Actress/ Labor Activist Penny Singleton Dead at 95

Though the mainstream news is only mentioning her acting career as Blondie and Jane Jetson, Ms Singleton was extremely involved in labor struggles and was the first female president of an AFL-CIO affiliated union


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from CNN:
Jane Jetson voice Penny Singleton dead

Actress also played Blondie in series of films

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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Penny Singleton, who brought the comic strip character Blondie to life in a popular series of films and was the voice of the mother on "The Jetsons," has died. She was 95.



Singleton died Wednesday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, two weeks after suffering a stroke, said longtime friend Dick Sheehan.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/14/obit.singleton.ap/index.html
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more on Singleton's labor activism:

Penny Singleton wanted, as Mr. Siegel said, to relate herself to something big.  She was known as this comic strip character, the All-American housewife, and had received thousands of letters a year from women asking her advice on everything from budgeting to cooking, and she had liked this aspect of being Blondie.  But clearly she was looking to use herself in a wider way, and found the opportunity to become active in the union, the American Guild of Variety Artists, making use of her high profile to work for justice to come to other performers.

Penny Singleton was adamant that producers and club owners making a profit from variety artists’ work be classified as employers, and pay social security and unemployment compensation, as well as contribute to pension plans--something they had never done before.  In the late 60’s, after an intense two-month strike led by Ms. Singleton against the famous New York Latin Quarter nightclub, rather than agree to these terms, it closed down altogether.
Then in 1967, Newsday reported something truly remarkable:

Penny Singleton, leading the Rockettes in their strike against Radio City Music Hall, said yesterday the chorines were prepared for indefinite picket-line duty.  said the Music Hall management had been "pig-headed and unreasonable" in negotiations.
The strike was successful!  In 1969, she was instrumental in starting the first AGVA branch office in Las Vegas, and about this, she said with pride and happiness, "You know, this is the beautiful thing.  This union’s been in existence since 1940.  There has never been a branch in Las Vegas.  There is now…."  And she pressed for higher paychecks for show people there.  As a member of AGVA who worked in Las Vegas as a back-up singer, I owe her thanks for this.


And in the summer of 1970, Newsweek magazine reported on another strike she led--the first in the history of Disneyland:

Some 80 members of the American Guild of Variety Artists, including a singing group called "Kids of the Kingdom," chorus girls at the Golden Horseshoe and ten genuine Indians who perform tribal dances at Frontierland for what they consider a niggardly $135 a week…Disney officials …are …bewildered … "We've always had good labor relations."  But AGVA's militant president, actress Penny Singleton, disagrees.…Might Disneyland be shut down the way Las Vegas was last year?  "Definitely," snapped Ms. Singleton.
I respect this so much, and it affects me personally because in 1974 I was in "Kids of the Kingdom" at Disneyland.  At that time, very cleverly, Disney was recruiting college students to do the work, giving us college credit and housing for the summer in lieu of higher wages.  I had no idea that I was participating in the union-busting tactics of Disney, and it’s not too likely I ever would have known because of my contemptuous oblivion to labor relations and justice; I didn’t give a damn about workers at Disneyland or anywhere else.

As union official, Penny Singleton wanted to give what was coming to other things.  In doing so, she was taking care of herself big-time, and going towards true happiness.  In an interview she gave at the age of 87, she said:

I like to try new things…  I keep active.  I’m writing a book about my experiences with the union, and I just watch what I eat. 

on Blondie:
  I would like to get her out of the kitchen, send her to Washington.  She’ll form an organization called WOA--Women of America.

more at:
http://www.carolmccluer.net/penny-page-3.htm

Thanks for posting this. I never knew about Ms Singleton's long fight for unionization -- what a great lady. She will be greatly missed.

she was in charleston wv for a theatre event at a local college and spoke to my gifted class. she was probaly in her late 70s then. she was very kind. somewhere i still have the autograph. i might try to dig it out this weekend.

I believe she was a friend of studs turkel, if i'm not mistaken

Barbara talked about it on this year's Tony awards, I believe. I didn't know why it closed but I remember it being a nice building when I walked by in the 1960s.

I loved her and Arthur Lake as Blondie and Dagwood. Alas, she lived a long, productive life...

I loved her Jane Jetson voice too!

I remember her as Blondie even though that was long before my time, I have always enjoyed watching the movies from the 30's and 40's. I had no idea she was active in labor, sounds like she was very special.

R.I.P., Penny Singleton. :loveya:

I'm a huge fan of the BLONDIE movie series... they showed almost every one of these films on AMC back in the '90's. I confess I wasn't aware of her courageous union activities. Does anyone know whether she ever wrote that book she mentioned? Farewell, Ms. Singleton!