Like many Baby Boomers, Greg Newberry spent lunchtime summers watching Ruth Lyons鈥� top-rated 50-50 Club show with his mother.
And with that generation diminishing every day, Newberry decided it was time to tell younger viewers across the country about Cincinnati鈥檚 most powerful TV personality who shattered glass ceilings decades before we knew the term.
鈥淩uth Lyons鈥� achievements would be remarkable at any time, let alone in the 1950s when women were expected to stay home and raise a family,鈥� says Newberry, who grew up in Hamilton. 鈥淩uth built a media empire through sheer determination, savvy, and talent.鈥�
Cincinnati鈥檚 鈥淔irst Lady of Television鈥� hosted a live 90-minute weekday show on WLWT-TV for nearly 20 years (1949-67) which was simulcast on sister TV stations in Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis, and on WLW-AM radio. Her show was so popular fans waited seven years for free tickets. Potential advertisers waited about half that long to get a spot on her show.
Among her other achievements:
- Lyons was WLWT-TV鈥檚 first program director in 1949, a year after the station began commercial broadcasts, making her one of the first female television executives.
- The woman affectionately called 鈥淢other鈥� by her staff was the first woman to host a national daytime talk show on Oct. 1, 1951, when NBC picked up the 50-50 Club for one year.
- She was Oprah Winfrey 40 years before the Oprah Winfrey Show. Lyons attracted a 鈥淲ho鈥檚 Who鈥� of Hollywood movie and TV stars, musicians, politicians and sports stars to her live 90-minute show 鈥� everyone from comedian Bob Hope, bandleader Duke Ellington, actor Tony Randall and the Smothers Brothers to comedians Bob Newhart and Edgar Bergen, actress Carol Channing, singers Peter, Paul and Mary and cowboy Roy Rogers. And his horse Trigger, too.
- The commercials were live, too. Lyons鈥� ad-libbed personal endorsements for products, and her loyal followers snapped them off store shelves.
- The 50-50 Club was the nation鈥檚 highest-rated daytime program nationally for a dozen years, from 1952 to 1964, according to the 2011 Emmy-winning Ruth Lyons: First Lady of Television by David Ashbrock and Mark Magistrelli, which Newberry used researching his script. Lyons鈥� had 7 million viewers in four markets; today The View has 2.3 million viewers nationally on ABC, Newberry says.
Lyons had so many career achievements that Newberry鈥檚 first draft for a feature film screenplay was 170 pages 鈥� about 50 pages too long. Unable to cut the story without gutting it, Newberry pivoted and broke it into three, one-hour episodes for television.
For Mother Ruth, Newberry took some artistic license to tell the story through Ruth鈥檚 relationship with her daughter Candy, who died at age 21 of breast cancer in 1966 while traveling home from Europe on a cruise ship with her parents. Lyons returned to the show that fall, then retired in January 1967. She died in 1988 at age 81.
Newberry calls Mother Ruth 鈥漛ased on a true story鈥� because most of the WLWT-TV stars, staff and crew from the so-called 鈥淕olden Age of Television鈥� in the 1950s and 鈥�60s have died.
Newberry, who teaches screenwriting at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, says his script has impressed his Hollywood friends.
鈥淧eople who don鈥檛 know about her read it and say, 鈥榃hy don鈥檛 we know about her? You鈥檝e got to get this made,' 鈥� Newberry says.
Newberry and his Squeaky Toy Films is seeking local investors in hopes of filming the miniseries here. He鈥檚 also looking for a distribution commitment from a streaming platform such as Netflix.
鈥淚 have some definite interest and commitments. I鈥檓 very encouraged. I鈥檝e been at this a long time,鈥� he says.
Three years ago Newberry鈥檚 Who Is Amos Otis? film about the trial of a presidential assassin played on Amazon Prime in 2022. It was filmed in 2020 with local actors at the same Northern Kentucky United States Post Office courtroom seen in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, the Ted Bundy film shot here in 2018 with Zac Efron and Jim Parsons.
A member of the Writers Guild of America, Newberry has written four screenplays which have been optioned to Hollywood producers 鈥� but never filmed. 鈥淚鈥檓 the most successful unsuccessful screenwriter,鈥� he jokes.
Newberry also owns with customers that include the Newport Aquarium, Fifth Third Bank, Febreeze, Downy, Heinz and Gorilla Glue.
Mother Ruth, he says, is in honor of his mother, who 鈥渨as glued to the set every day鈥� watching Lyons鈥� 50-50 Club.
鈥淚t never struck me when I was watching the show with her what a pioneer Ruth was, and how she obliterated the glass ceiling,鈥� Newberry says.
