Mollie Gregory – still living as of this post

Introduction

It was in 2003 that I first attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books which was held at UCLA. Because of my interest in film, on the second day of the two-day event, I went to a panel discussion titled “Women in Hollywood” in which Mollie Gregory participated, along with Norma Barzman, Cari Beauchamp, and Lynda Obst. This is from my journal: “Went to the book signing and decided to buy Mollie Gregory’s book “Women Who Run The Show”. When Mollie signed my book, she asked me what I did. I said…for art I did black and white photography….she mentioned two women in the book I should read.” – personal journal, Sunday 27 April 2003. In my copy of Women Who Run The Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood, Mollie wrote: “For Adrean Good luck in all your pursuits! Mollie Gregory April 27 2003.”

Excerpt from Beachhead: The 1970s in Women Who Run The Show

“It felt like a beachhead. Certainly each woman fought and struggled hard in different ways in a kind of war. “Women working today have never been in battle, but we were,” one woman, an entertainment lawyer, said. “I deserved war pay.”

1973 might as well be a century ago, so much has changed.

Before 1973, employment want ads were separated into jobs for men and women. In some states women could not invest in stocks without their husband’s written approval. Most women went to work in high heels and skirts. Society still frowned on women and men living together without benefit of a marriage license, “single parent” and “significant other” were unknown tags to define your personal setup, and baby boomers were a long way from retirement. Abortion was illegal and often dangerous. Face-lifts were something only movie stars did.

There were three networks-ABC, NBC, and CBS-and seven major film studios (Paramount, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Columbia, United Artists, MGM and Universal). A few independent producers turned out shows and films so constantly they resembled mini-studios. We went to movies in theaters and watched shows on television. If we missed a TV show, it was gone until rerun time. Video cassettes, VCRs, and personal computers did not exist; neither did CDs, laser discs, Home Box Office, CNN, or Blockbuster.

In January 1973, the Supreme Court made two momentous decisions: ruling on Roe v. Wade, the Court made first trimester abortions legal; it also declared in another case that job advertisements could not specify gender. Imagine scanning an ad for a mechanic that did not specify men only-or a cosmetics sales position not restricted to women. Reading those ads, imagination began to wander outside traditional limits for, perhaps, the first time.”

Author’s Note in Women Who Run The Show

“This book is based on more than 125 interviews conducted mainly in Los Angeles, in person and by telephone. I have also used secondary materials-books, magazine and newspaper articles, and some unpublished studies-to fix events by date, and to augment facts related in the interviews. But the thrust of the book relies on the candor and the memory of those interviewed, their sense of their own experiences, their point of view; their accounts are both factual and subjective, a cousin, perhaps, of the oral history. When accounts differed with others, I have noted it, but generally recollections did not differ much where they interconnected. Some of the women, and men, interviewed, did not want their remarks on the record, or asked that a portion of their remarks by kept confidential; therefore, some comments are noted as “anonymous.” Most interviews were done entirely on the record.”

Yesterday’s writer – Doris Kearns Goodwin
Tomorrow’s writer – Edith Hamilton

Source: Gregory, Mollie. Women Who Run The Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood. St. Martin’s Press, 2002. ISBN 0-312-30182-0. Excerpt: pages 1-2. Author’s Note: page 379.

Images:
Left: Front cover of my personal copy of Women Who Run The Show
Center: Mollie Gregory from the website molliegregory.net
Right: Signed title page of my personal copy of Women Who Run The Show