I loved the historical value of it, the 1950's, the days when women used their literary talents and musical talents to write jingles. These women entered contests to win prizes small and large and a group of them, including a woman in an iron lung, formed a sort of support/writer's group too!
Evelyn Ryan, was a real live Defiance, Ohio housewife and mother of ten, who managed to win the down payment of their house and years later save it from foreclosure, due to her winning spirit. Rarely sorry for herself or their poverty, Evelyn was the kind of woman that isn't around much anymore. Her strongest talent may be an ability to forgive and move on.
Another strong positive on this film is the unsentimental but revealing way Evelyn Ryan's plight as a housewife and mother of ten in the 1950's is determined by what we would identify as prevailing sexism in American culture.
That wasn't so long ago.
C 2013 Christine Trzyna All Rights Reserved
reposted April 2021
