Winifred Treimer

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Cure DragonEagle 255
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Winifred Treimer

Post: # 301Post Cure DragonEagle 255 »

It is a bit odd in such an informative website that almost no mention of Winifred Treimer is made. Most writers that worked on kids tv be either cable or syndication tell you stories of the dreaded BS&P lady (It's always a lady for some reason.) Particularly in the 70's the censorship was at its most powerful. But I actually didnt come here to condemn her. I just wanted to contextualize her job, role and most impantly its importance.

An extract from an interview by Blast From The Past with Sydney Iwanter, head excutive of fox kids for X-Men.

BFTP: The first two episodes were fairly controversial in that the X-Men lost the battle, with Beast being captured by the Mutant Control Agency and Morph initially being killed by the Sentinels. Was there any problem with getting these episodes past the censors?

SI: The storyline was only controversial for its day because it appeared so mature for Saturday morning. Storytelling like this had never been attempted anywhere before either on Saturday morning or in kid's syndication. We had the brilliant story editing of Eric Lewald and his team. When you have writers of this caliber, you can push the envelope until it not only falls off the table, but crashes through the floor as well. The unsung hero of Fox Kids Boys Action Adventure was Avery Coburn, my Broadcast Standards and Practices person. I will say it right up front. Without her understanding of what we were trying to do, X-Men and most of the rest of the shows I worked on while at Fox would have ended up mindless Saturday morning fodder. Up to the advent of Fox Kids in the early 90's most of the Saturday Morning BSP (Broadcast Standards and Practices) personnel had the sense of humor of a rusty trap door. They did not censor scripts and action so much as gild, geld and garrotte them. BSP people have tremendous power to either enhance or destroy scripts because everything written must go through them. Don't believe anything you've heard about producers or writers galloping roughshod over the network and creating their own vision as if they were running the entire show. It doesn't work that way. If Broadcasting Standards does not want something in a script, it ain't going to be in the script. Period. End of statement. Without Avery, I could not have moved X-Men and other shows to the weekly level of writing that the viewing audience came to expect.


I wanted to know the challenges she and Jameson Brewer plus his writing staff went through with Battle of the Planets. Censors arent always evil people that set out to ruin scripts. They can give alternatives and help the script get done.
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The Other Jason
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Re: Winifred Treimer

Post: # 303Post The Other Jason »

Hi Cure DragonEagle
Cure DragonEagle 255 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:26 am It is a bit odd in such an informative website that almost no mention of Winifred Treimer is made. Most writers that worked on kids tv be either cable or syndication tell you stories of the dreaded BS&P lady (It's always a lady for some reason.) Particularly in the 70's the censorship was at its most powerful. But I actually didnt come here to condemn her. I just wanted to contextualize her job, role and most impantly its importance.

I wanted to know the challenges she and Jameson Brewer plus his writing staff went through with Battle of the Planets. Censors arent always evil people that set out to ruin scripts. They can give alternatives and help the script get done.
There is a lot of information about production personnel I have yet to add to the site. I'm still investigating many of them - Ms. Treimer included. However, here is some of what I know.

She was born in 1915 in Illinois as Winifred Nooner. In 1937 she received her degree in education, then taught eight years of High School English. When her husband was retained in Germany as part of the occupation Army in 1945, she decided to join him. Once there, she taught history and typing to the Signal Corps.

When the couple returned to the US in 1948, they settled in Los Angeles. Ms. Treimer got a job with CBS Radio, writing scripts for programs like The Whistler. When CBS built their Television City studios in 1952, she transferred there to work in the television Standards & Practices Department. She stayed at that position until 1971. She had not worked for a while until she was asked to participate in Battle of the Planets. She was most likely brought to Sandy Frank's attention by Creative Consultant, David Levy (although I'm still investigating that to be certain).

Regarding her role on Battle... She was there to look over the scripts and issue opinions on what would be permissible to include. I was told that she only looked at the first drafts and final versions of each episode script. I got the impression Battle's creative staff felt like they didn't really need her there.

That was because Mr. Brewer and writer (and uncredited story/script editor) Kevin Coates took on the initial role of censoring much of the content themselves. Their instincts were mostly correct, since they knew the audience for whom they were creating the series. Because of that, they had very few serious run-ins with Ms. Treimer over content. Even so, she returned "copious notes" on the first draft scripts according to Mr. Coates.

Mr. Brewer commented that she often raised concerns over something trivial, while overlooking something he thought should be removed. He told me he won most of the discussions they had over content, because in the end, he had to continue on with the job of creating the show. There wasn't a lot of time for detailed back-and-forth discussions. He also felt that she never fully understood the animation business.

I think Mr. Brewer and other creatives saw her involvement as a speed bump in the process. No one I've spoken with had anything bad to say about her personally. It was just that some of her comments about scripts were a little off-base and led to more work than necessary.

Sandy Frank, on the other hand, felt her involvement was crucial. Remember, this was his first, first-run syndicated series, and it was for children. Most syndicated series didn't have their own dedicated standards & practices veteran looking things over. Ms. Treimer's approval was an important additional measure for Sandy Frank to assure buyers that the content had been carefully screened.

I don't know that Ms. Treimer worked again after Battle. Once she retired, she and her husband spent their time traveling, seeing as much of the world as they could. She died in 2004 in Los Angeles at the age of 89.
Cure DragonEagle 255
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:43 pm

Re: Winifred Treimer

Post: # 304Post Cure DragonEagle 255 »

WOW! I just wanted her involvement in Battle. Not her whole biography. But I love that you have such information at the ready! You sure are one informed fellow. Also, I love Sandy and Jameson lol.
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The Other Jason
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Re: Winifred Treimer

Post: # 305Post The Other Jason »

Hi Cure DragonEagle,
Cure DragonEagle 255 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:05 pm WOW! I just wanted her involvement in Battle. Not her whole biography. But I love that you have such information at the ready! You sure are one informed fellow. Also, I love Sandy and Jameson lol.
It's my pleasure. I'm glad you enjoyed reading the information. :-)
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