Mo Rocca, who’ll drive to Minneapolis for one of his “CBS Sunday Morning” interviews:
“Working now is tough. I drove to the Catskills to interview Melissa Gilbert. She grew up in that ‘Little House on the Prairie’ show, so I figured she’s safe. Any prairie survivor knows remedies. Every other episode somebody died, but her people got into an ice bath with a 104 temperature and survived. So who doesn’t trust Melissa?
“My mother needed some air, so I did car protocol. Lysol on the seat, Clorox wipes on the windows, germ-proofed the steering wheel. She was so excited with that drive-thru at McDonald’s that to her it was like going to the Ritz in Paris.
“My partner and I have to figure how to move around our rooms so you can conduct conference calls. Fortunately, I was good at geometry so I know how to design space.
“I’m sick of Zooming.”
It’s debatable
TV’s VP debate. With the warmth of a cobra, smirking snarky Kamala proved if you didn’t like her before, you loathe her now. Imagine if Adam, Eve and the Serpent made a movie. Guess which she’d play . . . James Stalin’s book “The Audacity of Grope: A Candid look at Joe Biden,” is out. He says “attempts were made by the left to derail its publication.”
Unpacking the Rat Pack
Comes now Frank, Dean, Sammy, Joey and Peter’s 60th anniversary. Their lives are gone, but their stories aren’t. A new book’s “Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, the Mob and the Summit.” February 1960. The Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford. In the Sands Hotel, Sinatra’s HQ, they filmed the heist movie “Oceans 11” over 28 swinging days and nights. The book came from 50 years of interviews with know-it-all bad boys such as Moe Dalitz, who ran the town and everything else — and used those five to load Sin City, USA, onto the map. Authors Richard Lertzman and William Birnes debut it in hardcover and Ebook.
Pay attention . . .
Mission impossible. Rome shut main artery Via Sistina so Tom Cruise could shoot “a terrifying car chase scene” . . . Andrew Lloyd Webber in his studio making the “Cinderella” album for his next musical, which so far has no theater that’s open . . . Maskless, but never miss-less, Giuliani supped outdoors last week at Amata with two ladies . . . Black Suburban, security lights flashing, 7 p.m., from DC to UES’ the Beach Cafe, came Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and lady friend. Said little, ate fast, and split at 8:30 p.m.
World of change
Europe. Rome’s empty Fiumicino Airport. Invisible robots check your temperature. A Lufthansa “Star Trek”-esque hologram displays your temperature. Placing garments in overhead bins, forbidden. Must be hung on hooks or stowed beneath the seat. Attendants supply vacuum-packed disinfektionstuchs (wipes). Clutching those, wearing N95 masks, rubber gloves, plus prescription ski goggles, passengers look like Martians. Munich airport feels hollow. Footsteps echo across the marble. Germany’s infection rate is rising. Bavaria bars Berlin or Frankfurt visitors. Cancellations are heavy. Everyone wears disposable gloves. Australia’s 600- million-year-old Uluru rock formation can’t now be climbed. Anangu people own the place and angrily banned mountaineers from using Google maps to “climb” it by taking photo tags off the site. Why, who knows? That tough rock’s been in place even before Mrs. Pelosi.
Have great Italian food tonight, and celebrate this holiday and this country . . . and remember that we live in the United States of Godblessus America.
Only in the USA, kids, only in the USA.