Glendora (Television producer and host)
Encyclopedia
Glendora is a cable TV producer and judicial activist from New York
. Her birth name was Glendora Vesta Folsom. She is the host of A Chat with Glendora, which has broadcast over 4,000 shows since 1972 on the Public-access television
channels of cable systems all over the United States
.
Glendora V. Folsom was born on May 1, 1928 in Presque Isle, Maine. Her father's name was Ralph, and he was a barber. Her mother was Edna. Glendora had three siblings—two brothers and a sister. When she was still a child, her parents moved to Springfield, MA, where she attended Classical High School and then went to American International College. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and English in 1950 ("Aboard Milton Bradley" 29).
After graduation, Glendora was a research assistant at the University of California, Berkeley
. In 1951, she worked at NBC
in Hollywood, as a script girl; she also performed other behind the scenes duties, allowing her to became more familiar with how television programs were produced (Tavel, 6) While working in Hollywood, she met numerous celebrities, including Jack Webb
, Bob Hope
, Jack Benny
, Red Skelton
, Jimmy Durante
, Martin & Lewis, and Talula Bankhead. Years later, Bob Hope
would let her tell jokes to his studio audience after his radio show was taped.
She returned to Massachusetts circa 1953, and began her own television career, as a children's show host. Her first show was "Glendora and her Picture Party" on channel 19 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
. It was sponsored and ran for 15 minutes per week. She was then hired at WMUR-TV in Manchester NH, where she began her program, the SS Glendora. The show ran five days a week. She was the Skipper of the mythical Fun and Games ship, the SS Glendora. She played the captain, and children would play the role of her sailors (Tavel 6).
By 1955, she had brought her SS Glendora to WBZ-TV
, the Westinghouse station in Boston. It was sponsored by Milton Bradley games and color crayons. The next company to pay for the SS Glendora was General Electric, WRGB, Channel 6 Schenectady/Troy/Albany. She was there for 6 years, Monday through Friday, 45 minutes a day. Five days a week, attired in a silvery pleated skirt and button-up blouse with large epaulets, She was the captain of "Satellite Six," a '50's-style sci-fi spaceship set, where she also aired cartoons. Her nemesis was her boss, the Munimula ("aluminum" spelled backwards), a disembodied gibberish talk voice on the ship's telephone who would periodically call in to give Glendora grief.
In 1972, after being away from television for a decade, Glendora entered cable TV public access with "A Chat with Glendora". Her program, which aired on Valley Cable TV in Bridgeport CT, focused on ordinary people from the local community who were doing extraordinary things. On this program, she interviewed local heroes and heroines, as well as people going above and beyond to perform community service (Smith D1). She also commuted to Buffalo, where her husband, journalist Franklyn Buell, lived. They had married on December 25, 1954, when he was a reporter and later city editor for the Springfield Union (a job he had held since 1948). By the mid 1970s, he was reporting for the Buffalo Evening News.
Glendora remained on cable and public access television throughout the 198s and 1990s. In 1987, she appeared as a guest on the David Letterman
Show. By the 1990s, she was living in White Plains NY, according to the New York Times, which noted that she was the host of a weekly talk show on local public access there ("L.I. Cable" 44).
According to her website, she is known for telling lawyer jokes, dressing in a white straw hat and wearing white gloves, humming along with the Christian hymns which provide her background music, and for her ethical vegetarianism
. She is also known for using the legal system to preserve her right to be on the air. In 1994, she sued and won when a Long Island NY cable system removed her program in a way she felt was arbitrary and unfair. The judge ordered her program to be restored ("L.I. Cable" 44). Glendora is the author of the Glendora Happy Book. In 2010, she was the subject of a documentary about her long career on television. An excerpt can be found here:
http://victoriakereszi.net/
Glendora's husband Franklyn Buell died October 19, 2003 in Chatham, NY. He left a collection of books about sports, including the baseball encyclopedia, "Who's Who in Baseball" back to the 1940s and other rare books. He also kept a scrapbook of the baseball games he attended, the box scores of each and the article on each from the newspaper. Glendora preserved his work and established a museum about it.
Glendora currently resides in Kinderhook, NY, where she continues to produce episodes of "A Chat With Glendora".
"Long Island Cable Ordered To Restore A Public Access Program." New York Times, August 14, 1994, p. L44.
Smith, Betty. "The Little People Rate Big In TV Chat With Glendora." Bridgeport (CT) Post, February 17, 1974, p. D1.
Tavel, Emilie. "Children Jam TV Ship For Fun And Learning." Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 1955, p. 6.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Her birth name was Glendora Vesta Folsom. She is the host of A Chat with Glendora, which has broadcast over 4,000 shows since 1972 on the Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
channels of cable systems all over the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Glendora V. Folsom was born on May 1, 1928 in Presque Isle, Maine. Her father's name was Ralph, and he was a barber. Her mother was Edna. Glendora had three siblings—two brothers and a sister. When she was still a child, her parents moved to Springfield, MA, where she attended Classical High School and then went to American International College. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and English in 1950 ("Aboard Milton Bradley" 29).
After graduation, Glendora was a research assistant at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. In 1951, she worked at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in Hollywood, as a script girl; she also performed other behind the scenes duties, allowing her to became more familiar with how television programs were produced (Tavel, 6) While working in Hollywood, she met numerous celebrities, including Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
, Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
, Martin & Lewis, and Talula Bankhead. Years later, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
would let her tell jokes to his studio audience after his radio show was taped.
She returned to Massachusetts circa 1953, and began her own television career, as a children's show host. Her first show was "Glendora and her Picture Party" on channel 19 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
. It was sponsored and ran for 15 minutes per week. She was then hired at WMUR-TV in Manchester NH, where she began her program, the SS Glendora. The show ran five days a week. She was the Skipper of the mythical Fun and Games ship, the SS Glendora. She played the captain, and children would play the role of her sailors (Tavel 6).
By 1955, she had brought her SS Glendora to WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
, the Westinghouse station in Boston. It was sponsored by Milton Bradley games and color crayons. The next company to pay for the SS Glendora was General Electric, WRGB, Channel 6 Schenectady/Troy/Albany. She was there for 6 years, Monday through Friday, 45 minutes a day. Five days a week, attired in a silvery pleated skirt and button-up blouse with large epaulets, She was the captain of "Satellite Six," a '50's-style sci-fi spaceship set, where she also aired cartoons. Her nemesis was her boss, the Munimula ("aluminum" spelled backwards), a disembodied gibberish talk voice on the ship's telephone who would periodically call in to give Glendora grief.
In 1972, after being away from television for a decade, Glendora entered cable TV public access with "A Chat with Glendora". Her program, which aired on Valley Cable TV in Bridgeport CT, focused on ordinary people from the local community who were doing extraordinary things. On this program, she interviewed local heroes and heroines, as well as people going above and beyond to perform community service (Smith D1). She also commuted to Buffalo, where her husband, journalist Franklyn Buell, lived. They had married on December 25, 1954, when he was a reporter and later city editor for the Springfield Union (a job he had held since 1948). By the mid 1970s, he was reporting for the Buffalo Evening News.
Glendora remained on cable and public access television throughout the 198s and 1990s. In 1987, she appeared as a guest on the David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
Show. By the 1990s, she was living in White Plains NY, according to the New York Times, which noted that she was the host of a weekly talk show on local public access there ("L.I. Cable" 44).
According to her website, she is known for telling lawyer jokes, dressing in a white straw hat and wearing white gloves, humming along with the Christian hymns which provide her background music, and for her ethical vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
. She is also known for using the legal system to preserve her right to be on the air. In 1994, she sued and won when a Long Island NY cable system removed her program in a way she felt was arbitrary and unfair. The judge ordered her program to be restored ("L.I. Cable" 44). Glendora is the author of the Glendora Happy Book. In 2010, she was the subject of a documentary about her long career on television. An excerpt can be found here:
http://victoriakereszi.net/
Glendora's husband Franklyn Buell died October 19, 2003 in Chatham, NY. He left a collection of books about sports, including the baseball encyclopedia, "Who's Who in Baseball" back to the 1940s and other rare books. He also kept a scrapbook of the baseball games he attended, the box scores of each and the article on each from the newspaper. Glendora preserved his work and established a museum about it.
Glendora currently resides in Kinderhook, NY, where she continues to produce episodes of "A Chat With Glendora".
External links
- A Chat with Glendora — official website
- A Chat With Glendora on YouTube
- David Letterman Episode 0914
Works Cited
"Aboard Milton Bradley Liner." Springfield (MA) Union, September 9, 1955, p. 29."Long Island Cable Ordered To Restore A Public Access Program." New York Times, August 14, 1994, p. L44.
Smith, Betty. "The Little People Rate Big In TV Chat With Glendora." Bridgeport (CT) Post, February 17, 1974, p. D1.
Tavel, Emilie. "Children Jam TV Ship For Fun And Learning." Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 1955, p. 6.