What women watched : daytime television in the 1950s
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
What women watched : daytime television in the 1950s
（Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series : books about women and families, and their changing role in society, bk. 10）
University of Texas Press, c2005
- : cloth
- : pbk.
Available at / 3 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-258) and index
HTTP:URL=http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/texas051/2004019568.html Information=Publisher description
HTTP:URL=http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0421/2004019568.html Information=Table of contents
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: cloth ISBN 9780292706262
Description
In this pathfinding book, based on original archival research, Marsha F. Cassidy offers the first thorough analysis of daytime television's earliest and most significant women's genres, appraising from a feminist perspective what women watched before soap opera rose to prominence. After providing a comprehensive history of the early days of women's programming across the nation, Cassidy offers a critical discussion of the formats, programs, and celebrities that launched daytime TV in America--Kate Smith's variety show and the famed singer's unsuccessful transition from patriotic radio star to 1950s TV idol; the "charm boys" Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, and Art Linkletter, whose programs honored women's participation but in the process established the dominance of male hosts on TV; and the "misery shows" Strike It Rich and Glamour Girl and the controversy, both critical and legal, they stirred up.
Cassidy then turns to NBC's Home show, starring the urbane Arlene Francis, who infused the homemaking format with Manhattan sophistication, and the ambitious daily anthology drama Matinee Theater, which strove to differentiate itself from soap opera and become a national theater of the air. She concludes with an analysis of four popular audience participation shows of the era--the runaway hit Queen for a Day; Ralph Edwards's daytime show of surprises, It Could Be You; Who Do You Trust?, starring a youthful Johnny Carson; and The Big Payoff, featuring Bess Myerson, the country's first Jewish Miss America. Cassidy's close feminist reading of these shows clearly demonstrates how daytime TV mirrored the cultural pressures, inconsistencies, and ambiguities of the postwar era.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1. Introduction: Daytime Television in the Era of the Feminine Mystique, 1948-1960
- 2. The Dawn of Daytime: Reaching Out to Women across America
- 3. Kate Smith: Remembering the Future
- 4. The Charm Boys Woo the Audience: Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, and Art Linkletter
- 5. Misery Loves Company: Strike It Rich, Glamour Girl, and the Critics
- 6. Domesticity in Doubt: Arlene Francis and Home
- 7. Matinee Theater and the Question of Soap Opera
- 8. At a Loss for Words: Queen for a Day, It Could Be You, Who Do You Trust?, and The Big Payoff
- 9. Conclusion: Visions of Femininity
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
- Volume
-
: pbk. ISBN 9780292706279
Description
In this pathfinding book, based on original archival research, Marsha F. Cassidy offers the first thorough analysis of daytime television's earliest and most significant women's genres, appraising from a feminist perspective what women watched before soap opera rose to prominence.
After providing a comprehensive history of the early days of women's programming across the nation, Cassidy offers a critical discussion of the formats, programs, and celebrities that launched daytime TV in America-Kate Smith's variety show and the famed singer's unsuccessful transition from patriotic radio star to 1950s TV idol; the "charm boys" Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, and Art Linkletter, whose programs honored women's participation but in the process established the dominance of male hosts on TV; and the "misery shows" Strike It Rich and Glamour Girl and the controversy, both critical and legal, they stirred up.
Cassidy then turns to NBC's Home show, starring the urbane Arlene Francis, who infused the homemaking format with Manhattan sophistication, and the ambitious daily anthology drama Matinee Theater, which strove to differentiate itself from soap opera and become a national theater of the air. She concludes with an analysis of four popular audience participation shows of the era-the runaway hit Queen for a Day; Ralph Edwards's daytime show of surprises, It Could Be You; Who Do You Trust?, starring a youthful Johnny Carson; and The Big Payoff, featuring Bess Myerson, the country's first Jewish Miss America. Cassidy's close feminist reading of these shows clearly demonstrates how daytime TV mirrored the cultural pressures, inconsistencies, and ambiguities of the postwar era.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction: Daytime Television in the Era of the Feminine Mystique, 1948-1960
Chapter 2. The Dawn of Daytime: Reaching Out to Women across America
Chapter 3. Kate Smith: Remembering the Future
Chapter 4. The Charm Boys Woo the Audience: Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, and Art Linkletter
Chapter 5. Misery Loves Company: Strike It Rich, Glamour Girl, and the Critics
Chapter 6. Domesticity in Doubt: Arlene Francis and Home
Chapter 7. Matinee Theater and the Question of Soap Opera
Chapter 8. At a Loss for Words: Queen for a Day, It Could Be You, Who Do You Trust?, and The Big Payoff
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Visions of Femininity
Notes
Works Cited
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
