Claire Coleman (Schweiker)

Her Story

The following is written by Gerry Wilkinson....On Tuesday evening, June 16, 1998, Gerry Wilkinson and Claire Coleman, spoke via the telephone. Now there's a really nice lady. She was involved with WRTI in the very early years of WRTI. She was there from 1950 until June of 1953.

By the way, on the John Roberts issue of "Did you ever get an A from John Roberts?" Claire said that she got a "C." She said that she was upset about the grade and went to Professor Roberts to ask why. Claire said that Roberts gave her the "C" because she was a woman and announcing was a man's world. However, when ask the next day by Gerry Wilkinson at the Broadcast Pioneers luncheon, Roberts said that he probably said something like, "Look around. There aren't very many women announcers. Pick the explanation you like.

Anyhow, back to Claire. After graduation from Temple, John Roberts called her up about auditioning for Romper Room. Roberts said, "Get over there. This is what you want." She did and she got the job. She became "Miss Claire" on the WFIL-TV (now WPVI) version of "Romper Room." Read about her in the December 10, 1954 issue of the Temple University News. The program originated from the old 46th and Market Streets studios. The same studios where she took Temple classes. Guess who her director for the show was? Well, if you were thinking LEW KLEIN, you were right. Claire recalled with great fondness that she shared an office with Dick Clark. The management of the station said that it shouldn't be a problem since Claire's program was in the morning (10:30 am) and Clark's show started about 2:30 pm. Remember that even when Bandstand went network, there were segments of the broadcast that were strictly local. American Bandstand didn't start on the ABC-TV network until 4 pm. Before that it was totally just for Philadelphia and was called, "Bandstand." The "American Bandstand" title was used only for the network segment. In fact, the ABC-TV program just before Bandstand ( at 3:30 pm) was "Who Do You Trust" starring Johnny Carson with sidekick Ed McMahon. Carson's show was aired on a kinescope delay at 1:30 p.m. on Channel 6. Claire said that when Dick complained about the little kids, she kidded that she was just breaking them in for the Bandstand shows of the future.

In our discussion on this site dealing with when did WRTI-FM first start to broadcast, Clair remembers FM broadcasting while she was there. Claire, a radio major, graduated in June of 1953. So the first FM broadcasts have to date from before that.

Claire served as WRTI Traffic Director. Roberts recalled that Claire, at least, didn't have an interest in going on the air. He said that she should do it so that in the future she would know what it was like. Once she got the air presence in her blood, you couldn't stop Claire from getting in front of a microphone, said Roberts.

Sam Feinberg who worked at WRTI from 1949 until 1951 said that he remembered Claire. He said that she was a real beauty. According to articles in the Temple University News, Claire was both May Queen and Homecoming Queen and a member of Sigma Upsilon Sorority.

On January 2, 1955, Today Magazine, the Sunday magazine for the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article called, "TV's Miss Claire." According to the paper, Romper Room's audience was a quarter million kids a day. Remember, this was in 1955. Most people, unlike John Roberts, could not deduct the cost of a television set as a business expense. On Romper Room, there was a milk break. Before eating, Claire would lead the little moppets in prayer, but this was out of the ordinary for this Sunday School teacher. Coleman looked into her "Magic Mirror" to make sure each child at home said their prayers, too. When the article was printed in 1955, Claire Joan Coleman, who was born in Philadelphia was still living at home with her parents and 16 year-old sister, Sandra. At Montgomery County's Springfield High School, she was editor of the school paper, active in dramatics, a member of the hockey and girls' basketball squads and valedictorian. She won 3 different scholarships. Upon graduation, she entered the Pennsylvania College for Women, but transferred to Temple after her freshman year. In 1952, she was chosen "Sweetest Co-Ed" in a city wide contest and the following year was Temple's May Queen. According to the article, "Claire is a well-constructed 5 feet 8 inches, 132 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes and a freshly-scrubbed look." While being on Romper Room, Claire also taught a 4th grade Sunday School class at the Grace Lutheran Church in Wyndmoor, Pa. The article states, "She has occasional dates, but no steady boy friend and no marital intentions at present." It quotes Claire as saying, "Some day, though, I want to have a tall husband, a nice home and six children." Well, this article was read by a mother who had a bachelor son. The Mom waved the story in front of her unattached boy and said, "This is the kind of girl you should marry." Just like today's kids, the son wasn't going to listen to his mother and threw the article in a drawer. A few weeks later, he was looking for something when he came across the article again. This time, he noticed that the piece was written by an old friend, Edgar Williams. He figured that he should call Ed up and have lunch. They did, and the son told his friend about his mother wanting him to go out with "Miss Claire." Williams said that Claire was a nice young lady and that his mother wasn't wrong. Well, the next thing you know, the young man and Claire were fixed up on a blind date. Two weeks later, they were engaged to be married. Oh, by the way, the young man's name (Claire's future husband) was Richard Schweiker. Dick served Pennsylvania well for years as its United States Senator and later served the nation in a cabinet post in Ronald Reagan's administration.

When I originally called on Monday afternoon for Claire, she wasn't home. Her husband who had answered the phone, said she wasn't home. She had gone to the White House to have lunch with Hilary Clinton. In fact, Claire could have ended up being our First Lady if things would have gone a little different. Dick Schweiker ran for Vice-President as Ronald Reagan's running mate in an unsuccessful attempt to take the nomination away from President Gerald Ford. As Senator Schweiker told me, "I was 4 years too early." If things would have happened just a little different, Richard Schweiker and not George Bush would have been Reagan's VP. Chances were, if that had happened, he would have gotten the Presidential nomination after Reagan's two terms. That would have put Claire and Dick in the White House. After talking to her for about 90 minutes, I can't think of a nicer person to be First Lady. I spoke to Senator Schweiker on Monday for about 15 minutes. He seems to me just a wonderful person and, I think, would have made a good President. Hey, I voted for him in 1976 for Vice-President.

The October 15, 1952 issue of the Temple University News has two photos of Claire. The first one was a regular portrait shot and the second had a picture of Claire and the two runners-up, Donna Wettzel of Drexel and Kay Connor from the University of Pennsylvania.

We welcome Claire and Dick into our WRTI Old Gang family. Anyone interested in contacting Claire, should contact Gerry Wilkinson.

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