Recognizing the Soft News of the Women’s Pages

Voss, Kimberly Wilmot

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96214-6_4

Kimberly Wilmot Voss²

205 Accesses

Abstract

The content found in the women’s pages has been categorized as focusing on the four Fs: family, fashion, food, and furnishings. Bridal news, society insights, and local columns and advice columns also peppered the pages. While these topics have been castigated as fluff by some, they were important to readers. They appreciated learning about the changes in fashion trends, food technology developments, and family news. After all, these topics were part of their everyday lives.

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Notes

1.
Kay Mills, A Place in the News: From the Women’s Page to the Front Pages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 110.
2.
Marj Heyduck, Best of Marj: Favorite ‘Third and Main’ Columns (Dayton, OH: Dayton Newspapers, 1962).
3.
Dottie Lebo, Home at Heart (New York: iUniverse, Inc, 2007), xxii.
4.
Edee Greene, “Jane Breaks Out of Co-Education,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 20, 1961.
5.
Edee Greene, “Newshens Fly Nest to Cluck,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 18, 1961.
6.
Edee Greene, “Fidel’s Frolicking to Rock ’n Roll Beat,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 21, 1960.
7.
Edee Greene, “Newshens Fly Nest to Cluck,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 18, 1961.
8.
Edee Greene, “Jane Breaks Out of Co-Education,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 20, 1961.
9.
Betty Preston, “Beware of the Other Woman! She’s a Bundle of Charm,” Glendale News-Press, March 13, 1970.
10.
Maggie Savoy, “Is Law Discriminatory?” Arizona Republic, January 25, 1959.
11.
This column addressed alcoholism and motherhood. Maggie Savoy, “Here’s Some Good Advice,” Arizona Republic, January 28, 1959.
12.
Maggie Savoy, “Duck the Quick Stock Tips,” Arizona Republic, January 26, 1959.
13.
Maggie Savoy, “He’s Paying American Back,” Arizona Republic, January 5, 1959.
14.
Maggie Savoy, “She’ll Bake Him ‘Cake Of Year,’” Arizona Republic, January 31, 1959.
15.
Mary Ellis Carlton, “Take a Look at Your City,” Long Beach Independent, February 12, 1961.
16.
Clare Boothe Luce, “Untitled,” in Anyone Who Enters Here Must Celebrate Maggie, ed. Jim Bellows (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1972), 18.
17.
Jeannette Medith, “Attack City Problems, Penney Writers Told,” Columbia Missourian, March 17, 1967.
18.
Barbara Brackman, Women of Design: Quilts in the Newspaper (Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Star, 2004), 6.
19.
Pat Trexler, “Pat’s Pointers,” Pittsburgh Press, March 20, 1966.
20.
Annette Blaugrund, Dispensing Beauty in New York and Beyond (Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2011), 161–173.
21.
Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts’ Advice for Women (New York: Anchor, 2005).
22.
Ehrenreich and English, For Her Own Good, xiii.
23.
Rick Kogan, America’s Mom: The Life, Lessons, and Legacy of Ann Landers (New York: William Murrow, 2003), 103–104.
24.
Jim Bellows, The Last Editor: How I Saved the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times from Dullness and Complacency (Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel, 2002), 80.
25.
Jane Dare, “Husband Insists I Apologize,” Miami News, May 23, 1963.
26.
Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (New York: Barnes and Noble Book, 2004 reprint), 10.
27.
Helen Gurley Brown, “Widow Prefers Her Solitude,” Miami News, May 23, 1963.
28.
John Skow, “Erma in Bomburbia,” Time, July 2, 1984, 2.
29.
Skow, “Erma in Bomburbia,” 8.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid.
32.
Ibid.
33.
Skow, “Erma in Bomburbia,” 10.
34.
Wayne A. Danielson, “A Value-Analysis of Advice Columns in Newspapers” (master’s thesis, Stanford University, 1953), 1.
35.
Dorothy Dix letter to Dorothy Jurney, October 10, 1947, Papers of Dorothy Jurney, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
36.
Ibid.
37.
Danielson, Advice Columns, 4.
38.
Paul L. Myhre letter to Beverley Morales, October 6, 1961, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
39.
Joy Miller, “Swat Your Kinds When They Misbehave,” Miami Herald, May 20, 1963.
40.
Roberta Applegate, “Parents Much Face Child’s Behavior Problems as Readily as Physical Ones,” Miami Herald, May 23, 1956.
41.
Maggie Savoy, “Head Start Specialist Deals with Parental Involvement,” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 1969.
42.
Bobbi McCallum, “New Hope for Childless,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 31, 1966.
43.
Bobbi McCallum, “The Day Beth Gave Up Her Baby,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 11, 1968.
44.
Bobbi McCallum, “For Us Adopting Is No Charity,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 12, 1968.
45.
Bobbi McCallum, “Brother’s Face Is Brown,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 13, 1968.
46.
Bobbi McCallum, “Love of Irish for Part-Negro Baby,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 14, 1968.
47.
Bobbi McCallum, “Triple Tragedy: Don’t Turn Away,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 8, 1968.
48.
Jean Otto, First Love: Memoirs of a First Amendment Freedom Fighter (Oak Park, Ill.: Marion Street Press, 2008), 65.
49.
Dorothy Jurney, “Talk at Carolina Symposium,” 4, Papers of Dorothy Jurney, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
50.
Edee Greene, “Fidel’s Frolicking to Rock ‘n Roll Beat,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 21, 1960.
51.
Lois Hagen, “New Group to Defend Rights of Children,” Milwaukee Journal, July 27, 1971.
52.
Drue Lytle letter to Paul Myhre, February 8, 1963, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
53.
Author’s phone interview with Zulay Domínguez Chirinos, August 15, 2007.
54.
Edee Greene letter to Paul Myhre, 1967, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
55.
“Our History,” Wisconsin Women’s Network, accessed June 27, 2018, http://www.wiwomensnetwork.org/.
56.
Marian McBride, Wisconsin Women: Know Your Rights (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Sentinel, 1968).
57.
Ibid.
58.
Pat Hunter, “‘No fault’ divorce – It Still Isn’t Easier,” Honolulu Advertiser, April 7, 1975.
59.
Pat Hunter, “‘Financial Results in a Divorced Can Be a Disaster,” Honolulu Advertiser, April 8, 1975.
60.
Calvin G.C. Pang, “Slow-Baked, Flash-Fried, Not to be Devoured: Development of the Partnership Model of Property Division in Hawaii and Beyond,” University of Hawaii Law Review, 1998.
61.
Marjorie Paxson, “Women in Journalism Oral History Project,” Washington Press Club Foundation, transcript, Session 4, 106.
62.
Dorothy Jurney, “Remarks of Dorothy Jurney,” Associated Press Managing Editors Annual Convention, November 17, 1960, 4.
63.
Gloria Biggs Biography, Penney-Missouri Banquet Program, n.d., Papers of Gloria Biggs, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
64.
Garrett D. Byrnes, Newspapers in Fashion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951), 1.
65.
Dorothy Jurney to Paul Myhre, February 9, 1965, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
66.
Kimberly Wilmot Voss, “Who’s Wearing the Pants? How The New York Times Reported the Changing Dress of Women,” Media Report to Women, Spring 2011.
67.
Elizabeth Cline, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion (New York: Portfolio, 2012).
68.
Gail Sheehy, Daring: My Passages, A Memoir (New York: William Murrow, 2014).
69.
Bill Blass, Bare Blass (New York: Harper Collins, 2002).
70.
“Eleni Epstein Knows Who She is, Honey,” Washington Times, November 16, 1983.
71.
Katherine C. Grier, “Review of Fashion, Culture, and Identity by Fred Davis,” Winterthur Portfolio 28, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 104.
72.
Teri Agins, The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business (New York: William Morrow, 1999), 7.
73.
Beverley Morales letter to Paul Myhre, June 15, 1961, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri.
74.
Marjorie Paxson, “Penney-Missouri Awards Banquet,” University of Missouri, March 31, 1966, 5. Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
75.
Grace Whipple, “Pamper Us, Beg Yarns,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 19, 1961.
76.
Pat Palmer, “She Sells Only Bargains,” Fort Lauderdale News, September 18, 1961.
77.
Eleanor Ratelle, “Young Miami Designers,” Miami Herald, May 20, 1963.
78.
Herald wire service, “St. Laurent to Show After All,” Miami Herald, 1965.
79.
Linda M. Scott, Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 166.
80.
Robert Wells, The Milwaukee Journal: An Informal Chronicle of Its First 100 Years (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Journal, 1981), 146.
81.
Jo Werne Biography to Paul Myhre, 3, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
82.
Chris Porterfield, “Practicality, Significance Prevail Over Less Urgent, Familiar Ideas,” Penney Press, March 1973, 6.
83.
“Who’s Wearing the Pants Now?” (Long Beach) California Independent, January 13, 1969.
84.
“Union Fights for Pants suits,” Placement & the Personnel Marketplace, November 23, 1970, 10.
85.
Paxson , “Women in Journalism,” Session 4, 118.
86.
Ibid.
87.
Ibid.
88.
Paxson, “Women in Journalism,” Session 5, 120.
89.
Bobbi McCallum, “Seal’d for Delivery,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 25, 1968.
90.
Ibid.
91.
Wells, Milwaukee Journal, 224.
92.
Jacquelyn Gray, “Journal Got a Quick Start on Fashion,” The Milwaukee Journal, March 31, 1995.
93.
Drue Lytle letter to Paul Myhre, March 4, 1967, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
94.
Drue Lytle, “Fashion Group Presents Couture Internationale,” Honolulu Advertiser, December 9, 1963.
95.
Drue Lytle, “Swimwear Named For Duke,” Honolulu Advertiser, August 23, 1961.
96.
Doug Brown, “Haute Cuisine,” American Journalism Review, February/March 2004.
97.
Governor Kim Sigler speech to Michigan Federation of Women’s Clubs, November 15, 1947, 1, Papers of Kim Sigler, Bentley Library, University of Michigan.
98.
Sigler, speech, 4.
99.
Kimberly Wilmot Voss, The Food Section: Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014).
100.
“Journal Wins Award at Food Conference,” Milwaukee Journal, September 28, 1969.
101.
“Vesta Award to Journal Food Writer,” Milwaukee Journal, September 24, 1965.
102.
Laura Crooks, “Our Very Own Kitchen Queen,” Spokesman-Review, October 19, 2005.
103.
“Reader Memories: Nobody Compares to Dorothy Dean,” Spokesman-Review, October 20, 2010.
104.
Nancy Leson, “Recipe Box: Seattle Newspapers Have Historic Perspective,” Seattle Times, October 18, 2011.
105.
Carole Beers, “Marion Ferriss Guinn, 85, was ‘Dorothy Neighbors’ at Times,” Seattle Times, January 28, 1994, http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940128&slug=1891967.
106.
Sharon Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy, “Homeward Bound,” Seattle Times, June 2, 1996.
107.
Edee Greene to Paul Myhre, September 15, 1970, Papers of Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
108.
Susan Strasser, Never Done: A History of American Housework (New York: Random House, 1982), 283.
109.
Dorothy Jurney, “Remarks by Dorothy Jurney,” The Associated Press Managing Editors Convention, Williamsburg Virginia, November 17, 1960, Papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards, National Women and Media Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri.
110.
Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988), 164.
111.
“Dorothy Dawe, Writer, Dead,” Milwaukee Journal, October 4, 1947.
112.
Wells, Milwaukee Journal, 341.
113.
“Former Editor Tells Dorothy Dawe Story,” Milwaukee Journal, January 11, 1972.
114.
Dorothy Dawe, “What’s to Come in Lighting Shown in New York Exhibit,” Milwaukee Journal, December 13, 1945.
115.
Dorothy Dawe, “Story of a Typical Milwaukee Bungalow Changed into Appealing Modern Home,” Milwaukee Journal, November 10, 1946.
116.
Dorothy Dawe, “There’s Hope of New Accessories, Metal Pieces,” Milwaukee Journal, January 13, 1946.
117.
“Dorothy Dawe Press Award,” Milwaukee Journal, January 3, 1949.
118.
Lois Hagen, “Brussel’s World Fair Through American Eyes,” Milwaukee Journal, June 5, 1958.
119.
Lois Hagen, “Cream of Home Furnishings,” Milwaukee Journal, January 20, 1950.
120.
Lois Hagen, “Ignorance Makes ‘Contemporary’ A Bad Word,” Milwaukee Journal, June 16, 1958.
121.
Lois Hagen, “James River Plantations,” Milwaukee Journal, May 11, 1965.
122.
Dorothy Jurney, “Remarks of Dorothy Jurney,” Associated Press Managing Editors Annual Convention, November 17, 1960, 5.
123.
“She’s a Designing Woman,” Tallahassee Democrat, September 12, 1965.
124.
Martha Griffiths letter to Catherine Dutch, October 10, 1972, Papers of Martha Griffiths, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

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Nicholson School of Communication and Media, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Kimberly Wilmot Voss

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Voss, K.W. (2018). Recognizing the Soft News of the Women’s Pages. In: Re-Evaluating Women's Page Journalism in the Post-World War II Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96214-6_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96214-6_4
Published: 06 September 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96214-6
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