Home > History > Famous PeopleFamous People of the Finger LakesAdelaide Fish Hawley Cumming (1905-1998)The General Mills Company created the character of Betty Crocker in 1948 to answer baking questions American women sent to the  company by letter. General Mills hired Cumming, a radio personality and actress living in New York City, because she represented the stereotypical image of the American homemaker. From 1950-1952 Cumming appeared on the half-hour Betty Crocker Show and in 1952 on the Betty Crocker Star Matinee and Bride and Groom. She also appeared in many commericals touting cake mixes and other General Mills products. In 1964 Cumming was dropped by the company at the age of 59 for someone younger.
After receiving a Ph.D. from New York University, Cumming went on to a second career as a teacher of English as a second language.
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
