Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Millions Mourning Johnny Carson's Death at Age 79; 'Daily Dose'

Aired January 24, 2005 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news. An audio recording attributed to insurgent leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi ridicules next weekend's Iraqi election. The speaker calls democracy a big lie. He urges Iraqis to rise up against what he calls "crusader harlots" and "rejectionist pigs."
One of Tom Ridge's top deputies at the Department of Homeland Security is following his boss out the door. Asa Hutchinson has made it known that he was disappointed that he was passed over to head the department.

There will be no memorial service for Johnny Carson, at his request. The legendary late-night host died this weekend from emphysema at the age of 79. Jay Leno, his successor at the "Tonight Show," called Carson the gold standard.

And Boston's Logan Airport reopened this morning as the city struggles to get back on its feet. This weekend's blizzard left two to three feet of snow across New England. Temperatures won't break the freezing mark for a week.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush begins his second term, his attorney general goes about the business of stepping down. John Ashcroft is expected to bid staffers at the Department of Justice a fond farewell today. The outgoing attorney general resigned his post last year on Election Day.

Our Kelli Arena spoke with Ashcroft today and asked him about the reasons behind his decision to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I'm leaving because on the day before the election I thought to myself, you know, new leadership, new opportunities to bring the department together, to graduate it to even fuller service in protecting the lives and liberties of Americans would be the right thing. And so when I took my letter of resignation over at noon on Election Day, it was to give the department a breath of new air, fresh air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: You'll want to stay tuned to CNN for Attorney General Ashcroft's farewell remarks. We'll bring those to you later today right here on CNN.

And you can see our Kelli Arena's interview with the outgoing attorney general on CNN tonight.

KAGAN: Well, they're saying we'll never see another like him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY CARSON: You people watching, I can only tell you, it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope I find something I want to do and I think you will like and come back, that you'll be as gracious inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Does it seem like just yesterday? Well, it turns out that was May 22nd, 1992. Johnny Carson bid fans of "The Tonight Show" a fond farewell after tickling and tucking them in for about 30 years. Now millions are mourning his death at age 79.

Lawrence Leamer profiled the revered comedian in the biography "King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson." Leamer joins me now from Palm Beach, Florida, with more on that.

Good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

LAWRENCE LEAMER, BIOGRAPHER: Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: Johnny Carson, truly a man of mystery. So funny, so outgoing, so warm on television, yet everything we hear from his private life, completely different.

LEAMER: No, that's right, that one hour on television, he came alive. That was the authentic Johnny Carson. That was the Johnny Carson that gave us something for those 30 years, a kind of record that no one is ever going to match. We'd laugh. That's what we remember performers for. I mean, Ingrid Bergman cheated on her husband, but she when walks into Rick's cafe in Casablanca, we fall in love with her again.

And when we see Johnny Carson, despite what we know of his personal life, we starts laughing again, and we see these clips of the past shows. We just simply laugh and appreciate his greatness as a performer.

KAGAN: And he has made it look so easy. What is it about him that clicked, do you think, with the American audience?

LEAMER: Well, I mean, that's exactly -- any great act, great writing, to make it simple, is the most difficult thing. To make it seem so effortless and the training that when the into that. I mean, he kind of invented the modern television fake interview that we all see, and it's really structured. When you watch Letterman or Leno, this is a program beforehand. They aren't just coming in and having this conversation. And that was Johnny Carson kind of invented that, because he wanted to maximize his audience; he really wanted to make people sit there and stay up to watch him.

KAGAN: Kind of like Fred Astaire, he made it look like all that dancing was just spontaneous, and really he was practicing it and rehearsing over and over again.

LEAMER: Right. In comedy, there's nothing harder than doing comedy. Think of the language of it, I died, or I killed out there. Nothing harder to get up on that stage and make people laugh, or if they don't laugh. And you know what, he was at his funniest when people didn't laugh.

KAGAN: Well, exactly. When the jokes bombed during the monologue, that's when he would get the expressions he would make after that. That's really when you liked him the best.

LEAMER: No, another thing I appreciate about the man, is that there are so many comedians that -- entertainers, they really kind of jealous of anybody else's success. He wasn't like that. Nothing made him happier than having some comedian come on there for the first time and just score big. Nobody laughed louder than he did. Nobody thought (ph) it more.

KAGAN: Here's the another thing that he did that's almost unheard of in Hollywood. He went out on top, and when he when at way, he really when at way.

LEAMER: No, and he said that. He did not want to end up like Bob Hope, who was sort of hauled on stage for years after with his tributes. He wanted people to remember him at his greatest, his best, and that's a wonderful thing about him. The good thing about his death, I think, the way -- the past day, the way -- immense feeling of him is to see these clips over and over again. That's the Johnny Carson we should remember.

KAGAN: And it's putting a lot of smiles on faces today, all around the country as people remember him.

Lawrence Leamer, thanks for looking back on the life of Johnny Carson.

LEAMER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Programming note for you: Carson's longtime sidekick Ed McMahon will be a guest on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. That is 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: Yes, Carson was truly one of a kind. And we do have more on the passing of Johnny Carson, straight ahead.

KAGAN: Hear the remembrances of close friends and colleagues.

NGUYEN: And a new study finds some possible side effects for the popular impotence drug Viagra, but it may not be a bad thing. We're back with that after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, in health news today, researchers say the impotence drug Viagra may hold promise in treating and preventing enlarged hearts. The study is based on research done on mice, but plans are under way to determine if similar results occur in humans. Viagra was originally tested and rejected as a heart drug before its use in treating impotence.

Now to a nutrient known for helping prevent birth defects. Well, it may have another health benefit as well. It could lower the risk of high blood pressure.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with all those details in our "Daily Dose" of medical news.

Good morning to you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, Betty, this finding was actually somewhat surprising. Researchers were looking at tens of thousands of women, and they looked at their diet and how much they got of various vitamins and minerals, and they had an interesting finding about folic acid. What they found is that women who ate quite a bit of folic acid...

... They had an interesting finding about folic acid. What they found is that women who ate quite a bit of folic acid, had a lot of folic acid in their diet, they were 46 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure compared to women who didn't get much folic acid in their diet to begin with.

Now for women over age 44, these results were not as dramatic. It wasn't 46 percent, it was much lower than that. But still, it did lower blood pressure, no matter the age of the woman. Now, people who got that kind of benefit, 46 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure over time, they were eating 1,000 micrograms of folic acid each day.

Now let's take a look at what that means. 1,000 sounds like a lot, but really, it's not. One bowl of breakfast cereal, half an avocado, half a cup of peas, and half a cup of peanuts, plus a multivitamin. Or similar combinations thereof. That will get you about 1,000 micrograms of folic acid. So that would be your folic acid for the day. And some bowls of breakfast cereal actually will get you even more than what we calculated to do that. So it's really not all that hard to get that much folic acid.

NGUYEN: So, is it better, Elizabeth, to get your folic acid in food itself or say, through a vitamin? COHEN: Well, it's interesting. This study found that women who took the vitamin were better off, that they saw much better blood pressure results than women who were getting the folic acid just in their food. It's not entirely clear why that would be true.

Now, it's something that's interesting, it's very interesting for young women to keep in mind, women of child-bearing age are supposed to get enough folic acid so that their babies don't have birth defects. And the March of Dimes and other groups actually recommend, they say, take the supplement. That way you at least know what you're getting. It's a no-brainer.

NGUYEN: All right. What else is folic acid good for?

COHEN: Well, folic acid is good for preventing neural tube defects, which are a certain type of birth defects in babies. And folic acid also is good for getting good homocysteine levels. And homocysteine has to do with heart attacks and with strokes. So folic acid, really, it now has three things that it appears to be good for. Definitely good for birth defects, also could be good for heart attacks and stroke and now for blood pressure.

NGUYEN: So you can take it in a pill. You don't have to eat 12 bowls of cereal to get the kind of folic acid that you need.

COHEN: Right, so you can take that multivitamin and then just do something like a breakfast cereal, avocado, peanuts. I mean, it's in a lot of different kinds of food. And also, a lot of foods are fortified with folic acid, as well as breakfast cereal, orange juice. Check your labels. You can see that it's in there. So it's really not as hard to get as you might think.

NGUYEN: Good news there. Elizabeth Cohen. We thank you, as always.

COHEN: Thanks.

NGUYEN: And to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you have to do is log on to our Web site. You will find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address on the screen, cnn.com/health.

KAGAN: That cold weather might have you thinking about a nice warm vacation. Some tips on some of the best spa packages can you find right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: So you don't need a license to chill at these getaways. We're talking about spas that will just spoil you. They're brand new, undiscovered and the best of the best. The list was put together by Danielle Romano and her staff at dailycandy.com. And she's at the Time Warner Center in New York this morning. Thanks for being with us.

DANIELLE ROMANO, EDITOR, DAILYCANDY.COM: Absolutely. In freezing New York City, we should say, just the time to think about a decadent spa getaway.

NGUYEN: Doesn't it sound nice? OK, so if you want a spa getaway but you really want to go to a place that's private, where should you look?

ROMANO: Could there be anything more private than a private beach on a private island? Peter Island is in the British Virgin Islands and it's less than two square mile islands that's just this resort and just this spa. The spa is on this private beach that you have to hike to get to. Don't worry, it's not a horrible, horrible hike. They have amazing treatments like the thermal sand wrap, which sounds like they put a bunch of sandbags on you.

NGUYEN: Sounds rough, yes.

ROMANO: It sounds rough, but I think you come out the other end looking and feeling really, really good. The thing here at Peter Island is all of their treatment ingredients come from the natural surroundings. So they use salt that is farmed from the sea, right there, or as I said, sand for this thermal wrap. So Peter Island is a short flight. You fly into Tortola, just four miles north and then you take a ferry. So what an exotic getaway to, like, book your passage on the ferry and then be on this island where only the guests of this spa are.

NGUYEN: I like the sound of that.

ROMANO: Talk about private.

NGUYEN: OK, but this next one. Being from Vietnam, I'm very interested in this. In fact, it has to do something with the sixth sense. What is this all about?

ROMANO: Well, it's a Six Senses spa at Ana Mandara is the name of resort. It is in Nha Trang in Vietnam, which is on the southern coast of Vietnam. So I guess there's this hotel group called the Evison Hidaway (ph) and they have these luxurious properties all over. This is their newest property. And Six Senses is the name of the spa because it incorporates your five senses and then that sense of luxury.

So Vietnamese massage is often, you know, characterized by pressure points, especially on the feet. So they'll apply some of that. If you check out this view, just everything is sort of open wide.

NGUYEN: Oh, I've been there. The water crystal clear, the sand is great. It's a beautiful place.

ROMANO: And the decor is really minimalist and just sort of that sweeping white sort of cloth you see everywhere. And again, it's luxury in the context of amazing nature. So you can lay on the beach, you can be massaged to your heart's content. You can eat yummy, yummy, Vietnamese food and people really take care of you. So Ana Mandara is a deluxe getaway. You fly into Ho Chi Minh City.

NGUYEN: OK. No quickly, what if you want to stay within the U.S.? Got any other suggestions?

ROMANO: Of course. You do not have to fly too far. A good one is the Parker Meridian in Palm Springs. I hope you have some video of this place. The Parker Meridian is called Parker Palm Springs and it is truly exotic. It used to be Gene Autry's ranch. You can you see it there. It's very sort of modern. It has a boho '70s kind of feel. You see the palm trees, very Palm Springs.

NGUYEN: How much would this cost you, Danielle?

ROMANO: Well, you know, with this decadent luxury, it doesn't come cheap. The rooms are a couple hundred dollars a night. Jonathan Adler (ph) redesigned -- the famous potter and sort of artist in New York, redesigned all of this stuff. You can see his needle-pointed pillows on the beds. It's very sort of like staying at your kooky aunt's luxurious ranch.

NGUYEN: I don't know if I'd want to, I don't know, book a destination to a kooky aunt's ranch.

ROMANO: Well, let's say the kooky aunt has just decorated it all. Her helpers will take care of you. She won't bother you. You know, these trips are expensive and decadent, but Daily Candy is all about sort of the accessibles. So what I found on these cold New York day, when I have to go back to work in a second, all of these sites have amazing Web sites. You can take the video tour, sit back, look at the beach and the spa treatments. You feel like you're there.

NGUYEN: We can dream about being there.

ROMANO: Exactly.

NGUYEN: Well, are out of time. Danielle Romano from dailycandy.com.

ROMANO: That's right.

NGUYEN: Thanks so much for taking us on that little retreat -- Daryn.

ROMANO: Thanks for joining me.

KAGAN: We are thinking about Johnny Carson today, remembering him as friends and colleagues look back. We'll do that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're going to kind of get ready to wrap things up a little bit early today. Thank you for sitting in.

NGUYEN: It's been fun.

KAGAN: Very much appreciate it.

Wolf Blitzer be up after a look at what we're going to have of Johnny Carson, and also after a break.

NGUYEN: We'll look back now at the life and legacy of Johnny Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED MCMAHON: And now, here's Johnny!

RAY ROMANO: He had the ability to be funny, to be poignant, to be serious, to talk about any subject. We're going to miss him.

CARSON: No, no, no. No, I didn't...

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a giant. He had a cackle laugh.

MCMAHON: I'm going to be out of town tomorrow, so...

CARSON: What do you mean you'll be out of town? Tomorrow's Friday.

MCMAHON: I'm going to be -- I know that, but I can take a day off once in a while. You certainly invented it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to see grapes?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was game for anything, whether it was getting in the pool or having the elephant lift him up in her trunk, or if I offered to bring him in, he would do just about anything.

DON RICKLES: I say very honestly, he was so special, because a Midwest guy -- and I'm a Jewish kid from New York, and I showed affection, and it was hard for him to shoulder, but when I did, I knew he loved me, and he's in heaven now, and I know he loves me and my family, and I love him. And may God be good to this man. He was the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could I do it a couple minutes?

CARSON: No, no!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me a break. I'm so lonely.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was important to all of our lives, older people who remember staying up late at night to listen to him and going to bed feeling pleased and delighted, and enjoying him. He's made late night television something of importance to people today, to young people as well, because of the shows that followed him.

CARSON: If I could magically somehow, that tape you just saw, make it run backwards, I'd like to do the whole thing all over again. (SINGING)

(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


Aired January 24, 2005 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news. An audio recording attributed to insurgent leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi ridicules next weekend's Iraqi election. The speaker calls democracy a big lie. He urges Iraqis to rise up against what he calls "crusader harlots" and "rejectionist pigs."
One of Tom Ridge's top deputies at the Department of Homeland Security is following his boss out the door. Asa Hutchinson has made it known that he was disappointed that he was passed over to head the department.

There will be no memorial service for Johnny Carson, at his request. The legendary late-night host died this weekend from emphysema at the age of 79. Jay Leno, his successor at the "Tonight Show," called Carson the gold standard.

And Boston's Logan Airport reopened this morning as the city struggles to get back on its feet. This weekend's blizzard left two to three feet of snow across New England. Temperatures won't break the freezing mark for a week.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush begins his second term, his attorney general goes about the business of stepping down. John Ashcroft is expected to bid staffers at the Department of Justice a fond farewell today. The outgoing attorney general resigned his post last year on Election Day.

Our Kelli Arena spoke with Ashcroft today and asked him about the reasons behind his decision to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I'm leaving because on the day before the election I thought to myself, you know, new leadership, new opportunities to bring the department together, to graduate it to even fuller service in protecting the lives and liberties of Americans would be the right thing. And so when I took my letter of resignation over at noon on Election Day, it was to give the department a breath of new air, fresh air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: You'll want to stay tuned to CNN for Attorney General Ashcroft's farewell remarks. We'll bring those to you later today right here on CNN.

And you can see our Kelli Arena's interview with the outgoing attorney general on CNN tonight.

KAGAN: Well, they're saying we'll never see another like him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY CARSON: You people watching, I can only tell you, it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope I find something I want to do and I think you will like and come back, that you'll be as gracious inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Does it seem like just yesterday? Well, it turns out that was May 22nd, 1992. Johnny Carson bid fans of "The Tonight Show" a fond farewell after tickling and tucking them in for about 30 years. Now millions are mourning his death at age 79.

Lawrence Leamer profiled the revered comedian in the biography "King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson." Leamer joins me now from Palm Beach, Florida, with more on that.

Good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

LAWRENCE LEAMER, BIOGRAPHER: Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: Johnny Carson, truly a man of mystery. So funny, so outgoing, so warm on television, yet everything we hear from his private life, completely different.

LEAMER: No, that's right, that one hour on television, he came alive. That was the authentic Johnny Carson. That was the Johnny Carson that gave us something for those 30 years, a kind of record that no one is ever going to match. We'd laugh. That's what we remember performers for. I mean, Ingrid Bergman cheated on her husband, but she when walks into Rick's cafe in Casablanca, we fall in love with her again.

And when we see Johnny Carson, despite what we know of his personal life, we starts laughing again, and we see these clips of the past shows. We just simply laugh and appreciate his greatness as a performer.

KAGAN: And he has made it look so easy. What is it about him that clicked, do you think, with the American audience?

LEAMER: Well, I mean, that's exactly -- any great act, great writing, to make it simple, is the most difficult thing. To make it seem so effortless and the training that when the into that. I mean, he kind of invented the modern television fake interview that we all see, and it's really structured. When you watch Letterman or Leno, this is a program beforehand. They aren't just coming in and having this conversation. And that was Johnny Carson kind of invented that, because he wanted to maximize his audience; he really wanted to make people sit there and stay up to watch him.

KAGAN: Kind of like Fred Astaire, he made it look like all that dancing was just spontaneous, and really he was practicing it and rehearsing over and over again.

LEAMER: Right. In comedy, there's nothing harder than doing comedy. Think of the language of it, I died, or I killed out there. Nothing harder to get up on that stage and make people laugh, or if they don't laugh. And you know what, he was at his funniest when people didn't laugh.

KAGAN: Well, exactly. When the jokes bombed during the monologue, that's when he would get the expressions he would make after that. That's really when you liked him the best.

LEAMER: No, another thing I appreciate about the man, is that there are so many comedians that -- entertainers, they really kind of jealous of anybody else's success. He wasn't like that. Nothing made him happier than having some comedian come on there for the first time and just score big. Nobody laughed louder than he did. Nobody thought (ph) it more.

KAGAN: Here's the another thing that he did that's almost unheard of in Hollywood. He went out on top, and when he when at way, he really when at way.

LEAMER: No, and he said that. He did not want to end up like Bob Hope, who was sort of hauled on stage for years after with his tributes. He wanted people to remember him at his greatest, his best, and that's a wonderful thing about him. The good thing about his death, I think, the way -- the past day, the way -- immense feeling of him is to see these clips over and over again. That's the Johnny Carson we should remember.

KAGAN: And it's putting a lot of smiles on faces today, all around the country as people remember him.

Lawrence Leamer, thanks for looking back on the life of Johnny Carson.

LEAMER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Programming note for you: Carson's longtime sidekick Ed McMahon will be a guest on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. That is 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: Yes, Carson was truly one of a kind. And we do have more on the passing of Johnny Carson, straight ahead.

KAGAN: Hear the remembrances of close friends and colleagues.

NGUYEN: And a new study finds some possible side effects for the popular impotence drug Viagra, but it may not be a bad thing. We're back with that after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, in health news today, researchers say the impotence drug Viagra may hold promise in treating and preventing enlarged hearts. The study is based on research done on mice, but plans are under way to determine if similar results occur in humans. Viagra was originally tested and rejected as a heart drug before its use in treating impotence.

Now to a nutrient known for helping prevent birth defects. Well, it may have another health benefit as well. It could lower the risk of high blood pressure.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with all those details in our "Daily Dose" of medical news.

Good morning to you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, Betty, this finding was actually somewhat surprising. Researchers were looking at tens of thousands of women, and they looked at their diet and how much they got of various vitamins and minerals, and they had an interesting finding about folic acid. What they found is that women who ate quite a bit of folic acid...

... They had an interesting finding about folic acid. What they found is that women who ate quite a bit of folic acid, had a lot of folic acid in their diet, they were 46 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure compared to women who didn't get much folic acid in their diet to begin with.

Now for women over age 44, these results were not as dramatic. It wasn't 46 percent, it was much lower than that. But still, it did lower blood pressure, no matter the age of the woman. Now, people who got that kind of benefit, 46 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure over time, they were eating 1,000 micrograms of folic acid each day.

Now let's take a look at what that means. 1,000 sounds like a lot, but really, it's not. One bowl of breakfast cereal, half an avocado, half a cup of peas, and half a cup of peanuts, plus a multivitamin. Or similar combinations thereof. That will get you about 1,000 micrograms of folic acid. So that would be your folic acid for the day. And some bowls of breakfast cereal actually will get you even more than what we calculated to do that. So it's really not all that hard to get that much folic acid.

NGUYEN: So, is it better, Elizabeth, to get your folic acid in food itself or say, through a vitamin? COHEN: Well, it's interesting. This study found that women who took the vitamin were better off, that they saw much better blood pressure results than women who were getting the folic acid just in their food. It's not entirely clear why that would be true.

Now, it's something that's interesting, it's very interesting for young women to keep in mind, women of child-bearing age are supposed to get enough folic acid so that their babies don't have birth defects. And the March of Dimes and other groups actually recommend, they say, take the supplement. That way you at least know what you're getting. It's a no-brainer.

NGUYEN: All right. What else is folic acid good for?

COHEN: Well, folic acid is good for preventing neural tube defects, which are a certain type of birth defects in babies. And folic acid also is good for getting good homocysteine levels. And homocysteine has to do with heart attacks and with strokes. So folic acid, really, it now has three things that it appears to be good for. Definitely good for birth defects, also could be good for heart attacks and stroke and now for blood pressure.

NGUYEN: So you can take it in a pill. You don't have to eat 12 bowls of cereal to get the kind of folic acid that you need.

COHEN: Right, so you can take that multivitamin and then just do something like a breakfast cereal, avocado, peanuts. I mean, it's in a lot of different kinds of food. And also, a lot of foods are fortified with folic acid, as well as breakfast cereal, orange juice. Check your labels. You can see that it's in there. So it's really not as hard to get as you might think.

NGUYEN: Good news there. Elizabeth Cohen. We thank you, as always.

COHEN: Thanks.

NGUYEN: And to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you have to do is log on to our Web site. You will find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address on the screen, cnn.com/health.

KAGAN: That cold weather might have you thinking about a nice warm vacation. Some tips on some of the best spa packages can you find right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: So you don't need a license to chill at these getaways. We're talking about spas that will just spoil you. They're brand new, undiscovered and the best of the best. The list was put together by Danielle Romano and her staff at dailycandy.com. And she's at the Time Warner Center in New York this morning. Thanks for being with us.

DANIELLE ROMANO, EDITOR, DAILYCANDY.COM: Absolutely. In freezing New York City, we should say, just the time to think about a decadent spa getaway.

NGUYEN: Doesn't it sound nice? OK, so if you want a spa getaway but you really want to go to a place that's private, where should you look?

ROMANO: Could there be anything more private than a private beach on a private island? Peter Island is in the British Virgin Islands and it's less than two square mile islands that's just this resort and just this spa. The spa is on this private beach that you have to hike to get to. Don't worry, it's not a horrible, horrible hike. They have amazing treatments like the thermal sand wrap, which sounds like they put a bunch of sandbags on you.

NGUYEN: Sounds rough, yes.

ROMANO: It sounds rough, but I think you come out the other end looking and feeling really, really good. The thing here at Peter Island is all of their treatment ingredients come from the natural surroundings. So they use salt that is farmed from the sea, right there, or as I said, sand for this thermal wrap. So Peter Island is a short flight. You fly into Tortola, just four miles north and then you take a ferry. So what an exotic getaway to, like, book your passage on the ferry and then be on this island where only the guests of this spa are.

NGUYEN: I like the sound of that.

ROMANO: Talk about private.

NGUYEN: OK, but this next one. Being from Vietnam, I'm very interested in this. In fact, it has to do something with the sixth sense. What is this all about?

ROMANO: Well, it's a Six Senses spa at Ana Mandara is the name of resort. It is in Nha Trang in Vietnam, which is on the southern coast of Vietnam. So I guess there's this hotel group called the Evison Hidaway (ph) and they have these luxurious properties all over. This is their newest property. And Six Senses is the name of the spa because it incorporates your five senses and then that sense of luxury.

So Vietnamese massage is often, you know, characterized by pressure points, especially on the feet. So they'll apply some of that. If you check out this view, just everything is sort of open wide.

NGUYEN: Oh, I've been there. The water crystal clear, the sand is great. It's a beautiful place.

ROMANO: And the decor is really minimalist and just sort of that sweeping white sort of cloth you see everywhere. And again, it's luxury in the context of amazing nature. So you can lay on the beach, you can be massaged to your heart's content. You can eat yummy, yummy, Vietnamese food and people really take care of you. So Ana Mandara is a deluxe getaway. You fly into Ho Chi Minh City.

NGUYEN: OK. No quickly, what if you want to stay within the U.S.? Got any other suggestions?

ROMANO: Of course. You do not have to fly too far. A good one is the Parker Meridian in Palm Springs. I hope you have some video of this place. The Parker Meridian is called Parker Palm Springs and it is truly exotic. It used to be Gene Autry's ranch. You can you see it there. It's very sort of modern. It has a boho '70s kind of feel. You see the palm trees, very Palm Springs.

NGUYEN: How much would this cost you, Danielle?

ROMANO: Well, you know, with this decadent luxury, it doesn't come cheap. The rooms are a couple hundred dollars a night. Jonathan Adler (ph) redesigned -- the famous potter and sort of artist in New York, redesigned all of this stuff. You can see his needle-pointed pillows on the beds. It's very sort of like staying at your kooky aunt's luxurious ranch.

NGUYEN: I don't know if I'd want to, I don't know, book a destination to a kooky aunt's ranch.

ROMANO: Well, let's say the kooky aunt has just decorated it all. Her helpers will take care of you. She won't bother you. You know, these trips are expensive and decadent, but Daily Candy is all about sort of the accessibles. So what I found on these cold New York day, when I have to go back to work in a second, all of these sites have amazing Web sites. You can take the video tour, sit back, look at the beach and the spa treatments. You feel like you're there.

NGUYEN: We can dream about being there.

ROMANO: Exactly.

NGUYEN: Well, are out of time. Danielle Romano from dailycandy.com.

ROMANO: That's right.

NGUYEN: Thanks so much for taking us on that little retreat -- Daryn.

ROMANO: Thanks for joining me.

KAGAN: We are thinking about Johnny Carson today, remembering him as friends and colleagues look back. We'll do that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're going to kind of get ready to wrap things up a little bit early today. Thank you for sitting in.

NGUYEN: It's been fun.

KAGAN: Very much appreciate it.

Wolf Blitzer be up after a look at what we're going to have of Johnny Carson, and also after a break.

NGUYEN: We'll look back now at the life and legacy of Johnny Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED MCMAHON: And now, here's Johnny!

RAY ROMANO: He had the ability to be funny, to be poignant, to be serious, to talk about any subject. We're going to miss him.

CARSON: No, no, no. No, I didn't...

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a giant. He had a cackle laugh.

MCMAHON: I'm going to be out of town tomorrow, so...

CARSON: What do you mean you'll be out of town? Tomorrow's Friday.

MCMAHON: I'm going to be -- I know that, but I can take a day off once in a while. You certainly invented it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to see grapes?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was game for anything, whether it was getting in the pool or having the elephant lift him up in her trunk, or if I offered to bring him in, he would do just about anything.

DON RICKLES: I say very honestly, he was so special, because a Midwest guy -- and I'm a Jewish kid from New York, and I showed affection, and it was hard for him to shoulder, but when I did, I knew he loved me, and he's in heaven now, and I know he loves me and my family, and I love him. And may God be good to this man. He was the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could I do it a couple minutes?

CARSON: No, no!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me a break. I'm so lonely.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was important to all of our lives, older people who remember staying up late at night to listen to him and going to bed feeling pleased and delighted, and enjoying him. He's made late night television something of importance to people today, to young people as well, because of the shows that followed him.

CARSON: If I could magically somehow, that tape you just saw, make it run backwards, I'd like to do the whole thing all over again. (SINGING)

(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