Glendora Folsom Buell

Philosopher, judicial activist, vegan, and self-made television personality, she continues to create weekly public access television programs at age 84. With degrees in psychology and English from American International College, and graduate classes in physics from SUNY Buffalo in the 1970s, she is author of the three-volume Physics and Love and The Glendora Happy Book.

She worked at NBC in Hollywood in the early 1950s, returning to Massachusetts in 1953 to begin her own television career as a children’s show host, first in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, then at WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH. Her program, The SS Glendora, ran five days a week—she played the captain, children played the sailors. Milton Bradley was interested in sponsoring The SS Glendora, but decided to sponsor Captain Kangaroo instead.

When public access cable entered the television industry in the early 1970s, Glendora took to the streets of her community with her Sony Portapack and documented local stories for “A Chat with Glendora.” Aired on Valley Cable TV in Bridgeport, CT, it focused on ordinary people from the local community who were doing extraordinary things.

In 1993 she documented a personal lawsuit on her TV program, and Cablevision in Long Island cancelled her show. After visiting the library and tirelessly studying the law, Glendora sued Cablevision for their violation of the public access law that states that no cable access station may have editorial control over PEG programs. Glendora took on Cablevision single-handedly and won. This case was the beginning of a string of pro se lawsuits challenging the violation of freedom of speech in the cable system and later in the court system. Glendora spread her knowledge of the law to her neighbors and led local efforts to teach others in her community to fight for their rights.

Glendora’s life work has added to the preservation and the legacy of community television. In her six (going on seven) decade career, Glendora has inspired her community of neighbors and viewers to find the power within themselves—whether it is to tell their own story on their own TV programs or fight against an injustice against them.