#jon abbott

[themidcenturyscene]

Betty McLauchlen is wearing "Models' Special" makeup, photo by Jon Abbott

Vogue, September 15, 1943

[themidcenturyscene]

Blanche Grady is wearing Tabu "double-charm" lipstick by Dana, photo by Jon Abbott, Vogue, May 15, 1943

[literarybex]

When I was in middle school, I remember this vividly, I wasn't allowed to stay up on Thursday nights and watch Mystery!  My sisters and brother could if they wanted, my parents usually watched it, but I had to go to bed.  On Friday afternoons however, so I wouldn't feel excluded and because she knew I enjoyed it, my mother let me watch Mystery! on the Rhode Island PBS channel after school.  Often a sibling would join me having missed the night before or wanting to watch the episode again.  But it was my special treat.  It was one time when I got control of the television in a house with seven people and a cat.  And I loved every moment of it.

Public Broadcasting has brought many a-wonder into my humble life.  If it weren't for WGBH, WSBE and NHPTV -- all of which we picked up in Central Massachusetts -- I never would have been introduced to Hercule Poirot and probably wouldn't have obsessively read Agatha Christie novels in high school; I never would have seen Much Ado About Nothing, started reading Shakespeare plays, taking videos out from the library, learned about theater and made my own theatrical forays; I never would have watched Sesame Street and forever linked counting in Spanish to a Mariachi band; I never would have seen Reading Rainbow which only heightened my love of reading and Star Trek: The Next Generation; I never would have seen Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, learned every word to "All I Ever Wanted Was A Spoon" or harbored love for Daniel Striped Tiger; I wouldn't have been exposed to British Comedy -- never realized my admiration of Steve Moffat and Kate Isitt; I wouldn't have gotten to see Downton Abbey or Monarch of the Glen; or been horribly entertained by John Cleese (Fawlty Towers) or Mollie Sugden (Are You Being Served); and I wouldn't have gone through that weird phase where I watched This Old House religiously.

Without public broadcasting there'd be no Zoom, Masterpiece Theater, American Experience, Frontline, NOVA, Great Performances, Charlie Rose, Fresh Air, Independent Lens,  All Things Considered, Greater Boston, Emily Rooney ....

Ok, some of these things might still exist (Emily Rooney, for instance) and I still might have had some of the same interests and gotten involved in some of my activities, but the point is in this existence Public Broadcasting piqued my interest in many areas, including theater, Star Trek and in really cool English stuff; and I feel it a duty not to deprive future generations of the same experience.  Already my two year old niece lights up whenever Sesame Street comes on the television.  She loves Elmo more than life.  As long as that little monster can hold her attention this program is going to teach that little girl so much but only if it is still on the air.

Tell your Senator's not to get rid of funding for Public Broadcasting.  It provides a greatly needed service to this country and is a credit to us as a society.