Marie Winn
Encyclopedia
Marie Winn, a journalist, author and birdwatcher, is known for her books and articles on the birds of Central Park, her Wall Street Journal
ornithology column and her role in the quiz show scandals
of the 1950s. She appears in Frederic Lilien's documentary film, The Legend of Pale Male (2010).
, Czechoslovakia
, Winn is one of two daughters of a psychiatrist; her sister is the writer Janet Malcolm
. Winn is a U.S. citizen who attended the Bronx High School of Science
, Radcliffe College
and Columbia University
.
In May 1958, while Winn was a contestant on Dotto
, a notebook which belonged to her was found by another contestant, Ed Hilgemeier, who discovered that the notebook included questions and answers to be used during Winn's appearances. Jack Narz
, the host of Dotto at the time, recalled, when interviewed for a PBS documentary, that he believed Winn to be "a little too pat" when giving her answers. A CBS executive vice president, Thomas Fisher, tested kinescope
s of the show against Winn's notebook and concluded that the show appeared to have been fixed. The executives also learned the show's producers had paid Winn, Hilgemeier, and Winn's opponent Yaffe Kimball-Slatin to keep quiet about the notebook. They also learned that Hilgemeier might have demanded more money to keep quiet and filed a deceptive practices complaint with the Federal Communications Commission
.
(1977), an often scathing critique of television's addictive influence on the young, Winn wrote, "The television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state." In 2002, she added new material to update the study as The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers, and Family Life, published on the 25th anniversary of the original book.
to the Red-tailed Hawk
that nested on a Fifth Avenue building, receiving much press coverage. She was also prominent in preserving Pale Male's nest when it was threatened with removal. She wrote about these events in her book, Red-Tails in Love: Pale Male's Story - A True Wildlife Drama in Central Park (1998). The book is an expansion of her Smithsonian magazine articles and her column in The Wall Street Journal
. Frederic Lilien's documentary film, Pale Male (2002), is an adaptation of Winn's book and includes interview scenes with Winn.
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
ornithology column and her role in the quiz show scandals
Quiz show scandals
The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
of the 1950s. She appears in Frederic Lilien's documentary film, The Legend of Pale Male (2010).
Early life
Born in 1936 in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Winn is one of two daughters of a psychiatrist; her sister is the writer Janet Malcolm
Janet Malcolm
Janet Malcolm is an American writer and journalist on staff at The New Yorker magazine. She is the author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession , In the Freud Archives and The Journalist and the Murderer ....
. Winn is a U.S. citizen who attended the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
, Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
In May 1958, while Winn was a contestant on Dotto
Dotto
Dotto is an American television quiz show which aired on CBS from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the...
, a notebook which belonged to her was found by another contestant, Ed Hilgemeier, who discovered that the notebook included questions and answers to be used during Winn's appearances. Jack Narz
Jack Narz
Jack Narz was an American television announcer and game show host. Narz was the elder brother of Tom Kennedy and the former brother-in-law of Bill Cullen...
, the host of Dotto at the time, recalled, when interviewed for a PBS documentary, that he believed Winn to be "a little too pat" when giving her answers. A CBS executive vice president, Thomas Fisher, tested kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
s of the show against Winn's notebook and concluded that the show appeared to have been fixed. The executives also learned the show's producers had paid Winn, Hilgemeier, and Winn's opponent Yaffe Kimball-Slatin to keep quiet about the notebook. They also learned that Hilgemeier might have demanded more money to keep quiet and filed a deceptive practices complaint with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
.
The Plug-In Drug
Winn is the author of the influential The Plug-In DrugThe Plug-In Drug
The Plug-In Drug: Television, Children, And The Family is a book of social criticism written by Marie Winn and published in 1977 by Viking Penguin Publications with the ISBN 0 14 00.7698 0...
(1977), an often scathing critique of television's addictive influence on the young, Winn wrote, "The television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state." In 2002, she added new material to update the study as The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers, and Family Life, published on the 25th anniversary of the original book.
Pale Male
An advocate for protecting wildlife, Winn gave the name Pale MalePale Male
Pale Male is a well known New York City Red-tailed Hawk who has made his home since the early 1990s near Central Park. Birdwatcher and author Marie Winn gave him his name because of the unusually light coloring of his head...
to the Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
that nested on a Fifth Avenue building, receiving much press coverage. She was also prominent in preserving Pale Male's nest when it was threatened with removal. She wrote about these events in her book, Red-Tails in Love: Pale Male's Story - A True Wildlife Drama in Central Park (1998). The book is an expansion of her Smithsonian magazine articles and her column in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. Frederic Lilien's documentary film, Pale Male (2002), is an adaptation of Winn's book and includes interview scenes with Winn.
Further reading
Listen to
Sources
- Winn, Marie. "What Became of Childhood Innocence?", The New York Times, January 25, 1981.
- Winn, Marie and Creshkoff, Rebekah. The Birds of Central Park: An Annotated Checklist (pdf)
Selected bibliography
- The Fireside Book of Children's Songs (Simon and Schuster, 1966)
- The Plug-In Drug (Penguin, 1977)
- Red-Tails in Love (Random House, 1998)
- Birds of Central Park by Cal Vornberger, foreword by Marie Winn (Abrams, 2005)
- Central Park in the Dark (FSG, 2008)