Gerald Ford played a role in my media history
I was Assignment Editor for WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee when Gerald Ford became president. AEs are a curious lot, and I spent every waking moment on a search for news. It wasn’t something I could turn off; it just was my default setting.
While looking at a very old magazine that I had in a collection, I came across an ad for the “Jerry Ford Wonder Stories” — four books by Fenworth Moore published in 1931.
WRECKED ON CANNIBAL ISLAND or Jerry Ford’s Adventures Among Savages
LOST IN THE CAVES OF GOLD or Jerry Ford Among the Mountains of Mystery
CAST AWAY IN THE LAND OF SNOW or Jerry Ford Among the Polar Bears
PRISONERS ON THE PIRATE SHIP or Jerry Ford and the Yellow Men
I wrote a letter to Reuven Frank at NBC, then Executive Producer of NBC Weekend with Lloyd Dobyns. I loved the show and thought they might be interested in the story. Frank loved the idea, and Dobyns went to the Library of Congress to read the books. Their story was pretty funny, and Frank sent me a check.
I got to know Reuven Frank after that, and he taught me much — including the reality that even in television, there are stories that only warrant a picture with a caption. I sold him other ideas for Weekend, including Pet Sharks and Neon Dance Floors. Disco was dawning (I’m so old), and the first blinking dance floors were made in Milwaukee.
This connection opened other doors for me, but mostly it taught me a lesson on the power of mass media, especially television. An Assignment Editor from Milwaukee could influence the whole world through the simplicity of creative ideas. Scary, but true.
Jerry Ford, RIP.
