Food Editor Virginia Heffington Fights with Liberace

In doing some research about newspaper food editor Virginia Heffington, I came across this funny clip about a fight she had with Liberace.

According to the article, Heffington said: "I think we should forget the story because you're a better piano player than you are a cook. Your beef stroganoff tastes more like canned beef stew."

Newspaper food editors often interviewed celebrities about their cooking.

National Women & Media Collection

I was so excited to see this update to the National Women & Media Collection. It includes biographies of several great women's page editors as well as some images I had never seen before.

This is an image of legendary women's page editor Dorothy Jurney interviewing Imelda Marcos in Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines, in 1969. Here is my article in Journalism History about Jurney.

I had also never seen this photo of Marjorie Paxson with a giant fish in Florida. Paxson was a women's page editor in Houston and St. Petersburg, Florida among other places. Here is my article about Paxson.

Lastly, I found this great image of Roberta Applegate who had been a women's page journalist in Detroit and Miami. In 2008, I inducted her into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame - a favorite moment in public history.

The Importance of Weddings Coverage

I loved this New York Times wedding story from yesterday that is getting a lot of buzz. From the story: "The bride, 97, is keeping her name."

While often overlooked as soft news, wedding stories can have value. They were a key part of the women's pages for decades. As Chicago Editor Colleen "Koky" Dishon noted: “As we wrote about weddings and births and debutante balls, we learned about the importance of rites and rituals in people’s lives.” And there were journalism lessons in reporting about those rituals in the lives of women. Fort Lauderdale News women’s page editor Edee Greene pointed out that writing up engagement and wedding announcements provided “invaluable training in accuracy.”

Racism coverage was blatant in the coverage of weddings. For example, black brides were simply not included in the women’s pages. At times it was policy and at other newspapers it was practice. In the late 1950s, under Drue Lytle’s women’s page editorship, it was the fight for Filipino brides to be featured in the pages of the Honolulu Advertiser for the first time.

It was in the 1950s that women’s page editor Marjorie Paxson began publishing pictures of black brides in the Houston Chronicle, according to Paxson. She attributed many of the changes that occurred in her section to changes in the community: “It was more a matter of let’s keep up with the times and stay current. It was clear that our coverage would need to change."

Women's Clubs, Advertising & Wearing White Gloves

This morning I am revising an AEJMC conference paper that was called: "Mad Men and Reasonable Women: Selling Bras Rather Than Burning Them."

I am focusing on how women were making some inroads in 1960s adverting in products aimed at women, arguing that the selling of lipstick or bras should not be looked at as “lesser than” the selling of other products especially at a time when there were limited areas for women to claim authority. For a framework, I am making a comparison of Mad Men’s Peggy to Helen Gurley Brown who was a successful advertising copywriter before her time at Cosmo. Jane Maas would be another example - she wrote a great book about that era.

I am concluding with the idea of re-considering Betty’s limited housewife role as she was also a clubwoman – an often ignored important role for women in communities.

It is the clubwomen and their work that was covered in the women's pages of newspapers. In re-watching Mad Men episodes, I was struck by the white gloves of the 1960's era. This led me to look back at some of my women's page images. I noted that there were several images of the women's pages journalists wearing hats and gloves, such as the above image of Marie Anderson and Dorothy Jurney - the one wearing the gloves in steamy Miami. Here is a link to Dorothy's oral history.

Archival Material About Ruth Ellen Church

I was researching cookbooks and food editors when I came across the promotional material for two of Ruth Ellen Church's cookbooks (including the one above) at the Lilly Library located at Indiana University. Here is a link to the finding aid. I just placed an order for the copies.  

Ruth Ellen Church (who often wrote under the byline Mary Meade) was the longtime food editor at the Chicago Tribune. She is known for being the first wine editor at a newspaper.

Food Editors & Cookbook Reviews

Julia Child, the cookbook author who became a television personality and a household name, knew that for her publication to be a success it had to be well reviewed. Her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was embraced by American newspaper food editors. Yet, before that success, she worked for years to get her book published with several stops and starts along the way.

In 1954, she received a letter with the following advice on getting good press for her book: “Want big splash on household page of either Herald Trib. or Times. Trib. as you know is that dame Paddleford, knows a lot, ghastly (for me) style, but the big noise in the newspaper food world. Dorothy or I must sound her out very carefully. Don’t know if she ever writes about cookbooks. Have a hunch if she knew about it ahead of time she wouldn’t be beyond wiping credits and ideas. Know less about the dames at the Times – Nickerson or Casa-Emellos. But we must walk carefully and find out which is the best pitch for absolutely the right publicity for the book.”

The above quote is from the collection of letters between Julia Child and Avis Devoto, As Always, Julia.

Newspaper food editors held great power in their ability to praise or pan a cookbook. Here is a link to Clementine Paddleford's papers and finding guide.

Inauguration & Fashion Journalism

There has been heavy media coverage of what First Lady Michelle Obama might wear to the Inauguration tomorrow. Here is an example from ABC News. The First Lady's fashion sense would have been appreciated by fashion journalist Eleni Epstein who covered my first ladies - including Jackie Kennedy.

Eleni Epstein was the longtime fashion editor at the Washington Star. Her papers are in the National Women & Media Collection.

Here is a link to a calender from the Ford Library which shows the First Lady meeting privately with Eleni Epstein.

My article about Epstein took more than six years to research and write. It will come out next year in a media history journal.

Ruth Casa-Emellos' 1952 shrimp frittata recipe

Last night, Lance made an updated version of Ruth Casa-Emellos' 1952 shrimp frittata recipe - we served it with mimosa and a fruit salad for dinner. Here is a link to the recipe.

Casa-Emellos was a food tester at the New York Times in the 1950s and 1960s. This dish was part of an effort to re-create the dishes served on the fashionable Italian cruise line, the Saturnia. That story is included in this cookbook about shrimp meals.

I am just beginning to investigate Casa-Emellos' career and her role in food journalism.

Death of Dear Abby columnist

"Dear Abby" - Abigail Van Buren — the pen name of Pauline Friedman Phillips - died yesterday. Her national syndicated advice column was common in the women's pages of newspapers for decades. In one column, she wrote about one of my favorite women's page editors Maggie Savoy. Here is a link to the column.

I am pleased to see how much attention has been paid to Van Buren's death as often soft news does not get much respect.

New Image of Food Journalists

I was working on my book manuscript about food newspaper journalism when I came across this great image of Clementine Paddleford and Ruth Casa-Emellos. They are judge entries in Pillsbury's 3rd National Baking Contest, Waldorf-Astoria, New York City, in 1951. It can be found here at the Truman Library & Museum.

Paddleford was a food writer for the New York Herald Tribune in the 1950s and 1960s. A great book was written about her life - Hometown Appetites. Her papers are in the archives of Kansas State University - where my husband earned his master's degree.

I am currently researching Casa-Emellos who had been hired as a food tester at the New York Times by Jane Nickerson.

The above image verifies what I had guessed - that food editors have long been judges at cooking competitions.

More About Fashion Editor Marji Kunz

I received some great material about Detroit fashion journalist Marji Kunz. Here is an earlier post about Marji.

The letter above is from Marji to Paul Myhre, director of the Penney-Missouri Awards - the top recognition for the women's pages. It can be found in the papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards at the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Marji won two Penney-Missouri Awards for her reporting on fashion.

Eugene Patterson Has Died

Eugene Patterson died yesterday. According to his obit: "He wrote about the civil rights movement at a time when many Southern newspapers were reluctant to cover it."

He headed the St. Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times)in the years when former women's page editor Anne Rowe Goldman served as ombudsman. Here is a link to a story about Patterson naming Goldman to her position.

Several Southern newspapers were champions of civil rights but overlooked inequities that women faced - including in the newsroom. There is a comment in the book Orange Journalism which noted that Goldman should have promoted higher but was not because she was a woman.

History of Restaurant Reviewers

I am writing an entry about restaurant reviewers for the Encyclopedia of Food and Agriculture Ethics.

Other than Duncan Hines (this was before he became better known for his cake mix company), most reviews of restaurants were found in the food sections of the women's pages. The NY Times' Craig Claiborne is probably the best known early newspaper food critic as he invented the four-star rating system. Jane Nickerson had reviewed restaurants for the NYT prior to Claiborne.

Here is a previous entry about food critics and the women's pages.

History & Social Media

I recently wrote a newsletter article for Clio - the publication of the History Division of AEJMC. I wrote about the need for mass communication educators to use social media. I made the reference to Twitter and Western Union telegrams - both use short forms of writing.

This image is from the papers of Roberta Applegate in the National Women & Media Collection.

Roberta was a groundbreaking women's page journalist in Detroit and Miami in the 1950s.

News of Gerda Lerner's Death

I was sad to learn about the death of historian Gerda Lerner.

Lerner worked with NOW pioneer and the longtime head of the Wisconsin Commission on the Status of Women, Kathryn "Kay" Clarenbach. At Kay's memorial service, Lerner said:
"Kay was the foremost organizer of the modern women's movement, recognized as such by all who worked with her . . . the reliable, sustaining force without which there is no social change."

Kay worked with women's page editors to cover feminist topics in a positive way. I found proof of this in Kay's papers at the University of Wisconsin. The finding guide is available here.

Here is a previous post about a presentation I gave about Kay.

Wisconsin Badgers, Rose Bowl & Discrimination

In honor of the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl this year, here is a women's page reference from a previous Badger Rose Bowl appearance - from a former Wisconsin women's page journalist Dorothy Kincaid. Dorothy was the longtime food journalist at the Milwaukee Sentinel. (The cookbook that she edited is pictured above - I found it on eBay.)

When she retired, she shared this memory of banned from the press box during the 1963 Rose Bowl she traveled to California with the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team.

Her assignment was to write a color piece about the parade and game. She
had tried to make advance plans to cover the game knowing she would
likely not be allowed in the press box due to her gender. The plans
fell through and she asked if she could have space to file her story.
Instead, she had to file her story from a public phone booth under the
stadium as the University of Southern California marching band was
practicing.

Here is a link to the story.