Margaret Carson (July 11, 1911 – October 11, 2007) was an American publicist who was highly influential within the

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

world. She was a publicist for many important artists during her lengthy career, most notably working closely for several decades with

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

. She also notably served as the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

's press director during the tenure of Edward Johnson and into the early portion of Rudolf Bing's career at the Met. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated that, Carson was "widely regarded as the leading lady of classical music publicists in New York, who guided a generation of singers through the Metropolitan Opera and shepherded the career of Leonard Bernstein." She was married to journalist

Robert Sherrod Robert Lee Sherrod (February 8, 1909 – February 13, 1994) was an American journalist, editor and writer. He was a war correspondent for ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines, covering combat from World War II to the Vietnam War. During World ...

Biography

Carson was born Margaret Klein in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, where her father, Morris Klein, was the owner of a local department store.Charles F.C. Ruff oral history http://www.dcchs.org/OralHistory.asp?OralHistoryID=8 In 1920, at the age of nine, she moved with her parents and four sisters to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, where she lived for the rest of her youth. She earned a bachelor's degree from the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

and a master's degree from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. In 1937, she married her first husband, newspaper editor Charles F. Carson, Jr. After divorcing her first husband in 1940, Carson moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she began working as a press agent. (She used her first husband's name to the end of her life, suppressing evidence of her maiden name.) In 1944 she became the press director of the

, serving in that capacity over the next decade. She also handled press relations for novelist Theodore Dreiser, poet

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters during the 1940s. While working in New York during World War II, Carson married press agent Carl N. Ruff, with whom she briefly shared a public relations office. Carson and Ruff were divorced in the 1950s and Carson's third marriage, to journalist

(1961–1972), also ended in divorce. She had two children: a son from her first marriage, Charles F.C. Ruff (adopted by Mr. Ruff upon his marriage to Ms. Carson), and a daughter from her second marriage, Carla Ruff. Her son was a prominent American lawyer who became chief

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

counsel for President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, representing the President during his Senate impeachment trial in 1999. She also had three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Carson remained active as a publicist up until her death, often working closely with colleague

Edgar Vincent Edgar Vincent (13 March 1918, Hamburg — 26 June 2008, New York City) was an American publicist and actor of Germany, German birth. He began his career appearing in small roles in Hollywood films during the 1940s but his German accent prevented ...

. Her most important client was Leonard Bernstein, with whom she enjoyed a close personal friendship as well as productive professional relationship. After his death in 1990, she remained a consultant to his production company. She also enjoyed long professional associations with conductor

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

and jazz musician

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

. Carson died in

in 2007.

References

External links

Margaret Carson Papers, 1935-2007
Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Margaret 1911 births 2007 deaths American public relations people University of Toledo alumni Ohio State University alumni