Erma Bombeck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Erma Louise Bombeck (February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996), born Erma Fiste, was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life in the second half of the 20th century.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Bombeck graduated from the University of Dayton in 1949 with a degree in English. She started her career in 1949 as a reporter for the Dayton Journal Herald, but after marrying school administrator Bill Bombeck, a college friend, she left the job and raised three children.
As the children grew she started writing At Wit's End, telling self-deprecating tales about the life of a housewife. It debuted in the Kettering-Oakwood Times in 1964. She was paid $3 per column.
Growing popularity led At Wit's End to be nationally syndicated in 1965, and eventually it ran three times a week in more than 700 newspapers. The column was collected in many best-selling books, and her fame was such that a television sitcom was based on her. The series, Maggie, ran for eight shows in 1982 before being cancelled.
In 1971, the Bombecks moved to Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Bombeck had autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a common genetic disorder shared by playwright Neil Simon and by fashion commentator Steven Cojescaru. In 1996 worsening health forced her to have a kidney transplant, and she died of complications that year. She is interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.
In March 2007, the Ultimate Guitar Archive reported that the 11-year old corpse of Erma Bombeck would be making a guest appearance on the upcoming Queens of the Stone Age album, Era Vulgaris.[1]
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[edit] Quotes
- "My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."
- "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."
- "If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead."
- "The only reason I would take up jogging is so I could hear heavy breathing again."
- "Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage."
- "Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely."
- "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."
- "In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn't danced on TV."
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
- Erma Bombeck Online Museum
- Erma Bombeck Writing Competition
- Erma Bombeck at Find A Grave
[edit] Books
- The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank
- Aunt Erma's Cope Book
- If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?
- I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression
- When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home
- Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own (written with Bil Keane)
- Family - The Ties that Bind... and Gag!
- A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair
- At Wit's End
- Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing From American's Favorite Humorist
- Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession
- I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise: Children Surviving Cancer
- All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room
