Charlotte Straus Plimmer (1916-1991)

Charlotte (Fingerhut) Straus Plimmer was born on March 29, 1916, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was on the staff of the Glenville High School Torch, the school newspaper, but maybe only after two more famous staff members--Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--had graduated. She was two years younger than those two creators of Superman.

Charlotte Fingerhut married Clifford A. Straus in 1937 in Cleveland. She was working as a drama teacher at the time of the 1940 census. During the 1940s, as Charlotte Straus, she was school editor with Seventeen magazine and worked for the Women's National News Service. In July 1950, she married author and radio commentator Denis H. Plimmer (1914-1981) in Chelsea, London. Over the next three decades, the two collaborated on articles, books, radio scripts, and television scripts. Alone or with her husband, Charlotte Plimmer wrote:

• The Damn'd Master: An Authentic Account of an Eighteenth Century Slaver (history, 1971)
• Slavery: The Anglo-American Involvement (1973)
• London: A Visitor's Companion (travel, 1977)
• A Matter of Expediency: The Jettison of Admiral Sir Dudley North (history, 1978)
• Positive Beauty: A Practical Guide (1980)
• The Power Seekers (1983)
• Make-up Made Easy (1985)
• Food in Focus: A Portfolio from the World's Finest Food Photography (1988)

The Plimmers also wrote radio scripts together:

• Slavery-the Bloody Commerce (radio documentary, 1972)
• "The Penkovsky Riddle" (radio program, 1973)-Kept off the air because of a lawsuit involving copyright infringement
• A program on Dorothy Parker, on the radio program Women of Words (England, Feb. 1980; Australia, 1989)

As well as television scripts:

• For Sanctuary (1968): "Insurrection's Child" and "Diary and the Devil's Advocate"
• For Z Cars (1969): "You've Got to Keep Them Talking" (two-part episode)
• For Who-Dun-It (1969): "A Matter of Honour" (a script based on their story)
• For Thirty-Minute Theatre (1968-1969): "Standing by for Santa Claus," "The Chequers Manoeuvre," "Cause of Death," "Where Have They Gone, All the Little Children," ". . . . and Was Invited to Form a Government," and "A Formula for Treason"
• For The Adventures of Don Quick (1970): "Paradise Destruct"
• For BBC2 Playhouse (1976): "The Chauffeur"

Charlotte Plimmer died on February 25, 1991, in London. She was seventy-four years old.

Charlotte Fingerhut Straus Plimmer (1916-1991).

Thanks to The FictionMags Index and the Internet Movie Database for lists.

Text copyright 2022 Terence E. Hanley