When women invented television the untold story of the female powerhouses who pioneered the way we watch today

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Summary

It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women, each an independent visionary, saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way people watch tv today.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review: "Armstrong (Seinfeldia, 2016) takes a look at four female pioneers in the early days of television whom she believes deserve far more credit than history has given them. Focusing on the late 1940s and early '50s, Armstrong deftly illustrates how this quartet of women battled skepticism, sexism, and even the infamous Cold War blacklist to become vital players in the burgeoning days of the small screen. Comedienne Gertrude Berg successfully introduced her radio comedy The Goldbergs to television, breaking barriers not only as a woman but also by bringing a Jewish family into viewers' living rooms. Hazel Scott, a gifted pianist, became the first African American to host a weekly variety show in prime time, but fell victim to Senator Joseph McCarthy's now-infamous hunt for communists, which destroyed the careers of many Hollywood professionals. Irna Phillips, a daily-soap-opera innovator, succeeded in bringing the enduring format from radio to television, in the process creating the longest-running scripted show in history, The Guiding Light. And Betty White, best known today for her role in the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, starred in both a sitcom and her own daytime talk show in the '50s. With crisp, electrifying prose, Armstrong recounts the hard work and struggles of four women trailblazers who shaped the dawn of television."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Television cultural critic Armstrong (Sex and the City and Us) reclaims in this enthusiastic outing the forgotten history of four women who shook up the staid ranks of mid-century television and set it on a course to become the medium it is today. Among the players are Gertrude Berg (1899--1966), who created, wrote, and starred in The Goldbergs, the first TV show to feature Jewish-American characters; it became a phenomenon and was adapted into a 1950 movie. Virtuoso Betty White ad-libbed her way into being one of the first women to develop a hit daytime talk show (Hollywood on Television) and now, with a career spanning 80 years, boasts the longest tenure in television history. Irma Phillip (1901--1973), meanwhile, created the longest running broadcast program of all time with the soap opera Guiding Light, which ran from 1937 to 2009. And jazz pianist Hazel Scott (1920--1981) became "the first black person to host a prime-time network television show" when she began hosting The Hazel Scott Show in 1950. Despite their successes, however, Armstrong drives home the point that her subjects (other than White) would not live to know the impact of their work on "the frontier of television." This fast-paced and fascinating group biography will enthrall pop culture, television, and women's history buffs. (Mar.)"
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Additional Information

Subjects	Phillips, Irna, 1901-1973 Berg, Gertrude, 1899-1966 Scott, Hazel White, Betty, 1922-2021 Women television personalities United States History Television United States History Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction History Performing Arts Audiobooks. 1901-1973. 1899-1966. 1922-2021
Publisher	[Place of publication not identified] :HarperAudio2021 2021
Edition	Unabridged
Contributors	McNamara, Nan, narrator. OverDrive, Inc.
Participants/Performers	Read by Nan McNamara.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: OverDrive Listen Format: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook Requires OverDrive app 3.0 (Windows) / 1.0 (Mac) / 1.0 (Windows Mobile)
Description	1 audio file : digital
ISBN	9780062973344 0062973347
Other	Classic View