The Encyclopedia of Women in Radio, 1920-1960

In the early days of radio, there were employment opportunities for women as singers, musicians, actors, and hosts of women’s interest shows, but few opportunities for them to do much more, not to mention host their own music or comedy programs. Vaughan deLeith, the "Original Radio Girl," was one of the first women to break into radio and pave the way for others to follow. It is estimated than from 1920 to 1936, deLeith received three million pieces of fan mail, wrote more than 200 published songs, made more than 300 phonograph records and Edison cylinders, and sang 15,000 songs on the air. The women who worked in and on radio in its four greatest decades are given their due in this comprehensive work. Readers will find Bertha Brainard, Judith Waller, Jessica Dragonette, Kate Smith, the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Carter Sisters, Wilma Lee Cooper, Kitty Wells, Gracie Allen, and Minnie Pearl, among many, many other women who were on the radio. Nine extended entries cover pioneers, Mary Garden and Chicago radio, singers, country musicians, comediennes, husband-and-wife talk shows, women in daytime serials (soap operas), family values, and gender discrimination facing women in radio. Read more