An interview with Kimberley alumnae Janet and Lucile M ason

Sisters and Kimberley alums, Lucile and Janet Mason are powerful exemplars o f the benefits o f a great education, achieving remarkable prominence in two o f the most competitive and male-dominated fields o f their time. Review Editor Debbie Kozak was fortunate to spend time with them and gain some insights into their success.

After graduating from Smith College where she majored in Theatre, Lucile started work as a script editor at ABC’s first TV station in New York. Four years later, she began work at Compton Advertising as Assistant Casting Director, and was soon promoted to Director of Casting and Department Head, casting three radio serials and three TV serials and, with her staff, casting 40 million dollars worth of TV commercials annually. She also directed the jingles and background music tracks for commercials for fourteen years. In 1965, Lucile changed career paths, entering the field of social welfare where she met with equal success, becoming National Executive Director of the Association of Junior Leagues of America, Director of Public Affairs for Girl Scouts of the USA and Director of Public Relations for the YWCA of the City of New York. A subsequent career in fund raising (she started her own firm in 1980) eventually led her back to Montclair when Richard Day, Principal of the newly formed Montclair Kimberley Academy invited her to serve as the first Director of Development for the merged school. Janet’s career was equally illustrious. After also graduating from Smith College, she received a master’s degree in Theatre Arts from Stanford University and interned at KPIX, the CBS station in San Francisco. Janet returned to New York to work for the Ford Foundation’s TV-Radio Workshop, working on OMNIBUS with Alistair Cooke. After a stint at LIFE Magazine, she moved back to San Francisco to work as a Producer/Director for KQED before being invited back to LIFE as a reporter, where she remained for thirty-five years. Janet specialized in reporting and producing lengthy photo-eSsays with LIFE photographers about real people in life-changing situations, including two on Jill Kinmont, a top US Olympic Ski Team hopeful who fell on the slopes and became a quadriplegic, and whose story, based on Janet’s reporting, was turned first into a book and later into a movie. Janet became an Editor of the weekly LIFE Magazine, and after its demise as a weekly, remained on staff producing two issues a year for five years until LIFE became a monthly magazine. She also worked with some of the world’s most famous architects on an annual series of LIFE

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Dream Houses before she retired from LIFE in 1997. She then helped a major architect with his first book.

Q. Can you share some memories of any Kimberley teachers who were particularly influential?

Lucile: My English teacher, Miss Margaret Gallie, taught me how to write concise reports that formed the basis of my work at ABC. She was very direct when teaching and always emphasized precise writing.

Janet: She was a very handsome woman and a “lady.” When I was head of student government in my senior year, I led an effort for the older girls to be allowed to wear lipstick, especially when we had outside guests at assemblies. I used the argument that because we worked so hard, we looked pasty-faced. Miss Gallie said to me “My dear, ‘Uneasy lies the crown.’” I was never entirely certain what she meant by that bit of Shakespeare, but by the middle of the year, we were allowed to wear lipstick!

Lucile: Mrs. Carleton D. Mason, our Headmistress, was very influential. She brought a world view to Kimberley.

Janet: And Mrs. Evans, our math teacher, had lived in China and in addition to teaching math, taught us about the increasing importance of Asia in the world. She was certainly ahead of the times. And Miss Cassandra Kinsman, my Latin teacher, was terrific. I still use her lessons everyday when I do the N ew York Times crossword. I remember her glasses would fall down her nose and she would look over them at me when I was translating the Aeneid, and inform me that my translation wasn’t good enough and that she would come back to me. She always did.

Lucile: Miss Bower and Miss Carpenter were the music teachers; they directed the choirs and the bellringers. I think they had a huge influence on everyone. I originally went to Smith to major in Music (I was a pianist) but switched to Theatre.

Q. Was there an ethos in a Kimberley education that helped prepare you for your careers?

Janet: While there was an atmosphere of congeniality, there was also dedication to the pursuit of excellence “ a philosophy that if something is worthwhile, don’t do a half-baked job. Also, we were taught to listen to what others were saying - a most important lesson for a journalist.

Lucile: I too think Kimberley emphasized excellence. All the teachers stressed that, and because the classes were so small - there were only sixteen in my year - there was a sense of sisterhood.

Q. How hard was it to be a woman in your chosen careers?

Lucile: We were launched into the working world when the glass ceiling was a fait accompli. I could be the Chief Casting Director but I could never be named Producer, even when I performed that role. Only a man could be a Producer!

Janet: In my work in television, I could aim to be a Producer, but as a woman, I could never be a Director Huntil I went into educational television as a Producer/Director!

Q. What have you been doing since you both retired?

Lucile: Janet and I are still busy writing foundation grant proposals for Pushcart Players (a professional touring company which produces original musical productions in schools across the country). I have also been Class Secretary for many years and enjoy gardening.

Janet: O f late, I have been helping two friends edit their book manuscripts.

Q. And finally, what advice would you give students today?

Lucile: I really feel that one of the most important things in life is to have a solid education. I was given that at Kimberley, at Smith College and at New York University where I earned two masters degrees (in Communications and Cultural Anthropology) in night classes while I held responsible daytime jobs. My advice is simply that it may take some time, but go after it!

Janet: Don’t let yourselves fall into a rut. I was so fortunate to have a career in journalism where every assignment was a new adventure and I was paid to do what I loved!

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