Dear Abby
{{Short description|American advice column}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{distinguish|Deer Abbey}}
Image:Dear Abby Walk of Fame 4-20-06.jpg memorializing the Dear Abby radio show]]
Dear Abby is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name "Abigail Van Buren" and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.
History
According to Pauline Phillips, she came up with the pen name Abigail Van Buren by combining the name of Biblical figure Abigail in the Book of Samuel, with the last name of former US president Martin Van Buren.
The column was syndicated by the McNaught Syndicate from 1956 until 1966, when it moved to Universal Press Syndicate. Dear Abby
By 1987, over 1,200 newspapers ran the column.
Abby was born Pauline Esther Friedman, and her twin sister was born Esther Pauline Friedman. Pauline was known as Popo, and her sister was Eppie{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pauline-popo-phillips-better-known-as-abigail-van-buren-dies-at-94/2013/01/17/662c5c06-c5dc-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html |title=Pauline Phillips, better known as 'Dear Abby,' dies at 94 |last=Langer |first=Emily |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 17, 2013 |access-date=May 18, 2016}} (a nickname from E.P.).{{cite book
|title=The Lady with All the Answers |page=10
|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0822221632 |isbn=0822221632
|author=David Rambo |year=2006}}
= Ask Ann Landers =
Pauline Phillips started her Dear Abby column a few months after her twin sister, Eppie Lederer, took over the Ask Ann Landers column. This produced a rivalry and lengthy estrangement between the two sisters.{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Landers.html |first= Robin |last=Judd |title=Ann Landers biography |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library}}
On February 13, 1987, the Chicago Tribune announced that the Ann Landers column was moving to the Tribune, which had published the Dear Abby column for years. The Tribune ran both columns, Landers every day and Abby six days a week.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19870214&id=OrkrAAAAIBAJ&pg=2889,4781447&hl=en|title=Advice Columnist Ann Landers Leaves Chicago Sun-Times for rival Tribune|agency=Associated Press|work=The Telegraph|date=February 14, 1987|access-date=May 18, 2016}}
In comparing the columns written by each of the sisters, the Jewish Women's Archive wrote that "Both columns were characterized by a straightforward tone, practical advice, and a firm but modern moral sensibility" and that "both women used humor, including sarcasm and one-liners, in their responses."{{cite web
|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive
|url=https://jwa.org/thisweek/jul/04/1918/ann-landers-and-abigail-van-buren
|title=Birth of advice-givers Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren}}
= Authorship changes =
Pauline Phillips wrote the column herself until 1987, at which time her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, began writing the column with her. In December 2000, the elder Phillips wrote a column identifying her daughter as her "co-creator" and added, "I will continue to work on this column until my Maker calls me home."{{Cite web|url=https://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/2000/12/11/wife-makes-chilling-discovery-of-husbands|title = Wife Makes Chilling Discovery of Husband's Online Child Porn - Dear Abby| date=December 11, 2000 }} Twenty months later, the Phillips family revealed that Pauline was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-08-07-0208070300-story.html|title=Dear Abby creator has Alzheimer's, family announces|website=Chicago Tribune|date=August 7, 2002 }}
Although the change in authorship took place in 2000, the official statement—which included adding "Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips" to the bottom of each column—was not made until July 2002.{{cite magazine
|magazine=Editor & Publisher
|url=https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/dear-abby-daughter-takes-over
|title='Dear Abby' Daughter Takes Over
|author=Josh Freed
|date=July 18, 2002
|access-date=August 5, 2019
|archive-date=May 23, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523083320/https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/dear-abby-daughter-takes-over
|url-status=dead
}}{{cite news |newspaper=Chicago Tribune
|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-08-07-0208070300-story.html
|title=Dear Abby creator has Alzheimer's, family announces
|date=August 7, 2002
|quote=Last month, Jeanne Phillips began taking sole credit for the column.}}
Pauline Phillips died on January 16, 2013, aged 94.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/showbiz/dear-abby-pauline-phillips-obit|title=Pauline Phillips, longtime Dear Abby advice columnist, dies at 94|last=Martinez|first=Michael|publisher=CNN|date=March 7, 2013}}
Impact
Dear Abby (which had a readership estimated at 110 million in 2016{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-dear-abby-rape-advice-column-balancing-0414-20160414-column.html|title = Dear Abby column says 'breakdown in communication' led to girl's rape|website = Chicago Tribune| date=April 14, 2016 }}) was described by The New York Times as "a staple in American households for decades"{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/dear-abby-whitewash-foreign-names.html
|title=No 'Foreign' Names for Children, Dear Abby Advised. Furious Parents Replied.
|author=John Eligon |date=October 18, 2018}} and has also been accused of being out of step with changing times. A 2016 column claimed a "breakdown of communication" led to the sexual assault of a teen girl. A 2018 column which said that, due to possible teasing and difficulty pronouncing, traditional Western names may be preferable for mixed-race newborns being raised in a Western country, gave rise to accusations of xenophobia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/2018/9/13/1/couple-must-choose-between-practical-and#disqus-comments|title=Couple Must Choose Between Practical and Unusual Names for Children - Dear Abby |date=September 13, 2018 | publisher = uexpress }}
See also
- Sweet Revenge (John Prine album) includes the song "Dear Abby"
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official|https://www.uexpress.com/life/dearabby}}
- {{LCAuth|n81103052|Abigail Van Buren (1918–2013)|7|}}
{{Universal Press columns}}