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Exercise show ran in area for 25 years. She also wrote a newspaper column
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
Akron native Paige Palmer knew how to make an impression, and never let age get in the way.
In her teens she was running her own dance studio. In her nineties, she was still showing up at local events. It took death, which came Saturday, to finally stop the forward motion of Palmer, who was 93.
More formally Paige Palmer-Ashbaugh, she was originally Dorothy Rohrer before she took on a ''fashion-sounding name.'' She had a life that included a TV exercise show that ran a quarter of a century on the old WAKR TV station and WEWS in Cleveland, a syndicated newspaper column, a line of fitness equipment, books and a reputation as a local expert on fashion and good living. She also had an assertiveness and eye-popping presence that stayed with people long after Palmer had left a room.
Jillian Kramer was an eighth-grader at Taft Middle School in Plain Township when she met Palmer while following Beacon Journal reporter Kerry Clawson on her rounds in 2000.
Palmer was being feted at the dedication of the
Paige Palmer Gallery at the Kent State University Museum, to which she had donated her fashion and pottery collections. Kramer, now a crime reporter for the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register, was thinking about her future, especially whether she wanted to pursue writing or fashion as a career.
There was Palmer, she recalled, wearing a pink boa and an outfit that was very low-cut. The animated Palmer shocked the girl at first, but Kramer quickly warmed to her as Palmer offered her career advice — much of which boiled down to going for what she wanted.
Of course, Palmer had consistently gone for what she wanted.
At the age of 11, after her dentist father Paul agreed to violin lessons but opposed ones for dancing, Palmer said ''I got the music lessons for half price and used the other half to pay for dancing school.'' Not too many years later, she had opened her School of Expression and with friends put on operettas at the Masonic Temple.
Later, modeling ambitions (which included winning a contest to find a Perfect Figure) took her to New York City and California. But by the late 1940s she was back in Northeast Ohio, raising a family, running a charm school and moving into TV.
A 1951 Beacon Journal profile recapped her considerable accomplishments up to that time — including the TV show, which was even then some four years old, and the thousand letters a week she received from fans. And it made clear the drive behind the success.
At one point she was not only working in local TV but commuting to Pittsburgh for a second TV show. She had two secretaries to help with the mail, answering every letter and, said the article, ''shrewd enough to forward the testimonials to her New York sponsors.''
The ''shrewd'' remark was part of an undercurrent of cattiness in that profile.
''The women who remember Paige 17 years ago — when she was a plump little girl athlete named Dorothy Rohrer — feel some feminine resentment, I gather, at the natty 1951 model who coins big money in television,'' the article's (male) writer said. Of course, Palmer was defying stereotypes of both the married mom — she had two sons under the age of 10 at the time — and the ''career girls'' the article also alludes to. She appeared to be making everything work, even if the work was sometimes hard.
Of course, image is not everything. There were unsuccessful marriages (although her last, to Carryl Ashbaugh, ended with his death) and occasional legal squabbles, such as a '70s lawsuit and countersuit between Palmer and former tenants in an apartment she owned. (A jury awarded the tenants $1,000.)
Palmer's television career was over in the early '70s when she began a long battle against Meniere's disease, an ailment affecting balance and hearing. Still, a decade later she was telling the Beacon Journal about recent experiences as a traveler, writer and radio host.
And while some who had achieved less than Palmer may have resented her success, she appeared ready to offer guidance to people she met along the way. And not just to Jillian Kramer.
John Crawford, who in 2000 was Kent State's theater and dance director, serenaded Palmer at the dedication ceremony with the tune Mame, rewritten as Paige.
Palmer was apparently quite impressed with the singing by Crawford, now interim dean of KSU's College of Arts. She also seemed to be unaware of Crawford's position at the university, he said, because she began introducing him to friends in the theater community.
''She was trying to get me jobs,'' he said with a laugh.
''She was a very vivacious woman,'' he said fondly. ''I have a lot of memories of how entertaining she could be.''
''I suppose when I got sick that I could have buried myself here with my books,'' she said during an interview in her home. ''But I wanted to be vital. . . . No sidelines for me!''
As she also said, ''You can't sit home and wish for happiness or a good time. You've got to get out there and do something about it.''
Two decades later, she said much the same thing to Kramer: ''In this country, there isn't anything you can't do. You have to be willing to work hard, though, and give up some small pleasures in life. You can always make your dreams a reality.''
Palmer is survived by sons Richard Roush, Paul Roush and Perry Brown; six grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held sometime after the first of the year. The family has requested that donations be made to the local SPCA in Palmer's name.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron native Paige Palmer knew how to make an impression, and never let age get in the way.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Stow, OH
Posted 12:11 PM, 11/25/2009
Definitely a great example of living life to the fullest. Her legacy will serve to inspire others to do the same.
Posted 04:19 PM, 11/25/2009
As a nine-year old I remember my brother and I laughing at mom doing the excercises she lead on channel 5. Mom wouldn't do the "fanny-bumps", though.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:39 AM, 11/26/2009
I remember in the day, at lunchtime as a kid, the Captain Penny !!!!Mr Nicklesworth !!!!
akron, oh
Posted 02:54 AM, 11/26/2009
"You can fool some of the people, all of the time; all of the people, some of the time; but you can't fool mom"...
