Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less
- Book Review,
by Terry Ryan
From Publishers Weekly
Married to a man with violent tendencies and a severe drinking problem, Evelyn Ryan managed to keep her 10 children fed and housed during the 1950s and '60s by entering--and winning--contests for rhymed jingles and advertising slogans of 25-words-or-less. This engaging and quick-witted biography written by daughter Terry (the writing half of T.O. Sylvester, a long running cartoon in the San Francisco Chronicle) relates how Evelyn submitted multiple entries, under various names, for contests sponsored by Dial soap, Lipton soup, Paper Mate pens, Kleenex Tissues and any number of other manufacturers, and won a wild assortment of prizes, including toasters, bikes, basketballs, and all-you-can-grab supermarket shopping sprees. Sometimes she even hit the jackpot, as when a Beech Nut jingle contest netted a Triumph TR3 sports car, a jukebox, a trip to New York and an appearance on the Merv Griffin show. But the Ryans' means were so limited that even a $25 prize was an economic boon. Between contests, Ryan provides dry-eyed glimpses of her father's violence, family medical emergencies and the crushing poverty of everyday life, showcasing the resilience of a mother who, despite her own problems, spurned television's Queen for a Day for making victims of its contestants. The result is a quirky, heartwarming celebration of one woman's resourcefulness, and of the wacky enticements of 1950s consumer culture. B&w photos throughout. Agent, Amy Rennert. (Apr. 4)Forecast: Infused with the pathos and pluck of Erma Bombeck, this updated version of Cheaper by the Dozen couldn't be better fodder for the TV and radio talk show circuit--and Ryan is already booked on the Today Show. If her delivery is as compelling in person as on the page, her 10-city tour will propel an full-tilt media blitz.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-While her sometimes abusive husband drank away a third of his weekly take-home pay, Evelyn Ryan kept her ever-growing family afloat by entering every contest she came across, beginning with Burma Shave roadside-sign jingles. In post-World War II America, money, appliances, food, excursions-anything you could think of-were routinely offered to the person who sent in the best jingle, essay, or poem, accompanied, of course, by the company's box-top or other product identification. Although she more often won prizes of products, such as a case of Almond Joy candy bars, Mrs. Ryan once won enough for a down payment on a house just as her family was being turned out of their two-bedroom rental house. That contest also won her a bicycle for her son. She entered so many contests, often several times under different forms of her name, that hardly a week went by without some prize being delivered by the postman. Charmingly written by one of her 10 children, this story is not only a chronicle of contesting, but also of her mother's irrepressible spirit. With a sense of humor that wouldn't quit, she found fun in whatever life sent her way, and passed that on to all her children who, despite the poverty they grew up in, lived and still live happy, useful lives. YAs who like family stories should love this winning account.Sydney Hausrath, Kings Park Library, Burke, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This is the story of Evelyn Ryan, whose brood of ten children is not fully supported by her working husband, in part because of his perpetual drinking. Her sixth child, San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Ryan, here recounts how the family depended on her poems, jingles, and contest entries to make ends meet (and sometimes not even). When they must move, Evelyn wins $5000 for a down payment on a house; when their car breaks down, she wins a new one. In addition to her seemingly boundless flow of words is her positive outlook on life, one that her children inherited despite their subsistence on fish sticks and hand-me-down clothes. While readers will root for the family and admire Evelyn's strength and her way with words, in the end the story could have been improved with some judicious editing, especially of the repetitions of the jingles. Suitable for leisure collections. Gina Kaiser, Univ. of the Sciences in Philadelphia Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
In the 1950s, advertising agencies put enthusiastic consumers to work, encouraging them to write jingles and slogans with promises of big rewards. Author Terry Ryan's mother was one of those "contesters" who accepted every challenge. With 10 children and an unreliable husband, Evelyn Ryan actually kept the family afloat, sometimes a dollar at a time from poetry contests, sometimes with more lucrative wins like cars, trips, and cash. Simply put, this audiobook is amazing. Carrington MacDuffie's reading fits the author's voice: earnest, affectionate, and real. The listener is absorbed in family drama as tough times are consistently tempered by triumph. Punctuated by the witty entries themselves, this memoir is a tribute to the American spirit. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
In the 1950s, Evelyn Ryan had an armload of children and a husband whose income barely kept the family clothed, let alone fed. Like many women in similar situations--mothers looking for extra money for their families--she entered contests: tell us why you like such-and-such a product in 25 words or less and win a refrigerator, a car, a watch, a trip, etc. Unlike most of her fellow "contesters," though, Ryan had a flare for writing and became a consistent winner: shopping sprees, appliances, cash, even a trip to Switzerland. Although her husband had the full-time job, it was Mrs. Ryan who, for a decade or so, used her winnings to buy the kids clothes, pay their dental bills, and keep the family from plummeting far below the poverty line. Ryan's daughter tells her mother's story in a memoir that is both an excellent chronicle of the contest-crazy '50s and '60s and a moving portrait of a clever, determined woman. Don't be surprised if this sleeper of a story generates tremendous word of mouth. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Patricia Cornwell Terry Ryan's story of her amazing, prize-winning mother is simply fabulous. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is a wonderful snapshot of mid-twentieth-century America -- a heartwarming, marvelous story that deserves its place alongside the best nonfiction in modern literature.
Book Description
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Stepping back into a time when fledgling advertising agencies were active partners with consumers, and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells how her mother kept the family afloat by writing jingles and contest entries. Mom's winning ways defied the Church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated views of housewives. To her, flouting convention was a small price to pay when it came to securing a happy home for her six sons and four daughters. Evelyn, who would surely be a Madison Avenue executive if she were working today, composed her jingles not in the boardroom, but at the ironing board. By entering contests wherever she found them -- TV, radio, newspapers, direct-mail ads -- Evelyn Ryan was able to win every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention cars, television sets, bicycles, watches, a jukebox, and even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn't just the winning that was miraculous; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand-prize winner in its national contest -- and had won enough to pay the bank. Graced with a rare appreciation for life's inherent hilarity, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for fun and profit. From her frenetic supermarket shopping spree -- worth $3,000 today -- to her clever entries worthy of Erma Bombeck, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash, the story of this irrepressible woman whose talents reached far beyond her formidable verbal skills is told in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit will triumph over the poverty of circumstance.
Download Description
Stepping back into a time when fledgling Madison Avenue ad agencies were active partners with consumers and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells the story of her mother, Evelyn, who kept her family afloat writing jingles and contest entries. It is a compelling drama of a woman who defies the church, her husband, and antiquated views of housewives to seize every opportunity to secure a happy home for her ten children. Entering contests on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, and through the mail, Evelyn Ryan won every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention bicycles, watches, a jukebox, cars, even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn't just the winning that was amazing; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr. Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand prize winner of their national contest -- and had won enough to pay the bank. From the frenetic supermarket shopping spree to the clever entries that captured the imagination of contest sponsors everywhere, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is about one woman whose joy for life overshadows both lean times and her husband's alcoholism to raise children who seek out their own winning ways.
From the Publisher
"A good-natured memoir as compelling as a commercial jingle."--Judith Stone, O Magazine "Nabs first prize in the memoir genre."--Book of the Week, People
About the Author
Terry Ryan, the sixth of Evelyn Ryan's ten children, is the writing half of T. O. Sylvester, a long-running cartoon in the San Francisco Chronicle. The author of two books of poetry, she lives in San Francisco, California.
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