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Thelma Prescott
Thelma Prescott (born Brooklyn, NY 1902) was the first female television producer/director. After working as a fashion journalist in Paris, she established her own publicity firm in 1932. She was hired by NBC on January 19, 1939 because she had produced and directed many commercial and experimental television broadcasts while living and working in France, and the network hoped to develop shows that appealed to a wider audience. Her most well known show title "Girl About Town—Bathing Suit Story" aired on March 29, 1939.

Education
Prescott graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now the Parsons School of Design). She also studied photography in Paris and music in the Philippe school in France.

Career
Prescott worked throughout her career as a photographer, journalist, fashion expert, artist, producer, and director. While working in France for ten years she was among the first to introduce the use of informal camera pictures of society in European centers. While abroad, she worked as a freelance writer contributing to Paris editions of the New York Herald and Women's Wear Daily. She operated her own publicity bureau from 1932-1933, which represented American and European hotels. She worked for NBC for only eight months before exiting as part of a mass firing by NBC as they trimmed their "experimental" television personnel.

Personal Life
Prescott married producer Edward Padula and they co-produced the show "Girl of the Week" for NBC in 1948. The couple divorced in 1968 and Prescott eventually settled in Florence, Italy and passed away there in the mid 1980s.

Publications
Prescott, Thelma A. "Beauty Hints for..." Redbook; New York 93,.3, (Jul 1949): 8-11.