At the age of twenty-five, Bess Whitehead Scott became the first 
woman reporter for the city desk of the Houston Post. The year 
was 1915.

    Born near Blanket, Texas, in 1890, Scott grew up on a small 
farm held together by her widowed mother and eight brothers and 
sisters. She graduated from Baylor University and taught school 
briefly before she persuaded the Post editors to give her a chance. 
Then, even before the filming of the silent movie classic, Birth of a 
Nation, she went to the little film colony called Hollywood, to try 
her hand at writing "scenarios."

    Bess Scott encountered many individuals who made a deep 
impression on her. Clark Gable and Lyndon Johnson were her 
friends; her best friend, Lila Danforth, was always there during 
rough times. The talents and stamina of Bess Scott and her mother 
in fighting rural and urban hardships exemplify a century of women's 
progress and highlight the roles played by the "interesting" people 
strung along the thread of their lives.

_________________________________________________________

During BESS WHITEHEAD SCOTT's seventy-five-year career, 
she was a teacher, reporter, publicist, ad agency executive, 
freelance writer, and lecturer. She lived in Austin until her death in 
1997 at age 107.


Number Thirty-three: Centennial Series of the Association of Former 
Students, Texas A&M University


What people are saying about this book

"It wasn't easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the city 
room door. Bess made it because she understood one of the basic 
principles of the newspaper business—everyone has a story. You 
have only to discover it and tell it well. She will tell you in this 
book about meeting interesting people. You will learn that there are 
few more interesting than Bess Scott herself."—William P. Hobby