Pioneer Court(you know, right by the Jack Brickhouse statue and the former location of Marilyn Monroe) features a number of honorary street names. One of those names is that of Ann Landers. First off, if you need to know who that is, clearly you don't read enough advice columns. Secondly, if you're wondering what she is doing in a blog about Chicago, I invite you to read on...
Esther Friedman was born in Sioux City, Iowa in the year 1918. She spent her formative years in Sioux City, before attending Morningside College, where she wrote for that school's newspaper while majoring in journalism and psychology. Upon her graduation, she started writing an advice column, and in 1939 she was married to Julius Lederer.
At this same time, the Chicago Sun-Times had an advice column written by Ruth Crowley entitled "Ask Ann Landers". In 1955, Crowley died, and the column was passed to Esther, who also went by the nickname of Eppie. She proceeded to do the column for the next 47 years, and became known as a notable figure in the pantheon of North American media. She even changed with the times, addressing questions about homosexuality as well as other taboo topics. On that front, she admitted in 1993 that she was glad that the restrictions of the 1950s no longer existed.
In the early 1970s, Lederer moved into an apartment in the River North neighborhood, where she became a prominent fixture in the Chicago social scene. Lederer continued to write her columns until shortly before her death from cancer in 2002. After her death, she was honored with the honorific naming of a street after her at the corner of North Michigan Avenue and East Illinois Street, right in front of the Tribune Tower, where her column had originated from since 1987. Lederer has left a legacy and forever influenced the direction of her craft. Not bad for a girl from Iowa.
No comments:
Post a Comment