New and Noteworthy *--New York Times Book Review
***Must-Read Book of March ** **--Entertainment Weekly
Best Books of March --HelloGiggles
"Leaps at the throat of television history and takes down the
patriarchy with its fervent, inspired prose. When Women Invented
Television offers proof that what we watch is a reflection of who we
are as a people." --Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling
author of Rise of the Rocket Girls
New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia Jennifer Keishin
Armstrong tells the little-known story of four trailblazing women in the
early days of television who laid the foundation of the industry we know
today.
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 we watch tv today.
Irna Phillips turned real-life tragedy into daytime serials featuring
female dominated casts. Gertrude Berg turned her radio show into a
Jewish family comedy that spawned a play, a musical, an advice column, a
line of house dresses, and other products. Hazel Scott, already a
renowned musician, was the first African American to host a national
evening variety program. Betty White became a daytime talk show fan
favorite and one of the first women to produce, write, and star in her
own show.
Together, their stories chronicle a forgotten chapter in the history of
television and popular culture.
But as the medium became more popular--and lucrative--in the wake of
World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee arose to
threaten entertainers, blacklisting many as communist sympathizers. As
politics, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and money collided, the women
who invented television found themselves fighting from the margins, as
men took control. But these women were true survivors who never gave
up--and thus their legacies remain with us in our television-dominated
era. It's time we reclaimed their forgotten histories and the work they
did to pioneer the medium that now rules our lives.
This amazing and heartbreaking history, illustrated with photos, tells
it all for the first time.
