Newswise — Stacks of original scripts, press badges and a Peabody award help bring the Taking a Leading Role: Women in Broadcasting History exhibit to life at the University of Maryland. The exhibit - in the Maryland Room Gallery of Hornbake Library - runs through July, and features the cherished memorabilia of 16 women broadcasters. It documents the pioneering role they played during a time when many Americans felt women should be at home and not in the workforce.
"This is an aspect of women's history that isn't given enough attention to," says Cary O'Dell, project archivist for the exhibit. "These women represent the tip of the iceberg in television and radio. For years in the popular press we were told that women never worked in television and that it started with Barbara Walters and Oprah."
Taking a tour around the exhibit makes it abundantly clear that women not only worked in radio and TV during its so-called "Golden Years," but held positions of power and influence either behind the scenes or on air. The exhibit highlights 16 different women's collections held by the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland.
The Writers
The early women pioneers of American broadcasting wielded a mighty pen. But it was not to take dictation. Walk over to a display featuring Mona Kent and you'll find an almost overwhelming stack of radio scripts. She wrote every episode for the 11-year run of the soap opera "Portia Faces Life." Look in another case and you'll also find Gertrude Entenmann, who was a D.C. area advertising copywriter and producer. She worked with the "Joy Boys" Willard Scott and Ed Walker, as well as sponsors like Peoples Drug Stores and Coca-Cola.
The Executives
Making your way around the room you come to the exectives who paved the way for women in an industry dominated by men. Helen Sioussat was Director of Talk and Public Affairs for CBS radio from 1937 to 1958. Letters from Albert Einstein, Helen Keller and Richard Nixon line her display. At CBS Radio, she was in charge of more than 300 broadcasts a year before finally taking a seat in front of the microphone to host the first roundtable discussion show on television in 1941.
Another precedent setter was Edythe Meserand, who founded the first radio newsroom and produced the first radio documentary. She was also a founding member and first president of American Women in Radio and Television.
Betty Ramey co-founded WRKL Radio in Rockland, New York with her husband, Al Spiro. The station was firebombed after a controversial segment on Spiro's discussion program, "Hotline." Thanks to listeners who sent in money, and rival stations that offered used equipment, the station was back on the air four days later.
LAB Archivist O'Dell says some of his favorite pieces in the exhibit are the personal letters Ramey saved from that experience. "It is really touching to read the letters people sent in with money following the fire and know she kept them all those years. They really meant something."
The Producers
Two more women worked behind the scenes to keep programs running smoothly. Fran Harris-Tuchman started her career as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Television Technical Staff (WATTS) keeping WBKB-TV in Chicago on the air during World War Two while the men went to war. Eventually, she opened her own ad firm that did the first television commercials for Barbie.
Lee Lawrence originally set out to be an actress but ended up forming a working relationship with NBC-TV talk show host Dave Garroway. She worked for him behind the scenes as an associate producer for the "Today" show and an ambitious weekend news program called "Wide Wide World."
The Actresses
"Most of these women started out as actresses but moved into different fields," O'Dell says. "However, Julie Stevens and Betty Garde stayed with it." Stevens is best known for her 16-year long role as Helen Trent on the radio soap opera "The Romance of Helen Trent." Betty Garde put her talents to use in radio and television but is most famous for playing Aunt Eller in the original Broadway cast of "Oklahoma!"
Radio Talents
The exhibit also highlights women radio broadcasters. Pegeen Fitzgerald and Irene Beasley were top on-air personalities in New York City. Fitzgerald was referred to as the "First lady of Radio Chatter" and broadcast a daily radio show with her husband from their New York apartment for more than 40 years. Beasley, known as "the long, tall gal from Dixie," hosted her own musical quiz show, "Grand Slam" that was broadcast coast-to-coast.
Radio - TV Talents
Irma Lempke changed her name to Martha Brooks after an executive told her he wanted her initials to be the same as her show, "Market Basket." The program only lasted a short while but led to "The Martha Brooks Show" that aired from 1937 until 1971 over WGY Radio in Schenectady, New York. The exhibit's name comes from an inscription in her yearbook, "May she always have a leading role."
Mildred Funnell often shared her time in the spotlight on Ohio radio and TV with another broadcast personality, Gloria Brown. For eleven years, they co-hosted two female-friendly programs, radio's "Mildred and Gloria," and television's "The Idea Shop."
Television Talents
Other women honored were commanding television personalities. Inga Rundvold started off as an eccentric newspaper columnist who had a picture of herself wearing a different hat printed next to her column every day. Known as the "First lady of Washington, D.C. Television," Rundvold broadcast for more than 17 years on WRC-TV. Archivist O'Dell says every city had their Inga, who served as a "first lady" and paved the way for women on the air.
The exhibit concludes with New York television personality Helen Faith Keane, who left teaching for one year to host a short-lived Martha Stewart-like show "The Helen Faith Keane Show... For Your Information," and Ohio's "Aunt Fran" Norris, who pioneered children's television from 1950 to 1957 with her "Aunt Fran and her Playmates" show. She used the medium to educate the young through daily arts, crafts and storytelling.
Pioneering the Future
The impact these female broadcasters had on America is apparent throughout the Leading Roll exhibit. These women proved that if they had the talent to write, produce, act or be on-air, their gender did not matter. They set the tone and paved the way for later generations of women to make broadcasting a career - proving that desire and ability could break through male-dominated barriers.
Taking a Leading Role was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (in 2003) so that researchers could work with the 18 collections of women broadcasters held by the Library of American Broadcasting. The exhibit highlights those collections and allows the public to see who these women were and the impact they had on American broadcasting. The Library of American Broadcasting also maintains collections from the American Women in Radio and Television and the Housewives' Protection League radio program. Researchers can also look at the LAB's Women in Broadcasting Bibliography.
The Women in Broadcasting exhibit will be on display in the Maryland Room of Hornbake Library on the University of Maryland campus through July 2005. It is open weekdays 10 to 5 and Saturdays from 12 to 5. For more information, call (301) 405-9160.
A reception will be held on March 16 and will include comments by three of the women broadcasters highlighted in the exhibit - Fran Harris-Tuchman, Helen Faith Keane and Betty Ramey.
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