Rochester’s “Miss Television” dies at age 100, one of James Monroe High School’s oldest alums.

Posted by [email protected] | Oct 7, 2016 | History, Human Interest | 0 |

Democrat and Chronicle, 11 Aug 1939, Fri, page 19-3

Today, the New York Times reported on the death Monday of Phyllis Creore (1916 – 2016).

The obituary remembers Phyllis as the “‘Canteen Girl’ on Wartime Radio.” Rochester and James Monroe High School remember Phyllis as Miss Television.

According to the Times:

Phyllis Jeanne Creore was born on March 21, 1916, in Rochester, one of two children of Alvin Creore and the former Florence Geneva Smith. Her father designed dioramas for museums at one point and worked in real estate. Ms. Creore moved to New York City in 1937.

from 1934 Monroe Log

Not mentioned was that Phyllis, Jame Monroe High School ’34, was one of Rochester’s favorite daughters. At Monroe, Phyllis was President of the “Pencil Pushers.”

Phyllis first made the papers at age twelve.

Democrat and Chronicle 23 Dec 1928, Sun, page 56-2

Democrat and Chronicle, 24 Oct 1936, Sat, page 13-2

Famed Rochester author Henry Clune wrote about her in 1936.

Democrat and Chronicle 10 Dec 1936, Thu, page 13-2

Democrat and Chronicle, 24 Apr 1936, Fri, page 15-2

Democrat and Chronicle 10 Dec 1936, Thu, page 13-2

A “Star of Tomorrow,” in April 1936, Phyllis sang at the Lowe’s Rochester Theater. In December 1936, “nationally known, Rochester-bred” Phyllis Jeanne Creore performed at the Peacock Room.

And in 1939 Phyllis told the D & C her story as “Miss Television” at the World’s Fair.

Her engagement and wedding were “of Rochester interest.”

Democrat and Chronicle, 23 Feb, 1946, Sat, page 14-2

Democrat and Chronicle, 5 Jan 1946, Sat, page 23

To the world, Phyllis, you were the Canteen Girl. To us, you will always be Miss Television.

D & C, 10/12/16

UPDATE: In today’s Democrat and Chronicle, noting our “discovery,” Jim Memmott names Phyllis a “Remarkable Rochesterian.”

Much appreciated, Jim. But we do consider Talker to be a magazine. Not a mere fleeting blog!

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About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.