The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 140

DOROrHY by David Bianculli photos by Ott Gangl Before coming to Channel 5, Dorothy Fuld-heim's opinions were a regular feature on Cleveland's WJW radio. Moreover, her radio job was a direct offshoot of her public appearances, which by 1931 were sufficiently outrageous and outspoken to earn her the title of "militant Cleveland lecturer." Newspaper accounts from the Depression era describe her as an advocate of birth control and an opponent of public railroads and utilities. Suffice it to say that Dorothy Fuldheim has been voicing her opinion, and earning money in the process, for more than 50 years. She formed her opinions slowly, through a wide and constant exposure to literature and textbooks, and voiced them openly. She was born Dorothy Violet Snell on June 26, 1893, one of four children.

Born in New Jersey, she was raised in Milwaukee, graduated from Milwaukee College and taught elementary school for one year. Although she would spend most of her life seated behind a desk, schoolteaching wasn't Miss Snell's dream occupation. She left the school system and became a stage actress in Continued on page 6 A week from today, Dorothy Fuldheim will be 90 years old. That in itself is an impressive feat, but age is a relative condition; she may be a decade older than Bob Hope, but she's got another decade to go before passing Eubie Blake. What makes Dorothy Fuldheim so amazing is that nearly half of those 90 years have been spent working as a television commentator and interviewer.

It's an achievement without precedent, a record unlikely to be duplicated. In today's frenzied world of TV journalism, five years in the same city is a sign of unusual stability. Dorothy Fuldheim has been working for Cleveland's WEWS-Ch. 5 since 1947 a total of 36 uninterrupted years. She does 10 editorials a week, and is candid about how she deals with such a formidable work load.

"How do I do it? It's simple," she says. "I do four good ones and six lousy ones." (Staying in Cleveland all these years is a decision she occasionally regrets, especially when eyeing the success of ABC's Barbara Walters. "If I'd been on network, I would have been the same thing," she claimed. "If I'd had any guts, I'd have gone to New.