Shirley Gordon (1921-2008) was an American writer of radio programs, television shows, and children's books.

Early life

Gordon was born on December 29, 1921, in

Geneva, Illinois Geneva is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, located between S ...

, to Russell Gordon, a police officer, and Viola LaVoy Gordon. She graduated from

East Aurora High School East Aurora High School, (also known as EAHS or Aurora East High School), is a public, four-year high school located in Kane County, at the corner of Smith Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois. ...

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

in 1938.

Writing career

Early in her career, Gordon wrote for and was assistant editor of ''Radio Life'' magazine. She was also a publicist for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

Radio and television shows

During the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...

, Gordon wrote scripts for

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series ''Suspense'' ("The Statement of Mary Blake" in 1950 and "Death Parade" in 1951), ''

The Whistler ''The Whistler'' is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the west coast, it w ...

'', and Elliott and

Cathy Lewis Catherine Lee Lewis (December 27, 1916 – November 20, 1968) was an American actress on radio, film, and television. She is remembered best for numerous radio appearances but also noted for making a number of film and television appearances in ...

' ''On Stage''. When dramatic radio was revived in the 1970s, Gordon wrote scripts for ''The Hollywood Radio Theatre'' and ''Sears Radio Theatre''. From the 1950s-1970s, Gordon, sometimes credited as "Shirl Gordon", wrote episodes of popular sitcoms, including ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...

'', ''

The Courtship of Eddie's Father ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'' is an American sitcom based on the 1963 film of the same name, which was based on a novel by Mark Toby (edited by Dorothy Wilson). The series is about a widower, Tom Corbett (played by Bill Bixby), who is a ...

'', and ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chronicl ...

''. She wrote 49 episodes of ''

The Bob Cummings Show ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (also known in reruns as ''Love That Bob'') is an American sitcom starring Bob Cummings, which was broadcast from January 2, 1955, to September 15, 1959. The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for two ...

''.

Children's books

Gordon published eight books for children in the 1970s and 1980s. Six are picture books and two are chapter books. *''The Green Hornet Lunchbox'' (

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 1970), illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham *''Grandma Zoo'' (

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, 1978), illustrated by

Whitney Darrow Jr Whitney may refer to: Film and television * ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta * ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston * ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...

. *''The Boy Who Wanted a Family'' (Harper & Row, 1980), illustrated by Charles Robinson *''Me and the Bad Guys'' (Harper & Row, 1980), illustrated by

Edward Frascino Edward Frascino is an American illustrator and author. He is perhaps best known for his illustrations in E. B. White, E.B. White's ''The Trumpet of the Swan''. Biography Frascino is the son of Mario and Rose Frascino. He is of Albanians, Albani ...

Four of the books were narrated by a girl named Susan about her friend Crystal. All of the Crystal books were illustrated by Edward Frascino. *''Crystal Is the New Girl'' (Harper & Row, 1976) *''Crystal Is My Friend'' (Harper & Row, 1978) *''Happy Birthday, Crystal'' (Harper & Row, 1981) *''Crystal's Christmas Carol'' (Harper & Row, 1989)

Personal life

Gordon had one son, David Russell Gordon, whom she adopted. Two of her books, ''The Boy Who Wanted a Family'' and ''Me and the Bad Guys'', were based on her son's experiences. Gordon and several of her friends, including actress

Barbra Fuller Barbra Fuller (born Barbara Deane Fuller; July 31, 1921) is an American retired film, television, and radio actress. Career The Nahant, Massachusetts-born Barbara Deane FullerDeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical ...

, met every Saturday for years to take walks around Hollywood; in a 1994 episode of ''Visiting... with

Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...

'', the "Hollywood walking ladies" reminisce about their experiences in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Gordon died on February 22, 2008, in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

References

External links

Shirley Gordon
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Script
for ''On Stage'' episode "Call Me a Cab"
Script
for ''On Stage'' episode "The Bunch of Violets" {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Shirley People from Aurora, Illinois American women journalists Women radio writers American women screenwriters American women children's writers American children's writers 1921 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women