 ERMA WILL BE COMING TO THE TABARD GET READY TO LAUGH By Iride Aparicio |
SILICON VALLEY, CA -- Born in February 21, l927 in Bellbrook Ohio, Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) was a syndicated newspaper writer who achieved great popularity with her humorous semi-weekly columns, describing incidents in the lives of the "house wives" who were living during the years 1965 to 1996. Her columns were so popular that her columns were published in 900 newspapers, including newspapers in Canada, and read by 30 million readers, Bombeck also wrote and published 15 books, most of them, best sellers. For those people who remembered Erma's columns, and those who would like to "meet" her and laugh, with her humor at this time when the world is lacking of joy, Erma will be coming to the Tabard during their celebration of Women's History Month to continue their 20th Anniversary Season in their online production: Erma Bombeck At Wit's End, described by the Boston Globe as: "America's irrepressible doyenne (the eldest of a group) of domestic satire," in a one-woman play, written by Allison Engel and Margaret Engel, with actor Carolyn Ford Compton in the role of Erma. the online production will be be directed by Tabard Associate Artistic Director Dough Baird. Who was Erma Bombeck?
Erma Bombeck, born as Erma Louise Fiste, was a talented girl who wrote her first newspaper column at the age of thirteen years old in junior high school, and was published in the OWL, as The Emerson Junior High School newspaper was called. Encouraged by the attention, she determined to become a writer. Her dream continued taken shape when she went to high School, where this time, she wrote a weekly column for the student's newspaper. By the age fifteen, Erma was a writer, working as a copy girl for the Dayton Herald the town's newspaper. There, and at that age, she fist met Bill Bombeck, who was working as the Copy Boy in the Dayton Journal, which was the morning version of the same newspaper and who she married, many years later. After she graduated from hi school, she was hired by the now merged newspaper to write obituaries. After a year savings, Erma had enough money to enroll at the Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She enrolled in Ohio University, but decided to return to Dalton to keep her mother company when her stepfather, who was a soldier in the Army was sent overseas. So, she transferred to Dalton and enrolled in the University of Dalton that Bill Bombeck was also attending. During that time, they also became re-acquainted with each other. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English, she was hired by The Journal Herald, this time as staff writer and in l949, she married Bill Bombeck. As Bill's wife, Erma continued working in the newspaper for four years, until l953, when she decided to retire and start a family. As a house wife and mother, however, her need to write led her to write again, this time for the Dayton Shopping News using her wisdom and humor to write about "household" issues such as what to buy, what to cook, how to argue with your husband who does not allow you to hang another picture on the wall anymore. Describing her experiences with humor, she started writing a column in l963, humorous stories from the point of wives and mothers staying home alone, raising their children. The popularity of her column among her readers, leaded to syndication. Erma began her column with thirty eight newspapers and five years later her column was published and read in 500 newspapers. She continued writing her column for twenty seven years until her death at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco CA in 1996. Erma Bombeck At Witt's End will be an all live stream run, Opening on Friday, March 19 and continue playing through April 3. Tickets for the live stream are $15.00 to $50.00 as part of Tabard's inclusive pricing that allows buyers to choose their own price tier, to stay within their family budget. To order tickets Online for the live stream access via your computer, phone, tablet or TV go to https://www.tabardtheatre.org/vbotickets/ or by phone: 408 679-2330.
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