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 in the far western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a Tri-Ci ...

, 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, Illinois, Kane County, at the corner of Smith Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb ...

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in northeastern Illinois, United States. It is located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River west of Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, second-most populous city in Illinois, with a popul ...

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 (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

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 medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

, 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 related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

series ''Suspense'' ("The Statement of Mary Blake" in 1950 and "Death Parade" in 1951), '' The Whistler'', 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 t ...

' ''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 typi ...

'', ''

The Courtship of Eddie's Father ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', 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 filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...

''. 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 ...

''.

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 , , "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 vocalize it as ...

, 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. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

, 1978), illustrated by

Whitney Darrow Jr Whitney or Whittney 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 ...

. *''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's ''The Trumpet of the Swan''. Biography Frascino is the son of Mario and Rose Frascino. He is of Albanian and Italian descent. ...

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 Deane Fuller (July 31, 1921 – May 15, 2024) was an American actress. Career Fuller signed a contract with Republic Pictures in 1949. Her father Ralph Fuller died when she was three years old. She had worked in radio shows since the 1 ...

, 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 located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

References

External links

Shirley Gordon
on

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

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 American 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