The Story o�
BETTY WHITE
Gregory Bonsignore Y
Jennifer M. Potter
MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S PUBLISHING GROUP
That’s Betty! The Story of Betty White Gregory Bonsignore • Illustrated by Jennifer M. Potter November 2021 In her eighty-year career, Betty White has starred on some of the most beloved shows of all time (like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls) and has received multiple Emmy, American Comedy, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, not to mention a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! More than creating some of the most memorable roles of all time, Betty has helped to make the world a better and more equal place. Early in her career, she starred in, directed, and produced her own shows, creating opportunities for other women as well as people of color. She has devoted much of her life to the well-being of animals, and she is celebrated as an LGBTQIA+ ally. In this innovative picture book biography (timed just ahead of Betty’s 100th birthday), a young boy is tasked with doing a presentation on a trailblazing woman. For him, there’s only one woman who fits the bill: Betty White. As he begins his research, he gets some help from the greatest Betty White expert of all—the legend herself. Gregory Bonsignore is an award-winning playwright, director, actor, comedian, and writer. He grew up in Houston, has a degree in Storytelling from NYU, trained at the BBC in London, and is a graduate of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. That’s Betty! is his debut picture book. He lives in Los Angeles, California. • gregorybonsignore.com Jennifer M. Potter is an illustrator who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. When she’s not busy drawing, she volunteers at the local animal shelter. She lives with her husband, several attentionstarved plants, and a concerning number of watercolor palettes. She is the illustrator of Voices of Justice, A Songbird Dreams of Singing, and Claude. • jennifermpotter.com
Henry Holt and Company An Imprint of Macmillan 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 mackids.com
ISBN: 9781250796608 | Price: $18.99 US / $25.99 CAN | On Sale Date: 11/23/2021 Category: Picture Book Nonfiction | Format: Jacketed Trade Hardcover Pages/Trim: 48 / 8-1/2" x 11" | Age: 4–8
This digital copy has been distributed for promotional and review purposes only. No other uses are allowed, including but not limited to consumer viewing. No sale or further distribution of this digital advance reader’s edition is permitted, except to others on your staff for review purposes only. Please do not post or share the link to this material. View and share it responsibly within your organization. We thank you for supporting the rights of our authors and artists in this endeavor. For more information, contact childrens.publicity@macmillan.com.
MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN
• Outreach to Key Reviewers, Media, and School and Library Contacts • Digital ARE sent to Select Bloggers and Digital Influencers • Included in MacKids Social Media Promotions • Featured at Select School, Library, and Bookseller Conferences and Conventions • Digital ARE Available on Edelweiss
The Story of
Betty White For my mom, who taught me not just how to read, but its importance —G. B. For funny, white-haired animal lovers everywhere, especially my mom — J. P. Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866 • Henry Holt ® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC • 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 • mackids.com • Text copyright © 2021 by Gregory Bonsignore. • Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Jennifer M. Potter. All rights reserved. • Our books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com. • Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. • First edition, 2021 • Book design by Sharismar Rodriguez • Printed in China by RR Donnelley Asia Printing Solutions Ltd., Dongguan City, Guangdong Province • The art in this book was executed in Acryla gouache and digital media. ISBN 978-1-250-79660-8 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Gregory Bonsignore Illustrated by Jennifer M. Potter A Who Did It First? Book Henry Holt and Company New York
Our teacher asked us each to pick a trailblazing woman for a presentation. And I thought . . .
A trailblazing woman?! That’s Betty!
Betty White couldn’t be more trailblazing! She’s an actress who starred in some of the very first TV shows and who has had the longest career in the history of television!
But my teacher wasn’t so sure about the idea.
Hmm. Wouldn’t you rather choose someone more . . . traditional?
And my classmates didn’t even know who she was.
Betty who?
What did he say?
Betty Friedan?
Betty White! The most amazing entertainer ever!
I told my dads about my idea, and one of them wasn’t so sure about it either.
Maybe you want to pick someone more traditional?
I think Betty White is a great idea, son.
I knew that if I was going to do this project on Betty, it had to be the best presentation EVER. Thankfully, my second-favorite person in the world, Darian the Vegetarian Librarian, was there to help. “What’s our adventure today?” he asked. “Give me everything you have on ‘White’ comma ‘Betty,’ please!”
Just as I began assembling the world’s greatest presentation on the world’s greatest person, I heard a voice in the stacks. “Hey, kid,” some lady whispered. “Heard you’re doing a presentation on Betty White, and I just happen to be an authority on that broad.” Before I could say anything, she continued, “She was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922, to Christine and Horace.” I looked in my notes, and she was right!
“Betty got her start in radio,” I continued.
“Her first big break on television was co-hosting Hollywood on Television with Al Jarvis, way back in 1949, when TV was brand-new!” “You do know your stuff!” the lady said. “But did you also know that the show was live, for five and a half hours a day, six days a week?” I didn’t, so I added it to my notebook. “Soon after that, she got her own show,” the lady said.
“The Betty White Show.” I smiled. “The show started in 1954. Betty hosted the show at a time when almost no other women worked in TV.” “Very true,” she said. “Did you know that Betty also produced the show?”
“What does that mean?” I asked. “The producer is the boss of the whole show,” she explained, “and decides everything about how a program gets made.”
“A producer oversees important stuff, like the advertisers,
the segments and songs, and the casting.
“One of the people Betty cast was a dancer she loved named Arthur Duncan. But some people didn’t want her show to feature a Black performer.”
Maybe you could cast someone more . . . traditional.
Live with it! “What did Betty do?” I asked, scribbling in my notebook. “She said, ‘Live with it!’”
“And then she gave Arthur TWICE as much screen time as before.”
“That’s Betty!” I cheered.
This lady obviously knew a whole lot about Betty White— more than I was finding in my books, even. “What happened next?” I asked. The lady thought for a moment. “Well, Betty went on to be a guest on a number of game shows.”
“She even found the great love of her life, Allen Ludden, on the set of the game show Password in 1961. Allen was the host, and Betty thought he was the most wonderful man she’d ever met.” “But this book says he was her third husband,” I noted. “Well, third time’s the charm, kid!” the lady said.
“Betty hosted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for ten years and the Tournament of Roses Parade for twenty,” I told the lady. “And she also starred in my two favorite shows of all time!”
“Betty starred in more than one hundred TV shows and movies,” she said. “So, which ones are we talking about, kid?”
“The first of my favorites,” I said, “was a very influential TV series from the 1970s called The Mary Tyler Moore Show—a feminist sitcom that showed women could do anything a man could do.”
Betty won an Emmy Award for that part. That’s the biggest award you can win in television.
Oh, Lou, you old teddy bear . . . she won TWO Emmys.
“And my other favorite show is The Golden Girls, which started in 1985. It’s my dads’ favorite show of all time.” The lady nodded. “That tracks.”
Ya know she was nominated every year?
Who was nominated every year, Blanche?
“The show ran for seven seasons and showed that older people have full, meaningful, hilarious lives. Betty won another Emmy Award, this time for her portrayal of Rose Nylund.”
Sandy Duncan, Rose . . . BETTY WHITE, you numbskull!
“Betty wasn’t done yet. In 2010, when she was eighty-eight years old, she starred in a new show called Hot in Cleveland.” “That’s right!” the lady said. “Betty set a Guinness World Record with that role, for the longest television career in history!”
“Say, kid. Do any of those books mention all the work Betty has done for her fantastic furry friends? Betty has always supported animal causes.”
“Despite all of her achievements as an actress, Betty has said that she is, first and foremost, someone who loves animals.” “It says here that Betty was on the board of the American Humane Society,” I added. “And that she has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit animals!” “Was it that much?” The lady gasped. “That’s Betty, all right.”
Just then, my dads came by to see if I was ready to go. I realized I had more than enough material to make the best presentation ever. “Thanks for all your help,” I said to the lady. “My pleasure. You ring me if you need anything else.”
But that night, I got nervous about my presentation the next day.
You know, kiddo, it’s not too late to do a report on someone more traditional. OR you could just do the one you love about Betty.
So I decided to call the lady from the library. She picked up. “Hello, this is—” “Hi, it’s me. From the library. The one doing a landmark project on Betty White. I’m a little worried that . . .” “That your presentation is going to be a little too different?” she asked warmly. “Well . . . yeah,” I said. “Ya know, kid . . . I realized a long time ago, I couldn’t look around at other people to figure out what was possible, what I should do with my life. I was an untraditional gal with untraditional dreams—
I just had to believe in myself and make it happen! Why, it wasn’t until I wrote and starred in a school play that I realized what I wanted to do.” “That’s funny,” I said. “The same was true for Betty White.” “Is that so?” she said with a laugh. “Well, I’m sure that if Betty were here, she would tell you to hold tight to your dreams, and make tomorrow whatever the heck you want it to be, kid!”
The next day, my presentation was a big hit, maybe the best presentation ever.
Wow!
I was just about to take my seat when someone at the door called out, “Bravo!”
She’s amazing! She did all that?!
It was the lady from the library! She looked so proud of me as she grabbed a piece of cheesecake and danced out of the class.
“Who was that?” my teacher asked.
And I realized . . .
THAT’S BETTY!
T I M E LI N E
! y 17. ion White is BORN Illinois, on Januar , 1922 – Betty Mar rk Pa k Oa in rn Note! She was bo . oves to California m ily m fa ’s ty et B 1924 – School. Beverly Hills High om fr s te ua ad gr 1939 – Betty pplies. driving military su II ar W ld or W ng nteers duri 1941 – Betty volu
1953 – Be t ty sta premieres her first T rs in and produces. V sitcom, Life with Elizabeth, 1960 – B which she etty receiv e s her star Ho on the Ho llywood Bo llywood W ulevard. alk of Fam e at 6747 1961 – Be tty meets Allen Lud den. Note! T ho ug h to marr yin he proposed a nu mber of ti g him till mes, she w 1963! ouldn’t sa y yes
the n Nivens joins n A e u S r te ac char . 19 73 – Betty’s ler Moore Show Ty tress ry a M e h T ey wanted “an ac cast of th , rt pa e th te wro get her! Note! When they d never guessed they would e,” an like Betty Whit Host g Game Show in d n ta ts u O r fo ins an Emmy 1983 – Betty w an for Just Men! an to ever win om w t rs fi e th as Note! She w tegory. s Emmy in that ca , which premiere ls ir G en d ol G d on T he ays R ose Nylun pl ty et B – 5 8 19 BC. that year on N rinar y e American Vete th om fr d ar w A animals. ins the Humane 198 7 – Betty w er dedication to h r fo on ti ia oc Medical Ass ever host dest person to ol e th es om ec 2010 – Betty b h! t Live. is show, her fift th r fo Saturday Nigh y m m E A N O T H ER Note! She won
ME IMA GE TO CO
of her dio recording u a ). e th r fo y rse You Won’t ramm u o G C a f s o in d w n ty (A Me 2011 – Bet l Office. oir If You Ask ite House’s Ova h bestselling mem W e th in a ck Obam ge President Bara ed a happy birthday messa h it w ts si vi ty record 2012 – Bet t Obama also Note! Presiden irthday party special. th b for Betty’s 90 leveland. e on Hot in C d o is ep st la . finishes her es of the show d o is 2015 – Betty ep 8 12 re Note! T here a ite, 4 as Bitey Wh ry to S y o T in stars 2019 – Betty tiger. a teething toy old! rns 100 years tu ty et B – 2 2 02
SE LE CTE D SO U R C E S Boettcher, Steven J., dir . Betty White, First Lady of Television. 2018. Netfl ix. Brooks, James L., exec utive producer. The Mar y Tyler Moore Show. MTM Enterprises, 19 70–7 7. Colucci, Jim. Golden G irls Forever: An Unauth orized Look Behind the New York: Harper Desig Lanai. n, 2016. Fantozzi, Tony. “T he In terviews: Betty White.” Te levision Academy Founda video, 2:26:06, https://in tion. June 4, 199 7, terviews.televisionacadem y.com/interviews/bettywhite#about. Fedderson, Don, execut ive producer. The Betty White Show. NBC Stud ios, 1954. Feuer, Jane, ed. MTM ‘Q uality Television.’ London : British Film Institute Books, 1984. Imdb.com (R esource us ed for various dates an d casts: Accessed 2020 ). Junger Witt, Paul, S. Ha rris, and T. Thomas, ex ecutive producers. The Buena Vista Television, Golden Girls, 1985–92. Paley Center for Media (A
ssorted interviews and
archived materials: Acce ssed
2020). Pioneers of Television: Sit coms. TV Programs on Iowa Public Television. Ipt v.org, 2015. White, Betty. Here We G o Again: My Life in Telev ision. New York: Scribne r, 1995. White, Betty. If You Ask Me (A nd of Course You Won’t). New York: G.P. Pu tnam’s Sons, 2011.
Ph ot o Cr ed it s Credits to come.
Get to know the First Lady of Television.