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CNN Live At Daybreak
Blue Whale at Museum of Natural History in NYC Gets Makeover
Aired May 14, 2003 - 05:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In New York, a popular figure has undergone some corrective surgery. You know, an eye job, that all important nose job, as well as some improvements on the rear-end. And let's not forget the naval.
Our Jeanne Moos has details on a whale of a makeover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Name the creature who's recently undergone a nose job, an eye job, a tail tuck and belly button surgery. Is it, A, Michael Jackson; B, Joan Rivers; or C, the blue whale?
The answer, is C, the blue whale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has a belly button.
MOOS: Now it does. The blue whale is perhaps the most beloved occupant of the American Museum of Natural History. Sure, there are more famous whales, from Baby Shamu (ph) to the whale that swallowed Pinocchio to the star of "Free Willy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "FREE WILLY")
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Go, Willy, go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: But the blue whale isn't going anywhere. She's been bolted to the ceiling of the museum for over 30 years. When the Hall of Oceans underwent a major renovation, so did the blue whale. There was a problem with her blow hole.
MELANIE STIASSNY, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Singularly lacking in any anatomical detail. It was just basically a hole punched in the top of the head.
MOOS: Not anymore. Now she has two nostrils and a sort of lip. She also needed an eye job.
STIASSNY: Had huge, goggly, bulging eyes.
MOOS: Perhaps because she was modeled after a dead whale, a carcass. Her eye lid was done in place. Her new eyes are more streamlined. She also had a tail tuck and a paint job. She even has her own billboard in Times Square. Since whales are mammals, she should have had a bellybutton. But since it was inexplicably missing, they added one, an innie as opposed to an outie.
STIASSNY: If you look, if you follow the mid crease -- that one. It's a long way away.
MOOS (on camera): You mean that little tiny dot?
STIASSNY: That belly button that you so readily dismiss as tiny is probably proportionately larger than your own belly button. That would be my guess.
MOOS: That sounds like a dare to me.
STIASSNY: That's a dare.
MOOS (voice-over): At least you don't need binoculars to see mine.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Makeover>
Aired May 14, 2003 - 05:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In New York, a popular figure has undergone some corrective surgery. You know, an eye job, that all important nose job, as well as some improvements on the rear-end. And let's not forget the naval.
Our Jeanne Moos has details on a whale of a makeover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Name the creature who's recently undergone a nose job, an eye job, a tail tuck and belly button surgery. Is it, A, Michael Jackson; B, Joan Rivers; or C, the blue whale?
The answer, is C, the blue whale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has a belly button.
MOOS: Now it does. The blue whale is perhaps the most beloved occupant of the American Museum of Natural History. Sure, there are more famous whales, from Baby Shamu (ph) to the whale that swallowed Pinocchio to the star of "Free Willy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "FREE WILLY")
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Go, Willy, go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: But the blue whale isn't going anywhere. She's been bolted to the ceiling of the museum for over 30 years. When the Hall of Oceans underwent a major renovation, so did the blue whale. There was a problem with her blow hole.
MELANIE STIASSNY, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Singularly lacking in any anatomical detail. It was just basically a hole punched in the top of the head.
MOOS: Not anymore. Now she has two nostrils and a sort of lip. She also needed an eye job.
STIASSNY: Had huge, goggly, bulging eyes.
MOOS: Perhaps because she was modeled after a dead whale, a carcass. Her eye lid was done in place. Her new eyes are more streamlined. She also had a tail tuck and a paint job. She even has her own billboard in Times Square. Since whales are mammals, she should have had a bellybutton. But since it was inexplicably missing, they added one, an innie as opposed to an outie.
STIASSNY: If you look, if you follow the mid crease -- that one. It's a long way away.
MOOS (on camera): You mean that little tiny dot?
STIASSNY: That belly button that you so readily dismiss as tiny is probably proportionately larger than your own belly button. That would be my guess.
MOOS: That sounds like a dare to me.
STIASSNY: That's a dare.
MOOS (voice-over): At least you don't need binoculars to see mine.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Makeover>
