Dinah Shore: March 1, 1917–February 24, 1994

Abstract

Born in 1917 in Winchester, Tennessee as Frances “Fanny” Rose Stein, she described her Jewishness as one of the most important factors in shaping the person she later became. She felt pressured to be "exemplary in her behavior and outstanding in her performance." In the 1940s, she had a successful musical career in radio. In 1951 Shore transitioned to television with "The Dinah Shore Show," which was aired until 1956. After a long hiatus, Shore returned to television in 1970 with a variety show, and later had an afternoon talk show, in which she talked with guests and cooked with them and also sang. Her television career spanned 20 years. She was considered to be a fitting representative of the evolving roles of women. The length of her television career meant that the audience could see her aging. In this way she served as a model to older women, demonstrating that "aging was not a curse or a disease." Click on the link above to read the article.