About a month before her death, the Saturday Night Live cast member finished her biography detailing her battle with cancer and experience in show business.
When I was a senior in high school, I had to pick a biography for a book report.
I chose comedic actress
Gilda Radner’s “It’s Always Something” because I loved her on Saturday Night Live.
She died in 1989, about a month after finishing her book.
As a young girl, seeing a woman able to dominate a scene against actors such as Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Bill Murray was inspiring.
Her characters of Roseanne Roseannadanna, a frenetic Girl Scout and a host of celebrity parodies, including “Baba Wawa” remain as fresh as when they originally aired.
It’s been more than 20 years since I read her story and wrote that paper.
But I remember her humor in describing her illness, her interesting experiences with the now legendary original SNL cast and tales of a loving marriage with actor Gene Wilder.
This was during a time when no one wore certain colors to bring awareness for various cancers and diseases.
Research in women’s health was still relegated to a second-tier priority.
Support systems were so tight-knit it was hush-hush in polite conversation.
After her death,
Gilda’s Club groups sprang up as support networks.
They are independent groups located in cities worldwide and are named after her comment that cancer gave her membership to “an elite club I’d rather not belong to.”
Sadly, at least four clubs have renamed themselves because young people don’t recognize her name.
The latest is the Gilda’s Club Madison.
“One of the realizations we had this year is that our college students were born after Gilda Radner passed, as we are seeing younger and younger adults who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis,” said the club’s executive director Lannia Syren Stenz to the
Wisconsin State Journal .
The Madison group will be known as the Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin.
These name changes are more than a shame, it’s downright wrong.
If young people do not recognize her name, then teach them.
Explain how she was a pioneer in the male-oriented sketch comedy television world.
Show them her trademark characters and extensive work, amazing in her short 42 years.
Draw the link between what she accomplished and the currently popular Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Melissa McCarthy.
Let girls know that she helped bring ovarian cancer to the public consciousness.
Don’t let women like Gilda Radner be forgotten.
She is too important to our history.
