Her meek voice and timidity were in contrast to her clothes – a floor-length silk cape and a fur turban – which projected, if not grandness, at least the idea of grandness. -Kim Todd, Sensational
Perhaps the most notable of the late 19th century stunt girls was Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, in 1864. This young woman was described in these early days as timid, though she earned her job with the Pittsburgh Dispatch by writing in to complain about a columnist’s view of women.
Her first published work with the paper (Mad Marriages, 1885) was explicitly pro-woman, being written as an extension of her original letter and detailing the inequities women face in marriage and employment. Next, she would cover the issue of labor again, with a five-part series on the conditions of women working in major Pittsburgh industries.
Once those pieces were written, though, Nellie was relegated to the society pages, the home of all female reporters of the day. One of her next articles was titled “A Princess’ Dresses” and featured a bride-to-be named Beatrice, and presumably, her dresses.
Similar work followed for the rest of 1885, with articles covering pantyhose, clothing for the winter, and how to avoid hay fever. Even when she had become so prolific to have her name precede the headline, she was still stuck with what editors deemed to be “women’s work.”
In an attempt to escape the droll work of the “women’s sphere,” Nellie became a foreign correspondent for the Dispatch, leaving Pennsylvania for Mexico and writing about everything from the availability of strawberries to the conditions of workers on farms. It’s here she would spend all of 1886 and produce the rest of her work for the Dispatch, eventually leaving for New York City in 1887 with no more than a note on her desk that said:
“I am off for New York. Look out for me.”
Once there, she was unable to find steady work as a reporter, facing everything from sympathetic refusals to outright misogyny from the editors she approached. Each and every newsroom was a veritable boys’ club, and with no appetite for the type of work she fled to Mexico to avoid, she wired one last story to the Dispatch and hatched the idea for a stunt.
Sources
FRITZ, ARTHUR. Nellie Bly Online, nellieblyonline.net/.
RAPPAPORT, HELEN. “The Pioneer Women Journalists Who Inspired a Novel.” Helen Rappaport, 29 Aug. 2018.
TODD, KIM. 2023. Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s Girl Stunt Reporters. Harper Perennial.
Leave a Reply