When I thought about it, I knew in my gut that Barbara Walters was getting on in age but -- like most of you -- I was still both surprised and saddened to read of her passing on Dec 30th at age 93.
It recalled memories from ~40 yrs ago when I was directing "20/20" --
before Barbara arrived on the scene to share hosting duties with the gentlemanly
Hugh Downs. That was after she was hired away from NBC News at the
princely sum of $1,000,000 (unheard of) to anchor the ABC evening news with Harry Reasoner. That didn't go well. So 20/20 inherited Barbara; the Queen
Bee arrived and life changed.
New office arrangements had to be made, bla, bla, bla and so forth and so
on & Hugh had to make a few adjustments.
I had the "pleasure" of working with Ms. Walters a few times during my time
on "20/20" but the one I remember most was her interview with Richard
Nixon. Nixon had agreed to an interview, but only if it was live. He didn't want
anyone editing his words. No problem for me as I had come off of Good Morning
America and was used to going live but the "20/20" staff was not as sanguine
about the idea. Naturally tensions were higher as "20/20" was really a recorded
magazine type program.
A separate area of our set was arranged for the one-on-one interview,
lighting and camera shots were set. We timed moving cameras from the "20/20"
positions to the interview area; no need for more cameras (cameras were made to
move, after all). And so 20/20 went on the air, live with Hugh at the anchor
spot; Barbara & Tricky Dickey nowhere in sight. The change over occurred
during a commercial break (usually 60 seconds, maybe 120 seconds; I don't
remember) but everything worked smoothly & everyone was in position, lit,
miked and ready to go.
Now we all know Barbara had this knack of asking pointed questions, sweetly
but pointed....like a javelin to the heart. Barbara to Monica Lewinsky: 'What do
you think you will tell your children? Lewinsky: That mommie made a big
mistake.' You get the idea. So, in the back of my brain, I wondered what Barbara
was going to do with Nixon.
Demanding that an interview go live is a two edged sword much like a taped
interview but different. A taped interview is honed down by a producer,
frequently overseen by a lawyer. That could be good or bad. On the other hand, a
live event airs.....well.... live with few controls. Remember Geraldo Rivera's
prime time hunt for Al Capone's safe?
As usual, Barbara had done her meticulous research and the interview
started off pleasantly enough. Nixon was stiff..... as usual... and a bit
arrogant... as usual.... and Barbara asked some good but relatively innocuous
policy questions (for her) to soften him up, to make him feel like he had this
but you just knew that Watergate had to come up. But when?
By the first commercial break, the questions became more personal and that
trend continued through the 2nd break. By the final segment, Nixon was somewhat
uncomfortable, fidgety & a bit argumentative but Barbara smoothed the
waters.
But at 58:00 minutes into the 58:30 minute interview, she pounced.
Barbara: "Are you sorry you didn't burn the tapes?" … "If you had it to do all
over again, you would have burned them?" Nixon: "Yes". And so the interview and
the hour-long program ended. Guess what everyone remembers? Boom! Talk about a
mike drop. That was the magic of Barbara Walters.
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