Betty Ewing
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Gossip & the Women’s Pages
The book When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History is now up on Amazon. My chapter is: “Gossip in the Women’s Pages: Examining and Legitimizing the Work of Female Journalists in the 1950s and 1960s.” In it, I examine the role gossip played in the coverage of society news, brides and politics in the women’s pages. The book comes out in August.
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Great Betty Ewing Images
I love these images of Houston society writer and women’s page journalist Betty Ewing. They will be published on History Weekly later this week.
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Women’s History Month: Betty Ewing
Day 14 of Women’s History Month is another Texas women’s page journalist: Houston society writer Betty Ewing. Like many of her fellow female reporters during World War II, she got to cover hard news. (Other examples include Marjorie Paxson and Koky Dishon.) When the war ended, she was pushed into the women’s pages and she specialized in society coverage. She worked to broaden the definition of society to be more inclusive. Lance and I went through Betty’s papers several years ago at Texas Woman’s University. I included Betty in my recent book chapter about gossip and the women’s pages.
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Thinking of Betty Ewing
I was sad to see that Larry Hagman has died. Hagman was best known for playing J.R. Ewing on the longtime television show Dallas. Houston women’s page journalist and society reporter Betty Ewing was happy when the show became popular. Prior to that, many people mispronounced her last name as “Urine.” Lance and I went through Betty’s papers several years ago at Texas Woman’s University.
- Betty Ewing, Florida Women's Pages, Jeanne Voltz, Marie Anderson, Marjorie Paxson, Servicemen's Pier
Marie Anderson & the Servicemen’s Pier
The Veteran’s Day activities yesterday reminded me of some of the work women’s page journalists did stateside during World War II. Some went over to the news side of the newspaper – examples include Betty Ewing, Koky Dishon, Jeanne Voltz, Marjorie Paxson and Dorothy Jurney. Other women were volunteers for the war effort – such as Marie Anderson, pictured above. She oversaw major projects at the Servicemen’s Pier in Miami. Here is a story about her work in a 1943 Miami News story. I wrote about Marie’s work at the Pier in this book chapter about women in the Baby Boomer generation. After the war, Anderson went to work at…
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Betty Ewing and society writing
Too often society columns found in women’s pages are reduced to being insignificant. After all, the women’s section where these columns typically ran was often referred to as the “step-child of the profession” in journalism histories. Yet, these columns chronicled the stories of the powerful – the movers and shakers of a community. And, these columns also highlighted the women married to those in power. In doing so, Ewing gave overlooked women a voice. Ewing highlighted the stories of the wives who worked quietly behind-the-scenes. The stories of these women deserve to be part of the historical record of the South. Ewing’s reporting and writing revealed the personalities of the…
