You Meet Such Interesting People
"It wasn't easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the city room door. Bess made it because she understood one of the basic principles of the newspaper business--everyone has a story. You have only to discover it and tell it well.

"She will tell you in this book about meeting interesting people. You will learn that there are few more interesting than Bess Scott herself."--William P. Hobby

At the age of twenty-five, Bess Whitehead Scott became the first woman reporter for the city desk of the Houston Post. The year was 1915.

The author's memoir of the first ninety-seven years of her life illustrates how determination, courage, hard work, and caring family and friends propelled her past enormous obstacles, including poverty and a hearing impairment. Born near Blanket, Texas, in 1890, she grew up on a small farm held together by her widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters. Scott graduated from Baylor University and taught school briefly before she persuaded the Post editors to give her a chance. Her success led to other jobs in the then-unnamed field of public relations. Then, even before the filming of the silent movie classic, Birth of a Nation, she went to the little film colony called Hollywood, to try her hand at writing "scenarios."

Fame and fortune kept their distance from Bess Scott, but she did encounter many individuals whose fame, or infamy, whose friendship or failures made a deep impression on her. Clark Gable and Lyndon Johnson were her friends; her best friend, Lila Danforth, was always there during rough times when her marriage failed and she had to support her two small children by double moonlighting to supplement her meager earnings as a reporter. The opportunities and rights of women, the handicapped, and single, working mothers that are today taken for granted did not exist for Bess Whitehead Scott's mother or for her. Their talents and stamina in fighting rural and urban hardships exemplify a century of women's progress and highlight the roles played by the "interesting" people strung along the thread of their lives.

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You Meet Such Interesting People
"It wasn't easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the city room door. Bess made it because she understood one of the basic principles of the newspaper business--everyone has a story. You have only to discover it and tell it well.

"She will tell you in this book about meeting interesting people. You will learn that there are few more interesting than Bess Scott herself."--William P. Hobby

At the age of twenty-five, Bess Whitehead Scott became the first woman reporter for the city desk of the Houston Post. The year was 1915.

The author's memoir of the first ninety-seven years of her life illustrates how determination, courage, hard work, and caring family and friends propelled her past enormous obstacles, including poverty and a hearing impairment. Born near Blanket, Texas, in 1890, she grew up on a small farm held together by her widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters. Scott graduated from Baylor University and taught school briefly before she persuaded the Post editors to give her a chance. Her success led to other jobs in the then-unnamed field of public relations. Then, even before the filming of the silent movie classic, Birth of a Nation, she went to the little film colony called Hollywood, to try her hand at writing "scenarios."

Fame and fortune kept their distance from Bess Scott, but she did encounter many individuals whose fame, or infamy, whose friendship or failures made a deep impression on her. Clark Gable and Lyndon Johnson were her friends; her best friend, Lila Danforth, was always there during rough times when her marriage failed and she had to support her two small children by double moonlighting to supplement her meager earnings as a reporter. The opportunities and rights of women, the handicapped, and single, working mothers that are today taken for granted did not exist for Bess Whitehead Scott's mother or for her. Their talents and stamina in fighting rural and urban hardships exemplify a century of women's progress and highlight the roles played by the "interesting" people strung along the thread of their lives.

17.95 In Stock
You Meet Such Interesting People

You Meet Such Interesting People

by Bess Whitehead Scott
You Meet Such Interesting People

You Meet Such Interesting People

by Bess Whitehead Scott

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Overview

"It wasn't easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the city room door. Bess made it because she understood one of the basic principles of the newspaper business--everyone has a story. You have only to discover it and tell it well.

"She will tell you in this book about meeting interesting people. You will learn that there are few more interesting than Bess Scott herself."--William P. Hobby

At the age of twenty-five, Bess Whitehead Scott became the first woman reporter for the city desk of the Houston Post. The year was 1915.

The author's memoir of the first ninety-seven years of her life illustrates how determination, courage, hard work, and caring family and friends propelled her past enormous obstacles, including poverty and a hearing impairment. Born near Blanket, Texas, in 1890, she grew up on a small farm held together by her widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters. Scott graduated from Baylor University and taught school briefly before she persuaded the Post editors to give her a chance. Her success led to other jobs in the then-unnamed field of public relations. Then, even before the filming of the silent movie classic, Birth of a Nation, she went to the little film colony called Hollywood, to try her hand at writing "scenarios."

Fame and fortune kept their distance from Bess Scott, but she did encounter many individuals whose fame, or infamy, whose friendship or failures made a deep impression on her. Clark Gable and Lyndon Johnson were her friends; her best friend, Lila Danforth, was always there during rough times when her marriage failed and she had to support her two small children by double moonlighting to supplement her meager earnings as a reporter. The opportunities and rights of women, the handicapped, and single, working mothers that are today taken for granted did not exist for Bess Whitehead Scott's mother or for her. Their talents and stamina in fighting rural and urban hardships exemplify a century of women's progress and highlight the roles played by the "interesting" people strung along the thread of their lives.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781603440752
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Publication date: 08/28/2008
Series: Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University , #33
Pages: 208
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Bess Whitehead Scott has been a teacher, reporter, publicist, ad agency executive, freelance writer, and lecturer in her seventy-five-year career. She lives in Austin and has no plans to retire.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Chapter 1 The Whiteheads of Blanket 3

Chapter 2 Mother and Elizabeth 14

Chapter 3 Childhood Memories 21

Chapter 4 Growing Pains and Joys 38

Chapter 5 College and Cottage Home in Belton 47

Chapter 6 Fun and Romance at Baylor University 57

Chapter 7 New Directions 67

Chapter 8 City Side at the Houston Post 77

Chapter 9 Dallas 85

Chapter 10 Hollywood Interlude 97

Chapter 11 The Love of My Life 107

Chapter 12 Back Home to the Houston Post 124

Chapter 13 Show People 137

Chapter 14 Reporting Houston 147

Chapter 15 Guide, Philosopher, and Friend Lila 160

Chapter 16 Affectionately, Lyndon 165

Chapter 17 Colleagues 170

Epilogue: New Careers 180

Index 189

What People are Saying About This

William P. Hobby

It wasn't easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the city room door. Bess made it because she understood one of the basic principles of the newspaper business—everyone has a story. You have only to discover it and tell it well. She will tell you in this book about meeting interesting people. You will learn that there are few more interesting than Bess Scott herself.

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