Betty White: More Fabulous Than She Seems (Part 4)

Chapter 2: Animal Friends

It is impossible to write any biography of Betty White without talking about her hundreds of experiences with animals of every shape, size, and species.

When the infamous interviewer Barbara Walters asked Betty, point-blank, if she likes animals more than people, Betty had to admit that she does. “Can you blame me? Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize.”[1]

A “confirmed zoophile” and “life-long card-carrying zoo groupie,” Betty claims that her love for animals began in the womb.[2] She says her parents took her to zoos often and taught her how to tell the ones that cared for the animals from the bad zoos she should avoid. Being a zookeeper may have been a career that society in the 1930s would not allow, but that has not stopped Betty from devoting huge amounts of time and money to the welfare and care of animals, both in zoos and out.

Her animal activity work took full swing in the early 1970s when she produced and hosted a show called The Pet Set, which featured celebrities with their pets. 

Betty says, “The reason I work, the reason I do anything, is because of my love of animals.”[3] Her acting funds her ability to be an animal activist.

Since 1974, Betty has been a trustee of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), the non-profit support organization of the LA Zoo. She also served as commissioner for eight years. And the zoo honors Betty right back. In 1981, when her beloved husband passed on, the Koala Pavilion at the LA Zoo was dedicated to him: The Allen Ludden Plaza.

Betty devoted an entire book, Betty and Friends: My Life at the Zoo, to her favorite animal experiences and in defense of zoos as a necessary tool for education and animal care. On the inside cover of the book jacket she says: This book is “a very personal love letter to zoos and to the animals in them, and to the workers who conserve the animal kingdom and educate the public about it.”

“Good zoos are critical to conservation,” she adds. “The information we have gained regarding disease, breeding, and health issues from our captive animals we can apply toward helping those in their natural habitats . . . . If it weren’t for zoos, there are many animal species that would be extinct today.”[4]

All her hard work and the love she has poured on the LA Zoo has been rewarded with experiences that give her the opportunity to pretend to be a zookeeper, like she dreamed about. Betty has had the chance to give a bottle to a newborn tiger cub, take morning strolls with Gita the Indian elephant, witness the births of a Bactrian camel and a hippopotamus, be kissed by a beluga whale, and give kisses to giraffes and gorillas. She even calls herself “close friends” with Jacob the boa constrictor.

Another of Betty’s favorites is Bruno, an orangutan. Once when she visited and was allowed to stand near some behind-the-scenes fences, she called out to Bruno in his enclosure to say hello. He got up, came over to her, and pushed his lips through the fence so she could rub his nose.

In February of 2006, Betty was presented with an honor by the Mayor of LA and the LA City Council as an Ambassador to the Animals of the City of Los Angeles. The bronze plaque, placed near the Gorilla Exhibit, reads: “In recognition of her tireless work and years of passionate dedication to promote the welfare and humane care of animals throughout the City of Los Angeles.”

Betty is a sponsor for the Farm Animal Reform Movement, Actors & Others For Animals, and Friends of Animals. She personally donates hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to help protect animals around the world. She jokes that she has to keep acting so she can afford her charitable work.

While Betty respects living creatures of all kinds, she admits that spiders give her the shudders. But after reading the book Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, Betty gained the courage to catch spiders from her house in a jar and put them outside. Then she shudders. But that’s only one creature out of the thousands that fascinate her.

And some of those animal/Betty relationships are amazing. Through her long-time friend Penny Patterson, Betty had the chance to meet the legendary gorilla Koko. Penny is Koko’s trainer and has taught the gorilla to successfully use sign language to communicate.

When Betty visited Koko, the ape asked to have the doors opened so she could bring Betty into her own room. A huge honor, indeed. The visit lasted about 20 minutes. Near the end, Koko went and got a toy alligator that was about a foot long and handed it to Betty.

“As she handed the toy to me,” Betty says, “she frowned and shivered her shoulders. I really didn’t need Penny’s explanation that I was being told that the alligator was ‘scary.’ Koko made it very clear.”[5]

Betty has visited several times since. After a couple of visits, Koko greeted her by rubbing her fingers across her own lips. Penny explained that Koko recognized Betty and had named her “Lipstick.” Not many of the gorilla’s visitors wear any lipstick, but Betty always does.

Gorillas only bother to give a name to very special humans. Clearly, Betty is one.

{Come back next Monday for the chapter "Animals at Home"!}

 

---

[1] White, Betty, If You Ask Me, ibid, p. 14.

[2] White, Betty. 2011. Betty and Friends: My Life at the Zoo. New York: Penguin Group. Inside cover.

[3] White, Betty. 2018. Betty White: First Lady of Television. TV movie from PBS.

[4] White, Betty, Betty and Friends, ibid, p. 13.

[5] White, Betty, If You Ask Me, ibid, p. 192.

Betty White: More Fabulous Than She Seems (Part 3)

Chapter 1: Hopes and Dreams

At her televised 90th birthday celebration, Betty White said she’s “the luckiest broad on two feet.” With a twinkle in her eye, she added: “To be able to spend a lifetime in the business you love, with the people you love, and get away with it, is just marvelous.”[1]

It really has been a lifetime in the spotlight for Betty. She started working in television right out of high school and has been a part of broadcast TV in one form or another for over seventy years.

In 2012, a poll showed that Betty White was America’s favorite and most trusted famous personality. 86% of those surveyed put her at the top of the list. Her Snickers candy bar advertisement during the 2010 Super Bowl, where a crabby Betty is tackled into a mud puddle, was considered the most entertaining, most unique, best liked, and most talked about ad during the whole program, which is known for its super commercials as well as super football.[2]

When she was little, Betty never planned on being a big TV star. There was no such thing as TV! She wanted to be a zookeeper or a forest ranger. But in those days (back in the 1920s and 1930s) a girl was not allowed to be either one. Boys only. That may have kept her from making a career out of the things she loved, but it did not dim her enthusiasm for interacting with nature and living things, especially animals.

As a child, Betty and her parents took annual camping trips that involved days riding on horseback and weeks in total wilderness. Since Betty was an only child, it would just be the three of them. They went to the High Sierras and Yellowstone National Park. When it was time for one of these trips, her dad would put on a forest ranger hat. That was the signal. It was her favorite time of the whole year. She says she counted the days until the next trip like most kids count the days until Christmas. 

“In those days, we would never see another human during the whole three weeks—it was true wilderness. Heaven.”[3]

She says, “The three of us nature nuts would have a glorious time investigating this lovely planet together...something that has proven a constant source of wonder and joy to this day!”[4]

One of her childhood dreams came true after all. After hearing Betty talk about her youthful desire to be a forest ranger, The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service proclaimed Betty an Honorary Forest Ranger. At a public ceremony on November 9, 2010, Betty got a hug from Smokey the Bear and her own ranger hat, just like the one her father always wore on their summer vacations. She says it was like her father was right there with her. 

“He’s been gone all these years, but as the memories washed over me, I would swear my dad was standing right there. It is a moment I continue to replay in my mind.”

She says, “It truly was one of the greatest moments of my life.” She assured everyone present: “I shall continue to work my hardest to spread the word that not only must we protect our wilderness areas—we must appreciate them. They are an endangered species.”[5]

Betty’s other dream was to be a writer. As a child, she wrote poems and short stories, and she kept journals. To this day, Betty still does all of her writing in longhand and absolutely loves stationary stores. She buys loose-leaf paper at the grocery store all the time, whether she really needs it or not. Though it is not one of Betty’s main claims to fame, she has written and published several books over the years, including two in 2011 alone. They are mostly autobiographies (and are the main source of the information about her life for this book).

Her big introduction to performing was actually a play she wrote in elementary school. Of course, she wrote a lead role for herself. That role played a huge part in launching her dreams off in a new direction that she could not have even begun to anticipate. Television still didn’t exist. She just discovered that she had the ability to entertain.

Three months after her high school graduation in 1939, Betty would start out on a career in comedy and acting that would continue, without any serious down time, for over 70 years. Most people retire well before they are 70 years old, but Betty is still going strong in her 90s. She may even be more popular now than she ever has been, though the last few years she has performed less and less. A pandemic didn't help.

But more on that later. What Betty would really want to talk about first is her love for animals, her charity work, and her experiences with amazing animal friends. Fabulous things you probably know nothing about.

{Come back next Monday for the chapter "Animal Friends"!}

[1] White, Betty, Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America’s Golden Girl, NBC, January 16, 2012.

[2] Ipsos.ca. 2012. Betty White is America’s Favorite and Most Trusted Personality, and the Most Prone to Driving Brand Purchase. www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id+5306.

[3] White, Betty. 2011. If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t). New York: Penguin Group, p. 108.

[4] White, Betty. 1987. Betty White in Person. New York: Doubleday, p. 114.

[5] White, Betty, If You Ask Me, ibid, p. 110.

Betty White: More Fabulous Than She Seems (Part 2)

For Part 2 of my series on Betty White (originally planned as a nonfiction children's book), here's the opening of the book.

Introduction

I’ve been a big fan of Betty White for decades. At one point it had been a few years since she was actively in the public eye. That’s when I spotted her in 1999 as the crazy lady who feeds a ginormous, man-eating alligator like it is a stray dog in the movie Lake Placid. What a perfect, nutty part for her! My fondest memories of Betty come from her roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls. I loved her as the quirky grandmother in The Proposal, and Betty was the best part of Hot in Cleveland.

She is the definition of a Sassy Dame. You never know what she's going to say, whether it is scripted on a TV show or live on one of the many game shows she participated in over her career. But you could be sure it would be with a twinkle in her eye, very feisty, and always funny.

But there is so much more to Betty White’s life than what we see on the TV or movie screen. And so much more to love! Reading Betty White’s autobiography, Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit. Just like Betty, I could spend hours sitting in front of one exhibit and watching the creatures inside. One of the greatest moments in my life was the day a dolphin at Sea World came right up to me at the side of the tank. She lifted up out of the water and opened her mouth to me, just like they do for the trainers. That dolphin stayed there a full minute while I touched her gently on the top of the nose and cooed like a 6-year-old girl. My family had to drag me away because I kept hoping she’d come back. I’m sure Betty would understand.

My teenage daughters are also big fans. Learning that Betty has a room full of stuffed animals in both of her homes, and talks to them like they are alive, did nothing to change this. I freely admit to having a huge collection of mini-plush characters, and I speak to them often. My daughters have been just as attached to their hundreds of “soft friends” since before they could talk. We think a visit with Betty’s collection would be delightful.

As I was considering the general idea of a series of books on amazing women for teen readers, Betty White came to mind immediately. I mean, how many actors out there have had a Facebook campaign set up to get them to host Saturday Night Live? When I asked my daughters if they would enjoy a biography of Betty White, but one written to their age level, interest, and well, attention span, they said that would be great. 

So keep reading, and I hope you discover that Betty White really is more fabulous than you realized.

Upcoming posts (by chapter) will include:

Chapter 1                   Hopes and Dreams

Chapter 2                   Animal Friends

Chapter 3                   Animals at Home

Chapter 4                   Marriage and Family

Chapter 5                   Beginnings of a Career

Chapter 6                   Sue Ann and Rose

Chapter 7                   Facebook and Snickers

Chapter 8                   Hot and Off Her Rocker

Chapter 9                   Stage Fright and Awards Shows

Chapter 10                 Advice and Success

Chapter 11                 Being 90

I guess that last chapter will have to be redone to "Being 100"! I'm sure she'll drop some great quotes about it when the day draws near. 

See you next week!

Betty White: More Fabulous Than She Seems (Part I)

Back in 2012, I started researching and writing a book about the amazing Betty White that would be aimed at young readers. Maybe the kind of book used to research a project on Betty for school. I love the manuscript I ended up with, but publishing it the way I wanted was elusive. The book was picked up by an indie publisher at one point, but the cost and logistics of creating the book led us to mutually agree it wasn't going to work. 

Using so many quotes from Betty herself (from her multiple autobiographies) and paying the quite exorbitant fees for the use of photos made what I had created basically unpublishable. At least in the form of a book. What I've decided instead is to share all the amazing things I learned in the form of this blog. It made me sad to think all of that work would end up sitting in a drawer of my desk for all eternity. 

So over the next 14 weeks, I will be sharing a chapter every Monday morning. You can subscribe to this blog to have them arrive in your email box, or you can just check back every now and then to catch up. Week 14 will coincide with Betty White's 100th birthday. What a wonderful way to celebrate!

To begin, I'll share the fun facts I learned along the way. And in case you haven't been following Betty's illustrious career, at the end of this post is a list of all of her awards over the decades. It is simply remarkable. 

So sign up or join me for a bit of Betty in your week.

Betty looks a bit suspicious of that halo!

 Betty White Basics:

Born:  Betty Marion White, January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois

Moved to Los Angeles, California, when she was two years old.

Parents:  Horace and Tess White

Ancestry: Germanic, English, and Greek

Height:  5’ 4”

Married:  July 9, 1945 to Frederick Barker. Divorced in December of 1945.

                  November 8, 1947 to Lane Allan. Divorced in 1949.

                  June 14, 1963 to Allen Ludden. Widowed in June 1981.

                  Currently single.

Children: three step-children from her marriage to Allen Ludden--Martha, David, and Sarah Ludden

Pets: Currently, Betty has one golden retriever named Pontiac, a career-change guide dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Over her life there have been dozens of cats and dogs that came and went.

Religious Affiliation: member of the Unity Church

Political Views: Democrat

Fun Facts:

Betty does not know how to swim.

She was offered a job on The Today Show, but she didn’t want to move to New York. A young Barbara Walters was hired instead.

Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was placed next to her husband’s (Allen Ludden).

She has a wax figure in the Madame Tussauds Hollywood Museum.

She is the oldest person ever nominated for an Emmy Award (in 2012 for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program for Betty White’s Off Their Rockers).

She is hard of hearing, so she likes small parties instead of large groups.

Hot dogs, Red Vines, potato chips, and French fries are her favorite foods. 

She is great at remembering names, but not faces. She may introduce herself to someone, even a big movie star, whom she has met before.

She says that writing is her favorite thing. She prefers to write in longhand. No computers.

Despite jokes she makes in interviews, she does not have an outrageous crush on actor/director Robert Redford, though she does admire him greatly.

Over the decades, she became a regular on many game shows, especially Password (hosted by her husband, Alan Ludden), bringing her sassy attitude and often "naughty" responses.

She loves to do needlepoint projects, and her house is filled with them.

She has at least one room full of stuffed animals.

She likes to be alone. She has a maid, a housekeeper, and an assistant. That’s it.

Significant Awards and Honors:

Honorary Forest Ranger, The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (2010)

Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, California (1955)

Global Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Jane Goodall Institute (2009)

Hosted the Rose Parade for 20 years

Received the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Humane Award (1987)

Women’s International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award (1988)

Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame (1995)

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1988)

President Emerita of the Morris Animal Foundation and a Trustee since 1971

People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Icon (2015)

Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)

Grammy Award for “Best Spoken Word Album” (2012) for the audiobook of her autobiography If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t)

TV Guide Award, Favorite TV Icon (2011)

Two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for Hot in Cleveland (2011 and 2012)

Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award (2010)

Television Critics Association Award for Career Achievement (2009)

American Comedy Award for Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series for The Golden Girls (1987), Funniest Female Guest Appearance in a TV Series for Ally McBeal (2000), and a Lifetime Achievement Award (1990)

Online Film & Television TV Hall of Fame for Actresses Award (1999)

Emmy Awards: Won 7 Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1986) for The Golden Girls and several more for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show for Just Men (1983). She was the first woman to win this award.

Two Viewers for Quality Television Awards for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series for The Golden Girls (1987 and 1988)

Nominated for an additional four Golden Globes, fourteen Emmy Awards, sixteen Prime Time Emmys, four People’s Choice Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

 For a full list, check out her IMDB page.

 

 

Apple Festival Fun and More

My Readers' Group Newsletter was sent out shortly. If you don't subscribe, here's a link to it. The biggest announcement this summer was the upcoming release of my newest book, Bianca: Journey to Ryuugito, Book 2 in the Princess Bianca Series. Watch for a cover reveal coming any day now! 

We had a fantastic time at the Lincoln Apple Festival last weekend. This was a new event for us, and I'm so glad we were able to participate and make so many new friends. 

Meg's Booth at the Apple Festival

Granddoggie Ivar stopped by to visit!
(with our older daughter Amanda)

While we were there, we celebrated the one year book anniversary of The Tigran Chronicles. Taliya has been finding her audience slowly over the last year, but I am still writing stories in that universe and expect to release more in the future--hopefully not in the middle of a pandemic. 

So now my office is in chaos again as we pack up for the massive War Eagle Craft Fair and Festival (October 14th - 17th). We will definitely be in Sharp's Field again (the fair on the mill side of the bridge), and we are usually in the same location in the first aisle across from the bridge. Come by and say hello, but be sure to get there early or be prepared to wait in a long line to get in. Based on the increased activity at every event so far this year, it's going to be a BUSY fair. 

Kimba and Hiro hope we will see you this October!

News!!

Starting on Monday, October 18th, I will be sharing my book for kids about the legendary Betty White, leading up to her 100th birthday on January 17th, 2022. Every Monday, I'll post the next chapter. Watch for it!

Backyard Big Cats

If you follow me on social media or read my books, you've probably noticed my love for cats. This extends to felines of all shapes and sizes, including (and especially) tigers. My newest book, The Tigran Chronicles, is inherently a look at how humans treat animals and if we would be more respectful if they were part human. 

Right now there is action you can take to protect big cats in the United States from abuse at the hands of greedy humans. The Big Cat Public Safety Act is back in the hands of Congress and needs specific support to make the next steps in legislation. 

The Big Cat Public Safety Act for the 117th US Congress Session (2021-2023) has been reintroduced to the House of Representatives as H.R. 263 and has yet to be reintroduced to the Senate. It has been assigned to the Natural Resource Committee in the House.

This bill will accomplish two things. 

First, it will end private ownership of big cats. It is shocking how easy it is to purchase a tiger or lion or other wild cat and house them in your backyard. It is totally legal in many states. Your neighbor could buy a tiger and set up a cage in their yard. Not scary at all! A recent event in Houston, with a tiger escaping the garage where it was being inhumanely held, put a current spotlight on how this can go wrong. Fortunately, no one (including the tiger) was harmed in that escape. This is not always the end result.

Second, it will end cub petting and other hands-on entertainment that humans profit greatly from but is nothing but misery for the cats involved. In any breeding-for-profit scheme, the cats are always the losers. And once they are too old to handle, the cats are usually disposed of. A peek behind the curtain of that industry is truly horrifying. 

The number of reported tigers living in the U.S.A. (unreported not included)

• AZA Zoos – 360 tigers
• Sanctuaries – 500 tigers
• Road Side Zoos – 2500+ tigers
• Side Shows – 1000+ tigers
• Circuses/Safari Parks – 400+ tigers
• Animal Actors – 300+ tigers
• Private owners – 2000+ tigers

CALL TO ACTION: Click here for an easy way to be in touch with your senator and ask for their support for this bill. Every bit of legislation that goes before the Senate needs people behind it, and this bill is no different. Let your senator know you are behind this bill and hope they will be as well. 

This is very personal to me. For the last seven years, I have volunteered at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary for tigers, lions, bears, and other animals who have been rescued from neglectful and dangerous situations. I've seen little cubs who cannot stand because they have a bone disease that results from poor nutrition and inbreeding. Every cat comes with a story, and they are usually heartbreaking. Just in the last couple of months, the refuge has been involved in the rehoming of 68 more "Tiger King" cats--13 of them coming directly to Turpentine Creek. Now they will have a safe home for the rest of their lives, but how many animals still languish in small backyard cages?

 

Click here for more information and to stay up to date on how this bill is progressing.

As you plan your summer vacations, make sure you only support genuine refuges and sanctuaries. If they let you touch the cats, you are in the wrong place. Only as we respect these magnificent animals can we insure their safety for the generations to come.

#predatorsnotpets 

 

Happy 14th Birthday to Kimba and Hiro!!

There will be catnip. And there will be long naps. Maybe a kiss on the head or two. That's about all Kimba and Hiro need to be happy these days. 

Happy 14th Birthday to Kimba and Hiro!!

   

In celebration, you can enjoy the last few days of the 99 cent ebook sale or the paperback sales at Meg's Square Store. Seriously. The prices will all go back to normal by the end of next week. Grab them while you can!

Sunday the 18th is their birthday, and we know this pretty much to the day because when Scott found them they were newly born, cords still attached, and struggling to stay alive. Two siblings in the box with them were not so lucky. 

For those who have not heard the story, Scott was inspired to take Max for his evening walk earlier than usual. He heard what he thought was a seagull but turned out to be tiny Hiro screaming for her life, quite literally, from a box on the steps of a neighborhood house under construction. Our best guess is that the mama cat gave birth in the house but was then accidentally scared away by workers, who put the kittens in the box, hoping someone would take them. We did. 

While Hiro was screaming, Kimba was barely moving. We quickly got recommendations on how to bottle feed them and gathered supplies from a local pet store. That began several weeks of feeding every few hours around the clock, helping them go to the bathroom with the aid of a wet cotton ball, and finally adding two kittens to our household that already contained Max the dog, our daughters' cats Tabitha and Samantha (aka Slinky and Miss Fatty Cat), and El, our very senior tuxie. Buddy was walkabout at this point but would return in a couple of months. 

What would I have written my first book about if Kimba and Hiro had not joined our lives? Who knows! And I'm glad I never have to find out. 

While they are mostly grumpy old ladies now, they still rule the roost, sleep where they want, and make the most of their pampered, cushy feline lives. 

Happy Birthday, Ladies!

And maybe I'll see you at one of our upcoming events:

April 23, 24 & 25 Dogwood Festival, Siloam Springs, AR

May 8 & 9 Old Timers’ Day Steampunk Festival, Downtown Van Buren, AR