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“I have never been to Walla Walla, but I liked the alliteration, ‘a weather girl fromBy RICK ESKILOf tha Union BulletinAs Los Angeles’ ace television reporter, Jessica Novak’s Thursday was rough as she fought “death-defying traffic,” got the scoop on a major fire and negotiated for the release of two children being held hostage by their father, a mad gunman.Jessica didn’t have that type of excitement a year ago when she was a weather girl in Walla Walla with only the barometric pressure and dew point to worry about.The ace reporter was destined to hit the big time however; her personality draws stories like Chrysler draws governmentloans.With such a dynamic personality, it would seem Jessica would be well remembered in her old stomping grounds. Yet, none of the television people in town — past or present — can recall her.Ken Brooks, Walla Walla’s first TVnewsman with KNBS from 1959 through 1961, said he can’t recall a weather girl in town. In fact, he said, he seems to remember that he did the weather reports.Former National Weather Service man Les Larson said he couldn’t remember a television weather girl. Edwin Rebman, a meteorologist who worked at the Corps of Engineers, used to read some weather news on TV, Larson said.$Walla Walla television was nonexistent from 1961 until last May when cable Channel 13 began operation. KTEL newsman Terry McConn has been working the TV news solo since last spring, and has never even heard of Jessica Novak.So where did Jessica really come from?“I delved into my imagination and memory,” said Jerry Ludwig, the Hollywood script writer who came up with the Jessica Novak character who is the heroine in the series of the same name that premiered Thursday night.Walla Walla, Washington,”’ Ludwig said in a telephone interview from his office at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood.“I guess the name Walla Walla was planted in us when we were all young (from its use in Bugs Bunny cartoons),” he said. “The name just rang a bell.”Ludwig said he will continue the Walla Walla theme through the entire run of the series, often having his star reporter compare life in Los Angeles to that of Walla Walla.In a show to be aired Nov. 26, he said, Jessica will contemplate leaving the big city violence of Los Angeles and movingback to Walla Walla, “where it is safe.”Her cameraman, however, will quickly remind her: “It’s not safe anywhere anymore.”Ludwig said the show will also deal with Jessica’s personal life from time to time.It is possible, he said, the reporter could have a triend from Walla wallacome to Los Angeles for a visit.Walla Walla, however, isn’t the only town in her life. When a television character is created, Ludwig said, he or she is given a biography.In the biography Ludwig constructed for Jessica, she was born in Helena, Mont., and grew up in Kalispell, where her father worked on the railroad.She then moved to Seattle where she attended the University of Washington. Her ex-husband is now living in Seattle.Ludwig said Jessica went from the UW to Walla Walla where she became the weather girl.And a year ago she was discovered by news director Max Kenyon.“When I brought you here you were a weather girl in Walla Walla, Washington,” Max told Jessica during the show’s first five minutes on the air.“I made a journalist out of you.”
Newspaper Details
Walla Walla Union Bulletin
Walla Walla, Washington, US
Fri, Nov 06, 1981
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 27 Feb 2021
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