Sally Jessy Raphael
Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American talk show host known for her eponymous talk show program Sally, which she hosted for two decades, and for the bright red oversized eyeglasses she wears in all public appearances.
Early life
Lowenthal was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1935, and graduated from Easton Area High School. She also spent time in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where her father, Jesse Lowenthal, was in the rum exporting business and her mother, Zelda Lowenthal (aka Dede Lowry), ran an art gallery. Sally has a younger brother, Steven Lowenthal.
She spent part of her teenage years in Scarsdale, New York, where one of her first media jobs was at the local AM radio station, WFAS. The station had a program by and for junior high school students and Raphael read the news. She attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. Raphael studied acting under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner at New York City’s prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse.
Sally (1983 TV series)
Sally (originally titled The Sally Jessy Raphael Show) is an American syndicated tabloid talk show that was hosted by radio talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael. It originally was a half-hour local St. Louis television program, debuting October 17, 1983, and ran in syndication until May 24, 2002, with repeats running until September 6.
Overview
Sally Jessy Raphael was the first audience-participation, issue-driven talk show to have a female host, predating Oprah by 3 years. The program was an iconic part of the tabloid talk show genre that pervaded daytime television throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s.
When the show started out it covered topics such as people with extreme religious beliefs, but in the later shows Sally and her after specialist Pat Ferrari moved on to more personal family matters such as pregnant and/or out-of-control teens. Topics of the show varied wildly, from the controversial and hard-hitting stories to more lighthearted fare such as hypnotists getting guests to do funny gags. As a result, when content ratings were introduced in the 1990s, the ratings for Sally varied widely from episode to episode, from TV-G to TV-14.Drag queens were frequently featured on the show, usually in fun, and some even dressed as Sally impersonators. The show that garnered her largest ratings was dedicated to women with large breasts.
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