EPPIE LEDERER AS ANN LANDERS A FRIEND ON THE FEATURE PAGE
Her predecessors were prim advice columnists who dipped daintily into the lives of the lovelorn, tiptoeing around, or avoiding completely, realities like divorce, abortion and homosexuality. Then in 1955 Chicago housewife Eppie Lederer took over the syndicated Ann Landers column from a recently deceased nurse who had been doling out tabloid therapy under that pseudonym. With witty, blunt pointers ("A father who diapers his daughter at the age of 12 has a geranium in his cranium"), a heartfelt respect for her readers and a willingness to change her mind, she earned an ardent following of 90 million readers. Dubbed the country's most influential woman by a World Almanac poll in 1978, Lederer cherished her ability to help and read several hundred letters a day while soaking in the bathtub. Offers to buy rights to the Ann Landers name were declined. "When I go," she said, "the column goes with me." --By Harriet Barovick
MILTON BERLE Mr. (and Mrs.) Television
Before him, TV sets were owned only by the few, the rich. Then, in 1948, the Tuesday-night Texaco Star Theater exploded like a shtick of nitro, with an assault of vaudeville skits, ancient gags and a man who often dressed as a woman. Suddenly everybody had to have a television--all because a middle-aged comic with manic energy and a desperate need to please was making a fool of himself, live, in America's living rooms. Subtle as a spray of seltzer, Berle dominated the young medium's ratings for years, at his peak winning 80% of the viewing audience. Eventually, TV grew up--anyway, it grew older --and by the mid-'50s Berle's innocent vulgarity had given way to more domestic, less frantic fare. But his ghost still haunts the tube. The Fear Factor daredevils, the Jackass prankster-masochists, the talk-show mutants who will do anything for a laugh or a shock--all are the nieces and nephews of Uncle Miltie. --By Richard Corliss
JOHNNY UNITAS Magic on Sunday Afternoon
It's a Lithuanian name, BUT an American imperative: Johnny, unite us! Every Sunday afternoon from 1956 to 1972, Johnny U. laced up his black cleats to mid-calf, put his helmet on over his signature flattop (so square you could balance a playbook on it) and gathered the city of Baltimore to watch the birth of modern football. While the rest of the National Football League was scrumming its way forward a few yards at a time, Unitas threw precise, elegant passes that proved how beautiful the game could be. Unitas' greatest triumph was marching the Colts to a sudden-death victory over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL championship game. Just before handing off for the winning touchdown, Unitas completed a long sideline pass to his favorite target, Raymond Berry. "Wasn't that pass kind of dangerous?" Unitas was asked. He replied, "Nothing's dangerous if you know what you're doing." --By Josh Tyrangiel
PRINCESS MARGARET ROYAL LIGHTNING ROD