starred in an unsold ABC sitcom pilot, "We Love You, Miss Merkle". The plot concerned a former musical-comedy star on Broadway who is forced to retire by a vocal cord ailment and became an elementary school teacher. The pilot was produced and written by Bernard Slade.
Her first brush with public speaking came in high school where she was
South Dakota's winner in the American Legion National Oratory Contest.
In 1958, she was the only female orator to win in all forty-eight
states.
