Good Night and Good Luck: Shirley, We Missed You
I watched the original 2005 film at least five times and a few days ago watched the CNN broadcast of the newly produced Broadway production. Both were outstanding.
The production brings to life an episode in American news broadcasting where a journalist and his reporting team take on a US Senator, Joe McCarthy to inform the public about the horrific tactics used to root out “Communists” in 1950s America.
If you haven't seen either the film or the play, I highly recommend both. Meanwhile, this essay is a small observation on something I noticed only recently when reading reviews of the current Broadway production.
Protagonist real-life journalist Edward R. Murrow is recalled as quoting the famous line from Shakespeare’s Life and Death of Julius Caesar:
The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves.
But, what is perhaps more to the point in this essay, are the following lines in Shakespeare's play:
…that we are underlings… Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name…
Something seems to have been collectively missed. It’s subtle, and because of its subtlety we are likely to completely overlook it, and not afford it the attention it deserves.
Once again, the patriarchy is alive and well.
In the story, we find two moderately prominent characters: Joseph and his wife Shirley (née Lubowitz) Wershba. The couple was married in 1948 and, while working for CBS, kept their marriage secret due to network regulations of the time. In the movie and in the play, once their marriage is “outed”, the network dismisses her (and not him).
Today, we may all collectively chuckle in our certainly “that was then” and “that would never happen today”. Well, what is likely more insidious is today’s reality as it pertains to Shirley Wershba.
First let me state that Joseph was no slouch and had a distinguished career in both written and televised journalism. He has a Wikipedia page. It outlines his achievements, with two links to reference works and three to external websites. Furthermore, several new reviews of the play provide details on Joseph’s distinguished career and also include his image.
Not so with Shirley. Shirley Wershba was a founder and producer of 60 Minutes on CBS. She was also a producer at CBS Mornings and PBS News Hour.
Whereas Joseph has twelve lines of biography at IMDB, Shirley has just three, and no Wikipedia page.
Does this matter? Perhaps not profoundly, but I believe we should be mindful that outmoded attitudes of the past have not completely disappeared; they’re merely understated.
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