TV Writers Speak On Feminist Humor In Current Media

Two comedy script writers, Susan Rice and Sybil Adelman, answered the question, "Can Feminists Be Funny?" last night before about 200 people at the Cronkhite Graduate Center.

The two speakers discussed the role of women in today's movie and television script writing industries and briefly described the problems involved in producing scripts.

The '70s is the age of the woman studio executive, Rice said, adding, "every studio now has a woman in a position of power."

A Women's Media

Rice said that unlike motion pictures in which male actors are the focus of popular attention, women are central in television scripts because "it's easy for men to feel superior to somebody who is only two inches high."

Alderman, who began her career as a secretary to Carl Reiner, said script writers are dictated to by television executives. Her credits include episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Maude," and she received an Emmy Award nomination for "Lily," a T.V. special on Lily Tomlin.

Rice, a teleplay writer and movie critic, gained significant acclaim for "Best Friends," an original production for public T.V. She presented "The Fat Film," another of her produced scripts, at the beginning of the discussion last night.