Ask Ann Landers
Encyclopedia
Ann Landers was a pen name
created by Chicago Sun-Times
advice columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943 and taken over by Eppie Lederer
in 1955. For 56 years, the Ask Ann Landers syndicated
advice column
was a regular feature in many newspaper
s across North America. Due to this popularity, 'Ann Landers', though fictional, became something of a national institution and cultural icon.
was Ruth Crowley, a Chicago nurse who had been writing a child-care column for the Sun since 1941. She chose the pseudonym at random — borrowing the surname 'Landers' from a family friend — in order to prevent confusion between her two columns. Unlike Lederer, Crowley kept her identity as Landers secret, even enjoining her children to help her keep it quiet. Crowley took a three-year break from writing the column from 1948 until 1951. After 1951 she continued the column for the Chicago Sun-Times and in syndication (since 1951) to 26 other newspapers until her death, aged 48, on July 20, 1955. Crowley spent a total of nine years writing advice as 'Ann Landers'.
Lederer
won a contest to become the new writer of the column, debuting on October 16, 1955. The column opened with a letter from a "Non-Eligible Bachelor", who despaired of getting married. Her advice was "You're a big boy now... don't let spite ruin your life". Lederer went on to advise thousands of other readers over the next several decades. Eventually, she became owner of the copyright
. She chose not to have a different writer continue the column after her death, so the "Ann Landers" column ceased after publication of the few weeks' worth of material which she had written before her death.
Lederer, as Landers, used a writing style that was direct, and often critical. She would often upbraid a letter-writer with the quip, "Watch it, bub!" Sometimes she expressed unpopular opinions. She repeatedly favored legalization of prostitution
and was pro-choice
, yet denounced atheist
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
. In 1973, she wrote in support of the legalization of homosexual acts, saying that she had been "pleading for compassion and understanding and equal rights for homosexuals" for 18 years, and in 1976 writing that she "fought for the civil rights of homosexuals 20 years ago and argued that they should be regarded as full and equal citizens. Nevertheless, she described homosexuality as "unnatural", a "sickness", and a "dysfunction". However, she eventually reversed her opinion in 1992, after reviewing research and receiving nearly 75,000 letters that gays and lesbians wrote to her saying that they were happy being gay, writing that "it is my firm conviction that homosexuality is not learned behavior," adding that while being gay could be suppressed, it could not be altered.
about Pope John Paul II: "He has a sweet sense of humor. Of course, he's a Polack
. They're very anti-women." Polish-Americans responded with outrage. She issued a formal apology, but refused to comment further. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
canceled her column after that incident. In that same article, she had noted that President John F. Kennedy
's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
, was anti-Semitic.
) said the column would end according to Lederer's wishes. Creators Syndicate
began the "Annie's Mailbox" column in approximately 800 newspapers, with Lederer's editors, Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar. Newspapers were given three possible choices: classic Ann Landers, Annie's Mailbox, and Dear Prudence.
Actually, Ann Landers was running in the San Jose Mercury News until mid-November, 2011
introduced a similar column, Dear Abby
, which produced a lengthy estrangement between the two sisters. Pauline Phillips
wrote her column until her retirement in 1995.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
created by Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
advice columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943 and taken over by Eppie Lederer
Eppie Lederer
Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer , better known by the pseudonym Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide media celebrity who began her career writing the 'Ask Ann Landers' column in 1955, soon after the death of its creator, Ruth Crowley...
in 1955. For 56 years, the Ask Ann Landers syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
advice column
Advice column
An advice column is a column in a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...
was a regular feature in many newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s across North America. Due to this popularity, 'Ann Landers', though fictional, became something of a national institution and cultural icon.
Ruth Crowley: the original 'Ann Landers' (1943-1955)
The creator of the 'Ann Landers' pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
was Ruth Crowley, a Chicago nurse who had been writing a child-care column for the Sun since 1941. She chose the pseudonym at random — borrowing the surname 'Landers' from a family friend — in order to prevent confusion between her two columns. Unlike Lederer, Crowley kept her identity as Landers secret, even enjoining her children to help her keep it quiet. Crowley took a three-year break from writing the column from 1948 until 1951. After 1951 she continued the column for the Chicago Sun-Times and in syndication (since 1951) to 26 other newspapers until her death, aged 48, on July 20, 1955. Crowley spent a total of nine years writing advice as 'Ann Landers'.
Interim writers (July - October 1955)
In the three-month period after Crowley’s death, various writers, including Connie Chancellor, took over the column.The Esther Lederer years (1955-2002)
Eppie Lederer
Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer , better known by the pseudonym Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide media celebrity who began her career writing the 'Ask Ann Landers' column in 1955, soon after the death of its creator, Ruth Crowley...
won a contest to become the new writer of the column, debuting on October 16, 1955. The column opened with a letter from a "Non-Eligible Bachelor", who despaired of getting married. Her advice was "You're a big boy now... don't let spite ruin your life". Lederer went on to advise thousands of other readers over the next several decades. Eventually, she became owner of the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
. She chose not to have a different writer continue the column after her death, so the "Ann Landers" column ceased after publication of the few weeks' worth of material which she had written before her death.
Lederer, as Landers, used a writing style that was direct, and often critical. She would often upbraid a letter-writer with the quip, "Watch it, bub!" Sometimes she expressed unpopular opinions. She repeatedly favored legalization of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and was pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
, yet denounced atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist and founder of the organization American Atheists and its president from 1963 to 1986. One of her sons, Jon Garth Murray, was the president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, while she remained de facto president during these nine years....
. In 1973, she wrote in support of the legalization of homosexual acts, saying that she had been "pleading for compassion and understanding and equal rights for homosexuals" for 18 years, and in 1976 writing that she "fought for the civil rights of homosexuals 20 years ago and argued that they should be regarded as full and equal citizens. Nevertheless, she described homosexuality as "unnatural", a "sickness", and a "dysfunction". However, she eventually reversed her opinion in 1992, after reviewing research and receiving nearly 75,000 letters that gays and lesbians wrote to her saying that they were happy being gay, writing that "it is my firm conviction that homosexuality is not learned behavior," adding that while being gay could be suppressed, it could not be altered.
Pope John Paul II insult
In 1995, Eppie commented thus in The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
about Pope John Paul II: "He has a sweet sense of humor. Of course, he's a Polack
Polack
The noun Polack , in the contemporary English language, is a derogatory reference to a person of Polish descent. It is an Anglicisation of the Polish language word Polak, which means a Polish male person...
. They're very anti-women." Polish-Americans responded with outrage. She issued a formal apology, but refused to comment further. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It is the primary newspaper in Milwaukee, the largest newspaper in Wisconsin and is distributed widely throughout the state...
canceled her column after that incident. In that same article, she had noted that President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, was anti-Semitic.
Halloween candy panic
A 1995 "Ann Landers" column said, "In recent years, there have been reports of people with twisted minds putting razor blades and poison in taffy apples and Halloween candy. It is no longer safe to let your child eat treats that come from strangers." The vague warning was criticized for causing needless fear, as there have been no documented cases of children receiving poisoned candy during door-to-door Halloween trick-or-treating.Mistaken legal advice
In her March 28, 1965, column, regarding ownership of wedding gifts, Lederer wrote that "the wedding gifts belong to the bride". She went on to state that the bride should "consult a lawyer about the checks. In some states this could be considered community property". The advice was mistaken because only gifts given after the marriage would be considered community property in some states (or else because wedding gifts—if so designated—can be considered back-dated gifts to the bride). The column has provided teaching material for law professors and law students.Wedding rice and birds
In a 1996 column, she "informed" her readers that they should avoid throwing rice at weddings, lest birds eat it and explode. Such advice was erroneous, as milled rice is not harmful to birds.. This column may be the origin of the now-prevalent use of birdseed instead of rice at weddings.Annie's Mailbox
After Lederer died in June 2002, her last column ran July 27. Lederer's daughter Margo Howard (who wrote Dear PrudenceDear Prudence (advice column)
Dear Prudence is an advice column appearing weekly in the online magazine Slate and syndicated to over 200 newspapers.The column was initiated on 20 December 1997. "Prudence" was a pseudonym, and the author's true identity was not revealed at the time...
) said the column would end according to Lederer's wishes. Creators Syndicate
Creators Syndicate
Creators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...
began the "Annie's Mailbox" column in approximately 800 newspapers, with Lederer's editors, Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar. Newspapers were given three possible choices: classic Ann Landers, Annie's Mailbox, and Dear Prudence.
Actually, Ann Landers was running in the San Jose Mercury News until mid-November, 2011
Dear Abby
A few months after Eppie Lederer took over as Ann Landers, her twin sister Pauline PhillipsPauline Phillips
Pauline Phillips is an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the "Dear Abby" column in 1956. Married to Morton Phillips, the couple has two children, a son, Edward Jay Phillips, and a daughter, Jeanne Phillips....
introduced a similar column, Dear Abby
Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name Abigail Van Buren and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name....
, which produced a lengthy estrangement between the two sisters. Pauline Phillips
Pauline Phillips
Pauline Phillips is an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the "Dear Abby" column in 1956. Married to Morton Phillips, the couple has two children, a son, Edward Jay Phillips, and a daughter, Jeanne Phillips....
wrote her column until her retirement in 1995.
Further reading
- Howard, Margo. Eppie: The Story of Ann Landers. New York: Putnam, 1982. ISBN 0-399-12688-0.
- Pottker, Janice, and Bob Speziale. Dear Ann, Dear Abby: The Unauthorized Biography of Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987. ISBN 0-396-08906-2.
- Aronson, Virginia. Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. Women of achievement. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-7910-5297-4. (children's book).
- Landers, Ann, and Margo Howard. A Life in Letters: Ann Landers' Letters to Her Only Child. New York, NY: Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 0-446-53271-1.
- Gudelunas, David. Confidential to America: Newspaper Advice Columns and Sexual Education. Edison, NJ: Transaction, 2007. ISBN 1-4128-0688-7.
- Rochman, Sue. Dear Ann Landers. Fall, 2010. CR magazine (magazine profile)
External links
- Ann Landers Features at Creators SyndicateCreators SyndicateCreators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...