Florence Rosenthal
Florence Rosenthal has dedicated the majority of her life to her various careers. However, many of them have been taken over by advancing technology. At age 17, she started her first job at 20th Century Fox. She later worked as a phone surveyor for the Gallup Poll and as a medical librarian at Albert Einstein Medical Center. At the same time, Florence and her husband were raising their children. Throughout her life, she learned the importance of independence and education.
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"I was the beginning of online searching."
"Where did it all start?" I ask her. She tells me about her experiences growing up in West Philadelphia and going to West Philadelphia High. Unfortunately, Rosenthal lived a very difficult childhood. "Both of my parents died when I was very young, 15, so I had to teach myself a lot of things and learn how to be independent." Despite the horrible circumstance, she says that there was one way she was able to grow from this tragic event. Growing up without parents, Rosenthal learned the importance of independence. Independence has enabled her to get to the place she is today, and she says that she has taught her children the value of being independent.
Immediately after high school, Rosenthal decided to enter the work field. She talks about how girls at that age wanted to get married and have children. Many did not end up working and relied on their husbands for support. Rosenthal was different, however. “I got married late. It wasn’t until I was 25 when I got married” she explains. So at age 17, Rosenthal started her first job that would remain very memorable to this day.
“So what was it like working at 20th Century Fox?” I ask her. “That was the most exciting job of my life,” she says proudly. She worked with the company from 1944 to 1952. “Right between 13th and Vine Street.” You can tell she is painting the scene in her head. “The movie industry was different back then. In order for films to be shown, they needed to be censored,” she explains. Several days of the week, Hollywood would send the movie reels to her office, and she would have to censor them so that they could be shown in theaters. I ask her what kind of things needed to be censored. “Well, first of all,” she says, “A woman could not be seen sleeping in bed with a man. They had to be in twin beds. Times were obviously much different back then.” Additionally, men owned the theaters, so after her team was done censoring the movies, the men would come pick up the reels so that they could show the films at their theaters. She tells me that she worries that the experiences working at such a unique place will fade away and people will never know what it was like to work at her workplace. "No one ever tells stories like that...," she says.
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Rosenthal continued on to have children with her husband around her mid-twenties. While taking care of her children, Rosenthal found that she needed extra money, so she started working as a phone surveyor for the Gallup Poll. This job was perfect because it allowed her to stay with her children since they were too young to be left by themselves. So every night, Rosenthal would call several different numbers and ask them the television show they watched the night before. She tells me that “While some were cooperative, some were certainly not.”
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Once her children were old enough to be left home alone, Rosenthal began working as a medical librarian for 44 years. I asked her what this job was like compared to her first job at 20th Century Fox. She responds, “Well, first of all, my old job was entertaining, but this one was much more serious and challenging. Though, I still loved working there.” I asked her to explain what her new job entailed. She tells me how she was “the beginning of searching online.” “Doctor’s did not know how to locate these files, but I did,” she says proudly.
I ask her to look back at her life and tell me what her greatest takeaways were. Without hesitation, she says, “If you have the opportunity, you must absolutely be educated.” She says that her education considerably changed her for the better and enabled her to have such a successful and experienced life. I also, bring up the fact that many of her jobs are now being dominated by our modern world technology. “Does that scare or bother you in any way,” I ask. “Not at all,” she responds. “While technology is taking over jobs, it is changing our world for the better.” Although we laugh when she says “but I still have trouble figuring out how to use my phone.”
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I ask her about a small slip of paper hanging out of her bag that she seems to always have with her. She tells me that it has all her children's phone numbers. "How long have you had it for?" I ask her, but she says she doesn't remember a time when she hasn't had it. She tore it out of an old notebook and has kept it with her ever since. It makes her feel like her children are always with her.
