Emily Squires (August 23, 1941 – November 21, 2012) was an American
television producer
A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...
and
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
best known for her
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning work on ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
''.
Life and career
After attending
Randolph Macon Women's College Randolph may refer to:
Places In the United States
* Randolph, Alabama, an unincorporated community
* Randolph, Arizona, a populated place
* Randolph, California, a village merged into the city of Brea
* Randolph, Illinois, an unincorporated com ...
, from which she later received an award as an outstanding alumna, Emily Squires graduated from the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
in 1962. She moved to New York later that year and began working for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
. In 1967, when public television was in its infancy, she began working for the
Public Broadcast Laboratory.
Two years later, she began working as a production assistant at ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' during its first year on the air.
In 1982, Squires joined a team of ''Sesame Street'' directors that included
Jon Stone
Jon Arthur Stone (April 13, 1931 – March 30, 1997) was an American writer, director and producer, who was best known for being an original crew member on The Muppets' ''Sesame Street'' and is credited with helping develop characters such a ...
,
Lisa Simon Lisa Simon (April 4, 1951 — April 4, 2015) was an American television producer and Television director, director.
Positions held
* Assistant Director on ''Chavez (TV series), Chavez'' (2006)
* Production Assistant on ''Law & Order: Special Victi ...
, and
Ted May
Ted May (1949–2020) was an American television director.
Career
Positions held include:
* Director on '' Sesame Street Visits the Firehouse'' (1990), '' Sesame Songs Home Video: Rock and Roll'' (1990), ''Between the Lions'' (2000), '' TV Funhou ...
. Over the next 25 years, she received 18
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nominations and became known for having a terrific eye when it came to shooting musical numbers.
In addition to becoming the first woman director of ''Sesame Street'', Squires helped break other barriers as well. "She wanted to work on the show because it was making changes in racial stereotypes in America,"
Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano (born 1950) is an American actress, screenwriter, author, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Maria on ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016.
Her memo ...
, who played Maria on the show, told ''The New York Times.''
Squires co-produced "Sesame Street's" 25th anniversary special show, "All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Stripes Forever!"
Squires also wrote for daytime television serials including ''
Guiding Light
''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...
'', ''
Secret Storm'', ''
Search for Tomorrow
''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986.
Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...
'', and ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
'', and worked on interfaith cable TV series and documentaries on the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
,
Frederick Franck
Frederick Sigfred Franck (April 12, 1909 – June 5, 2006) was a painter, sculptor, and author of more than 30 books on Buddhism and other subjects, who was known for his interest in human spirituality. He became a United States citizen in 19 ...
, and
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
. With her husband Len Belzer, Squires co-authored the book ''Spiritual Places in New York City''.
Positions held
* Scriptwriter of ''
Guiding Light
''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...
'', ''
Search for Tomorrow
''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986.
Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...
'', ''
The Secret Storm
''The Secret Storm'' is an American soap opera that the CBS television network transmitted from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas ''Search for Tomorrow'' and ''Love ...
'' and ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
''.
* Co-producer on ''
Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!''; 1994
*
Stage Manager
Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...
on ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' and ''
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street''
* Director on ''A Walking Tour of Sesame Street'', ''
Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake
''Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake'' is a 1991 television special based on the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. In the special, Big Bird celebrates his sixth birthday. The special aired on PBS stations during the week of March ...
'', ''Sing-Along Earth Songs, Sesame Songs Home Video: Sing-Along Earth Songs'', ''
My Sesame Street Home Video: The Best of Elmo'', ''
Elmo Saves Christmas
''Elmo Saves Christmas'' is a Sesame Street musical fantasy comedy television special released on PBS on December 2, 1996. It was released to VHS that same year. Inspired by the 1892 short story "Christmas Every Day" by William Dean Howells, Elmo ...
'', ''
Big Bag'', Sesame Street: A is for Asthma, Elmo's Musical Adventure and Visions of Perfect Worlds.
Awards and nominations
Squires won six daytime Emmy Awards for her directing ''Sesame Street.'' She also wrote and directed ''Between the Lions,'' another PBS series, and was nominated for three
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Guil ...
awards in the Daytime Serials category for her work on ''
Guiding Light
''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...
'' and ''
Search for Tomorrow
''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986.
Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...
''. She won one of two nominations in 1985 and was again nominated in 1986.
She received an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in 1994, in the category Outstanding Children's program, for ''All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Streets Forever!''
She has also been nominated for fifteen
Daytime Emmy
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...
s, in the categories Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team, and Outstanding Directing in a Children's series, for her work on ''Guiding Light'', ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
'', ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', and ''
Between the Lions
''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet children's television series designed to promote reading. The show was a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Miss ...
''.
Squires died on November 21, 2012, aged 71.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Squires, Emily
1941 births
2012 deaths
American soap opera writers
American television directors
American television producers
American women television producers
Emmy Award winners
American women television directors
Writers Guild of America Award winners
American women television writers
Women soap opera writers
21st-century American women