancer that is really really bad. >> reporter: don't laugh. she could be right about that. >> ten years from now, it will be possible to screen an embryo for most congenital illnesses and someone born 20 years from now will probably not suffer from any sort of congenital disease in their lifetime. that person could live to be 150 to 200 years old. >> reporter: wait. what will a life span be? >> someone born 30 years from now could easily live to be 150 to 200 years old. >> reporter: and our descendents might wear their heart rates on their sleeves with things like this. >> what this does you wear it very close to your body in your clothing. it monitors your activity levels, how well you're sleeping, how many calories you're burning whether you're sitting or standing. >> reporter: it's information you could use to take better care of yourself. in the future. but what about the really cool stuff? like the jettisons' flying cars? >> there will be like little airplanes and they'll run on vegetable oil. >> i think i'm going to have a hover craft. >> reporter: will there be hover crafts? >> there are hover crafts today. >> reporter: will we all be flying around. >> like flying cars? no. no, we will not be flying in flying cars. the regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles to a flying car system in a developed country like the united states are probably insurmountable. >> reporter: you rolled your eyes when i said flying car. is this the bane of the futuristic exist ens. >> that and jet packs. it seems the future hasn't moved a step since 1963. get over your jet pack and get over your flying car. the future is okay without them. >> osgood: this is sunday morning. >> reporter: but, thank goodness, the future won't be without television. what will change is the way we see it. >> i think the notion of a box located in one particular room that everyone goes and stairs at will seem really bizarre. so tv is something that or broadcasting something that people will carry around with them. it will be very close to them all the time. not necessarily just on a device that they pull out of their pocket but possibly directly on their cornea or retina. >> reporter: this electronic contact lens will let you see a virtual display and wilder yet some day you might even watch tv inside your skull. >> many people will have cybernetic implants. this will allow you to absorb all sorts of data. >> reporter: you're watching tv in your head, essentially. >> you could be watching tv in your head. >> reporter: and that seems appropriate. a tv show for your brain is pretty much what the creators of this program had in mind. >> here begins something new. >> reporter: if cbs sunday morning is still on in 30 year, will you watch it? >> yes. watch we will. 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