Nellie Bly Makes the News

Filmmaker Penny Lane’s cleverly animated short tells the story of groundbreaking journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922). Facing the camera, the adult journalist answers offscreen questions about her life, describing how she was "stuck cleaning houses and caring for children" until she wrote a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885 that landed her a job writing newspaper columns dealing with typically feminine issues, including fashion, gardening, and hairstyles. After a few years, Bly headed to New York City, hoping to find work at one of the 13 city newspapers, and tackle some meatier issues. She was hired at The World and her first assignment was to gain admittance to an insane asylum, where she stayed for 10 days, subsequently reporting on harrowing conditions. In what was dubbed stunt journalism, she went on to do similar undercover assignments, including posing as a chorus girl and pretending to be a mother giving up an unwanted baby. All of these experiences resulted in headline-grabbing newspaper stories. Her biggest and most well-known venture was her unaccompanied circumnavigation of the globe to beat the time of character Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. The animation style here is eye-catching—both color and black-and-white—with newspaper headlines, realistic sound effects, and lively musical accompaniment. An entertaining look at a clever journalist that can spur discussions about investigative journalism, women’s roles in history, and storytelling, this is recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (S. Beauregard)