Yes, Miss Gibson

A nostalgic journey back to the 1930s-1950s when American-born Grace Gibson dominated radio drama in Australia. What emerges is a rare social and media history, and an engaging look into the bustling radio industry of a lost era.

Grace Gibson’s life could well have come from the script of one of her own serials. Born in El Paso, her father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, her mother Mexican. Gibson produced some of Australia’s most-loved radio shows: Dr Paul, Portia Faces Life, Nigh Beat, and Dossier on Dumetrius. Her productions were of such quality they sold globally. Even today, her shows continue to be broadcast in Australia and around the world.

The book documents her shows’ impact on post-war audiences; the many bizarre actors who peopled her world; how her company survived the advent of television and became the world’s biggest producer of radio drama second only to the BBC; and finally her lonely death, and how she wrote the guest list for her own funeral.