• Executives
• Writers
• Performers

Fran Harris-Tuchman

Fran Harris-Tuchman (1915- ) began her broadcasting career in 1942 as a member of the pioneering all-female group known as the Women's Auxiliary Television Technical Staff (WATTS). The WATTS kept WBKB-TV (now WLS) in Chicago on the air for the duration of WWII, as the majority of the station's male staff were overseas.

Later, Harris-Tuchman would go on to become the first woman to head the television division of a major advertising agency, when she founded the TV department of Ruthrauff & Ryan in Chicago. She also founded her own highly successful ad firm, Harris-Tuchman Productions. Her firm produced commercials for Starkist Foods and Mattel, including the first TV ads for the Barbie doll in 1959.

View the Fran Harris-Tuchman Digital Gallery

© 2005 Library of American Broadcasting, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland 20742-7011 USA (301)405-0800.
Please send comments and suggestions to the Libraries' Webmaster .
Content questions should be directed to the Information Provider