GREENWALD, Marilyn S. 1954-

PERSONAL: Born September 15, 1954, in Cleveland, OH; daughter of Louis (an employee of East Ohio Gas Co.) and Dorothy (a writer and newspaper columnist) Greenwald; married Timothy Doulin, August 6, 1988. Education: Ohio State University, B.A., 1975, M.A., 1984, Ph.D., 1991. Hobbies and other interests: Running, film.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Scripps Hall, Room 230, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist and educator. Telegraph, Painesville, OH, copy editor, entertainment editor, 1976-78; Columbus Citizen-Journal, Columbus, OH, business and news reporter, 1978-85; Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, business reporter, 1986-87; Ohio University, Athens, professor of journalism, 1987—.

MEMBER: Society of Professional Journalists, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

AWARDS, HONORS: Awards from Ohio Newspaper Women's Association, Ohio UPI, and Scripps Howard newspapers, 1980-86; Ohio State University Women's Studies Center grant, 1989; Ohio University Challenge grant, and College of Communications matching grant, 1991; Freedom Forum grant, 1996; Distinguished Service Award, Central Ohio chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, 1998; Ohioana Library Book Award, 1999; Sigma Delta Chi Award for Research in Journalism, 2001.

WRITINGS:

(With Ralph Izard) Public Affairs Reporting: The Citizen's News, William C. Brown (Dubuque, IA), 1991.

A Woman of the Times: Journalism, Feminism, and the Career of Charlotte Curtis, Ohio University Press (Athens, OH), 1999.

(Editor, with Joseph Bernt) The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment (anthology), Iowa State University Press (Ames, IA), 2000.

The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Ohio University Press (Athens, OH), 2004.

Contributor to books, including Communication, Value, and the Public Interest, Ablex, 1991. Contributor to periodicals, including Journalism History, Newspaper Research Journal, Longterm View, and CompuServe magazine.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research of representation of women in newspapers, representation of gays and lesbians in newspapers, role of gays and lesbians in the newsroom, and status of investigative reporting in journalism today.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist and educator Marilyn S. Greenwald is the author of several volumes, including A Woman of the Times: Journalism, Feminism, and the Career of Charlotte Curtis. Curtis (1928-1987) was first a society reporter with the New York Times, then rose to become editor of the op-ed page. She was the first woman to appear on the newspaper's masthead and was often the only woman in a room full of men. At the peak of her career, she was considered one of the most powerful women in America. Greenwald studies /curtis's rise to prominence, and ultimately her fall, when her responsibilities were narrowed to writing a weekly column. Washington Monthly writer Emily Yoffe wrote that "one of the best parts of the book is the portrait of the early life of Curtis's mother, Lucile, who was a suffragist and the first woman foreign service officer."

At the age of twenty-five, the Vassar-educated Curtis ended her unsatisfactory marriage to concentrate on her career, writing for the women's pages of the Columbus Citizen in Ohio. Ten years later, she followed a colleague with whom she was having an affair to New York and found a job as a home furnishings writer with the New York Times. Although she had wanted to write news, she became a society writer, covering the glamorous New York scene.

When the landmark sex discrimination suit was filed against the Times, Curtis did not join, citing the fact that she was now in management, but many of the women concluded that her promotion to op-ed editor was a reward for her decision. Curtis, who had broken her own ground, was ambivalent about the feminist movement, which cost her friendships and the respect of female colleagues. But although she was a successful female journalist, Greenwald demonstrates that management was stingy with its compliments and rewards for the "New Journalism" style Curtis brought to their pages. She was forbidden from writing about politics in her final column, and she instead concentrated on profiling business leaders and entrepreneurs. Columbia Journalism Review editor James Boylan wrote that Curtis, who died from breast cancer, told a young Anna Quindlen, "You will only have as much power as they wish you to have. . . . Do the best you can for yourself and for other women and don't blame yourself if that's not enough." Library Journal's Kay Meredith Dusheck praised A Woman of the Times not only as a biography but because it "offers a glimpse of journalism and workplace attitudes in historical perspective."

Greenwald and Joseph Bernt coedited The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment. The collection suggests that investigative reporting is being excluded from contemporary journalism. In another Columbia Journalism Review piece, James Boylan felt that the articles with the most value "are those that address specific legal threats facing investigative reporters."

In The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Greenwald documents the origination of the book series. The named author, Franklin W. Dixon, was in fact a fiction; Canadian journalist Leslie McFarlane wrote the first sixteen novels using formulaic outlines supplied by New Jersey book packager Edward Stratemeyer, who wished to market to adolescent boys. McFarlane, who aspired to becoming a novelist, considered this hack writing, and consequently never sought or received remuneration of a level that was appropriate to the popularity of the series. He eventually found success in broadcast writing and directing. Stratemeyer expanded his empire with other series that included "Nancy Drew" and the "Bobbsey Twins." Booklist contributor Bill Ott called The Secret of the Hardy Boys "a fascinating slice of publishing history and a lease on life for Franklin W. Dixon fans."

Greenwald told CA: "I became interested in women's biography after doing initial research into representation of women in the media. Almost by chance, I read of the death of Charlotte Curtis, a prominent woman editor at the New York Times, and knew she was from Ohio, where I live. After some initial research, I found she had been a pioneering journalist and editor—one of the earliest women to be a news manager at the Times. She had such an interesting life that the biography I wrote of her nearly wrote itself.

"I learned that, indeed, fact is frequently more interesting than fiction, and to always have faith in the subjects of my writing. If subjects appear to be interesting to you, they will be interesting to readers.

"I also learned that writing is a laborious process and it usually cannot be hurried. I spent several hours a day for many months writing the biography of Curtis, and even more time writing and rewriting. I usually ran out of steam after about four hours each day. If I continued after that, my writing became labored and forced. But, ultimately, I believe my patience was rewarded."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1999, Vanessa Bush, review of A Woman of the Times: Journalism, Feminism, and the Career of Charlotte Curtis, p. 1644; May 1, 2004, Bill Ott, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, p. 503.

Charlotte Observer, August 20, 2004, Mark I. West, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.

Chronicle of Higher Education, August 13, 2004, Kendra Nichols, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.

Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 31, 2004, James F. Sweeney, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys. Columbia Journalism Review, May, 1999, James Boylan, review of A Woman of the Times, p. 67; March, 2000, James Boylan, review of The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment, p. 71.

Columbus Dispatch, July 20, 2004, Margaret Quamme, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.

Library Journal, April 15, 1999, Kay Meredith Dusheck, review of A Woman of the Times, p. 108.

National Review, November 8, 2004, S. T. Kanick, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.

New Yorker, November 8, 2004, Meghan O'Rourke, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.

Nieman Reports, fall, 1999, Maria Henson, review of A Woman of the Times, p. 67.

Publishers Weekly, April 12, 1999, review of A Woman of the Times, p. 68; May 31, 2004, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys, pp. 63-64.

Washington Monthly, September, 1999, Emily Yoffe, review of A Woman of the Times, p. 51.

Wisconsin Bookwatch, September, 2004, review of The Secret of the Hardy Boys.