Barbara Schultz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Barbara Ann Schultz (1927-02-04)February 4, 1927 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 2019(2019-09-02) (aged 92) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Barnard College |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1959–1987 |
| Television | Visions (1976–1980) |
Barbara Ann Schultz (February 4, 1927 – September 2, 2019) was an Americantelevision producer anddirector. She is best known for her work as theexecutive producer andartistic director for the anthology drama seriesVisions (1976–1980) onPBS.
Born inManhattan on February 4, 1927, Schultz was raised inNew Jersey by her homemaker mother and attorney father. She graduated fromBarnard College in 1948, receiving a degree inEnglish studies. She originally pursued acting, first taking roles in student productions at Barnard and making herBroadway debut in 1952 with abit part in a production of the playDesire Under the Elms byEugene O'Neill.[1]
Turning away from acting, Schultz went into production amid the firstGolden Age of Television. She started as an assistantstory editor atBurt Lancaster's production companyHecht-Hill-Lancaster. She worked five years as a story editor atDavid Susskind's companyTalent Associates and worked on series likeThe Defenders andThe Trials of O'Brien (CBS) before stepping into an assistant producer role atArmstrong Circle Theatre.[2] She became executive story editor, thenexecutive producer, ofCBS Playhouse.[1] AfterPlayhouse, her focus turned toCBS's programming for children, producingCBS Children's Hour and the reboot of educational seriesYou Are There.[1]
In 1974, Schultz joined the Los Angeles-basedpublic broadcaster and PBS member stationKCET asexecutive producer andartistic director ofVisions, a weekly anthology series in which each episode would be a feature-length dramatic film by a screenwriter with no prior experience in television. KCET sought to maximize Schultz'sartistic license and independence, with minimal interference.[3]
Jean Shepherd, who wroteThe Phantom of the Open Hearth forVisions, said Schultz "not only encouraged us at every turn but gave us a totally free hand, something most writers only dream about."[4]Michael J. Arlen, writing forThe New Yorker, said the high quality ofVisions "has been a credit to its creators—especially to Barbara Schultz, the remarkably able and responsive woman who has been the program's artistic director and creative force."[5] In 1979, Schultz received theCrystal Award from theWomen in Film and Television[6] and the Evelyn F. Burkey Award from theWriters Guild of America, East at the31st Writers Guild of America Awards.[7]
AfterVisions ended, Schultz occasionally directed episodes of sitcoms likeFamily Ties andDiff'rent Strokes. However, directing work quickly dried up for her; a longtime friend and collaborator onVisions, Sandra Schulberg, said "the industry was not very receptive to a woman director of her age."[1] She alsodirected plays for the Los Angeles chapter of the New York–basedEnsemble Studio Theatre.[8]
Schultz died at her home in Manhattan on September 2, 2019, from complications fromheart disease.[1] She has been cited as a pioneering woman in the early American TV industry, which typically discouraged women from participating at executive levels of production. Her status as a trailblazer has been cited alongside such contemporaries asJacqueline Babbin,[9]Frances Buss Buch,Ida Lupino andLela Swift.[10]
Credits adapted from the website of thePaley Center for Media's She Made It initiative.[11]
| Series | Year(s) | Network | Credited as | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive producer | Producer | Director | Other | ||||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | 1959–1963 | CBS | No | No | No | Yes | Story editor, assistant producer (later)[2] |
| The Defenders | 1963–64 | No | No | No | Yes | Story editor | |
| The Reporter | 1964 | No | No | No | Yes | Story editor | |
| The Doctors and the Nurses | 1964–65 | No | No | No | Yes | Story editor | |
| The Trials of O'Brien | 1965–66 | No | No | No | Yes | Story editor | |
| CBS Playhouse | 1967–1970 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Also executive story editor | |
| CBS Children's Hour | 1969–70 | Yes | No | No | No | ||
| You Are There | 1971–72 | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| The Electric Company | 1972 | No | No | No | Yes | Consultant | |
| Visions | 1976–1978 | PBS | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Also creator |
| Family Ties | 1985, 1987 | NBC | No | No | Yes | No | Episodes: "The Old College Try", "Matchmaker" |
| Diff'rent Strokes | 1986 | ABC | No | No | Yes | No | Episode: "Bulimia" |
| You Again? | 1986 | NBC | No | No | Yes | No | Episode: "Enid Quits" |
| Webster | 1987 | ABC | No | No | Yes | No | Episode: "A Test of Characters" |
In 2006, thePaley Center for Media (then known as the Museum of Television & Radio) named Barbara Schultz one of the honorees of its multi-year initiative "She Made It: Women Creating Television and Radio", thereby inducting some of her works into its permanent collections.[12] More from Schultz's filmography can be found preserved in theUCLA Film and Television Archive,[13] and two of her productions—J.T. (1969,CBS Playhouse) andThe Gold Watch (1976,Visions)—were screened at the Billy Wilder Theater in a retrospective of her work as part of the 2017 UCLA Festival of Preservation.[14]
| Title | Original air date | Series | Preserved by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paley Center[15] | UCLA Archive[16] | |||
| "My Father and My Mother" | February 13, 1968 | CBS Playhouse | No | Yes |
| "The People Next Door" | October 15, 1968 | Yes | No | |
| "Saturday Adoption" | December 4, 1968 | No | Yes | |
| "The Experiment" | February 25, 1969 | No | Yes | |
| "Shadow Game" | May 7, 1969 | Yes | Yes | |
| "Sadbird" | December 1, 1969 | No | Yes | |
| J.T. | December 13, 1969 | CBS Children's Hour | Yes | Yes |
| "The Day Before Sunday" | February 10, 1970 | CBS Playhouse | No | Yes |
| Two Brothers | October 21, 1976 | Visions | Yes | Yes |
| The War Widow | October 28, 1976 | Yes | Yes | |
| El Corrido | November 4, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| The Gold Watch | November 11, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| Liza's Pioneer Diary | November 18, 1976 | Yes | Yes | |
| The Great Cherub Knitwear Strike | November 25, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| Scenes from the Middle Class | December 16, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| The Phantom of the Open Hearth | December 23, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| The Tapestry andCircles | December 30, 1976 | No | Yes | |
| Iowa | October 2, 1977 | Yes | No | |
| Freeman | October 9, 1977 | No | Yes | |
| Charlie Smith and the Fritter Tree | October 9, 1978 | No | Yes | |
| Shoes andString | January 12, 1980 | No | Yes | |
| It's the Willingness | January 19, 1980 | No | Yes | |
