Lee Phillip Bell

After graduating from Northwestern, Bell returned to work in her family's floral shop with her brothers. On occasion, she accompanied her brother Russell to the local television station where he worked on a local talk show demonstrating flower arrangement. Eventually, she took over this job from him, before quitting the floral shop altogether and pursuing other positions at the station. (In 1952 when Bell first started on television, the Chicago station was FCC licensed as WBKB-TV Channel 4. In 1953, the call letters and frequency of the station were changed to WBBM-TV Channel 2.)[9] In December 1952, Bell began hosting a 15-minute show at 2:15 on weekday afternoons. She soon went to hosting a five-minute segment on “homemaker news” each weekday at 12:25 p.m.[9] In 1953, Bell began hosting Meet Miss Lee, Mornin’ Miss Lee, Lee Phillip's Chicago, Shopping with Miss Lee[1] and, later, The Lee Phillip Show, which became Noonbreak.[10] In the early days of hosting Mornin’ Miss Lee, she also forecasted the weather, while wearing a hat that corresponded with her forecast.[11] Bell would also read commercials on TV during football and basketball telecasts. By 1955, Bell was celebrating her 2,500th show on the station. Another special she hosted in 1975, Forgotten Children, was on child abuse.[9] She also hosted other programs, including a Saturday morning children's program on WBBM-TV titled The Friendship Show from 1955 to 1965[1] and a WBBM Radio weekday afternoon show with Paul Gibson titled The Lady & The Tiger.[12]

For more than 30 years in Chicago, The Lee Phillip Show tackled rarely considered social problems. She investigated the lives of prisoners, the struggles of runaways and the dangers of breast cancer (one of the first televised self-exams was demonstrated on her show).[1] The show quickly became a fixture in Chicago daytime television, drawing many celebrity guests. She interviewed Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter (and his entire extended family) as well as actors John Wayne, Lucille Ball, and Judy Garland.[8] The Lee Phillip Show was also shown in other cities in the early 1960s by CBS network affiliates[13] and received 16 local Emmy Awards.[8] On December 20, 1966, the show had a Christmas special that included The Nutcracker.[14]

During the early days of their marriage, William left advertising and began writing for soap operas like Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Another World with Irna Phillips.[15] Lee Bell would learn about important issues via her television show, and pass them along to her husband, who in turn would weave them into his storylines.[16]

After leaving her TV show, Bell joined her husband to co-create the popular CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless in 1973 and its sister show The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987.[17] She also served as executive producer of The Bold and the Beautiful in the 1980s.[18]

• Matthias Krings; Onookome Okome, eds. (2013). Global Nollywood: The Transnational Dimensions of an African Video Film Industry. African Expressive Cultures. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0253009357.