Susan Heinkel

Susan Heinkel (born August 21, 1944) is an American former child actress whose program won a Chicago Emmy Award in 1959. Her activities as an adult included producing and directing industrial shows, making commercials for radio and television, recording messages for a telephone company, and writing scripts for radio and TV programs.

Early years Heinkel was born in St. Louis on August 21, 1944, At that same age she appeared on programs on St. Louis television station KSD. Her parents tried to avoid influencing her choice of career, leaving the decision up to her. She was an honor student in her elementary school. Her father was self-employed as a manufacturer's agent in St. Louis; after the family moved to Chicago, he lived in St. Louis during the week and commuted to Chicago for weekends. She attended Immaculata High School in Chicago until her TV contract in that city ended. Then she went to Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves, Missouri. At Nerinx Hall her activities included appearing in a production of Calamity Jane.

Career

Muny Opera Heinkel gained some early experience in productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre. She had bit parts in the 1952 productions of Annie Get Your Gun and Showboat. In 1954 she had a bigger role in Panama Hattie, a portrayal of which an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said, "Critics have hailed her with relative effusiveness or overjoyed restraint." She was seen as Liesl von Trapp in the 1964 production of The Sound of Music.

Susan's Show A producer from Chicago who was in St. Louis to watch a television program happened to see Heinkel on TV. As a result of that experience, in early September 1956 she began her own weekday program on WBBM-TV in Chicago. In its first month on the air, the program was "ahead of almost all its TV competitors in town". By the end of its first year on the air, Susie's Show had become the second-highest-rated daytime TV show in Chicago. When the network picked it up, it was retitled Susan's Show. The program ran on CBS until January 18, 1958, and the Chicago version was a hit for six years. accompanied her in many activities on the program, including traveling magically on a flying kitchen stool The set contained oversized furniture to make Heinkel appear smaller than her actual size. He said that he wrote only outlines, rather than complete scripts, for her; "Then she ad libs." Her ability to ad-lib was useful when Rusty missed cues — situations that might have been stressful for older, more experienced performers. and Tonette.

Heinkel sought, through the show, to make a game of activities such as making beds and washing dishes, "things they'd rather hear from me than from their mothers". A review of the program in the trade publication Broadcasting said, "What makes this series promising, however, is the poised, polished, professional way in which Miss Heinkel acquits herself." The trade publication Variety described Heinkel in its review of the show as "one of those remarkable multi-talented youngsters who manages to be pretty, poised and glib without cloying." The review added that the show demonstrated sophistication at a level that children would enjoy. Her final appearance on Chicago television occurred in 1960, after which she moved back to St. Louis.

Other TV shows on which Heinkel appeared included The Ed Sullivan Show.

After Susan's Show In her late teenage years Heinkel explored possibilities of expanding her career in entertainment. At 17 she had a screen test with Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. She traveled to New York, looking into options on stage and national TV. Some of what she experienced in those sessions clashed with her personal values. She said, "I didn't care for a lot of what I saw in both places. I saw some things that I didn't approve of. ... I had been sheltered by my parents and TV producer, and I was a little shocked at some things." Heinkel's experiences with a talent agency in Chicago also had negative effects. The agency said that she looked too young, too fresh, and too naive. She was told that she would have to change her name, her hair color, and the way she used makeup; she would have to change into an image that the agency would create. Heinkel then decided to go to college to "see if there was something in life that interested me more than what I was doing". She did not act in the college's theatrical productions, so as not to overshadow the other students who performed. Instead, she worked behind the scenes in areas that included choreography, costume design, directing, lighting, props, scenic design, and sound. and she was assistant choreographer when the prep-school students presented the ballet Peter Pan on May 23, 1965. She was one of 12 seniors from the college selected by a vote of students and faculty to be in the 1965-1966 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Selection was based on leadership, scholarship, and participation in activities. She graduated summa cum laude in May 1966 with a double degree in English and psychology.

Throughout the 1970s Heinkel continued her work in commercials on radio and TV, making hundreds of them in roles that ranged "from a teenager to a housewife to a wizened old lady". Such messages freed operators to have more time to deal with situations that needed personal attention. After she semi-retired and moved to Florida she continued to record such messages into the 1990s. When the company introduced new features, such as call forwarding and call waiting, she received scripts and recorded new messages in her home studio. When widespread changes required recording of 100 or more messages at a time, she flew to St. Louis to do the work at a recording studio. It was broadcast on WMRY-FM in East St. Louis, Illinois, beginning on January 11, 1987, and syndicated nationally in 1988. In 1987 she wrote and directed Tekakwitha Magi (A Native American Christmas Tale), a Christmas radio drama that was broadcast on a St. Louis station After she semi-retired she remained active with Oblate Media of St. Louis, a company that produced and distributed Catholic videos. She wrote scripts for the videos and was a member of the company's media board. They lived in St. Louis until 1989, when he retired from being a vice president of Enterprise Leasing, Incorporated, and they moved to the Florida Keys. She semi-retired at the same time. He died on December 29, 2014.