Includes bibliographical references (pages 263 - 274) and index.
Contents:
Craftsmen and work wives : the gendering of television writing -- "A sea of male interests" : your show of shows and the comedy of female mischief -- Gertrude Berg, Peg Lynch, and the "small situation" of the stay-at-home showrunner -- What girl wouldn't? : the many children of Irna Phillips -- "Knowing all the plots" : presenting the woman story editor -- "A Girl's gotta live" : the literate heroines of the suspense anthology drama -- Conclusion : better than it never was.
Summary:
"A rich account that combines media-industry history and cultural studies, Their Own Best Creations looks at women writers' contributions to some of the most popular genres of postwar TV: comedy-variety, family sitcom, daytime soap, and suspense anthology. During the 1950s, when the commercial medium of television was still being defined, women writers navigated pressures at work, constructed public personas that reconciled traditional and progressive femininity, and asserted that a woman's point of view was essential to television as an art form. The shows they authored allegorize these professional and personal pressures and articulate a nascent second-wave feminist consciousness. Annie Berke brings to light the long-forgotten and under-studied stories of these women writers and crucially places them in the historical and contemporary record"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.