telecommuting. >> do you have your confirmation number? >> it may not surprise you that when you call jetblue to book a flight, the person doing it is at home, not in a call center. >> abdominal ultrasound. >> but it might be a big surprise that the raidologist reading your x-ray, cat scan or m.r.i. could very well be doing it from an office in his basement, not a hospital. is this the future of the american workplace? to commute or telecommute later this "sunday morning." >> in a new role, actor tim robins plays to a captive audience. he's encouraging men behind bars to act rather than act up. serena altschul will have the inside story. >> actor tim robbins has played many memorable roles, none more memorable than andy dufresne in "the shawshank redemption." >> i spent some time in solitary to prepare for shawshank. i asked to be locked up. >> all emotion, go, go! >> tim robbins is behind bars again, this time teaching acting to inmates. ahead on "sunday morning," we'll go back to prison with tim robbins. >> a new bay bridge connecting san francisco and oakland, california, is opening this week. john blackstone will tell the story of a photographer's labor of love. >> 24 years after an earthquake damaged the old bridge, the new eastern span of the san francisco-oakland bay bridge is just days from opening. its rise has been covered bay photographer focusing on the workers who turn steel and concrete into a new bay-area landmark. >> i just want them to be recognized for what they did. >> it's teamwork and you became part of the team. >> absolutely. it's team work. it's collective labor. >> the labors of photographer joe blum and the workers he pays tribute to later on "sunday morning." >> for former late night host arsenio hall, the second time could be the charm. lee cowan will tell us about a comeback nearly 20 years in the making. >> johnny carson may have been the king of late night, but for a time, arsenio hall was the prince. >> call your friends. oprah's on. >> and then he disappeared. >> what have you been doing for yourself for... >> 19 some odd years. oh, gosh. >> what he did and what he's planning next may surprise you. it may be 20 years but arsenio hall is indeed back and back is beautiful ahead on "sunday morning." >> anthony mason will have the untold story of famously reclusive author j.d. salinger. and we tell you why silence is golden. mo rocca has some points to make about pencils and more. first here are the headlines for this sunday morning, the 1st of september, 2013. president obama now says he wants congressional approval before launching any military action against syria for allegedly using chemical weapons. major garrett's in washington with the latest. >> this is plan "b." president obama has no intention of giving congress a voice in syria, but after the british parliament voted against using military force, top democrats and republicans warned the white house opposition was building and congress had to play a role. a reluctant president said this is the question lawmakers must answer: >> what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? what's the purpose of the international system that we've built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98% of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the congress of the united states is not enforced? >> there is no urgency. congress won't decide for more than a week. if it says no to a strike, mr. obama reserves the right to attack anyway. charlie? >> major garrett in washington, thank you. in damascus, a state-run syrian newspaper is calling president obama's move "the start of the historic american retreat." saying they are convinced that he will receive the same care at home as in the hospital, doctors treating former south african president nelson mandela have let him go home. we're outside the mandela residence in suburban johannesburg. >> nelson mandela returned here to his home earlier this morning. the road was cordoned off by police to allow the ambulance easy access. it was a potentially hazardous journey the some 30 miles from his pretoria hospital to his johannesburg home, but according to our source inside his home, nelson mandela made the journey safely. however, his return home should in no way be seen as an indication that his condition has changed in any way. he remains critically ill and, according to the government, he sometimes becomes unstable, requiring medical intervention and, in fact, his home has been reconfigured so that he can receive the same 24-hour intensive care that he was receiving in his pretoria hospital. nelson mandela has long expressed the wish to spend his final days at home rather than in the sterile hospital bed, and according to one source, intimately connected to the family, the doctors have done their best, but there is nothing more that they can do for him at his pre-or pretoria hospital, as returned them to spend his final days here, however long that may be. charlie? >> thank you. near home, smoke conditions at yosemite national park are hampering efforts to extinguish a two-week-old wildfire that has charred more than 340 scare miles. the smoke now blankets yosemite valley, where some of the park's most famous landmarks are. legendary broadcaster sir david frost has died. frost had a prolific career in television. early on with "that was the week that was." he was perhaps best known here with his interviews with former president richard nixon. his family said frost died of a heart attack aboard the cruise ship "the queen elizabeth." sir david frost was 74. now today's weather. mild temperatures for the mid-worcester. -- midwest. the northeast will see scattered showers. rain in the southeast, as well. sunny and mild in the plains today and tomorrow, but in the east, there's more rain in the labor day forecast. >> now they've taken those towers down with thermal torches. >> ahead, work in progress. >> this is michelle. how can i help if you're like me, you've been working you've been working like a dog all year. but you don't need to camp out 'til labor day to reward yourself! mattress discounters' labor day sale ends monday! rest those tired bones on a queen size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497! get 48 months interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection. not to labor the point... but this sale ends monday! ♪ mattress discounters! >> oh, the joys of working at home. with a home office, you can sleep later, avoid the morning rush, also avoid face-to-face confrontations with your boss. but before you join the growing trend, listen to what martha teichner has to say now in our "sunday morning" cover story. >> it's 5:58 a.m. dr. samir shaw, a raidologist who lives outside pittsburgh, is about the start his morning commute. it takes him less than ten seconds. nothing like the full hour it used to take each way on top of the 60-plus hours a week he spent doing his job when he worked in a hospital. >> examination colon. >> looking at images virtually identical to those he would see there, now he sits in his basement office, reading x-rays, cat scans and m.r.i.s from all over the united states that his employer, minnesota-based virtual raid logic or v-rad sends his way. >> pelvis. >> dr. shaw is a full-time telecommuter. he works set shifts and then actually gets to spend time with his family. >> my whole life is better now. i feel like i'm the luckiest guy in the world to have this job. i feel like i do my job better, and i feel like i'm a better dad. i feel like i'm a better husband. have fun. >> does this sound like work heaven? what does it say that the alternative has become the subject of screen comedy? >> the paper jam, i swear to god. >> to commute or telecommute, that is the question at the heart of what may or may not be a fundamental change in the way americans work. >> the biggest misconception is that a lot of people are doing it. >> sociologist jennifer glass is a professor at the university of texas who studies telecommuting. >> it has not by any means taken over the occupational landscape. it's still very, very restricted. >> there are no definitive statistics. the numbers depend on who is doing the counting and how they define telecommuting. but in a new cbs news poll commissioned for sunday morning, 24% of working americans said they telecommute regularly for their jobs. the dirty little secret is what telecommuting means to most telecommuters. to what extent is the fancy title "telecommuting" just another way to get sucked into being at work or available to work 24/7? >> well, i love the way you put it because i think that's absolutely accurate. it's still very much about taking work home. it's about overtime telecommuting when you've already put in a substantial amount of time full-time at the office. >> but look which days people are most likely to work from home -- monday and friday. employers often complain that telecommuting is just another word for goofing off. in our cbs news poll, 40% of telecommuters say they work fewer hours at home than at the office. but 60% say they work the same hours or more. most telecommuters are higher-paid, sal rid workers or professionals, but the number of hourly employees who telecommute is rising. >> thanks for calling jetblue. this is michelle. how can i help you? >> each day michelle muir puts on her jetblue t-shirt and her jetblue airplane slippers. she handles reservations from 7:00 until 5:00 with a couple of breaks. >> the department will go ahead and register him, okay? >> what the airline calls its customer support team, more than 1,900 employees work from home in and around salt lake city. the arrangement saves the company a lot of money on office space. >> did you sleep good last night? >> for michelle muir, a devout mormon, it means she can be the homemaker, wife and grandmother she wants to be. >> go see grand pete sampras. >> it's the extra income that we need. so it works great for us. and who would want to give up this little guy and not see him? >> but how does jetblue know michelle muir is actually working? >> i've been logged in for two minutes. >> all her calls are recorded, and her supervisor can see and hear exactly what she's doing. rebecca ludlow works for jetblue's customer support center a few miles away, except when she too telecommutes one day a week. >> all right. i love the pleases. i heard a little too many okays though. >> ludlow regularly critiques muir's calls. >> and the first call on here, i'm going to say you did a great job. you remember jetblue very well. >> so you've got jetblue, known for its customer service, on lists of good companies to work for, committed to telecommuting. then there's zappos.com, the las vegas-based online shoe and accessory retailer, also known for customer service and on lists of the best employers. it discourages telecommuting. [phone ringing] the wide-open office spaces where its 1,400 employees work together are famously funky. >> you're very welcome, monica. have a great day. >> our number-one priority is company culture, and our whole belief is if we get the culture right, other stuff will be a by-product of that. >> tony shea is c.e.o. of zap zappos.com. >> we encourage our employees to interact as much as possible both inside and outside the office. that's hard to do from a telecommuting position. >> when yahoo's new c.e.o. melissa mayers' bombshell was wreaked in february that she was radically scaling back telecommuting as part of her turnaround strategy for the ailing tech giant, zappos tony shea publicly defended her. >> a great story. >> this is the idea wall from tony shea's work space. shea believes that great ideas come from what he calls "collisions." >> this is the only way in. every single one of our employees, visitors, everyone who companies in will start here, and then go their various ways. >> zach ware oversaw the transformation of the old city hall complex in downtown las vegas into zappos new campus. >> the plaza is kind of our lobby. it gives us an opportunity to bring everyone together before they go their various ways. >> nearly completed, the refit has been all about engineering those creative collisions. >> the average office has anywhere from 150 to 200 square feet per person when you combine all the space and divide it by number of employees. we will be at roughly 90 square feet per person. >> why? >> by minimizing the amount of space between two people, we're maximizing the opportunities for them to connect with each other. >> but sociologists general nor class thinks telecommuting is the future, especially considering research done on the millennial generation. >> they've grown up with technology. they're used to using it and they expect to use it in their jobs. they place a very high value on autonomy, and they want the ability to telecommute. >> a good example of what she considers the inevitability of its growth... >> you ready to go to camp? >> dr. samir shaw, his employer v-rad already has over 400 raidologists servicing the needs of 2,70000 medical facility, but listen to this? >> just in a few years, we have become a real option for many of the top graduates of the best training programs, and we are flooded with applications because they all realize that this is a great choice for lifestyle and realize that it's actually a less stressful job overall. actually a less stressful job overall. >> next... will (pop) (balloons popping) i can see the edge of my couch! (balloons popping) a blt with best foods is the best. ♪ ♪ bring out the unmistakable taste that can only be best foods. bring out the best. ♪ that can only be best foods. >> now page from our "sunday morning" almanac, september 1, 1752, 261 years ago today. that's the day word came from london. philadelphia's superintendent heralded the aieflg of the original liberty bell. engraved with a stirring historical passage from leviticus. "proclaim liberty throughout the land and for all the inhabitants thereof. 12 feet around at its widest and weighs just over a ton, the bell was commissioned by the philadelphia assembly at a cost of more than £100, equivalent today to about $20,000. even at that price, cracks appeared when it was rung and it had to be recast twice by craftsmen in philadelphia. in october 1777 during the british occupation of philadelphia, the bell was removed from the city and hidden in a church for fear it would be melted down to make cannons. it is said that the bell's call of freedom sounds the noted e flat, although the last time i was actually heard for any sustained period was in 1846 in honor of george washington's birthday. but that lengthed a hairline crack. the large split we see today is actually a repair. as for the name, "liberty bell," that comes from the abolitionists who adopted the bell as their antislavery symbol in the 1830s. the woman's suffrage used the bell as it's symbol, too. from 1885 to 1915, the liberty bell traveled around the country to expositions and fairs and to mark d-day in 1944. the mayor of philadelphia sounded the bell using a rubber mallet. today the liberty bell stands as a silent symbol as a promise of america -- liberty and justice for all. ahead, hard at work. ♪ ♪ (announcer) answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. >> it's the largest passenger ship ever wrecked, so how are they going to raze it? go aboard the "coasta >> san francisco's new bay bridge opens on tuesday. thousands of workers hefted the tools of their trade to make it happen, and moving among them, over the years, man whose only toll was a camera. on this labor day eve, john blackstone tells us about a labor of love. >> the photographs capture soaring views from near the top of the new bridge atop san francisco bay. but more often the photographer focused his lens on the workers building the bridge. joe blum, now 72, has been documenting the construction for 15 years. >> i joke with people i was a young man when i came out here, when i started on this project. let's go. >> his age never seemed to get in his way as he maneuvered on scaffolding, catwalks and cables hundreds of feet in the air. >> i think it's kept me young. i think the exercise is great. you know, the camera bag, when i bring it out fully loaded is 25 or 30 pounds, and i do a lot of walking, sometimes uphill walking, a lot of climbing up and down the scaffolding. >> he took photographs as workers hammered bolts and wrestled with iron to create the elegant bridge suspended from a single 525 foot high tower, but as impressive as the structure, is it's the workers that blum wants us to see. >> the engineers get credit, the designers and architects, they know how to get in front of the camera and talk about themselves. these guys do not at all. and they're the ones who are taking the plans, the designs, the prints and turning it into a living structure of steel and concretement now they've taken those towers down with with thermal torches. >> blum's admiration of iron workers grows from his own experience. he worked as a boilermaker and welder in san francisco's shipyards for 25 years. >> how you been? >> how are you, my friend? >> what skills do the people who build this bridge have? >> obviously you have to be fearless in a certain way. you have to be strong. you have to have stamina, and i think you have to have a certain mental and emotional toughness to go out there. >> blum admired the bridge workers. but how did they feel about him? ironworker steve batiste, jerry cabala and ed meyer. >> there's been a lot of photographers out there. we really don't care too much about them because they come out with a different attitude, almost treat us like animals in a zoo, oh, let's take a picture. >> when he first started out, we were probably pushing him out of the way. he would get right in there and try the take the best shots of us working. >> you could tell early on that joe was taking pictures of us, these guys, and the struggles we have every day. >> in some of those photos, you have people on platforms that seem to be hanging in midair. >> yes, when i first saw, that i was quite amazed to see them working off of floats. they were floats. they throw these floats over the side and climb over the side, being tied off with their fall protection, but getting out there. yes, i have pictures of men swinging a hammer off of these floats in which you would not believe something handing on this thing and hitting something with an eight-hound beeter. it's almost like a trapeze going back and forecast. >> the new bridge, the eastern span of the san francisco-oakland bay bridge, replaces a structure built in the 1930s. >> i often try to get the old bridge in the background of my photograph, and somebody said to me, why do you want that ugly structure in the background. i don't see that... i see that as a beautiful structure mple it was built with the technology and the understanding that they had at that time. >> blum's photos echo those taken in the 1930s by life magazine trafer peter stackpole. an exhibit of stackpole's photos at the oakland museum of california celebrates the old bridge and the workers who built it. >> can you imagine that 75 years from now people will be looking at your photographs and the way they now look at stackpole's? >> i can hope. thank you for coming. >> blum may not have to wait for that recognition. >> look at you. oh, my god, you're like famous photographer. >> i don't know about that. >> the san francisco arts commission opened a show of blum's bridge photos at city hall. >> next to me is the man of the evening, joe blum. [cheering and applause] >> on the exhibit's opening night, many bridge workers came to see how blum saw them. >> that's a good one. >> fabulous. >> ironworker tony costas came to look at himself in one of the show's soaring photos. general superintendent jerry kent wanted to see a picture of his son, ironworker aaron kent. >> yeah, i want to say one sentence, thanks to everybody for coming and... it's about these guys. you have no idea how hard and dedicated it is to do that work no matter what the conditions. there were days they worked 12, 14, 16 hours a day, and it was an honor to be able to shoot themmen [cheering and applause] >> for years blum simply collected the photos and sorted out his favorites. it was truly a labor of love. nobody paid him to do the work. his only income was social security and a small pension from his days as a boilermaker. now he is selling his photos, sometimes for little more than the cost of printing them. his reward for 15 years of hard work ---hey, guys, how you doing in >> is winning the respect of the workers he photographed. >> we knew early on that he was always going to be our advocate. we could see it in his eyes and we could see it through the lens of his camera and the images that he took. i'm here to say the greatest honor i ever had in my career was being labeled a journeyman bridgeman. i think joe deserves to be called bridgeman photographer. >> still to come... >> this is it. this is that place. >> an encore for arsenio. but just ahead... >> now state of anger. >> a different sort of role for tim robbins. ,,,,,,,,,,,, >> making a new friends, huh? >> i wouldn't say "friends." i'm a convicted murderer who provides sound financial plans. >> it's "sunday morning" on cbs and here again is charles osgood. >> that's tim robbins along with morgan freeman and james whitmore in the 1994 film "the shawshank redemption," a disturning story of life behind bars. now robbins is working behind bars again, not as an actor, but as a mentor. serena altschul joins him for some questions and answers. >> a state of happiness. allow it in. >> this is an acting class. >> urgency, urgency. get away from it, whatever it is. >> but not just any acting class. >> now a state of anger. >> the inmates at this medium-security prison in orco, california, are serving time for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to murder. >> i want you to point to the part of your body where the state of happiness exists the most. okay? okay. one of their coaches, academy award-winning actor tim robbins. >> it creates this place, particularly important in prison, where people can step outside of what's expected of them and try to explore new emotions, create new realities, create new truths for themselves share this emotion with everybody in the room. >> the project, now in its seventh year, is funded by the actors' gang. >> i'm most at home here. >> really? which robbins and some acting friends founded in 1981. >> what do you say to the people who say, prison isn't supposed to be about having a good time? >> it's not a good time. it's tough work they're doing. allow that sadness to spread into another part of your body. what we're asking them to do they haven't been asked to do before. they're actually putting on make-up and putting on costumes. >> i've never been i guess happy to tell another man in prison that i put make-up on. >> for yousef, putting on make-up was liberating. >> we can always say, we were just acting. that's not really me. but the truth is, this is us. i mean, we're not all bad people. >> together. >> yoshi put it this way. >> a lot of people are afraid to show that they can be sad or that they can be happy. they got to have this mad mug all the time. >> or as one of the guys said, i didn't realize it until i took this class that i've been wearing mask in the yard for the last eight years. >> why did you do it? >> i'm innocent, just like everybody else here. >> tim robbins' first experience of prison was playing andy dufresne in she "shawshank redemption," one of the most beloved and acclaimed films of all times. >> i spent some time in solitary to prepare for shawshank. i asked to be locked up. it gives you a very good idea of what that isolation is and what the loneliness of it is. >> there's something inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch. it's yours. >> what are you talking about? >> hope. >> everybody who comes up to you on the street must always want to talk about shawshank. >> yeah, it's up there, yeah. >> also up there, "the player." >> this piece of [bleeped] idea will blow up in both their faces, and then i will step in and save the day. >> and "mystic river." >> you took me on a four-day ride. it buried me. >> that role earned him an oscar in 2004. >> do you think i need a nickname? i think i need a nickname. we're talking about it. all the great ones have nicknames like oil can, catfish. what is one you were... >> pokey. >> what do you think of pokey? >> you got three minutes. >> and who can forget "bull durham" and the talented but loopy character and susan sure ran door. >> it was blast. i met susan, had kids with her. it was a real great experience. >> the couple split in 2009. >> every time i mention to someone that i'm doing the interview with you, they always say, you know, you guys were kind of the model couple, you know, the activism, the films, that partnership for 23 years. what happened? >> not going to go there. >> no? >> it's just something they've never done and i don't see any reason to do it now. >> nope, he's not going there. he'd much rather talk about his other prison project, "dead man walking." >> i'm going to die. >> the truth has made you free. >> which robbins wrote and directed and for whicher is random, playing sister helen, won the best actress oscar in 1996. >> look, i want the last thing you see in this world to be the face of love. look at me. look at me. >> "dead man walking" is now a play, also written by tim robbins. >> dead man walking. >> at the behest of the real sister helen prejean. >> i said, tim, if we have play, every time the play's done, they are going to be thinking about this and talking about it. he said, oh, well, i don't know. >> that's your imitation of me? oh, oh. >> i don't know about that. it took a while, and remember,er was at your house, and you said, i got something for you. >> it's all part of a lifetime of political activism, something he learned from his parents. >> they were very committed socially, made sure that their children knew what was going on in the world. ♪ michael row the boat ashore hallelujah ♪ >> tim robbins' father played folk music in the '60s and later turned down a big job as a record company executive to keep playing his music. >> he said, you know, maybe i should have done that job, and i said, dad, if you had done that job, i would not have had the vocabulary to make the choices that i made in my life. listen, if it works out, no one will be happier than me. >> and don't worry, tim robbins hasn't given up his day job. a new movie, "thanks for sharing," opens this month. >> hey! >> but for now he's following his passion at the prison in or co, california, where an audience gathered on graduation day. >> isabella, i love you. i have no money but i have chicken mcnuggets. >> my biggest fear today, i'm not going to lie, was showing up. >> for yasidro, there's no doubt that the eight-week course changed his outlook and his life. >> yesterday i got a letter from my wife and my children, hane they're actually thanking me for the happiness that they see in the visits these last months, and she put on there, thank you for going to church. thank you for going to school, and she said, and thank you for going to acting class. so i want to let you guys know that all three are on the same level. so i want to let you know that this works if you work it. >> more than 300 inmates have taken the class, and in a state where more than 60% of inmates return to prison after they get out, robbins says... >> no one that has gone through the program has come back to prison that we're aware of. >> interact and share with the audience. >> people are going to get out of prison, whether you like it or not. i would think a smart society would want people with better tools than they had going in. >> and the end. [applause] >> next... remembering gus. fby eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on. sthat is why i'm through thed moon to present our latest innovation, tempur choice. it features an adjustable support system that can be personalized with a touch of a button. so both of you can get the best sleep possible...together. goodnight love chickens. ...excuse my english, love birds.. a blt with best foods is the best. ♪ ♪ bring out the unmistakable taste that can only be best foods. bring out the best. you're doing great, honey.oods. why is that guy honking at me? introducing huggies mommy answers. the best advice in one place. from the brand new moms trust. >> it happened this week, the passing of a polar bear who became an urban legend. there was just something about gus, who arrived in new york city from toledo, ohio, at the ripe old age of three, sporting his white fur coat, gus took up residence at the central park zoo on fashionable fifth avenue. but soon afterwards he began acting a bit strange. gus became an obsessive swimmer, swimming laps in his pool for up to 12 hours a day without stopping. his handlers were worried as our bill geist reported back in 1995. >> it was more than a bad fur day. something was wrong. >> psychotherapist tim desmond was called in for a diagnosis. >> we looked at it as symptomatic of a general deficit of a sensory and behavioral opportunities for that animal. >> translation: gus was bored. steps were taken. for example, now gus had to work for his supper, and soon he became his old self again. but recently zoo handlers noticed a new change in gus. he had trouble chewing and turned his nose up at food. a check-up revealed the problem, a large, inoperable tumor. this past week gus the polar bear was euthanized. he was 27 years old. so aford farewell to gus, who taught us that hard work can be healing. ahead... >> he sort of became the howard hughes o,,,,,, female narrator: through monday, get three years through monday, get three years interest-free financing and save up to $400 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get three years interest-free financing on serta icomfort and tempur-pedic, but this special financing offer ends labor day at sleep train. >> three years after his death, j.d. salinger, the author of the coming-of-age classic "the catcher in the rye," is getting the attention he so ardently shunned the last few years of his life. what was he doing at his new hampshire hideaway? writing, of course. but as anthony mason explains, new details are emerging that shed some light on this mystery man. >> j.d. salinger's novel "the catcher in the rye" made him a literary sensation. but the author famously recoiled from fame. >> he turned his back on celebrity before celebrity was celebrity. >> filmmaker shane sew lair know went looking for the man who created holden caufield, the cynical teenager expelled from prep school who became, as one critic put it, "america's best-known literary truant since huckleberry finn." >> the publication of "the catcher in the rye" in 1951 was a revolution. there had not been a voice like that. >> when you're a kid and you read "catcher in the rye," you're like, oh, my god, somebody gets it. >> the new documentary "salinger" tracks the author's success. >> "catcher in the rye" has sold 60 million copy, an unprecedented number. >> and salinger's retreat to a wooded compound in new hampshire. >> i've heard that he has a huge bunker. >> where for more than half a century he declined interviews and shunned photographers. >> there would be long stretches of time where he wouldn't come out of the bunker at all. >> he sort of became the howard hughes of his day. >> a 40-year-old screenwriter known for action films, solnero became fascinated by the salinger myth. >> this is a photo we uncovered of j.d. salinger in 1968 on his bed in his bedroom. this is what it looked like when we got it originally, and this shows you the length at which we would have to go to to bring things back the life sometimes. >> he spent two million dollars of his own money to make the film. >> i was just hooked. i was compelled, and i began what was a nine-year detective story. >> but salinger was protected by a code of silence his friends refused to break. >> i didn't want to talk about it because he... i knew he didn't want me to talk about it. >> jean miller's story is one of those solnero uncovered. >> you didn't talk about him for about 60 years. >> i know. i know. >> were you worried about it being a betrayal somehow? >> yes, i was. certainly when he was alive. >> but after salinger died in 2010 at the age of 91, miller agreed to talk. how did you meet exactly? >> i was sitting at a pool, and i was reading "wuthering heights," and he said, "how is heathcliff?" >> we were in daytona beach. >> it was at the daytona beach sheraton. miller was 13, salinger was 30. >> what did you do together? >> we walked on the beach every afternoon. >> what did you mother think of this? >> well, exactly. >> for the next five years, during the time salinger wrote and published "the catcher in the rye," he met frequently with miller and sent her dozens of letters. >> he wanted you to go below the surface of your life. jerry salinger would say to me, a young girl, "do you believe in god?" >> and no adult had ever talked to you like that before. >> no adult had ever talked to me like that. not only, that no adult ever listened to me. >> what do you think he was attracted to? >> my innocence, my guilelessness. >> salinger never spoke about his service in world war ii with miller. >> this is the supreme moment of invasion. >> but on d-day he landed at utah beach, later saw action during the battle of the bulge and visited a nazi death camp. >> world war ii is the ghost in the machine of all of j.d. salinger's stories. >> salinger was hospitalized for battle fatigue. solnero believes he never really recovered. >> it's fascinating because world world war ii made him as an artist and broke him as man. >> the author's last published work appeared in "the new yorker" in 1965. >> i've heard he has his man scripts locked in a safe. >> but the documentary and a companion book assert salinger was, in fact, writing all those years since and that he left major new works to be published beginning in 2015, including new material expanding on the story of "the catcher in the rye's" holden caufield. after five years, jean miller's relationship with j.d. salinger ended the day after she made love with him for the first time. >> and i saw this glass curtain come down, just come down, and i just knew it was all over. >> she would see him fleetingly only one more time. >> he once said to me, "if you ever lose track of me, just read my stories." >> now it appears the reclusive author has made sure we'll be keeping track of him for some time to come. >> next, pencils, looking sharp. , >> when it comes to back-to-school supplies, one item never goes out of style. pencils are still looking sharp. mo rocca gets right to the point. ♪ ♪ >> any self-respecting school kid knows what it takes to get the job done. >> to get ready for her spelling lesson, susan makes sure she has a pencil that has a good, sharp point. >> so you just want this pilot refreshed? >> sure. >> but david reese is no kid. >> this is how they would have sharpened pencils, you know, 110 years ago. >> he's a professional pencil sharpener. it's a bit of a stubby point. >> yeah. >> okay. so you're going to use it. so you don't need protective tubing. >> no. >> okay. i've done them as wedding gift, anniversary gift, graduation gifts. some people keep them on their desk as a reminder to do their best work. >> the author of a book on how the sharpen pencils... >> i am what you call "first in field." >> ...reese has been leading pencil-sharpening workshops across the country. >> i sharpen pencil, and i'm pretty good at it. >> for $35, he'll sharpen your pencil, bag the shavings, cap the point with rubber and sheath the pencil in a shatter-proof display today to ensure safe delivery from his bee -- beacon, new york, studio. he even includes a certificate. if it all seems like a joke, well, consider this: he's sharpened over 1,500 pencils. >> listen, i love jokes and i love to have a good time. if it was a joke, i wouldn't have taken it this far. >> it's a nice bit of attention for an implement that doesn't get much ink. >> when you consider a number-two pencil as an engineered communication device, it is still really efficient and really elegant. >> right. >> and if steve jobs had been the one to introduce it, people would be going crazy about what a sophisticated and simple tool it is. >> in chapel hill, north carolina, reese took us to the prealgebra classroom where he got up so often to use the sharpener, wall-mounted, double bird, wall cranked. >> we can go and go and go, and i can keep making jokes. >> he got in trouble for it. >> it's not as easy as you may remember. it's actually harder than i remember to hold it. >> you got to let the pencil know who is boss. >> if the food isn't perfectly straight and the lead perfectly centered... >> this is very annoying when this happens. >> yeah, right. yeah. >> then the point may not be on point. >> there's a lot of wood on this side and then as we rotate the pencil, you see that on this side there's more graphite exposed. >> that's right, he said graphite, not lead. >> this is what happened. in around 1565 in england, shepherds discovered the world's first deposit of naturally occurring graphite, and they started using it to mark their sheeps. this was just raw chunks of graphite. and initially they thought it was lead. and so as they came to bind this graphite if wood to make it manufacture usable so it wouldn't crumble, they just continued to call it lead, pencil lead, and we never shook the terminology. but the modern pencil, going back 500 years, has never had lead in it. so you can just stab yourself all day and you'll never get lead poisoning. >> it's embarrassing how little we know about the pencil. >> blew is put in the grooves. and then the graphite cores are laid in the grooves. and then glue is put on the top, and it is like a sandwich. >> it's a pencil sandwich. >> right. exactly. >> at if muss grave pencil factory in shelbyville, tennessee, once known as pencil city, u.s.a., they still make pencils the way henry's grandfather did. >> just lay it in the groove. >> how many different colors? >> oh, gosh, we paint at least 80 different colors. >> wow. those are purple. and so many different designs. >> then you have excited kindergartners. >> excited kindergartners. this pencil will make a kindergartner really excited. >> absolutely. they're going to see this and say, oh, boy. >> do people who work at pencil factories go around saying, we're number two, we're number two? [laughter] hewlett is the ultimate pencil pusher. would you ever write a love letter in pencil? >> i've wrote a lot of love letters in pencil. >> was that because you thought you'd change your mind? >> oh, no, no. i'm a pencil lover. >> he's not the only one. last year domestic sales of pencils were up 13%. it's really sharp. >> it is very sharp. >> i mean, it's really space needle sharp. to keep pace, david reese had better get the lead out. >> the other day someone wanted me to come out and do something one night, and i said, i can't, i have too many pencils to sharpen. that's a phrase i never thought i would say. >> why did you leave? why did you walk away back then? >> coming up, arsenio hall talks the talk. and your favorite songs always playing. [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't. let's go places, safely. when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one non-drowsy claritin every day during your allergy season for continuous relief. 18 days! 17 days! 22 days of continuous relief. live claritin clear. every day. goglossophobia, is the fear of public speaking. ♪ ♪ the only thing we have to fear is... fear itself. ♪ ♪ >> who would have won if you taught this man in your prime? >> it's "sunday morning" on cbs, and here again is charles osgood. >> fighting words from arsenio hall, muahmmed ali, mike tyson and sugar ray leonard. after a break, hall is picking up where he left off, on late night tv. lee cowan has our story about a man who has been there, done that and is ready to do it again. >> as pop culture goes, bill clinton blowing the sax is an olddy but a goody. while it's oh, so nice, it's fitting that it took place on a show that embodied '90s cool. arsenio hall. >> good to see a democrat blowing something other than the election. >> with his flat top haircut, his flashy suits and his fist pump that pumped up the audience -- >> have a seat, let's have some fun. >> -- arsenio hall made late night hip. it may have looked like a talk show, but it felt more like a party. >> call your friends. oprah's on. >> you got to smile so bright. >> on his peak, he was on the cover of "time" magazine and he was a contender for the late night crown, but in 1994, arsenio gave it all up, leaving it to leno and letterman instead. >> so why did you leave? why did you walk away back then? >> when you have that feeling of there's something else for me to do and this is occupying your life 24/7, wrong or right you need to go. i would have a piece of pizza, and i could see his hair getting gray while i was chewing, and i realized, that's nbc, that's late night. that's the stress. >> he walked away with millions, and he found what he was missing, a personal life. in 1999 he had a son, arsenio, jr. his world became that of a single parent, and he happily chose fatherhood over fame. >> if i'm supposed to work, if i'm supposed to have opportunities, when the moment in my life dictates that it's time, i'm supposed to have it, it will come to me. >> that moment came last year with an inhave invitation from d trump to appear on nbc's "celebrity apprentice." >> i have lived the life of the apprentice. i just need the title now. >> arsenio not only accepted. he won. >> arsenio hall. >> he was back in america's living rooms, back on hollywood's radar, and we found him back on the comedy circuit, too. >> [inaudible] >> i mean, it felt good. you know, when it's right, then you want to come back tomorrow. when it's wrong, you want to go home and just cry. >> if it all sounds like a comeback, it is. arsenio is back. and he's bringing the party with him. >> starting next week, arsenio gets his own late-night show again. >> this is it. this is that place. i can't wait to muse. >> he knows what some folks are thinking, that this is the desperate attempt of a 57-year-old man to recapture his glory days. that would be foolish, he says, but he is sticking to his tried and true formula. >> you'll be there. >> am i the first to sit on the couch. >> you will be first except i brought my girl here late last night. you might want to sit over. there i'm kidding, i'm kidding! i'm kidding. >> his new set looks a lot like his old one. there's no desk, just some comfy furniture. >> you always used to do the thing where you'd sit with your legs out like this and lean in. that was like your stance. >> lean in. >> when bill clinton is talking to me about inhaling and jennifer flowers... it's hard to think that you inner at some point said, who is jennifer, you know, who the hell is she, and it's like, i mean... >> i know who she system i know who she is. >> it's all he ever wanted, growing up a latch key kid in cleveland, arsenio's escape was tv, especially talk shows. >> i was watching anybody that talks. i knew what i wanted to do. >> johnny carson, flip wilson, even dinah shore, they were all his hero, but entertainment wasn't the family business. his father was a baptist preacher. and so was just about everyone around him. >> everybody was a preacher. my does brian is a preacher. my uncle fraser is a preacher. my other uncle is a preacher. my dad was a preacher. his best friend was a preacherren everybody in my family preaches. >> so how did you go to that from this? >> i remember my dad saying, do you want to sit in the pulpit with me today? that sunday i sat behind him, which is a whole different pov. i was hooked that day. >> you like the eyeballs on you. >> yeah. and i like my dad doing what he did with just a glass of water and handkerchief. >> by the time he started doing stand-up, he too could work a room with nothing but a glass of water. >> you know what i'm talking about, good preachers that preach and get to the point. you don't even know what they're saying but you know they preaching. jesus, a cross on his back, say lord... >> but soon he was working with much more. >> i want to tear you apart, and your friend, too. >> he starred with best friend eddie murphy in "coming to america" and "harlem nights," but his goal was still "the tonight show," not just to be on with johnny, but to be johnny. one day, while working on the nbc lot in burbank, he snuck on the a dark tonight show set just for taste. >> i looked around, i didn't see anybody. so i went and sat at johnny's desk. i pulled the canvas off. >> off the chair? >> off the whole desk. it was a big ode beige cam vas. i threw it in front of the desk. >> and you sat in his chair? >> this is true psycho time. this is a kid who is dreaming a little too hard. >> a dream indeed. no african american had ever been give an late-night talk show. in 1989 when he was tapped to be first, the expectations, he says, were almost too much to bear. >> a white person successful in this town can focus in white culture, in white life, in white things and never even care about the rise -- riots in south central or what's on the jay-z c.d. and succeed. i have to know what jay knows. jay don't have to give a damn about what i do and who i do it with. >> you said once, the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was the fact that nobody thought i would succeed. >> absolutely. >> why was that lucky? >> it forced me to work harder. it forced me to figure some things out. but it made me creative. >> he did guests who weren't on the other shows. he gave magic johnson his first platform to talk about aids. >> they think it can only happen to gay people. that's so wrong. >> he gave mariah carey her late night debut. ♪ you treated me kind >> he even brought on nation of islam leader lewis farrakhan. >> respond to those three words, "new black hitler." >> i should dismiss it. >> while critics come -- complained that he fawned over his guests, young viewers found him approachable and the ratings were hard to ignore. >> how you all doing? thank you. have a seat. enjoy yourself. yes. >> he knows the tv landscape is decidedly different these days. a lot more crowded and he's a lot older, but he's willing to try anything. >> you know what's feeling really good? the tall caucasian co-host standing next to you. i'm feeling an andy richter need right now. >> after all these years, arsenio hall knows how the spin even his admitted nervousness into a few good one liners. >> and here's the deal, if it don't work, i'll say it was a special. >> i finally turned and shoutedded "shut up." ahead, silence is golden. serving you, the american people. so we improved priority mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to $50 all for the same low rate. 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[ male announcer ] and our priority is you. fby eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on. nascar is about excitement. but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family. >> this morning our critic david end lstein tackles a hot button topic relevant no matter what movie you're going to see. >> last week i had an experience maybe you have all the time, but i'm still fighting mad. i was watching a movie there a theater and two people in back of me would not stop talking. just low enough to keep everyone from turning on them, but loud enough to brake the spell. >> time to turn off your cell phone. that means no talking. >> it's that kill that's caused by someone talking or texting so your eye is always being stabbed by little lights. >> don't talk or text during the movie. okay. some big dumb movies are dumb to talk at. i myself yelled at the characters in "white house down" -- moron, run! but this film was subtler. people asked the couple to be quiet, but on they went, and no one wanted to make a scene. after an hour of doing yoga breathing exercises to stay calm, i finally turned and shouted, "shut up." and the woman said, "you shut up" and i threw a fit. no matter how in the right you are, you never look good throwing a fit. where was the usher, the theater manager? beats me. i get e-mails all the time from people who say they don't go to the cinema anymore. it's not just the crazy ticket prices. they can't take their fellow audience members. so they buy giant tvs and wait for the dvd or watch the increasing number of movies on pay-per-view cable. there is a larger question: why is this an epidemic? my hunch is our culture has become so private, meaning people spend so much time watching thing on computers and interacting via so-called social media they forgot how to act in public. but that's academic. what about now? we can't all turn vigilante, so we're dependent on the people who run the theaters. the alamo draft house in austin, texas, has the right idea. they throw people out for texting or talking. in 2011, they made an example of a texter who left them an indignant voice message. >> i didn't know i wasn't supposed to text in your little [bleeped] theater, so excuse me for using my phone in u.s.a., the united states of america, where you are free to text in a theater. >> they are my heroes. most other places, you're on your own. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. wherever your sutwist the ride... ♪ holiday road twist you can't . >> here's a look at the week ahead on sunday morning calendar. monday, renowned poet seamus haney will be laid to rest in northern ireland where he was born. he died friday at the age of 74, on tuesday, happy 90th birthday to mort walker, who created beetle bailey 63 years ago, making it one of the oldest comic strips still being produced by its original creator. wednesday we'll see change at the top of the f.b.i. director robert mueller steps down after 12 years. former deputy attorney general james comey takes over. thursday finds president obama at the opening of the g-20 summit of world leaders in st. petersburg, russia. friday former new england patriots tight end aaron hernandez will be arraigned on a first-degree murder charge in the death in june of an an acquaint odin lloyd. and on saturday, the 2013 america's cup yacht races get under way in san francisco. it is labor day weekend. summer is drawing to a close. good time to catch up on the mail. first off, we received some e-mails and letters about the fact that during summer months we rerun some of our favorite stories. we do that because it's a way for us to allow our hard-working editors and producers and the rest of us some well-deserved vacation time, and it's a way for our viewers, who may have missed a story first time aroune of best work from fro from judh directioner the in walnut creek, 20 miles north of the golden gate bridge, asking to see more women of substance in our sunday morning calendar. she also points out that she used to have to awake at 5:45 a.m. to catch sunday morning, but now she can ease into her day by recording our broadcast. and 12-year-old delaney halberg wrote from stowe, massachusetts, to say her whole family loves sunday morning and she has some personal questions she would like to ask me. delaney says her favorite color is yellow and she wants to know mine. it's blue, delaney. i think this is blue. she also wants to know my favorite food. she likes corn dogs. i'm partial to fried clams, delaney, especially the ones from ipswich. last of all, in her letter, delaney promises to keep my answers just between us. i won't go to the paparazzi or anything, she assures me. much appreciated, delaney, and i hope you have a good summer. and if you have an observation or a question you would like the send our way, drop us a card or send along an e-mail. we're always happy to hear from you. bob schieffer is off this weekend, so we go back to major garrett in washington for a look at what's ahead on "face the nation." >> the topic is syria. john kerry will be here as well as john mccain, senator from arizona. >> thank you, major garrett. next week on "sunday morning"... >> this one i think is my favorite. >> laughing matters. >> it actually just says sex. >> i love it. >> we talk with billy crystal. >> what are you trying to make? >> i'm trying to make -- are you recording this? look, it has instructions. can you read them? ♪ >> we leave you this sunday morning in the company of some dogged prairie dogs at south dakota's wind cave national park. i'm charles osgood. please join us again next "sunday morning." until then i'll see you on the radio. ,,,,,,,, >> major: today on "face the nation," president obama says he's decided to attack syria for using chemical weapons. but now says congress must authorize the attack first. >> this will not be an open-ended intervention. we will not put boots on the ground. here's my question for every member of congress and every member of the groabl community: what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price. >> major: will a divided congress agree to a middle east war. secretary of state john kerry will be here to make the president's case. then we'll talk to three key senators, including arizona republican john mccain, plus georgia republican saxby chambliss, and virginia democrat tim kaine. and we'll get the latest from syria's capital of damascus with elizabeth palmer. it's all ahead on "face the nation." 7