LOCAL PRODUCTION
Doris O’Donnell’s Cleveland
In a career that spanned half a century, Cleveland print reporter Doris O’Donnell beat the pavement and reported the daylights out of a city on the make and on the move. Based largely on her memoir, this series features the journalist’s firsthand recollections of outstanding events in Cleveland’s history.
Episode #101
“The Day Marilyn Died” Retired Cleveland reporter Doris O’Donnell recalls the news coverage of the murder of socialite Marilyn Sheppard.
Episode #102
“The Golden Age of Print” Doris O’Donnell recalls when Cleveland’s three major newspapers competed for scoops, reporters scrambled to make late editions and editors decided who got to be governor.
Episode #103
“The Indians Swing” Cleveland journalist Doris O’Donnell raised eyebrows when she covered the Cleveland Indians during a 1957 eastern seaboard swing.
Episode #104
“Rosie the Reporter” Features interviews with retired reporter Doris O’Donnell and veteran female Cleveland reporters.
Episode #105
“A Riot Goin’ On” Clevelanders remember the 1966 Glenville-Hough race riots, which occurred during Doris O’Donnell’s career as a journalist.
Episode #106
“Dennis” Retired journalist Doris O’Donnell recalls Dennis Kucinich’s rise to mayor.
Episode #107
“Disorganized Crime” Pioneering journalist Doris O’Donnell recounts stories about Cleveland’s mobsters.
Episode #108
“Front Page Girl” During her 60-year career as a journalist, Doris O’Donnnell got her fair share of headline-grabbing stories.
Episode #109
“Sketches” During her half-century stint as a reporter, Doris O’Donnell covered famous and infamous Clevelanders, including Carl Stokes, Ralph Perk, Sam Gerber, Shonder Birns and O’Donnell’s husband, veteran reporter Howard Beaufait.
Episode #110
“Reportage” Five of Doris O’Donnell’s contemporaries — Don Bean, Russ Musarra, Robert Finn, Wally Gunther and Russ Schneider — recall major stories they covered, share secrets of the trade and relate how front page stories did not reveal everything there was to tell.
Episode #111
“Law of the Land” Once Eliot Ness modernized the Cleveland Police Department in the late 1930s, that didn’t mean old-school police work disappeared.
Aired on PBS Western Reserve in 2007-2009.