Okay, you got me curious now...so here's the official story. The yellow ribbon phenomenon is based on an actual occurrence in which a man arrives home from prison on a bus. One of the other passengers on the bus wrote a letter describing what happened to the New York Post and columnist Pete Hamill wrote it up as a story. The story later appeared in Reader's Digest (1971). The Tony Orlando song was released in 1973. No mention of a James Earl Jones TV version though in any of my research. Interesting note, though...It has recently been remade into a Japanese film entitled "Yellow Handkerchief." Ah, the Global Village...