Erma Bombeck was a journalist whose three-times-weekly columns evoked chuckles from 30 million readers across America for more than three decades. And she was from this region —born in Bellbrook, Ohio, she eventually made her home in Centerville, south of Dayton.
Despite the fact that she was read by millions, appeared regularly on national television and wrote for magazines including Good Housekeeping, Redbook and McCall’s, she’s not remembered today as a serious journalist. (Bombeck died of cancer at age 69 in 1996.) That generates a feisty observation from Barbara Chisholm, the actress portraying the legendary humorist in a new one-woman show, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, on the Shelterhouse Theatre stage at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
“She was the widest-distributed columnist in American history,” Chisholm says. “Erma was part of that generation of white women who were relegated to domesticity in the suburbs as stay-at-home moms. They were supposed to be completely fulfilled by this domestic-goddess environment that had allegedly been set up for them.”
But Bombeck perceived things differently.
“She saw the value in being a mother, in caring for a home,” Chisholm says. “But she also saw that it wasn’t the paradise that advertising led it to be. So she wrote about it very honestly.”
Bombeck began writing her column in 1964 when she was 37, having just sent the youngest of her three children to kindergarten. She described with candor the messiness of raising children and the differences between the American Dream as portrayed in magazines of the time and the reality of suburbia. She never shied away from discussing the indignities of getting older as a woman.
Nevertheless, Bombeck’s writing was broadly appreciated because she adeptly used humor.
“What made her so appealing and approachable is that she was unbelievably funny,” Chisholm says. “Some of her contemporaries in the Women’s Movement were viewed as more strident, so their message was harder to hear. Erma struck such a nice balance of honoring it but pointing out how ridiculous it was.”
Her columns were collected and published in more than a dozen books. The titles reflected Bombeck’s wry wit and clever way with words: The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1976) and If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? (1978) are typical examples.
Chisholm played Bombeck in the play’s 2015 world premiere at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage theater. The Playhouse production is the show’s second full staging. She says many people remember Bombeck with deep affection and nostalgia. “It’s touching to hear people say, ‘My mom always had Erma’s column on the refrigerator’ or, ‘My mom always read Erma’s books.’ ”
But many are surprised at other aspects of Bombeck’s life that Chisholm portrays. In 1978, Bombeck was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women, a set of high-profile opinion leaders who sought approval of the Equal Rights Amendment. For two years, Bombeck devoted considerable time and effort to national advocacy on behalf of the amendment’s ratification. When the ERA failed to gain sufficient state legislative approval by 1982, it was one of the most devastating moments in her life.
Bombeck’s writing impressed playwrights Allison and Margaret Engel — identical twin sisters who are also mothers and journalists.
“As we researched Erma’s life, we were struck by the sustained quality of her writing, especially when she was turning out three columns per week for decades,” they commented in a Playhouse news release. “We were amazed by her discipline in finishing deadlines before her children came home (from school) each afternoon. Although she was a favorite guest of Johnny Carson’s on The Tonight Show, was a contributor for years on Good Morning America and was one of the most recognized and beloved women in America, she was not seduced by fame, money or Hollywood. She managed to be extraordinary by being ordinary.”
The Engel sisters and director David Esbjornson, who staged the world premiere, spent time in Cincinnati with Chisholm to prepare for the Playhouse production. “We’re still working on the play although it’s been published,” Chisholm says. “You might think that this is a remount, but it’s like totally fresh eyes. We’ve made changes, and it’s better.”
Chisholm performed in a previous play by the Engels: Red Hot Patriot, about Molly Ivins, the outspoken Texas political columnist, that debuted in 2010. She’s grateful for these opportunities given the limited acting opportunities available for middle-aged women. The Engels say that audiences “immediately are taken in” by Chisholm.
Of the playwrights, Chisholm says, “They’re professional women. I think they really admired (Erma’s) work. They were struck by the fact that Erma’s not taught in journalism schools. Which she should be! That’s shocking for the most successful columnist ever. Why isn’t she taught? Why wasn’t she ever nominated for a Pulitzer Prize? I am personally affronted by that. I want her to get a Pulitzer posthumously. (I guess it’s because) she wrote about domesticity and she was a woman. There is affection for her, but there is a kind of trivialization, I think. I’m so pleased that (the Engels’) play gives her the respect that’s eluded her.
“For those who love and remember Erma, I think they’ll be moved and touched to learn how much grit and depth there was to her,” Chisholm continues. “She overcame and worked through tremendous personal challenges. She used her celebrity to work passionately for passage of the ERA. This play gives her a measure of respect and gravitas to add to the deep affection in which she’s held. There’s nothing trivial about the world Erma inhabited and wrote. Those who are not familiar with her will be astonished and amazed and appreciative of a formidable trailblazing woman.”
ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT’S END opens Thursday (after previews) and runs through June 18 in the Shelterhouse Theatre at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Tickets/more info: cincyplay.com.
This article appears in May 10-17, 2017.
