Marjorie Anthony Linden (October 10, 1935 – April 1, 2013) was a Canadian broadcaster and media executive. She achieved multiple "firsts" for women in broadcasting, including being the first all-night woman disc jockey in Montreal, the first woman vice-president in the Canadian television industry, and the first female president of the Broadcast Executive Society.Susan Ferrier MacKay and Allison Lawlor (May 4, 2013). "Broadcast pioneer charmed all she met and shattered several glass ceilings", ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', p. S12. Born in

Mill Village, Nova Scotia Mill Village is a Canadian rural community in the Region of Queens Municipality, Nova Scotia. It developed in relation to the lumber industry. Located inland from the Atlantic coast, Mill Village was the site of Canada's first satellite earth st ...

, she was one of eight children of Barbara, who died when Marjorie was three years old, and Roy Anthony, a plumber. She was raised by an elder sister and various housekeepers. An entertainer from an early age, she sang and tap-danced on a local radio station at age thirteen. Although interested in studying to become a nurse, she took a job as a script assistant, commentator, and singer at

CBC-TV CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 195 ...

in Halifax. She moved to Montreal at age 24, and was a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Her sound was similar to that of

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

, and she recorded the album ''Marge Anthony Sings''. She then worked at

CKGM CKGM (''TSN Radio, TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English language, English-language AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an network affiliate, affiliate of sports radio network "The Team (radio n ...

as a commercial writer, but soon became their all-night disc jockey. Later, she returned to television to be a commentator and a weather reporter at

CFCF-TV CFCF-DT (channel 12) is an English-language television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). The two statio ...

. She moved to the United States to further her career, and was a producer at the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. Her works there included ''Furnishings of the White House'', and ''A Texan Visits the White House'' featuring

Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She had previously been Second Lady of the United States from 1961 to 196 ...

. She moved to work in Hollywood in the 1960s, and became vice-president, artist relations, for the company handling the

Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers were the American duo of brothers Tom Smothers, Tom and Dick Smothers, who performed folk singer, folk singing, music, and comedy. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on Steel-string guitar, a ...

. Then she worked in New York at

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records, a former name of Sony Music, a global music company * CBS/Sony, a former name of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a Japanese music company division of Sony * CBS Records International, a label for Columbia Re ...

, with such artists as

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

, and

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...

. She also oversaw a world tour and two television specials for

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

. She returned to work for the Smothers Brothers in California, this time as their

personal manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to oversee the day- ...

. In 1978 she returned to Canada, in various jobs at CTV including publicity and public relations for the

Calgary Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

. She served as vice-president of network relations for CTV. She had two brief marriages when she was young, and then in 1984 married

Allen Linden Allen Martin Linden, , (October 7, 1934August 23, 2017) was a Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal and distinguished tort law professor. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2015. Linden attained a B.A from the University of Toron ...

, an Ontario judge. She had three stepdaughters from that relationship, and no biological children of her own. Her health deteriorated due to

systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...

and other illnesses, and she died in 2013 in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

at age 77.(April 10, 2013).
Obituary: Marjorie Anthony Linden
, ''

The Malibu Times ''The Malibu Times'' is the local newspaper in Malibu, California. History The newspaper was founded in 1946 by Reeves Templeman. His wife Reta edited it with him. In November 1987, Arnold and Karen York purchased ''The Malibu Times'' from the ...

''. Retrieved May 5, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony Linden, Marjorie 1935 births 2013 deaths Canadian television executives Women television executives Canadian television producers Canadian women television producers People from Queens County, Nova Scotia Nightclub performers