Andy's Favorite Place
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.
I think we all have a couple of places where we're most comfortable -- you know, where the world can't get at us. Most of us have a chair in our living room we like. We sit there and read or watch television. We have a bed we like.
One of the places I like to be best is the desk in my office. I've done 900 pieces for television sitting here. My associate producer Susie figured it out and it comes to about 38 solid hours.
Twenty years ago I made this desk in my workshop in upstate New York. I wrestled the top out of my shop and then into my car.
It has good strong legs, several drawers and I put in a secret drawer that nobody knows about. For Giants tickets.
The top is made of a slab of walnut. This is called a walnut flitch. I put ebony dovetails in here to keep it from splitting anymore. I like this desk a lot.
On the average day it's covered with papers. I don't know why I get involved with so much paper but I do.
Before we record my piece, Susie and I clear off the desk to make it look tidy, then more often than not we end up covering it again with something else -- junk I'm talking about.
When I talked about kitchen gadgets, we had kitchen gadgets.
When I talked about vacuum cleaners, we had vacuum cleaners.
I got mad at the coffee companies that put less than a pound in a can that would hold a pound. (Savarin was less than two thirds of a pound).
I did a piece on pennies because I think the Mint ought to stop making them. Pennies are a pain in the pocket.
Every once in a while we covered the desk with a blue cloth. I forget why. I carved a turkey over a blue cloth on this desk.
We've used the desk for just about everything. Cameraman Keith stood on it one day before getting down and shooting the piece.
One of the first things I ever did was about the ball of cotton they put in pill bottles to make it look as if there were more pills than there are in there.
I've tried to correct what's wrong with the world over the years and it's discouraging to note what little effect I've had. They're still putting cotton in pill bottles.
Right here at this desk I did paint cans, toys, ash trays. One Sunday I was angry with the connecting cables I've had to buy for my computers.
Over the years I've done pieces on just about everything. Toilet paper, Swiss Army Knife, flexible flyer, hats for myself, cigarette paper, stuff I brought in from home, a few briefcases, glasses, shoes.
When I do something serious we keep the desk clear. A lot of times when I do a serious piece, I meet people on the street the next day who tell me how funny I was. I hate when that happens.
By Andy Rooney