Headliners Club and KTBC Interviews (1959)

Duration: 18:08

Year Published: 1959

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: This news footage shot by Gordon Wilkison for Austin’s KTBC captures events surrounding a January 1959 meeting of the Headliners Club. Established in 1955 by Charles E. Green, who would later serve as the Executive Editor of the Austin American-Statesman, the exclusive organization’s members include those make and write the headlines. The club honors two such individuals in this footage: Pauline Phillips, the columnist behind the Dear Abby, and James Arness, the star of the television series Gunsmoke. Governor of Texas Price Daniel makes them honorary citizens of Texas. Next, a KTBC reporter interviews both Phillips (using her pen name Abigail Van Buren) and Arness. Arness appears in his character’s costume. An interview with CBS news correspondent Eric Sevareid follows. Reporter Neal Spelce questions Sevareid about newly introduced civil rights legislation, no doubt referring to what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Finally, the footage captures scenes of what is most likely the Headliners Club Annual Awards Banquet, hosted by broadcaster Cactus Pryor. Sevareid presents several awards to news organizations across Texas.