Reporter autumn2010 -a - Franklin Alumni Network - Franklin College

PHOTO BY RENEE KEAN ’06
ALUMNI NEWS
Always on top of the game
By Cathleen Nine ’11
Pulliam Fellow
Flip the TV station to USA Network
and you might see the byproduct of
Ellen Jacoby’s ’69 work as a casting
director.
Oozing Hollywood glamour during our
phone interview, Jacoby talked casually
about Monte Carlo, Lucille Ball — “I miss
her” — and Jim Carrey — “He called me
up and wanted to go to tour NASA with
me.” The path from Jacoby’s childhood in
New York City to Franklin College to a
career as a professional backgammon
player to her current status as a casting
director familiar with big Hollywood
names has not been linear.
Jacoby first heard of Franklin College
through her parents, who were friends
with a professor at the school. Knowing
their daughter wanted to attend school
away from home, the parents suggested
Franklin. They were impressed by the
9 p.m. curfew imposed by the school at
the time. The curfew did not last long.
“We did away with that!” Jacoby said.
Franklin was the first place city girl
Jacoby had seen cornfields. She made
the most of her time in the new setting,
living a “full life” as she pursued a degree
in education. Her college activities
included archery, theater and card games
in her free time. According to Jacoby,
there is not a card game she doesn’t know
how to play.
During college, Jacoby and her friends,
many of them also from the East Coast,
attended the Kentucky Derby and the
Indianapolis 500 — experiences not
available back East.
“I also was a cheerleader, actually
co-captain, which was a lot of fun,” said
Jacoby. “One of the pictures of me
cheerleading at Franklin is in the National
Cheerleading Hall of Fame.”
While her degree was in education,
after graduation Jacoby had a different
route in mind. A singer and dancer
since childhood, Jacoby took a job singing
and dancing for the Holiday Inn hotel
chain. However, an accident forced her
By Cathleen Nine ’11
Pulliam Fellow
Find work you love doing, and you
might end up with a 40-year career.
That’s how it happened for Martha May
Newsom ’49, retired director for Girls
Clubs of America, now named Girls Inc.
“I just loved it,” Newsom said. “I believed
in the programs and the philosophy and
thought we did good work for girls and
young women.”
The work Newsom did nationwide,
overseeing chapter operations and
helping supervise programs for girls and
young women, particularly those who were
economically disadvantaged, helped lay a
off the stage and into a wheelchair.
During recuperation, she found an
alternate career: Professional
backgammon player.
Through backgammon, the game of
the Hollywood stars at the time, Jacoby
was introduced to a glamorous lifestyle.
She traveled the tournament circuit in
Europe, spending every summer in
Monte Carlo, France. Plus, hotels in
Miami, where Jacoby was based, would
ask her to make appearances. Through
one of these appearances, Jacoby met
actress Lucille Ball.
“Lucy and I became friends, and we
would play backgammon day and night,”
said Jacoby.
“We vowed to stay in touch, and we did.
We would meet at the tournaments in
Vegas and LA.”
Ultimately, the backgammon
tournaments took her far from home,
and Jacoby’s family was worried that she
needed to “get her feet back on the
ground.” Her next role was that of a
casting director at the urging of a
Empowering girls and young women through service
Martha May Newsom ’49 owns several sentimental
treasures from the various states where she worked
and lived during 40 years of service with Girls Clubs
of America.
foundation for the important work
Girls Inc. continues today. With its mission
of “inspiring all girls to be strong, smart
and bold,” the organization remains
focused on preparing girls to be the
leaders of tomorrow.
Girls Clubs was a great career fit for
Newsom, whose well-rounded liberal arts
education included a major in sociology
and a minor in physical education. She
also was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority
and the Women’s Athletic Association,
having participated in basketball,
volleyball and archery. She recalls
getting the keys to the gym from her
favorite professor to shoot hoops or
practice archery with her friends between
classes.
After graduation, she became director
of the Girls Clubs chapter in Columbus,
Ind. From there, Newsom went to
60 FRANKLIN REPORTER WWW.FRANKLINCOLLEGE.EDU