Sound of Youth, USA

Step back to 1968 and witness the unforgettable television moment that changed everything. Hosted by legendary bandleader and jazz icon Duke Ellington, Sound of Youth USA introduced audiences to a young folk singer from Flint, Michigan—Mary Smith. This rare footage captures Mary's moving performance and her victory in the national talent competition, decades before her son, Al Isaacs, would discover she was his birth mother. Featured in the award-winning memoir Finding Mary Smith, this remarkable piece of television history offers a powerful glimpse into the life of the woman at the heart of an extraordinary true story of adoption, DNA discovery, and family reunion.