Tag Archives: Betty White

Betty’s Birth Certificate

30 Monday May 2022

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Betty Marion White was very lucky to arrive safely into the world on January 17, 1922. As she wrote in 1987’s Betty White in Person (pages 118-119):

Having one child was not a considered decision on the part of my folks. A month before I was born, my mother was in a bad car accident, and the doctors were forced to patch up her skull fracture before they could worry about the baby. I managed to hang in there, but the question of more children was, by then, academic.

betty-birth-certificateDownload

Please observe:

  • Contrary to a popular assumption, Betty’s name was not “Elizabeth.” Betty has said in interviews that her mother wanted to avoid nicknames. She named her “Betty” and immediately began calling her “Bets.”
  • They put Crede’s silver nitrate solution in her eyes to protect them in the event her mother had gonorrhea.
  • Betty was born on a Tuesday evening.
  • Her parents’ residence was listed as being located at 220 Pleasant Street. That would have been this apartment building.

Betty Answers Her 1954 Fan Mail

19 Thursday May 2022

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fanclubDuring the summer of 1954, Betty hosted a variety show on NBC called The Betty White Show.  Betty and her crew of nine guys (!) presented musical numbers, read viewer mail, and celebrated “Wish Day,” in which the whole cast showered young guests with presents.

Here’s what a fan named Lydia received in reply when she wrote…

Please click the image see the mailing!

Given the volume of mail she likely received, it’s understandable that she relied on a “Dear Friend” form letter. It’s a nice touch, though, for her to reply to Lydia’s specific questions.

The insert listing the men on Betty’s show is interesting.  Frank DeVol was a well-know composer and arranger, and wrote a number of tv themes, including that of The Brady Bunch.  Arthur Duncan is a tap dancer, who went on to appear as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show.

Betty was pretty forward-thinking in including Arthur Duncan, an African-American, in the cast.  She noted in her book Here We Go Again the following:

It came as a frightfully ugly surprise, one day, when a few of the stations that carried our show through the South notified us that they would, “with deep regret, find it most difficult to broadcast the program unless Mr. Arthur Duncan was removed from the cast.” I was shocked, and it goes without saying that Arthur continued to perform on our show as often as possible. To its credit, the network backed us up. I was livid — this was 1954, for heaven’s sake! I wanted to tell them what to do with their stations, but wiser heads prevailed. To no one’s surprise, that was the last we ever heard of the matter. They continued to carry us without another word on the subject.

Allen in 1971: Diggin’ California and Posing With His Parents

31 Thursday Jan 2013

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californiaFrom Daytime TV, November 1971:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

“Why, it’s the most convenient house I’ve ever lived in!”  Allen gives an interview about the move from New York to Los Angeles.  What’s interesting is that this article appears four years after the fact…not exactly a timely angle.

Allen’s love of gardening shows here, with lots of enthusiastic comments on how he can grow things all year long and the trees in the back.  Allen TOTALLY loved to garden.  He was studying landscape architecture at Pierce College when he died.

The picture of Allen & Betty with his parents is especially cool.

Favorite line in the article?  “And Allen has abandoned his crew cut in favor of longer hair.”  There you have it, ladies and gentlemen — Allen Ludden, hippie.

Relax… Betty’s June 1962 Bills are PAID!

26 Saturday Jan 2013

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billbothTwo little pages, so much information! From the archivist’s personal collection comes this fascinating glimpse into the cost of being Betty in the summer of 1962.

Please click the image see the full document!

Some observations…

  • Ashley-Steiner was Betty’s professional agency. She enclosed with this note her paychecks for June appearances on To Tell the Truth and an episode of US Steel Hour entitled “The Scene of the Crime.” She made about $5700 in today’s dollars for the two appearances.
  • Betty had to pay for own transportation to New York for her TV appearances of this era, hence the bill from her agency for a trip to be taken the next day. You can see that the costs likely offset much of her salary.
  • Bullock’s and I. Magnin were California-based department stores. Girlfriend was probably buying clothes!
  • Poor Betty must have lost one of her beloved pets at the beginning of June, resulting in the vet and pet crematory bills.  🙁
  • Essex House was a luxury hotel in New York. Notice the separate checks four days apart. Betty must have flown back to Los Angeles between the two appearances.
  • Lastly, note the June 14th check for a wig for her appearance in a summer stock production of the play Critic’s Choice. It cost about $1600 in today’s dollars – must have been real human hair.  But it was worth it in the end. Her co-star was none other than Allen Ludden, and he was proposing to her by the end of it!

Betty Dishes on Being Wholesome and Her Dream Man

25 Friday Jan 2013

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dreammanFrom TV Stage, December 1954:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Cover and table of contents say “Betty White’s Dream Man.” The article itself says “Betty White: Call Me Wholesome!” Go figure. Don’t you just love the font of Call Me Wholesome?

Interesting discussion of Betty’s four female groupies and how she used “some current jive talk.” Whatever that was. When I think jive, I think Barbara Billingsley in Airplane. 

It would also be interesting to hunt down that column that was so brutal. Wonder what it said that left her “crushed for days?”

It’s a rather poignant to hear her speak of what she wanted at that point in a mate and how much it sounds like Allen.

Favorite line in the article? “Meantime, Betty isn’t lookin’ or chasin'”

“Mr. Clean & The Girl Next Door!”

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

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From Nighttime TV, July 1975:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Betty says (over commissary food) that everybody laughs about “Mr. Clean” marrying the “girl next door.”

I see a bit of foreshadowing in the article – “And she’s only using the tip of the iceberg as far as her talent is concerned.” Would 1975’s Betty be floored to see the heights her career eventually reached and the accolades to come?

Favorite line in the article? “Though the word is that Allen is a ‘marigold freak,’ which their living room decor attests to he and Betty have many other hobbies.”  I love the use of the phrase the word is. Like, word on the street? “Hey, man – did you hear the word? Allen Ludden is a marigold FREAK!”

Betty & Allen Weigh in on Watergate

18 Monday Jun 2012

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From TV Dawn to Dusk, September 1974:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Betty may have become a Democrat, but back in the day, she was the conservative of the household, as this article notes. Both of the Luddens have a one-sentence summary of Nixon’s downfall on page 2.

We also find such tidbits as what Allen eats for breakfast, and what Betty’s step-children called her.

Favorite line in the article? “Visitors cannot help but be instantly smitten with their warm, contemporary furnishings, the myriad objets d’art and the multitude of fresh flowers from their garden on every table.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be instantly smitten when I see someone’s furniture. And did the woman really check every table in the entire house for flowers? Doubtful.

“The Girl Who Was Never Going to Marry”

07 Monday Nov 2011

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petsetFrom TV Dawn to Dusk, November 1971:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Must we call a 49 year-old woman “girl?” Apparently so.

The general accuracy of these fan magazine articles continues to surprise me. Most of the facts compare favorably to Betty’s own books and statements made in television interviews.

Favorite line in the article? “When she swings open that front door, you see what every girl really wants to be – a happy and fulfilled woman.” There’s a line that will rot your teeth!

Allen Charges Dinner at Chasen’s

25 Tuesday Oct 2011

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Here’s Allen’s card from the rolodex at Chasen’s Restaurant in West Hollywood. If the staff needed to verify that a diner had a charge account at the restaurant, this is what they checked.

Please observe:

  • The account was opened in May 1962. Allen took Betty to dinner and a performance of “Critic’s Choice,” the play they were to co-star in during the summer of 1962. Did Allen open the account specifically for the very first date/”business meeting”?
  • On the reverse of the the card, you’ll also note that Allen charged a meal on September 23rd of 1962; likely this was one of his many courting trips to the West Coast prior to their April 1963 engagement.
  • Betty’s 51st, 54th, 56th and 57th birthdays appear to have been celebrated at Chasen’s; as there are stamps for January 17th in those years.

A Courtship Article with the Betty Seal of Approval

21 Friday Oct 2011

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From TV Radio Mirror, August 1963:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Here we have a very detailed account of the Allen-Betty courtship, written just after the wedding.

You have to love the cheesy line at the bottom of page 2:

A self-confessed “old maid”…a widower who though love was over…a marriage that started out as a game and ended up for keeps!

Paging movie-trailer-voiceover guy!

A thank-you note written to the author, Paul Denis, presumably regarding this very article, is listed on eBay at the moment (with a minimum bid of $699.95 — ouch!). Betty seems very pleased with the job he did!