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American Morning

The Life and Death of Johnny Carson; Winter Weather Pounds the Northeast

Aired January 24, 2005 - 07:00 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.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A sad morning after so many happy nights. The nation bids farewell to the incomparable Johnny Carson.
Digging out from the deadly blizzard of '05. Two to three feet of snow, drifts high enough to bring cities to a stand still.

And one week before elections in Iraq, the most wanted man in the country apparently declaring war against democracy itself on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody.

After the blizzard on a chilly day here in the Northeast. Good to have you along with us today. And everyone talking and thinking again today about Johnny Carson this morning. The legendary host of the "Tonight Show" who sent millions of Americans to bed with smiles on their faces for so many years. From his Carnac the Magnificent skit to his easy way with his guests, we'll remember Carson's one of a kind talent this morning.

Also, Rich Little, a regular guest on the "Tonight Show" is our guest out of Las Vegas in a few moments here. Good memories.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, what's going on at the Pentagon? A new secret spy department to talk about with some broad powers overseas. CNN's military analyst, retired general James "Spider" Marks, is going to join us talk about that. Take a look at what is exactly behind this mission.

HEMMER: All right, Jack Cafferty on a Monday. Good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Memories of the maestro all morning long. Johnny Carson is gone, he won't be forgotten, particularly in this industry, perhaps ever. He was once fired from a radio station in Nebraska when he asked the general manager if he wanted to see something funny. Then he showed him his paycheck. That was his last day on the job. We'll share some memories as we move through the morning.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

Let's start now in Baghdad this morning. More violence again today as Iraqis get ready for elections this coming Sunday. Still, Iraqi and U.S. officials say they're doing everything possible to ensure the voting process is free and fair and safe. Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is in Baghdad.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The wanted terrorist, Abu Musab Zarqawi, affiliated with al Qaeda, has already claimed responsibility for the latest suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad. In a statement posted on a Web site, he said that his people had carried out this attack, which took place at a checkpoint near the political headquarters of the interim Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

Allawi was not there and at least 12 people were wounded, including ten policemen. This according to local Baghdad policemen. This is the latest in a series of attacks on polling stations, on election workers and on ordinary civilians and on political party headquarters, ahead of next Sunday's elections. In the meantime, the U.S. is stepping up its efforts to crack down on insurgents. They've arrested hundreds, we're told. Some of the prisons here are, we're told, full to capacity with upwards of 8,000 suspected insurgents and criminals and they're also, they said, unearthing dozens of weapons caches.

This huge security operation involves continuing to step up the training of Iraqi security forces, who will take the lead in securing the polling stations on election day next Sunday. And the aim, of course, is to ensure that people are safe enough and feel safe enough to come out and cast their first free vote next Sunday in the crucial elections here.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Baghdad.

HEMMER: One of our top stories today and will be throughout the entire week. Much more later this morning.

O'BRIEN: Well, Carol Costello is standing by first at the Time Warner Center in New York City with stories "Now in the News." Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

"Now in the News," President Bush is expected to phone in his support to anti-abortion activists in Washington. The president will make the call from Camp David, where he's preparing his State of the Union speech. Several roads will be closed in D.C. for the annual March for Life anti-abortion demonstration. This was the scene last year. They're marking the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Word of another resignation at the Homeland Security Department. Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for border and transportation security issues, is reportedly planning to step down today. According to an Arkansas newspaper, Hutchinson made the decision after being passed over twice to replace outgoing head Tom Ridge. Michael Chertoff has been nominated to take over as homeland security secretary on March 1. And it's New England versus Philadelphia in Super bowl XXXIX. The Patriots beating Pittsburgh's 41-27 in yesterday's AFC championship match. The Pats now set to go for their third NFL title in the past four years. And in the NFC, Philadelphia earned their Super Bowl slot finally by downing the Atlanta Falcons 27-10. Boy, did they shut down Michael Vick. The big game, of course, Sunday, February 6 in Jacksonville, Florida.

So what's your pick? Bill, Soledad, Jack?

O'BRIEN: I'm going with the Patriots.

HEMMER: Got to go with the Patriots.

O'BRIEN: Right, I don't think I'm going out on a limb.

HEMMER: Not too far.

O'BRIEN: All right, Carol, thanks a lot.

Well, this morning, fans and fellow entertainers are remembering Johnny Carson as a true showbiz legend. Carson died yesterday at the age of 79 and CNN's Sibila Vargas, live in Los Angeles for us this morning. Fittingly, she is standing at Carson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hey, Sibila, good morning.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Soledad. You know, when you think of an entertainer that really broke the mold, I mean, Johnny Carson was definitely the one. I mean, this man was so incredible and behind me, you see the -- some flowers have been laid out on his star. And as the day progresses, you're going to see a lot more of that, the outpour of love and affection for this man that had such an incredible impact. Now, he may have died of emphysema at the age of 79, but his legacy will live on forever.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's Johnny!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS (voice-over): For three full decades, he was the reigning king of late night.

JOHNNY CARSON, ENTERTAINER: I could never have imagined I would walk through that curtain almost 5,000 times in 30 years.

VARGAS: Johnny Carson was born October 23, 1925, in Corning (ph), Iowa. He moved to Norfolk, Nebraska as a boy, bought his first mail-order magic set and began his career as an entertainer, known as "The Great Carsoni." He performed in the Navy, graduated from the University of Nebraska, and went on to work at Omaha radio stations.

His first televised show, "Carson's Cellar," debuted in 1952 and led to a job as a staff writer on Red Skelton's variety show. In 1954, Carson got his big break, when Skelton was knocked unconscious an hour before air time and Carson was asked to step in.

His natural ease in front of the camera led to a contract with CBS. After a short stint as an emcee of "Earn Your Vacation," Carson got his own half hour comedy show, called "The Johnny Carson Show."

Carson moved to ABC for the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?," where in '58 he was joined by his sidekick, Ed McMahon. In that same year, he was asked to sit in for Jack Paar on "The Tonight Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

CARSON: I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you.

VARGAS: Perhaps more important than anything else to Carson was that he loved making people laugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

CARSON: I am one of the lucky people in the world. I've found something I have always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: And we certainly lucky to have him as part of entertainment and part of this industry. And something that's very interesting about Johnny Carson is that as big as the television icon that he was, he was also a very private person. And so his family is going to respect that. They're not having any kind of public memorial service for him. It's all going to be very private affair.

But I can't imagine with the outpour that we have had, an unprecedented outpour from his friends, from his peers, from his colleagues, people that actually loved this man so much, that at some point, there's not going to be some type of a huge tribute for this incredible man. Soledad, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Sibila Vargas for us this morning. Sibila, I think you're probably right about that. Thanks.

HEMMER: Comedian Rich Little made numerous appearances on the "Tonight Show." Rich Little is my guest now in Las Vegas. Good morning out there, Rich and thanks for coming out today.

RICH LITTLE, COMEDIAN: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: We're telling stories today -- the great Johnny Carson. Give us one of your favorites.

LITTLE: Well, the last time I saw him was about six years ago in a restaurant in Malibu. And I was having dinner and I didn't know he was there. And he came up behind me and I heard the voice behind me before I saw who it was. And I heard a voice say Rich, I notice you're having dinner, and I just wanted to stop by and say hello. And at first, I thought, who is this? Somebody doing a bad impression of Johnny Carson? No, it's not too bad. I turned around, almost going to say who else do you do, and it was Johnny. And he was very, very nice to me and asked me what I was doing.

Here's the interesting thing about that last encounter that I had. He actually said to me, Rich, are you still doing me in your act? And I said, of course, all the time. It's one of my best impressions and the audience loves it, everywhere I go. He said, are you kidding? I said no. He said they still remember me, do they? I said, of course they do, John. He said, gee, that's great to know, I just wondered if they'd forgotten who I was.

HEMMER: Well, he asked you if they still remember him?

LITTLE: Yes.

HEMMER: Says a lot.

LITTLE: Isn't that interesting?

HEMMER: Sure. You say one thing about Johnny Carson I don't think a lot of people consider. You say he was a great listener, and that's what made him so good as a host. Explain that to us.

LITTLE: Well, you know, if you watch a lot of the old shows, and I was looking at some of the shows that I did with him last night, what he was really great at doing was if you were telling a story, funny or not too funny, he had the ability at the end of the story to kind of top it. Not to put you down or anything, not to take away from your story, but just add another line or two that was very funny to enhance the story.

Or if somebody was not doing too well with a story, like an actor say, who's not a comedian, and Johnny could sense that this wasn't really going anywhere and there was no punch line, he could come up with a punch line and make the guy look great. And I'm sure many actors, when the show was over, said gee, I was very funny on the "Tonight Show" and they weren't. It was Johnny saving them.

HEMMER: He had the ability to put the period at the sentence where it was appropriate. Or the exclamation point at the end of the sentence where it was appropriate.

LITTLE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Rich, what explains why he enjoyed living such a private life?

LITTLE: Well, you're right. When he quit, boy, he quit. I always thought, with his notoriety and his money and power, that he would produce shows, you know, Johnny Carson enterprises. But he didn't do that. I often thought, you know, a guy like Johnny Carson, who is so funny and everyone loves him, wouldn't it be interesting if now that he's retired, he played a part in a movie or a television drama where he played against type, maybe played, I don't know, maybe a murderer or an alcoholic or something. I'll bet you this guy could have won an Oscar. No question.

HEMMER: In his life, a closed curtain, then a closed curtain...

LITTLE: But you know, one...

HEMMER: Thank you, Rich. Yes?

LITTLE: Another thing about Johnny that nobody seems to have talked about, because I remember seeing him in Vegas, and when he did his nightclub act, it was totally different than he was on the "Tonight Show."

HEMMER: How so?

LITTLE: He did not stand, like, just in front of a microphone and do a monologue. He paced up and down, up and down like Don Rickles does. He would go from one side of the stage to the other. Never stopping to move. He would go at people. He would do zingers, he would do funny little lines. He was entirely different. He was a little more aggressive.

HEMMER: Rich, thanks for sharing. Rich Little in Las Vegas.

LITTLE: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Later tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," Larry's guest will be longtime sidekick Ed McMahon. Larry comes your way every night of the week, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 on the West Coast -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Our other top story this morning, people from the Capitol to the Cape digging out after that huge weekend snowstorm. The blizzard dumped more than three feet of snow in some places.

Chris Huntington is in Boston with more this morning. Hey, Chris, good morning to you.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Well, just about to break dawn here. It is actually, I must say, a beautiful morning. Crystal clear, very, very cold. About 5 degrees. The storm came through here rather quickly. It was not the record breaker that some feared it might be, but it was still a world class blizzard.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HUNTINGTON (voice-over): The storm battered the Bay State, from Cape Cod in the south to the north shore near Gloucester and, of course, downtown Boston in between. At the peak hours early Sunday morning, snow fell at more than three inches an hour, dumping close to three feet in many towns and more than two feet in Boston Common, where temperatures hovered around 10 degrees for most of the day.

But it was the hurricane force winds that caused most of the trouble, driving snow into dangerous whiteout conditions, plundering the plows' best efforts and whipping 10 to 15 foot waves on top of a storm surge along the coast. The entire island of Nantucket lost power. Across the State of Massachusetts, more than 30,000 homes went dark.

Governor Mitt Romney declared a state of emergency, putting National Guard troops on alert for evacuation and rescue operations and clearing the way for federal funding to help cover the considerable cost of snow removal.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced that he would order only essential city personnel to work on Monday and he said that Boston public schools would be closed through Tuesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Now, there's been some criticism of Menino for -- in some cases, people are saying he's overreacting. The word from the mayor's office this morning is no overreaction at all. Basically, all of the corners around all of the city streets of Boston and neighboring neighborhoods are covered with snow. There's no place for children to stand and wait for school buses. It's not a safe situation.

There are some fatalities to report, unfortunately. "The Boston Globe" is reporting that one of it's longtime columnists, a former columnist, he had retired, a guy named Dave Nyhan, perished while shoveling snow. And local police are reporting a 10-year-old boy in the Roxbury neighborhood was found dead, the apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. Apparently while his parents were shoveling snow, he was sitting in the car idling. A deadly situation, obviously.

Just to give you the final tallies. The snowfall is measured in Boston Common, 26 inches. That is just an inch and a half shy of the all-time record. The benchmark blizzard around here is the storm of '78. I used to live up here and I was here during that time, and it was a major storm, considerably worse coastal flooding for that storm.

So Soledad, the situation here getting back to normal. We've driven around the streets. The streets are relatively clear and over the next couple of days, people will be returning to life as normal.

O'BRIEN: You know, there they certainly know how to deal with all that snow, don't they? Chris Huntington for us this morning. Chris, thanks.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: The storm may be over, the commuter nightmare, though, just beginning. If you're expecting to do business in the Northeast today, you will need some patience, and a lot of it, in parts.

O'BRIEN: Also, some think Donald Rumsfeld may have gone too far this time. Member of Congress want to know why they weren't told about a secret operation.

HEMMER: And once again, Johnny Carson this morning. He ruled over Hollywood, but never lost his common touch. Who will fill his shoes? And who can? Ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Is the Defense Department moving into the CIA's turf? "The Washington Post" broke the story yesterday that the Pentagon is operating a new espionage division with broad powers overseas. Sources telling CNN the role of the strategic support branch is to provide military intelligence for units in the field.

Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is a CNN military analyst, retired Army Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): Hi, Soledad. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. How exactly would this work? Explain to me. Do you expect that there were bureaucrats out in the field working side by side with field operators in covert operations?

MARKS: The military and Central Intelligence Agency have for years conducted operations in very, very close coordination. In fact, there's a very fine line between authorities of the Central Intelligence Agency and what is their purview and what the Department of Defense does. And the coordination takes place very openly and, frankly, very aggressively. So what I don't see in this article is a DOD grab for what has historically and legally been the responsibility and purview of the CIA. I don't see that.

O'BRIEN: The Pentagon having its own intelligence unit. Why would that come as a big surprise to anybody? Isn't that a positive thing? More intelligence could only be a good thing?

MARKS: Soledad, it's not really newsworthy. It's not new. The Department of Defense has, for many years, had special mission units. And those have been in existence and they conduct operations under both title 10, without being too policy driven, but there are guidelines that exist and the military adheres to the guidelines very, very, closely. So I don't think this is new.

What is -- frankly, what is newsworthy is there's a spotlight on it. It's an effort on the part of the Department of Defense to acknowledge that there's been an atrophy of human intelligence at the tactical level within organizations and formations and this is an effort to bridge back toward a strategy that will reclaim that.

O'BRIEN: You talk about coordination between the two organizations. To what degree, then, is that information shared? Is it a power grab in any sense of the word?

MARKS: It's not. And frankly, it's not at all. The coordination, in personal example, has always been very, very thorough and very open. And, in fact, it has improved over the years that I was in uniform and, specifically, in preparations for the war in Iraq and specifically those operations that were conducted in coordination with the Central Intelligence Agency, were never done better than they were done in preparation for and in execution of operations in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: So when we hear from Senator John McCain of the Senate Intelligence -- rather, Armed Services Committee, sorry about that. He says he wants to hold hearings into the report. The Pentagon has said that actually, the Congress was -- would notify, maybe it was under a different name, according to the Pentagon. So why would they want to hold hearings into a report if they've already known about the project?

MARKS: Well, I think there's sufficient concern that it may be more broadly interpreted. The article speaks about more broadly interpreting and defining what is routine and what operations would be defined as routine. If they are, they don't require certain permissions au priori in advance of execution. So I think it's healthy Congress is going to take an effort to put a little spotlight on it.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Spider Marks joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir, thank you.

HEMMER: About 23 minutes past the hour. Remembering Johnny Carson in a moment.

And a young woman who was a CIA spy. There were fast cars and fake identities, but she says all that glamour and intrigue had a very ugly side. We'll talk to her in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Here's Jack! In honor of Johnny Carson.

CAFFERTY: Good morning.

HEMMER: How are you, buddy? A little bit of a smile out of you there.

CAFFERTY: I'm a happy guy.

HEMMER: Cheer you up.

CAFFERTY: Particularly pleased to be here this morning. In 1977, I came to New York City from Des Moines, Iowa, to audition for a job at WNBC TV, which is the flagship station of the NBC television network. And the audition was held in studio 6B in Rockefeller Center. That's actually right across the street from where I'm sitting this morning. 6B was the home of the "Tonight Show" before Johnny Carson moved it to Los Angeles. I eventually was hired, they were desperate, and I worked out of that studio doing local news here in New York for 13 years, but I never forgot whose studio it was or where I was working every day.

Sometimes, very early in my career there, I'd go into the studio alone, before the show, while it was still dark, and I'd stand in the middle of it and try to imagine what it must have been like, the audiences, the "Tonight Show" orchestra, Ed McMahon and of course, Johnny Carson.

Here's the question. What's your favorite memory of Johnny Carson? Am@cnn.com. Drop us a note.

HEMMER: When he took the show to California, how significant was that?

CAFFERTY: Well, it was tremendously significant. It changed the whole axis of television. Moved -- it legitimized TV as being something more than something that only existed here in New York. And by moving it to California, established a center of gravity for the whole industry on the West Coast, which they hadn't had there before. Good stuff.

O'BRIEN: I'm looking forward to the stories. This is, you know -- when someone, I think, who is so important passes, the best part is listening to the people they touched.

CAFFERTY: And we've already gotten some terrific e-mails about -- I mean, this guy healed rifts in families because the one common thing that people did in their homes at night they watched the "Tonight Show." So you could be fighting with your wife/kid/parent, whatever, all day long. But at night, and back then, there was only one television set in the house, they'd turn it on and people would come into the room, and hey, you're sitting there for an hour and a half. Things have a way of working themselves out. So I mean, some of stuff is pretty interesting from a very personal standpoint.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Looking forward to that.

Also ahead this morning, our "90 Second Pop" crew will be talking about Johnny Carson. Their question, who is the real successor for the late night king?

Plus, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese shocked audiences with "Taxi Driver." That was over 30 years ago. What are they planning now to top that? That story's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 24, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A sad morning after so many happy nights. The nation bids farewell to the incomparable Johnny Carson.
Digging out from the deadly blizzard of '05. Two to three feet of snow, drifts high enough to bring cities to a stand still.

And one week before elections in Iraq, the most wanted man in the country apparently declaring war against democracy itself on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody.

After the blizzard on a chilly day here in the Northeast. Good to have you along with us today. And everyone talking and thinking again today about Johnny Carson this morning. The legendary host of the "Tonight Show" who sent millions of Americans to bed with smiles on their faces for so many years. From his Carnac the Magnificent skit to his easy way with his guests, we'll remember Carson's one of a kind talent this morning.

Also, Rich Little, a regular guest on the "Tonight Show" is our guest out of Las Vegas in a few moments here. Good memories.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, what's going on at the Pentagon? A new secret spy department to talk about with some broad powers overseas. CNN's military analyst, retired general James "Spider" Marks, is going to join us talk about that. Take a look at what is exactly behind this mission.

HEMMER: All right, Jack Cafferty on a Monday. Good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Memories of the maestro all morning long. Johnny Carson is gone, he won't be forgotten, particularly in this industry, perhaps ever. He was once fired from a radio station in Nebraska when he asked the general manager if he wanted to see something funny. Then he showed him his paycheck. That was his last day on the job. We'll share some memories as we move through the morning.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

Let's start now in Baghdad this morning. More violence again today as Iraqis get ready for elections this coming Sunday. Still, Iraqi and U.S. officials say they're doing everything possible to ensure the voting process is free and fair and safe. Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is in Baghdad.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The wanted terrorist, Abu Musab Zarqawi, affiliated with al Qaeda, has already claimed responsibility for the latest suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad. In a statement posted on a Web site, he said that his people had carried out this attack, which took place at a checkpoint near the political headquarters of the interim Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

Allawi was not there and at least 12 people were wounded, including ten policemen. This according to local Baghdad policemen. This is the latest in a series of attacks on polling stations, on election workers and on ordinary civilians and on political party headquarters, ahead of next Sunday's elections. In the meantime, the U.S. is stepping up its efforts to crack down on insurgents. They've arrested hundreds, we're told. Some of the prisons here are, we're told, full to capacity with upwards of 8,000 suspected insurgents and criminals and they're also, they said, unearthing dozens of weapons caches.

This huge security operation involves continuing to step up the training of Iraqi security forces, who will take the lead in securing the polling stations on election day next Sunday. And the aim, of course, is to ensure that people are safe enough and feel safe enough to come out and cast their first free vote next Sunday in the crucial elections here.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Baghdad.

HEMMER: One of our top stories today and will be throughout the entire week. Much more later this morning.

O'BRIEN: Well, Carol Costello is standing by first at the Time Warner Center in New York City with stories "Now in the News." Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

"Now in the News," President Bush is expected to phone in his support to anti-abortion activists in Washington. The president will make the call from Camp David, where he's preparing his State of the Union speech. Several roads will be closed in D.C. for the annual March for Life anti-abortion demonstration. This was the scene last year. They're marking the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Word of another resignation at the Homeland Security Department. Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for border and transportation security issues, is reportedly planning to step down today. According to an Arkansas newspaper, Hutchinson made the decision after being passed over twice to replace outgoing head Tom Ridge. Michael Chertoff has been nominated to take over as homeland security secretary on March 1. And it's New England versus Philadelphia in Super bowl XXXIX. The Patriots beating Pittsburgh's 41-27 in yesterday's AFC championship match. The Pats now set to go for their third NFL title in the past four years. And in the NFC, Philadelphia earned their Super Bowl slot finally by downing the Atlanta Falcons 27-10. Boy, did they shut down Michael Vick. The big game, of course, Sunday, February 6 in Jacksonville, Florida.

So what's your pick? Bill, Soledad, Jack?

O'BRIEN: I'm going with the Patriots.

HEMMER: Got to go with the Patriots.

O'BRIEN: Right, I don't think I'm going out on a limb.

HEMMER: Not too far.

O'BRIEN: All right, Carol, thanks a lot.

Well, this morning, fans and fellow entertainers are remembering Johnny Carson as a true showbiz legend. Carson died yesterday at the age of 79 and CNN's Sibila Vargas, live in Los Angeles for us this morning. Fittingly, she is standing at Carson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hey, Sibila, good morning.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Soledad. You know, when you think of an entertainer that really broke the mold, I mean, Johnny Carson was definitely the one. I mean, this man was so incredible and behind me, you see the -- some flowers have been laid out on his star. And as the day progresses, you're going to see a lot more of that, the outpour of love and affection for this man that had such an incredible impact. Now, he may have died of emphysema at the age of 79, but his legacy will live on forever.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's Johnny!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS (voice-over): For three full decades, he was the reigning king of late night.

JOHNNY CARSON, ENTERTAINER: I could never have imagined I would walk through that curtain almost 5,000 times in 30 years.

VARGAS: Johnny Carson was born October 23, 1925, in Corning (ph), Iowa. He moved to Norfolk, Nebraska as a boy, bought his first mail-order magic set and began his career as an entertainer, known as "The Great Carsoni." He performed in the Navy, graduated from the University of Nebraska, and went on to work at Omaha radio stations.

His first televised show, "Carson's Cellar," debuted in 1952 and led to a job as a staff writer on Red Skelton's variety show. In 1954, Carson got his big break, when Skelton was knocked unconscious an hour before air time and Carson was asked to step in.

His natural ease in front of the camera led to a contract with CBS. After a short stint as an emcee of "Earn Your Vacation," Carson got his own half hour comedy show, called "The Johnny Carson Show."

Carson moved to ABC for the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?," where in '58 he was joined by his sidekick, Ed McMahon. In that same year, he was asked to sit in for Jack Paar on "The Tonight Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

CARSON: I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you.

VARGAS: Perhaps more important than anything else to Carson was that he loved making people laugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

CARSON: I am one of the lucky people in the world. I've found something I have always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: And we certainly lucky to have him as part of entertainment and part of this industry. And something that's very interesting about Johnny Carson is that as big as the television icon that he was, he was also a very private person. And so his family is going to respect that. They're not having any kind of public memorial service for him. It's all going to be very private affair.

But I can't imagine with the outpour that we have had, an unprecedented outpour from his friends, from his peers, from his colleagues, people that actually loved this man so much, that at some point, there's not going to be some type of a huge tribute for this incredible man. Soledad, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Sibila Vargas for us this morning. Sibila, I think you're probably right about that. Thanks.

HEMMER: Comedian Rich Little made numerous appearances on the "Tonight Show." Rich Little is my guest now in Las Vegas. Good morning out there, Rich and thanks for coming out today.

RICH LITTLE, COMEDIAN: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: We're telling stories today -- the great Johnny Carson. Give us one of your favorites.

LITTLE: Well, the last time I saw him was about six years ago in a restaurant in Malibu. And I was having dinner and I didn't know he was there. And he came up behind me and I heard the voice behind me before I saw who it was. And I heard a voice say Rich, I notice you're having dinner, and I just wanted to stop by and say hello. And at first, I thought, who is this? Somebody doing a bad impression of Johnny Carson? No, it's not too bad. I turned around, almost going to say who else do you do, and it was Johnny. And he was very, very nice to me and asked me what I was doing.

Here's the interesting thing about that last encounter that I had. He actually said to me, Rich, are you still doing me in your act? And I said, of course, all the time. It's one of my best impressions and the audience loves it, everywhere I go. He said, are you kidding? I said no. He said they still remember me, do they? I said, of course they do, John. He said, gee, that's great to know, I just wondered if they'd forgotten who I was.

HEMMER: Well, he asked you if they still remember him?

LITTLE: Yes.

HEMMER: Says a lot.

LITTLE: Isn't that interesting?

HEMMER: Sure. You say one thing about Johnny Carson I don't think a lot of people consider. You say he was a great listener, and that's what made him so good as a host. Explain that to us.

LITTLE: Well, you know, if you watch a lot of the old shows, and I was looking at some of the shows that I did with him last night, what he was really great at doing was if you were telling a story, funny or not too funny, he had the ability at the end of the story to kind of top it. Not to put you down or anything, not to take away from your story, but just add another line or two that was very funny to enhance the story.

Or if somebody was not doing too well with a story, like an actor say, who's not a comedian, and Johnny could sense that this wasn't really going anywhere and there was no punch line, he could come up with a punch line and make the guy look great. And I'm sure many actors, when the show was over, said gee, I was very funny on the "Tonight Show" and they weren't. It was Johnny saving them.

HEMMER: He had the ability to put the period at the sentence where it was appropriate. Or the exclamation point at the end of the sentence where it was appropriate.

LITTLE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Rich, what explains why he enjoyed living such a private life?

LITTLE: Well, you're right. When he quit, boy, he quit. I always thought, with his notoriety and his money and power, that he would produce shows, you know, Johnny Carson enterprises. But he didn't do that. I often thought, you know, a guy like Johnny Carson, who is so funny and everyone loves him, wouldn't it be interesting if now that he's retired, he played a part in a movie or a television drama where he played against type, maybe played, I don't know, maybe a murderer or an alcoholic or something. I'll bet you this guy could have won an Oscar. No question.

HEMMER: In his life, a closed curtain, then a closed curtain...

LITTLE: But you know, one...

HEMMER: Thank you, Rich. Yes?

LITTLE: Another thing about Johnny that nobody seems to have talked about, because I remember seeing him in Vegas, and when he did his nightclub act, it was totally different than he was on the "Tonight Show."

HEMMER: How so?

LITTLE: He did not stand, like, just in front of a microphone and do a monologue. He paced up and down, up and down like Don Rickles does. He would go from one side of the stage to the other. Never stopping to move. He would go at people. He would do zingers, he would do funny little lines. He was entirely different. He was a little more aggressive.

HEMMER: Rich, thanks for sharing. Rich Little in Las Vegas.

LITTLE: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Later tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," Larry's guest will be longtime sidekick Ed McMahon. Larry comes your way every night of the week, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 on the West Coast -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Our other top story this morning, people from the Capitol to the Cape digging out after that huge weekend snowstorm. The blizzard dumped more than three feet of snow in some places.

Chris Huntington is in Boston with more this morning. Hey, Chris, good morning to you.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Well, just about to break dawn here. It is actually, I must say, a beautiful morning. Crystal clear, very, very cold. About 5 degrees. The storm came through here rather quickly. It was not the record breaker that some feared it might be, but it was still a world class blizzard.

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HUNTINGTON (voice-over): The storm battered the Bay State, from Cape Cod in the south to the north shore near Gloucester and, of course, downtown Boston in between. At the peak hours early Sunday morning, snow fell at more than three inches an hour, dumping close to three feet in many towns and more than two feet in Boston Common, where temperatures hovered around 10 degrees for most of the day.

But it was the hurricane force winds that caused most of the trouble, driving snow into dangerous whiteout conditions, plundering the plows' best efforts and whipping 10 to 15 foot waves on top of a storm surge along the coast. The entire island of Nantucket lost power. Across the State of Massachusetts, more than 30,000 homes went dark.

Governor Mitt Romney declared a state of emergency, putting National Guard troops on alert for evacuation and rescue operations and clearing the way for federal funding to help cover the considerable cost of snow removal.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced that he would order only essential city personnel to work on Monday and he said that Boston public schools would be closed through Tuesday.

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HUNTINGTON: Now, there's been some criticism of Menino for -- in some cases, people are saying he's overreacting. The word from the mayor's office this morning is no overreaction at all. Basically, all of the corners around all of the city streets of Boston and neighboring neighborhoods are covered with snow. There's no place for children to stand and wait for school buses. It's not a safe situation.

There are some fatalities to report, unfortunately. "The Boston Globe" is reporting that one of it's longtime columnists, a former columnist, he had retired, a guy named Dave Nyhan, perished while shoveling snow. And local police are reporting a 10-year-old boy in the Roxbury neighborhood was found dead, the apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. Apparently while his parents were shoveling snow, he was sitting in the car idling. A deadly situation, obviously.

Just to give you the final tallies. The snowfall is measured in Boston Common, 26 inches. That is just an inch and a half shy of the all-time record. The benchmark blizzard around here is the storm of '78. I used to live up here and I was here during that time, and it was a major storm, considerably worse coastal flooding for that storm.

So Soledad, the situation here getting back to normal. We've driven around the streets. The streets are relatively clear and over the next couple of days, people will be returning to life as normal.

O'BRIEN: You know, there they certainly know how to deal with all that snow, don't they? Chris Huntington for us this morning. Chris, thanks.

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HEMMER: The storm may be over, the commuter nightmare, though, just beginning. If you're expecting to do business in the Northeast today, you will need some patience, and a lot of it, in parts.

O'BRIEN: Also, some think Donald Rumsfeld may have gone too far this time. Member of Congress want to know why they weren't told about a secret operation.

HEMMER: And once again, Johnny Carson this morning. He ruled over Hollywood, but never lost his common touch. Who will fill his shoes? And who can? Ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: Is the Defense Department moving into the CIA's turf? "The Washington Post" broke the story yesterday that the Pentagon is operating a new espionage division with broad powers overseas. Sources telling CNN the role of the strategic support branch is to provide military intelligence for units in the field.

Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is a CNN military analyst, retired Army Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): Hi, Soledad. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. How exactly would this work? Explain to me. Do you expect that there were bureaucrats out in the field working side by side with field operators in covert operations?

MARKS: The military and Central Intelligence Agency have for years conducted operations in very, very close coordination. In fact, there's a very fine line between authorities of the Central Intelligence Agency and what is their purview and what the Department of Defense does. And the coordination takes place very openly and, frankly, very aggressively. So what I don't see in this article is a DOD grab for what has historically and legally been the responsibility and purview of the CIA. I don't see that.

O'BRIEN: The Pentagon having its own intelligence unit. Why would that come as a big surprise to anybody? Isn't that a positive thing? More intelligence could only be a good thing?

MARKS: Soledad, it's not really newsworthy. It's not new. The Department of Defense has, for many years, had special mission units. And those have been in existence and they conduct operations under both title 10, without being too policy driven, but there are guidelines that exist and the military adheres to the guidelines very, very, closely. So I don't think this is new.

What is -- frankly, what is newsworthy is there's a spotlight on it. It's an effort on the part of the Department of Defense to acknowledge that there's been an atrophy of human intelligence at the tactical level within organizations and formations and this is an effort to bridge back toward a strategy that will reclaim that.

O'BRIEN: You talk about coordination between the two organizations. To what degree, then, is that information shared? Is it a power grab in any sense of the word?

MARKS: It's not. And frankly, it's not at all. The coordination, in personal example, has always been very, very thorough and very open. And, in fact, it has improved over the years that I was in uniform and, specifically, in preparations for the war in Iraq and specifically those operations that were conducted in coordination with the Central Intelligence Agency, were never done better than they were done in preparation for and in execution of operations in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: So when we hear from Senator John McCain of the Senate Intelligence -- rather, Armed Services Committee, sorry about that. He says he wants to hold hearings into the report. The Pentagon has said that actually, the Congress was -- would notify, maybe it was under a different name, according to the Pentagon. So why would they want to hold hearings into a report if they've already known about the project?

MARKS: Well, I think there's sufficient concern that it may be more broadly interpreted. The article speaks about more broadly interpreting and defining what is routine and what operations would be defined as routine. If they are, they don't require certain permissions au priori in advance of execution. So I think it's healthy Congress is going to take an effort to put a little spotlight on it.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Spider Marks joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir, thank you.

HEMMER: About 23 minutes past the hour. Remembering Johnny Carson in a moment.

And a young woman who was a CIA spy. There were fast cars and fake identities, but she says all that glamour and intrigue had a very ugly side. We'll talk to her in a moment.

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HEMMER: Here's Jack! In honor of Johnny Carson.

CAFFERTY: Good morning.

HEMMER: How are you, buddy? A little bit of a smile out of you there.

CAFFERTY: I'm a happy guy.

HEMMER: Cheer you up.

CAFFERTY: Particularly pleased to be here this morning. In 1977, I came to New York City from Des Moines, Iowa, to audition for a job at WNBC TV, which is the flagship station of the NBC television network. And the audition was held in studio 6B in Rockefeller Center. That's actually right across the street from where I'm sitting this morning. 6B was the home of the "Tonight Show" before Johnny Carson moved it to Los Angeles. I eventually was hired, they were desperate, and I worked out of that studio doing local news here in New York for 13 years, but I never forgot whose studio it was or where I was working every day.

Sometimes, very early in my career there, I'd go into the studio alone, before the show, while it was still dark, and I'd stand in the middle of it and try to imagine what it must have been like, the audiences, the "Tonight Show" orchestra, Ed McMahon and of course, Johnny Carson.

Here's the question. What's your favorite memory of Johnny Carson? Am@cnn.com. Drop us a note.

HEMMER: When he took the show to California, how significant was that?

CAFFERTY: Well, it was tremendously significant. It changed the whole axis of television. Moved -- it legitimized TV as being something more than something that only existed here in New York. And by moving it to California, established a center of gravity for the whole industry on the West Coast, which they hadn't had there before. Good stuff.

O'BRIEN: I'm looking forward to the stories. This is, you know -- when someone, I think, who is so important passes, the best part is listening to the people they touched.

CAFFERTY: And we've already gotten some terrific e-mails about -- I mean, this guy healed rifts in families because the one common thing that people did in their homes at night they watched the "Tonight Show." So you could be fighting with your wife/kid/parent, whatever, all day long. But at night, and back then, there was only one television set in the house, they'd turn it on and people would come into the room, and hey, you're sitting there for an hour and a half. Things have a way of working themselves out. So I mean, some of stuff is pretty interesting from a very personal standpoint.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Looking forward to that.

Also ahead this morning, our "90 Second Pop" crew will be talking about Johnny Carson. Their question, who is the real successor for the late night king?

Plus, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese shocked audiences with "Taxi Driver." That was over 30 years ago. What are they planning now to top that? That story's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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