Over Easy; 1076

You know. Host of overeasy.

Good evening to you and welcome to overeasy. You know togetherness is one of those overworked words in our language that used to describe everything from a good relationship to close encounters of the wrong kind. But the right kind can be a marriage in which the man and woman are equally involved in each other's life and career. And we're going to meet such a couple in about 40 seconds. In our keeping posted section we'll be reviewing the three booklets most requested by you from the Consumer Information Center in Pueblo Colorado and we'll be showing you an address where you can write for them so that you don't want to have a pencil handy to write it down. Our public policy expert Robert been stock is here to help clear up some common misconceptions concerning Medicare. And finally in our lifestyle segment we'll be hearing from one of the first and best female country singers Patsey Montana. Will the parks and her husband Alexander Cohen are a formidable couple. Together they have written and produced the highly acclaimed televised

Tony award show for the past 11 years and at present they are putting together a nine hour spectacular celebrating CBS's 50th anniversary which is going to air this spring as a Broadway producer Alex has given us. Richard Burton as Hamlet Sherlock Holmes Baker Street and many other productions Hildy is a former television actress and now the creative head of Alex's organization. When they visited our studio recently I first asked them how they managed to combine their marriage and professional lives so successfully. I guess basically it's an underlying sort of respect for each other as they do and so there are some rules to live with every time you pick up some rules for the feds I think essentially living together two people making that commitment is the hardest thing in the world to do. But you develop rules as you go on. We've been married for 21 years and we find literally 23 have been married for 23 years and we find

that the winner of the university. Yes. The rules are little things that you learn about each other in your head and there's a noise and a lot of noise or nothing. You take work home from the office home and you leave it in the office where workaholics you work all the time work all the time. I know you have a reputation. You seem to thrive on it. They work a seven day week literally and the kind of work you do if you are an accountant or something like that you're certain you're not going to take those ledgers home from the office but if you're somebody who thinks and creates that how do you stop that in your mind from working. How did you get a hundred and fifteen hundred twenty stars all together in one studio for this 50th anniversary think we wrote them a letter. He was a threat. It was it was just the logistics were well-planned and we got lucky and everybody wanted to be part of a unique celebration

and it was also marvellous I said. Later that afternoon to Andy Griffith's You'd think with a hundred twenty however many stars there would be temperament somewhere during the course of the day and he said no nobody wants to be the first one to act up which is kind of a two people you're in big trouble a hundred twenty one everybody's on his good. That's true I've been working with stars for 25 years in the theater. And it's a much more difficult to handle one hundred eighteen. It is more difficult Absolutely because the one is there all by his lonesome and he's got a license and the other group nobody wants to be the first fool. Is there an air date for the CBS special for I think it starts on Easter Sunday and runs every night for a week. Since it's a mini series of seven hours of it. It's 10 hours now and it is you know started a 16 year veteran getting to like it so they keep an greasy fatty and I want you to be 16 again with your two sons are working with you on this project or another probably one of the oldest one.

Jerry's working on the television project with us in Los Angeles and the youngest one Christopher who's working in the office in New York which is basically theatrical enterprises and Jerry's more interested in film and television. So my list along with this was this spectacular you're planning two or three Broadway productions and I think that's what I've read. Well we're doing in them first thing in the fall we're going to do a Richard Britain as Lear which is something that the Richards wanted to do for a decade. Well planned to do for decades that will stop rehearsing in August and then in the late winter we're going to present Richard Rogers new musical. Which is an adaptation of I Remember Mama and the book which started in San Francisco Incidentally my bank account by Katherine Lamar we're very hopeful that we're going to be able to have the world premiere of that musical in San Francisco. Really. Yes they're trying to work that out. That's just the Burton thing is a first return to the American stage that's what is needed now that's not so we wouldn't have lived

in the 60s for and Richard did a 12 week stint in Equus Broadwell but of course two years ago I guess this was the first Shakespearean so we'd match that with all that work I have to ask you if you think about slowing up or cutting down the schedule a little or taking a protracted vacation are you going to continue at this pace. Yes of course we're going to continue with this place if we can find young people who can keep up with us. That's not the problem. Yes it did really is an enormous problem. Would you like people who are willing to work. What we call the old fashioned hours in an old fashioned handcrafted business and all the kids that came with us from New York have that kind of energy I think maybe it has something to do climates like San Francisco and New York which are Crist have people that make you work make you want to work. I think Southern California is Lotus Land. And I think that the blandishments of the bill yesterday you know there

people are technically proficient and marvelous at what they do in Los Angeles but I really don't think that the climate is the kind of thing that makes you want to work 24 hours a day. That may be where the great early philosophers of this country came out of a kind of a harsh climate of New England I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But you work over the course of history. Used to go we work in California and New York and London and that's it and we live a little bit in France but we never work there. So we do get there when we work in the sense that we would like 50 scripts. But that's where we can read it if you were forced into this would be damaging to you Do you think. Well I think I'd kill myself. If you're really forced to go over it. I find if I'm not doing anything I scrub a floor. I have actually the first time I was when I was booked on the show because I was told it had something to do with approaches to deal with aging and when I got to San Francisco they told me it was about the middle aged and then when I was sitting in the

makeup room the family said to me it's about old age it's not about old age after that is what the subject of aging which as we always say everybody is doing and people are thinking about it is a it is a thought do you have some kind of plan even though you plan to cut down your work schedule. You have any kind of a plan for the rest of your life to get out I know you fell right on down. Not at all. You just take the next project if it's something you want to do with it. Yes I read a piece by the film producer who happens to be a friend of mine. So as he's a friend of his full billing Joseph Levine on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times about two or three years ago in which he said that he was then 70. And his ambition was to. But in terms of his career would be to go out on a jumbo 747 heading to London to make a deal.

And I thought to myself that at the time that I read that that that was very impressive to sign up for one because that if they if you're going to have an option I would like to whenever it whenever it happens I'd like to be active I never want to be inactive. But I think that the that the greatest problem is is finding people who can keep the pace. Is it a myth that overwork is damaging to people. Yes. You think it's a misunderstanding. In other words it's other circumstances that damages them and then just a lot of work they're doing. Yes I think that. To work hard and not have to worry about how your rants going to get paid. And if you do get sick how those bills are going to be paid. I think that's a blessing. I think if you are unfortunate enough not to be economically situated so that you have those fears I think that anything aging and any of those things happen in your head. And I think to have fears for your children to being able to support them that kind of thing I think it's why you you know all the old books used to say she was 30 but she

looked 55 or something it's not because she worked hard it's because of those fears I think. Do you think the half minute we have left you have any advice for couples who are working together and there are a lot of them which is that we're going to get along together and making a work schedule work along with the marriage. Make it a good site and break clean house. That sounded nice. I think you would be a real pleasure talking to you Alexander CO in the early part. Thank you for being overeasy. Thanks for being with us. Those guests were a couple that works in more ways than one. Medicare. To some of us the word means free or inexpensive medical care for older Americans to others Medicare is synonymous with red tape

blind alleys and mangled nerves. There may be truth in both concepts and much more to learn about it as well. Facts can save us time and frustration. Robin stock is a man who knows which of us is entitled to qualify for Medicare and what benefits were entitled to receive. He knows all the rules and he makes them easier to understand. We want to talk to him today. We welcome Robert been stuck. Thank you. Good to have you back on the program. Thank you it's great to be here. Let me start by trying to make a definition and correct it if it's not if it's off base but as I understand it Medicare is a federal program through which older people can get medical insurance. Exactly that's right in the general sense here. I think it's clear at the outset though we should let people know that you're not automatically covered if you're an older person. It's not often answered by the federal government. And it's not a coverage for every kind of medical expense

and for ever only for limited days. I see just sort some of this out some of the details I would be interested in in just what it. What it means and doesn't mean it's not all covered by the federal government. Well like most bureaucratic affairs you it's difficult to sort out in plain English in a few minutes but let's try it. Let's start with two main components of Medicare Part A which is hospital insurance and Part B which is supplementary medical insurance. Now Part A gives you coverage for hospitalization for 60 days of hospital costs after you meet a small deductible out of your own pocket and Medicare picks up the rest. Then if you've got to be in another 30 days Medicare will pick up most of that. And if still longer There's a lifetime reserve about 60 days that Medicare helps you with. Well you know that's a lot of insurance coverage given that today a single day in the hospital can run into several hundred dollars.

Now the problem with Part A is it's pretty limited when you get out of the hospital. You have a couple of days a few days of limited skilled nursing. But you don't have any financial help with your prescription drugs and you don't have any support for a nursing home stay of any length at all. So that's where we get the part B. Part B the supplementary medical insurance doesn't cover nursing homes and it does not cover prescription drugs but it helps you with a great many things while you're out of the hospital. It will help you with your physicians costs and services out of the hospital and in it will help you with physical therapy. It'll finance 100 home health as it's a year and will cover a lot of services like ambulances X-rays lab exams for static devices and so on. So it helps a great deal sure. What do you have to do to get covered.

Well anyone who is 65 and over if they've been working under social security coverage and had deductions from their paychecks through the out their lives is eligible for Part A of Medicare. And that's 98 percent of the population and they're eligible for it free. It was hard a little preview for part of your governors are secure if you've been working on this Social Security that 2 percent of the population have never been paying those payroll deduction taxes have to pay a $54 a month's premium to join part a hard b. Everybody has to pay for but it's only a $7 and 70 cents a month premium. So that's much more reasonable. And everybody can do that if they're 65 and older. Sure. Technically how would you go. What do you actually do to recite it for all of us. OK well for both parts A and B. You're

eligible and you should go down to your social security office. Even if you are not receiving Social Security benefits you're still working and you've been paying into the system. You must go down to sign up for a Pirate Day even though it's free and you have the month of your birthday to enroll. If you're the type who likes to plan ahead and get an EARLY START you can actually go in the three months before your sixty fifth birthday and enroll for the month of your 60th birthday. Or if you're the lazy or forgetful type three months after your sixty fifth or is it still could be right but if you let that slip you have to wait another whole year before you can sign up. But people should remember nothing's automatic. Get down to that Social Security office and get a friend or relative or a social worker. If you can't get down there. It is and I suppose has to be complex. How would a person keep up with the changes which happen from time to time.

Well I think the key thing is to be in touch with your social security office people and make them explain it to you. Don't feel hassled don't feel hurried. They're your public servants and if they can explain it to you in a way you can understand then they're not doing the job we're paying them to do with our taxes or that of today they will help if you go and ask them to explain. And they they will and if you encounter the occasional bureaucrat there who doesn't recognize that they're a public servant and they're there to help you be patient and tell him that you or you'd like to help him be a better teacher about the good. Another suggestion I'd submit would be to keep tuned into overeasy and watch where the rubber been stuck as well because you'll be explaining from Tybee. Thanks it's good to have you here. Thank you very much I've been stuck. Keeping posted is the part of our program where we inform you news and events that

are of interest and use to you and the overall easy audience. Earlier this week we told you about three booklets which you could order from the Consumer Information Center in federal Colorado Well Consumer Information Center is a clearinghouse for information on many subjects provided by the government agencies and offered to the public free of charge. Again the booklets that we talked about all shown to you. First keeping family household records. This is what to discard what to keep and how to develop a system of filing based on your family's needs. The second one was the myths of vitamins and the book it looks like this. This talks about facts and fallacies regarding vitamins tells you what vitamins are important and what foods contain them. And finally. Your money's worth in foods this is a little thicker in here it's a guide to sharpen your food shopping skills and to help feed your family well for less than you spend. These three booklets are available to you free of charge by sending a post card to consumer information center

department. He. Is sure to write that down. Pueblo Colorado 8 1 0 0 0 9 is the zip. And you asked for the booklets by name they are keeping family household records Mr vitamins and your money's worth in foods. When you write the address again is consumer information center department. Colorado 8 1 0 0 0. You know a country western singer Betsy Montana Patsy Montana was began her long career on the National Bar and dance in Chicago. She and I were in Chicago at the same time and that program began in 1034 it outlasted just about every other series on the air until it ended in 1952. She's saying. She yodeled and she demonstrated a gift for repartee with anyone within hearing range. These days Patsy lives in California with her husband. She's a grandmother. She still yodeling still touring Europe every year and performing many of the 200 songs that

she's written and recorded. One of them became the first country hit by a female singer to sell a million records. And I know you remember it I want to be a cowboy sweetheart. It sounds as good today as it did when she first saying it. See if you don't agree by welcoming. That's in Montana. Yes.

That's a good idea. I want to be a cowboy sweetheart remember

when it hit a million records. You get it. That's really good. There we go. They have seem to last longer than a lot of hits that hit and then subside. Yeah that's not the song survive. It just lasted a long. Still there when do you think the country western music has become more commercial and slick. Yes I know a lot of. Modern performers like Waylon Jennings have commented on the fact that it's kind of slick and commercial. Back to the purity of the order. Yeah I find that more like in Europe and they go more for the traditional I think I'm seeing the man and I keep going back. Damon The man what to do. When you say. The Barn Dance came out of the streets

first started there in the Sherman back for your time or my time I heard you say 1934 I went back and then I started to read it all but I think that maybe been about the time but nine years after that I went to staff with NBC so I know I used to tune in you know I just turned it back and we were talking and that's what I mean. Yeah that's right. Other than that was what became evident to network whether you're funny inside talk. At this point in your career and you're still acting is life better than it was in those days. Do you miss having a current gold record. Well I have to say it be nice to have but don't miss it because I'm not out selling things. But now I'm having fun. And I'm enjoying it a lot more now.

Does your personal philosophy change you know that you know with children and grandchildren you know it's smart grandmothers. Nobody believes it. No I enjoy life I think much more now and I did before because I think when you're younger you're out when you feel a competition more. You also get out a lot in your parents to county fairs and various missions and so you get a chance to mingle with the people and you might get a handle on how they feel about how the country is going. How do you think they feel about the United States of well the people that I've talked to they're just a little bit worried as to what's happened to country music now maybe they know that I've been in it so long maybe they told me different. But I think people are worried is what's happening to it because I don't know I don't claim to be a fuddy duddy but I don't think we need dirty lyrics in country but they sell records. That's how they feel about the music how do they feel about the country in general. I mean just a general morale of the country. You get a feeling of what their ideas are because they have a mistake of you know the kind of pessimistic outlook.

Yeah. How do you feel personally after talking to them. Well I don't know I just go along with them having fun with it. I go along I don't have a million seller. You never know. Trying to write has been around for 40 years and is still backing the careers of George Burns. And in the song we have been recently Tennessee Ernie Ford I think had a song that started and didn't really do much and it came back years later after I had been around a while and another one that I can think of other numbers are coming backs or something that we remember never to record. Actually the first recording Mr. Downes I was always somebody I respect. The first record was nine hundred thirty

seven girls weren't selling. One of our girls were the first really hit. That's what the first country in Western World Records what you see for the future what you intend to do. Are you going to take it easy at some point about the time I think it's time to come along every time you're asked. Time to quit or so I get to be there. But talking to someone back in address how do you get over the jet. I don't know you know I don't when you travel you just you're tired just sitting there even if you sleep on it when you get off. I describe it is a long weekend hangover. So I don't know it gets worse every year for me so maybe there's something. Course if you partake of what they offer in the plane. Well I don't do that you know I really don't want to just play you know. Great to have you. We'll be looking to hear from him. We'll never

forget. Thank you very much. That's in Montana has a woman more interested in what's ahead for I think than what has already been said or done. She has thought about retiring several times and always changed her mind. A lot of a lot of it is in upcoming programs will be meeting David Frost Labor leader George Meany and Southern. Many others Bob in-stock will be back telling us who is entitled to Medicaid and what it covers and eyes door for will be explaining physical changes. So until next time that's a thank you and good night from all of us saw or easy.