Kristin Erickson

Somewhat put off by the fact that I was able to check 19 occupations on this site – legitimately –I remain focused on the task at hand. That, my creative friends, is making sure that every single one of you can answer this question: "Who is Peg Lynch?".

You should really know.

In 1921, when she was 5, Peg's uncle gave her earphones and she heard faraway voices crackling from a radio station. She was hooked. "I'm going to grow up and talk my words through the air," she said. That's just what she did. In 1938, Peg created a sitcom called "Ethel and Albert" for radio and eventually became the first woman to create, write, star in and own her own sitcom. She retained that ownership for life.

After moving to New York in 1944 with hopes of finding a network interested in introducing her show to the nation, executives at NBC told her they would do just that. They were certain “Ethel and Albert” would become a huge hit. There was just one caveat: she needed to sell it to them. Imagine Peg's quandary. This was precisely what she hoped would happen. A major network. Coast to coast distribution. But Peg didn't want to give up control of her show and lose the one thing she owned which she considered to be of real value. She said NO and walked out. The very next day, CBS called. They thought “Ethel and Albert” was brilliant and didn't care who owned it. So when a national audience and critics raved about the show and it soared to the top and stayed there, Peg Lynch was in the driver's seat.

The show went straight to the top and stayed there for decades. First on radio. Then on TV. How successful was it? "I Love Lucy's" three writers finished 180 episodes, which were filmed. Peg, on her own, wrote 168 episodes. She also starred in the show which was performed live and directly preceded "Lucy” on the same network.

Women didn't fight for what was theirs in those days. Peg was an exception. The one thing she was unable to do, however, was syndicate episode reruns so today, few remember the woman who changed the rules for every female comedian, writer, producer and actor working in the business today. To say every woman working in the industry owes her a debt of gratitude is no exaggeration.

Her daughter Astrid Ronning King and I are doing everything possible to remind the public about the contribution Peg made to the entertainment industry over sixty years ago. Peg Lynch made our job much easier due to one habit: she never threw anything away. Peg saved her life's work – 11,000 scripts – as well as thousands of letters, photographs and contracts from her incredible career. She also saved her stories; fascinating and true tales about working with some of the most famous people in the world and calling the shots during those early days of television. In 2015, she gave “Vanity Fair's” Mike Sacks a taste of her brilliance when he interviewed her for his bestselling book “Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today's Top Comedy Writers” and thrilled him when she recounted being asked out to dinner by John F. Kennedy – she refused – and stroking a terrified Charles Laughton's head when he became sick in her dressing room prior to appearing on live television. At the end, she teased Sacks by telling him she had much more to share. “I know where the bodies are buried,” she said. She wasn't lying.

Peg also had a surprise for her daughter. After Peg died in 2015 at 98, Astrid opened a closet and found a miracle: nearly 100 episodes of "Ethel and Albert" on kinescopes in good condition, waiting to be remastered and shared. The episodes star Peg, Alan Bunce and Margaret Hamilton and they've not been seen since they aired on network TV in the fifties. They are hilarious.

Sign up to become a Peg Lynch V.I.P. at and we'll keep you updated free on the upcoming release of books about her life and the episodes. If you're interested in learning more about Peg in general, her official website, , is a fine place to start. Astrid created it for her mother several years ago and it's a masterpiece. In the meantime, I'll be here spreading the word about a little girl from Minnesota who decided she would grow up to talk her words though the air and never changed her mind.

When Peg Lynch receives a posthumous Emmy Award and a star on Hollywood Blvd., I'll know I've done my job.