George Stevens made the Kennedy Center Honors. Here's why he lost them.

It started with a casual, almost offhand request. "If you don't mind -- since this is my last Honors -- I'd like to say something," George Stevens Jr. told Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein.The two men, along with Stevens's son Michael, were standing backstage last December just before the second half of the Kennedy Center Honors. In years past, Rubenstein gave brief remarks and, as producers of the show, George and Michael took a silent bow. But this night was different, Stevens said: "I...