journalism history
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Vivian Castleberry documentary available
The documentary about Dallas women’s page editor Vivian Castleberry is available online. (The DVD quickly sold out and is on reorder.) It turned out very well. Here is a link to it – it’s about 30 minutes long. Vivian is the third on the list of Texas Trailblazers.
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Lance and I just watched the movie, The Hoax, about the fake biography of Howard Hughes. The story reminded me of Las Vegas Sun journalist Ruthe Deskin. (Initially, she was a women’s page editor in Reno, Nevada.) In 1954, Ruthe Deskin was president of the Las Vegas Press Club. She was supervising the rehearsal of a skit for organization’s event at the Branding Iron Club. While there, Howard Hughes, along with some giggling young women arrived to watch. Ruthe got tired of the noise and told someone to tell the group to leave. No one wanted to speak to Hughes so she took the job on herself. According to her…
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1968 Democratic National Convention/Police Riots
Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune published a story about the reunion for the 1968 Democratic National Convention/Police Riots. Los Angeles Times women’s page editor Maggie Savoy (shown above speaking at the University of Missouri in the 1960s) was gassed at the riots. She was in Chicago to cover the “women’s angle” of the Convention. This event was mentioned in Jim Bellows’ book, The Last Editor. My article about Maggie ran in California History this past Spring.
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New Carol Sutton image
I just found this new image of Kentucky women’s page editor and M.E. Carol Sutton. It can be found on the site of the League of Women Voters of Louisville. I’m pleased that there is also a link on the site to this blog. I received emails from both of Carol’s daughters this summer. Not too many women’s page editors had children so it’s nice to have a chance to hear more about “mom.” My article about Carol is scheduled to come out next year.
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Texas A & M and Vivian Castleberry
Yesterday it was announced that Elsa A. Murano, the first female president of Texas A & M, was stepping down. Here is the NYT article about it. It was a reminder of how far Texas A & M has come – after all, women were not fully accepted as students until 1971. Dallas women’s page editor Vivian Castleberry oversaw the women’s section of the student newspaper at Texas A & M while her husband Curtis was going to school there in the 1950s. Vivian worked for the newspaper because, at the time, the university did not accept women. In fact, when Vivian spoke to the president, he told her the…
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Moving
We are almost done moving into our new house. While there has been a lot of unpacking, I have been thinking of Florida women’s page editor Beverley Brink Morales for perspective. (She worked for the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel in the 1960s. She won two Penney-Missouri Awards while at the Sun-Sentinel.) Beverley was born and raised in Montana. After college, she moved to Iowa and then on to Mexico City. She then relocated to Miami and Dayton, Ohio, before moving back to Montana. After several years in her native state, she moved onto Alaska where she lived for several years before she died. I figure if Beverley went through…
