Almost my Hero

There are some more graduations going on this weekend which reminded me there was one ceremony I wouldn't have missed for the world, and this is going to take quite a build up to get to. Fasten your patience belt.

I don't have idols, and however unlikely the odds, I don't ever want to be one. To quote myself, "idolatry kills creativity. If you think somebody is better than you, why try?"

What I do have are role models, unintentional mentors, people whose skills I admire, people who've built their successful careers around copying me (KIDDING).

It would rankle me to hear someone comment, " you write just like, who is it, Faulkner?" "Uh, Uh," would be my retort. You'd think one must feel honored by such a comparison, but not me and hopefully not you. More than one person commented over time saying many of my on-air pieces were just like Jeanne Moos on CNN. "UH,UH. " For the record Faulkner was too instrospective for me, but I really like the work of Jeanne Moos. I also like the work of one of her colleagues, Bruce Burkhardt. He does those environmental stories which I think is a shame. When I worked with him, Bruce was the master of the tongue in cheek feature story. I notice they only let him do those once in a while now. He did a classic three camera shoot story about a squirrel stealing the same brand of candy bar out of a vending machine every day. You had to be there.

What I like about Bruce and Jeanne Moos is what I like about the work of a reporter whose name I can't remember and who may still be working in San Francisco, who did a story about two women who worked ten feet apart from each other and had never spoken to each other. I also put them in a catergory (sorry) with that Canadian guy, "The Nature Nut."  They all have some behaviors in common that it's almost a sin to enumerate. Enumerating them makes their styles sound like they came from a formula. That is not the case. But here goes the enumeration anyway.

ONE, they always do their homework, TWO, they are always orginal, THREE, while their personalities are evident, the stories are never about them, FOUR, they are great story tellers, FIVE, they are rib splitting funny, SIX, they see the irony in our lives, SEVEN, they are comfortably irreverant, and FINALLY, they don't approach every story like it's the prelude to Armageddon. I don't know who influenced them, but I'll bet we have some common unintentional mentors. Let's see, Moliere, Shakespeare, GeorgeBernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Will Rogers, P.G. Wodehouse, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Chevy Chase, and Feodor Dostoyevsky (KIDDING AGAIN).

But THIS is no joke. I'll darn near guarantee you they'll all tell you they were in some way influenced by Charles Kuralt. I miss him and wish they would honor him at the level they do Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and Huntley and Brinkley. They all came out of the world of print journalism, but in my way of thinkin' Kuralt was the only one to understand TV. If your too young to remember him, get down to the video store and find some of his "On the Road" tapes.

With all his talent Charles Kuralt was too human to be a hero, and that humanity is what endeared him to millions. After he died we found out just how human he was, and his double life got mixed reviews. But those revelations didn't dampen my enthusiam or admiration. (there's always more to those stories than the tabloid rendition.)

So graduation, right? I did my usual yawning when I'm told I'm going to be covering one back in the 90's(sounds like history). But my mood changed when I glanced at the program and saw that Charles Kuralt was going to be an honored guest. Here's another thing I'd admired about him. He was bright enough not to be the graduation speaker. He was just there to receive an honorary Doctorate.

So here I am Mr. Graduation Ceremony Hater screaming at the photographer (not a good practice by the way)," Let's get going. Come on!" 

Well when we arrive I flash my credentials all over the place trying to line up a one on one interview with Kuralt before the ceremony. I'm thinking I'm going to have to work my way through a sea of advance people, and security. But I should have known better. He's just standing there uncomfortably putting his ritual garb on, acting human. I'll paraprhase the conversation.

"Mr. Kuralt?"

"I'd be more comfortable if you called me Charles."

"You got it. Can we talk to you on tape after the ceremony?"

"Not a problem. I'll meet you here. Am I wearing this thing right? "

He picked the wrong source for that research.

Another thing I really liked about him was all through the ceremony he looked really uncomfortable.

So we hook up after the hoopla as he is tugging in all directions to speed up the academic dis-robing. He get's down to his shirt andtie and says, "Let's get out of here, I need a cigarette." What would you expect, he was from North Carolina. 

Well anyhow we find a nice little piece of shade and he pulls out his filterless Pall Malls. I smoked in those days and grabbed my sissy Merit 100's. We do a little shop talk, and moan about the heat and graduation ceremonies and this woman of likely 65 years on the planet, appears from around a tree. She sees her hero, (its okay for her) and blurts out, "it's you."

"Yes maam,"he replies in that golden voice.

Then the lady adds, "You're smoking. I can't believe it. Charles Kuralt is smoking. You must know its bad for you."

Well worse men would have shrunk from the attack, not Charles. He was once again humanly eloquent.

"Yes maam, I do know it's bad for me. But it's my choice. I am a smoker, and not just a smoker, I am an enthusiastic smoker. I like smoking. I smoke every chance I get."

And he did it all with this warm subduing smile. The lady had nothing more to say. She melted. It was over. All she could get out was something like, " it was nice meeting you."

So anyway I slept through most graduations, but not that one. Like most major market journalists I've had contact with hundreds of people you've heard about, but talking to and having a smoke with Charles Kuralt is the only high profile interveiw I cared about.  Maybe some day somebody will say, "you know Paul, you write like Charles Kuralt."  And you know what? That would be okay.  You can say that.