This week on "Sunday Morning" (October 29)
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)
Hosted by Jane Pauley
WATCH THE FULL OCTOBER 29 BROADCAST!
HEADLINES: Israel's military intensifies shelling of Northern Gaza Strip (Video)
Fireballs lit up the night sky in Gaza over the weekend, as Israel decimated entire neighborhoods with airstrikes while it expanded its ground operation against Hamas. Communication networks in Gaza have been knocked out, cutting people off from each other and the outside world. Correspondent Debora Patta reports.
COVER STORY: Edging into the spotlight - When playing in the background is fame enough | Watch Video
They play in the background, or are called up when the stars aren't available. But sidemen musicians, back-up baseball players and Broadway understudies have things in common: an understanding of the importance of their role and talent, and a humility that allows them to shine even when they're not number one. Correspondent Jim Axelrod talks with Billy Joel sideman Mark Rivera; catcher Erik Kratz, who spent 11 seasons with 14 different major league organizations; and Kayla Pecchioni, whose Broadway performances are often stepping into the shoes of the star.
For more info:
- "Sideman: In Pursuit of the Next Gig" by Mark Rivera (Matt Holt), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Musician Mark Rivera
- "The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game" by Tim Brown with Erik Kratz (Grand Central Publishing), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Writer Tim Brown
- Actress Kayla Pecchioni
- Dimenna Center for Classical Music, New York City
ALMANAC: October 29 (Video)
"Sunday Morning" looks at important historical events on this date.
MOVIES: Barack Obama on restoring the memory of American hero Bayard Rustin | Watch Video
It was strategist Bayard Rustin – a pacifist and gay Black man – who organized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech. But Rustin's role in transforming the civil rights movement has been largely forgotten. "Rustin," a new film directed by George C. Wolfe and produced by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, is an attempt to correct the historical record about a marginalized figure who helped change society. Correspondent Martha Teichner talks with Wolfe and Barack Obama about Rustin's legacy, and what his story means for today's generation.
To watch a trailer for "Rustin" click on the video player below:
For more info:
- "Rustin" is theaters November 3, and streams on Netflix beginning November 17
- Higher Ground Productions
- "Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics," edited by Michael G. Long (NYU Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
NATURE: Going to bat for bats | Watch Video
Texas millionaire David Bamberger was so enamored with the bats he saw at the renowned Bracken Cave Preserve outside San Antonio, and was so concerned about threats to the flying mammals' natural habitat, that in the late 1990s he built the world's largest manmade bat cave on his sprawling ranch near Johnson City. For a long time, no bats showed up. Correspondent Conor Knighton reports on what happened once they did.
For more info:
- Bracken Cave Preserve, San Antonio (Bat Conservation International)
- Selah: Bamberger Ranch Preserve, Johnson City, Texas
PASSAGE: Remembering Matthew Perry and Richard Roundtree (Video)
"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including actors Matthew Perry ("Friends") and Richard Roundtree ("Shaft").
HEADLINES: Maine's mass shooting, and how Americans react (Video)
In Lewiston, Maine, three people were murdered in all of 2022. But in one night this past week, a gunman gave the Lewiston area the sad distinction of being the site of the country's deadliest mass shooting so far this year: 18 murdered, with 13 more injured – husbands, wives, children. Correspondent Lee Cowan looks at how we are responding to the all-too-familiar cycle of gun violence in America.
For more info:
- Emanuel Maidenberg, clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA
- Jennifer Rooks, co-host of "Maine Calling" on Maine Public Radio
HEALTH: Living an intersex life | Watch Video
According to statistics cited by the U.N., .05 to 1.7 percent of the world's population is intersex, defined as having external or internal sexual organs that are not clearly male or female. As a matter of course, doctors in the past performed surgery on babies, ostensibly so that they would live a "normal" life. Correspondent Erin Moriarty talks with Pidgeon Pagonis (who was born looking female on the outside but also with testes and XY chromosomes) about Pagonis' memoir, "Nobody Needs to Know"; with professor Elizabeth Reis, author of "Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex"; and with urologist Dr. Ilene Wong, who believes the medical community has failed intersex patients.
READ AN EXCERPT: "Nobody Needs to Know" by Pidgeon Pagonis
For more info:
- "Nobody Needs to Know: A Memoir" by Pidgeon Pagonis (Topple Books & Little A), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis
- "Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex" (2nd edition) by Elizabeth Reis (Johns Hopkins University Press), in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Elizabeth Reis, professor, Macaulay Honors College, City University of New York
- Urologist Dr. Ilene Wong (I.W. Gregorio)
ON BROADWAY: Barry Manilow on songwriting, fame, and his new Broadway musical, "Harmony" | Watch Video
Over his long career Barry Manilow has earned fifty Top-40 hits, along with a Grammy, a Tony and two Emmys. Today, at 80, he is about to debut his Broadway musical, "Harmony," the true story of a pre-World War II singing group in Germany whose fame was obliterated by the Nazis. Correspondent David Pogue talks with Manilow about his pop career, and his long interest in musical theater.
To watch the cast of "Harmony" perform "Stars in the Night," click on the video player below:
For more info:
- "Harmony: A New Musical" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City | Ticket info
- Barry Manilow (Official site)
"SUNDAY MORNING" MILEPOST: "War of the Worlds"
MIDEAST: Volunteers mobilize to aid Israeli hostage families (Video)
Following the October 7 attack in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 220 were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum was quickly created to assist hostages and their families. Correspondent Seth Doane talks with a few of the 4,000 volunteers mobilizing to help, and with family members anxiously awaiting word about their loved ones held captive.
For more info:
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: So long, Cat! (Video)
We're sad to announce that, after more than 40 years with "Sunday Morning," our editorial producer Cathy Lewis is retiring.
NATURE: Ghosts of the North Woods (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday before Halloween with Great Grey Owls (also known as Ghosts of the North Woods) at Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. Videographer: Judith Lehmberg.
WEB EXCLUSIVES:
FROM THE ARCHIVES: "Sunday Morning" Halloween hauntings III (YouTube Video)
More classic Halloween stories from the "Sunday Morning" archives, including: From 2018, Roxana Saberi visits the Swiss villa where the legend of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" was born; from 2017, Lee Cowan profiles horror film master John Carpenter ("Halloween," "The Thing"); from 1991, Bill Geist attends a Halloween costume trade show; critic David Edelstein offers his pick for the scariest movie of all time; from 2018, Tracy Smith talks with Jordan Peele, director of a new horror classic, "Get Out"; and from 2017, Martha Teichner visits Savannah, Georgia, the "Most Haunted City in the United States," and takes a tour with John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
FROM THE ARCHIVES: "Sunday Morning" Halloween hauntings II (YouTube Video)
More classic Halloween stories from the "Sunday Morning" archives, including: From 2009, Anthony Mason examines the resurgence of zombies in pop culture, with "World War Z" author Max Brooks; from 2005, Mika Brzezinski explores the eternal question of life after death, and tours an exhibit of "spirit photography"; Charles Osgood looks at a Halloween favorite, candy corn; from 2000, Anthony Mason investigates the mysteries behind the death of writer Edgar Allen Poe, and talks with actor John Astin, starring as Poe in a one-man show; from 2006, John Blackstone meets the offspring of horror movie actors Lon Chaney Jr. and Boris Karloff, who talk about growing up with famous monsters; and from 2020, Luke Burbank takes a trip through a COVID-friendly haunted house ride – a spooky drive-thru car wash.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: "Sunday Morning" Halloween hauntings (YouTube Video)
Check out these classic Halloween stories from the "Sunday Morning" archives. Featured: Faith Salie's 2013 history of the spookiest musical instrument, the Theremin; Vicki Mabrey's 1997 story on author Bram Stoker and his creation in 1897 of the vampire Count Dracula; from 1989, Bill Geist offers some neighborhood children valuable tips in "power trick-or-treating"; Martha Teichner's 2004 profile of special effects master Stan Winston (1946-2008), who created fabulous movie monsters for "Aliens," "Jurassic Park," and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"; and from 2011, Tracy Smith explores alleged haunted houses and the craze of ghost hunters on reality TV.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Osage murders and "Killers of the Flower Moon" (YouTube Video)
In the early 20th century, an oil rush in the Osage Nation, located in Oklahoma, produced a torrent of oil revenues for the Native American tribe, making them the richest people per capita in the world. But their wealth invited greed, exploitation and murder on the part of white "guardians" who came to control the Osage's money, and would lead to the first major investigation by the FBI. In this "Sunday Morning" story originally broadcast April 30, 2017, correspondent Lee Cowan talks with David Grann, author of "Killers of the Flower Moon," about the reign of terror against the Osage.
GALLERY: Notable deaths in 2023
A look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.
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