SALLY: Unconventional Success

by Sally Jessy with Pam Proctor Raphael ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1990

In putting together her autobiography, Emmy Award-winning TV and radio talk-show host Raphael--aided by former Parade editor Proctor--has managed to combine a nicely self-deprecating sense of humor with more serious insights into the difficulties she faced while breaking into the male-dominated world of broadcasting. The result is a sprightly reminiscence dial is always engrossing, and frequently hilarious. The child of a Willy Lomanesque salesman father and a remarkably supportive mother, Raphael was fascinated by radio from an early age. After attending a then-new broadcasting department established by Columbia Univ. in conjunction with NBC, she emceed various call-in shows in such unlikely venues as Puerto Rico, Miami Beach, and Bridgeport, Conn. In the early 1960's, her first marriage broke up and, new husband and kids in tow, Raphael set off to capture New York. Besides repeated rejections and layoffs, she endured a back-breaking schedule, with miles and miles of commuting each week. But, finally, the big TV break came in 1983. Raphael writes of these and subsequent higher achievements and disappointments with immense good humor and a zest for adventure. She tells of the TV interview she held with a quintet of nudists (she didn't know where to look), admits ""I've had more potholders crocheted for me than any woman on the face of the earth,"" and describes some of her escapades in foreign lands--e.g., the time she routed an officious East Indian policeman by going into an ear-numbing rendition of ""Dixie""--and she also admits she may have the worst singing voice in the world. By and large more thoughtful than is generally the case with such star turns--and sure to be a hit with Raphael's fans.

Pub Date: April 10, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION