Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.

VALENTINO DE LA O REFLECTS ON THE LEGACY OF HIS GROUND-BREAKING VAL DE LA O SHOW, ONE OF THE FIRST NATIONALLY SYNDICATED SPANISH- LANGUAGE TV PROGRAMS.

SPREADING KINDNESS ONE ROCK AT A TIME RENO PAINTED ROCKS SENDS OUT RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES >>Faith Perez: What made you pursue a career in television and what made you want to create the Val De La O show?

>>Val De La O: Wow.

That's very interesting.

>>Val De La O: One day I noticed on TV that there were no Spanish speaking TV shows.

So I said there's a need for TV.

So that's how I got started.

So I said can do that.

Of course I never been in a TV studio and, uh, but I felt that I could do it.

So, I went to see the three stations in town, because there was only three at that time.

NBC, CBS, and ABC.

And, uh, they chased me away.

They wouldn't even let me talk to the manager.

They, I remember one time I went to this particular station and, they said "Is that kid still here?

Yeah.

Tell him to leave.

We don't want to see him."

And that went on for quite a while.

The problem was that it was very hard to get into TV.

>>Faith Perez: Why was that?

>>Val De La O: My skin color.

I was brown.

And, uh, but I persisted.

I, I don't blame anybody.

It was just that particular era.

And, finally in the early 60s, I started my TV show.

[Music] >>Val De La O: Funny, because, four years later the ones, the people who did not want me to be on TV, now they were calling back to see if I would return to their stations.

By this time I was better known.

[TV Audio] >>Faith Perez: How did you go about selecting the artists and the performers that you had on the show?

You had a lot of famous people.

>>Val De La O: Well in the beginning they were all local.

Because, uh, we had mariachis and singers.

>>Val De La O: But, believe it or not, as the show developed, there was a lot of, a pool of performers out of New Mexico.

I had people like Debbie Martinez, La Chicanita.

Al Hurricane.

Tiny Morrie.

[Music] day I got a call from Santa Fe.

And this man called me.

He said he was a professional comedian.

And his name was Mario Lebya.

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: I asked him to come over for an interview.

And he stayed for me for the next 24, 25 years.

He was an in-house comedian for me.

And we did a lot of comedy through the years.

And he became very popular.

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: And then I interviewed this colonel in the US Army one time.

I was always looking for guests, and he was a full colonel.

He impressed me because he was tall and good-looking.

Big old eagles on his uniform.

His name was Colonel Juan Raigoza.

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: And he was leaving the Army, even though he was a full colonel.

He was going to retire.

So I asked him he would like to be my co-host.

He stayed with me for about 23 years.

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: As time went on I got more popular.

And then one day when my show went national back about 1974, something like that, '73, we ended up with almost 60 markets all over the country.

New York.

Chicago.

Los Angeles.

Everywhere.

Everywhere.

And, uh, the movie studios, you know, they make movies.

And they wanted to, uh, promote their movies.

Because if people don't see the movies, they don't make any money.

And they wanted to promote it to the, Spanish-speaking market, because they started to realize that the Spanish market is a big untapped market at that time.

>>voice of Val De La O: Well, in your latest film, Nice Dreams, what do you deal with?

>>Cheech and Chong: Well it's the story about how these guys are ice cream men and caretakers and how they combine both for fun and profit.

>>Val De La O: They would call me up and say "Val, would you like to have Kirk Douglas on your show?

Would you like to have Anthony Quinn?"

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: And of course I did.

And then they would send the stars to be on my show.

Muhammad Ali for example.

I was taping my show here in town and uh, somebody called me.

And he said "Do you have time to interview Muhammad Ali?"

And I said "Yes.

I guess so.

Bring him over."

And Muhammad Ali walked into the studio like this one here.

What a beautiful man.

Tall.

Good-looking.

The Heavy-weight champion of the world.

And it just so happened that I'm a boxing fan.

He was very humble by the way, because we had one of the cameras that was out of white.

And we had to balance the white.

You know how that, that you put a handkerchief or something to.

And we balanced the cameras.

And I told him "Mr. Ali, we have to do this."

"Call me Muhammad," he said.

And he was sitting there with his wife and a little child.

And he was playing with the kid.

And finally we put him into the set.

And he when he stands, stood next to me, he was tall.

I looked like a little midget next to him.

And I looked at him like this.

And he, he was looking at me like this, to see what I was going to say.

And I said, "You know, Muhammad, I think I can take you."

And he started to laugh a lot.

I was talking to the Heavy-weight Champion of the world!

[TV audio] >>Val De La O: There were many, many, uh, stars.

I can't.

There's a whole list.

But one of the best interviews that I've ever did in my life was Reyes Lopez Tijerina.

I was so proud of that because Reyes was on a mission and, he expounded that on his show.

We had a lot of artists.

Sonny Rivera and Chewy Martinez.

All those people, they were just wonderful people.

[TV audio] >>Faith Perez: What was your favorite part about interviewing them?

>>Val De La O: The human part of it.

Because that's the real part.

The, the uh, the glamour and the suits and the money and the autographs, all that is just nothing.

It's just part of the show.

But the real humanistic is when you run into a star and he starts to tell you that they have a handicapped child, or the mother that is dying of leukemia, or, or that they had a problem with moving from Tennessee to Oklahoma.

Whatever.

That's the human part.

And I do enjoy that, because I found out that all these celebrities, it didn't matter how big they were, they're all human.

We're all human.

You know?

>>Val De La O: Okay, Let's sing the song that you have always sang on, sung on this show.

"Oh Maria."

You want to sing that?

Yeah.

You sing together with me?

Yeah.

Okay.

"Oh Maria."

[Singing] >>Val De La O: And one of one of my favorite guests on my show was my daughter.

Carmela.

Carmela is handicapped.

She's a special child, and um, I had her on TV many, many times.

About 10, 15 times.

She grew up on the show.

[Singing] >>Carmela: I like my daddy because he handsome.

I like my sister because she they are they are um, pretty.

>>Val De La O: Okay.

Yes.

What's the name of the song?

>>Carmela: Bendito?

>>Val De La O: Bendito.

Yes, Bendito.

You want to do Bendito?

>>Carmela: Yes.

>>Val De La O: Okay.

That way we can compete with Los Latinos, 'cuz they sing beautifully.

But so do you.

So let's sing Bendito, okay?

[Singing] >>Val De La O: And she would sing songs with me on TV.

In those years, many people who had handicapped children, special children, they would not take them out in public, because they were embarrassed to take them out.

So I, I started to put her on TV to tell people that, I used to tell them all the time, if you have a child like Carmela, a special child, don't keep him at the house.

Take him out.

Take him to the store, to the movies, or whatever.

And believe it or not, they start taking him out.

I remember one time I was at K-Mart and I heard somebody call my name, and it was this lady walking somewhere.

And, so I went up there and she had a little child that was kind of crippled.

And she told me, she says "are you Val De La O?"

She says, "This is the first time that my little girl is out in public."

I say "Why?"

"Because you scolded me Saturday", she says.

"I was watching your show, so this is the first time.

Thanks to you, she's here with me at K-Mart."

And the little girl was there.

And I helped a lot of people take their children out.

>>Val De La O: Do you want to say hi to your daddy?

>>Carmela: Yes.

>>Val De La O: Well say hi to me then.

>>Carmela: Hi Daddy.

>>Val De La O: Hi Carmela.

Okay.

You want to sing a song?

Quieres cantar una cancion?

>>Carmella: Yes.

>>Val De La O: My Carmela now is 57 years old.

And she can read, she can write.

She works on her computer and everything else.

>>Faith Perez: And she can sing.

>>Val De La O: And she can sing.

Better than I could.

>>Val De La O: Okay, well let's sing this song, okay?

>>Carmela: Okay.

[Music] After being on TV for a few years, I was thinking of quitting TV.

And I remember one time I was driving from Denver, Colorado to Albuquerque.

And I said "I'm gonna quit my TV."

That's before the show was national.

And um, I stopped in Santa Fe to get some gasoline.

And when I pulled in the gas station, I heard a lady from the other pumps yelling at me.

"Oh!

Val De La O!

Are you Val de La O?"

I said "Yes, I am."

"Oh my God!

You're Val de La O!"

she said.

"God sent you to me."

She put her hands like this.

"God sent you to me."

And I said, "Really?"

So, I went to talk to her.

And I said "What's going on?"

And she says, "I have a little boy."

He was about 10 years old.

And she told me that he was dying of cancer, and, and his father and I asked him "what was his last wish?"

"We thought he was going to go to Disneyland, or see, or meet Roy Rogers, or somebody like that."

And he told us, he said, "I want to meet Val De La O."

"And you, we didn't know how to get a hold of you."

she says.

"And all of a sudden, here you are pumping gas into your car.

Would you see my little boy?"

And remember, I was thinking of quitting TV.

So, I followed her to her house there in Agua Fria, I think, in Santa Fe.

And when I walked to the front of the house, there was a little boy in a wheelchair with real thin arms, sunken eyes, staring at the window, or the door, to see what his mother had told him was going to come to see him.

And as I approached the door, he, all of a sudden he said "That's Val De La O Mama!

That's Val De La O."

And every time I, every time I tell that story, I get uh, emotional about it.

Because he, they thought, his mother thought, that God had sent me to them for the boy.

When I left that home, I think that God sent the boy to me, because, because of what, I, the reaction that he had by meeting me, I didn't quit the show.

I realized that my show was, didn't belong to me at all.

It just had my name but didn't belong to me.

It belonged to all the people of New Mexico.

All the Hispanics.

That little boy saved the show for me.

>>Faith Perez: And how long after that did you go on for?

>>Val De La O: Oh my goodness.

Another 15 years or so.

But I lost my wife almost eight years ago.

And when that happened, everything ended with me.

I quit everything.

I, I didn't have the energy or the desire to continue with my life.

I just went home to die.

But I didn't die.

Here I am with you 7 years later.

[TV audio, in Spanish and English] >>Val De La O: .the ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

>>Edward James Olmos: I consider it to be probably one of the finest films I've ever been a part of.

>>Former NM Governor Toney Anaya: Well Val, I think the fact that we were here at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce underscores why it's important that Hispanics unite in order to advance our causes.

>>Val De La O: I think what I did in a small way, opened the doors for Hispanics.

Because before me, there were very few Hispanics that were really on TV, like anchors and, directors.

And I think that I helped open the doors for many of these people that came after me.

Because when I look on TV now, and even in this area of New Mexico, I saw a lot of anchors.

And I said "Oh my God.

You know we have Hispanics on TV now."

That was nice.

We are very fortunate that now we have a lot of media in Spanish.

We have Univision and Telemundo and all kinds of things.

And now see, I think in some small, small little way I had, I had something to do with that.

>>Faith Perez: Well, what do you think is the lasting Legacy of the Val De La O Show?

>>De La O: I'm not looking for legacy I'm looking for peace, I'm looking for - my advice to anybody who's watching this show is be a good person, be humble with the humble, that's it.

[TV audio] A NICE SURPRISE [Music] - Imagine if you are walking down the street or in a park and you all of a sudden come across this brightly colored little rock on the ground.

And you bend down to pick it up, and you see that it's got an encouraging little quote on it.

And maybe you were having a bad day, and that made you pause and smile, and it made your day a little bit better.

That's what this is all about, just random acts of kindness.

- I started Reno Painted Rocks on Facebook after seeing a similar group based up in Whidbey Island, Washington.

And I thought it was just a really cool idea to spread kindness one stone at a time.

- [Jessica] Reno Painted Rocks is a community group that spreads kindness by putting painted rocks with encouraging messages or cute little pictures or cartoons out in the community just to brighten the day of a stranger that might find it.

- Typically, what I do is choose the stone that I'd want to paint on.

I look for a shape or something that would inspire me.

It's washed, and then I'll decide a design an inspirational quote or a scene.

- [Jessica] You can use dotting tools and dot.

You can use paint pens that you can also write messages with.

- [Debi] Acrylic paints, watercolors, pencil, pen and ink.

- Once your rock is dry, you wanna seal it so that it can survive outside if you put it outside and it rains.

So, we usually use UV or waterproof spray sealers.

Some of us use an art resin, takes a little bit longer to dry, but it's very shiny and nice and hard, so it protects the design.

- [Debi] I like to hide in karma boxes or little libraries.

- [Jessica] I hide them all over.

I hide them in my neighborhood.

If I go for a walk, I like to put them at the base of our mailbox.

I walk here to Rancho San Rafael on my lunch hour and just walk the trails.

And there's a tree knot over on one of the walking paths that I really like to leave rocks in, because it's right at eye level and it's a nice knot that will hold lots of different sizes of rocks.

On the backs of the rocks, it kind of depends on the real estate you have, you know, the size of the rock.

If it's small, you're not gonna have a lot of space.

But I like to write, "Keep or rehide, you decide!"

so that people know that they can keep it.

they can rehide it, they can leave it there, 'cause sometimes people think they can't take it, because it's this little piece of art.

And then I'll put, "Post a picture and join the fun on Facebook," and then put Reno Painted Rocks and the hashtag if it'll fit.

So, it kind of gives people a clue.

If they don't understand from what's written on the rock, they can go to the group and kind of see what it's all about.

Reno Painted Rocks sometimes will show up on like Instagram, but for the most part, it's on Facebook because of the group feature where we can have that community group and interact and comment and post lots of pictures.

- [Debi] We try to keep our members painting within our guidelines.

We prefer that you source your rocks ethically by purchasing them.

- [Jessica] You can get like a bag of river rock or go to the local landscaping company, and a lot of times they'll sell them to you in a five-gallon bucket.

- [Debi] We do prefer that people don't glue things to rocks, because it could harm wildlife.

- [Jessica] When you're hiding the rocks, we wanna make sure that they're not in any kind of national park or protected lands, not in grass so it won't damage a lawnmower.

- [Debi] And the biggest guideline we have is to be kind.

- The kindness, I didn't feel that when I first started painting the rocks at all.

You know, it's just painting rocks.

But when you do give either as a gift or you hide, it's really amazing.

It's really heartwarming that people appreciate a rock that you've painted and taken time for them.

I love it.

- I'm painting rocks with my grandma.

I hope that when people find my rocks that they feel excited and they keep them and that's like a gift.

- It's very humbling to see that there are so many amazing humans that want to share the same message.

- I started doing it because I liked the idea of the random act of kindness.

In the process, I've learned that this is kind of like my go-to self- care now.

Like if I've had a rough day at work or a rough week at work, I make time that night or over the weekend to paint, and it's kind of like a reset button.

So, I think there's something about the act of putting kindness out there without the expectation of anything in return, and it's useful for me.

- We often say that the rock finds its person, and I believe that when you are having a rough day, the rock appears.

You're looking for that little bit of hope, and there it is.

The award-winning arts and culture series ¡COLORES!

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From classic episodes to brand new shows, ¡COLORES!

is everywhere!

Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.