Meet our newest vice president, Gretchen Wyler, who oversees
The HSUS Hollywood Office. That title alone, unfortunately,
does not begin to describe Wyler's far-reaching career, which
has taken her to the Broadway stage, the television studio, and
the boardrooms of 13 different animal welfare organizations.
She has founded an animal shelter; started her own awards
program, the Genesis Awards, to acknowledge the media's work to
expose animal cruelty; and she has even launched her own animal
protection organization, The Ark Trust, which joined The HSUS
earlier this year. Take a minute to get to know one of the
leading citizens of the animal protection community—someone who
also happened to be a Broadway star.
Q. To most people in the animal protection community,
you are known as the founder of The Ark Trust, now known as The
HSUS Hollywood Office. But your first career was on the stage
as a theatrical performer, which for decades you combined with
your work with animals. Both fields of endeavor take so much
time and devotion. How did you juggle both for all those
years?
Gretchen Wyler: Yes, my first career was on the
stage. I did eight Broadway shows, including the original
Guys and Dolls and Damn Yankees. That's where I
wanted to be always, and I realized that great passion. But how
lucky that I found a second passion with the same kind of fire.
As far as how could I juggle everything for those years, the
two pursuits were so different—the actress and the activist—
but the drive for both was similar. As a matter of fact, they
really sort of converged in 1976, 26 years ago: I was doing a
TV show on Sunday nights, CBS. I was also one of the stars of a
Broadway show, Sly Fox with George C. Scott. I was also
managing an animal shelter, which I had founded. And being the
first woman on the board of the ASPCA in New York City, I had a
volunteer program of about 90 people in the five borough
shelters. So I'm a juggler. That's all. It's the old phrase: If
you want something done, go to a busy person. I love having
pursuits. That's my idea of happiness.
Q. You were born in Oklahoma. Did you grow up in that
state? What did your parents do? How did they influence the
direction your life would take? And did you have animals
around?
GW: I was born in Oklahoma City, and lived in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma until I was 17. It's interesting. My
mother was an at-home mother, and my father was an engineer
with Phillips 66, Phillips Petroleum Company, which is what
Bartlesville, Oklahoma was all about. How did they influence
the direction my life would take? They didn't stand in my way.
I ran away from home at 17 and joined a ballet company. They
were supportive always, because I was a hard-headed German girl
who knew exactly what I wanted. As a matter of fact, I started
studying ballet when I was three years old, and I was a
cross-eyed child. I had been born cross-eyed, and at the age of
6, I decided I would grow up and be a great dancer and wear
beautiful costumes, so people wouldn't see how ugly I was when
I was up on stage dancing. At the age of 9, my eyes were
straightened, but the ambition was already fired to go. I
eventually went on to Broadway in New York when I was 18. Did I
have animals around? No, never. My mother once told me we had a
dog named Tina, but I don't even remember the dog. I did not
have a dog until I was a grown-up. I was thirty-one years
old.
Q. There's a scene that you specifically highlight in
your biography: In 1961, you were the first white woman to
dance with a black man, the late great jazz singer Joe
Williams, on national TV. It apparently stirred a controversy,
but it also says something about you and perhaps about your
sense of doing what's right. Do you see a parallel in your
animal protection work where you might face similarly biased
opinions?
GW: At the close of The Garry Moore Show, it
was just Joe, Garry, Carol Burnett, who was just beginning her
career, and me. At the conclusion of the show, we were all
standing there as the credits rolled, and Count Basie was
playing, and I was standing next to Garry Moore. Then Garry
said, 'Okay, everybody dance. We can't just stand here while
Basie's playing.' So Garry turned and grabbed Carol Burnett,
and I turned and grabbed Joe Williams, and we danced and danced
and danced. I loved it. Right afterwards, they all came up to
my dressing room, the producers, and said they could change it
and edit in the rehearsal tape. Obviously, I would not permit
that. The program lost a major sponsor the next morning, and it
became a big controversy. I was absolutely the first white
woman to dance with a black man on television, and I am proud
of that. But at the time, I was not making any sort of a
statement. Whether or not I face any similar bias, I don't
know. However, there is species-ism, which I find very
interesting. It's true. There is an arrogance about the human
species, similar to the arrogance of racism. But I'm afraid
that the arrogance against another species—since we eat them
and wear them; I don't, but people do—that's going to be much
harder to end.
Q. Your first brush with animal protection came in
1968 when you founded an animal shelter in Warwick, New York.
How did that come about?
GW: I had a beautiful country home in Warwick, and I
went there on the weekends. One day, a lady stopped me in the
market and asked if I had ever seen the dog pound. Indeed, I
never had, and I went that very day. It was December 1966. I
saw a medieval dungeon. I watched as they loaded the dogs into
a truck from New Jersey and slammed the door on the tail of
one, and he emitted great cries. An activist was born that very
day. I could not believe what I was seeing. I later came to
find out that every two weeks, the truck from New Jersey came,
picked up the animals, and then delivered them to a laboratory
in New Jersey for experimentation. Less than two years later, I
founded the animal shelter in Warwick, which I managed for ten
years.
Q. In 1986, you started the Genesis Awards to
acknowledge major news and entertainment media that present
animal protection issues with "courage, artistry, and
integrity." What was your inspiration?
GW: The name, by the way, is very apropos. It's not a
religious organization at all, but Genesis is the book in the
Bible that tells the story of Noah and the ark and is therefore
the first news report of an animal rescue. Anyway, by 1986, I
had given up on every other avenue, and I thought the best key
to a more humane world was working with the major media and its
awesome power. So I was very passionate about creating an award
that would be given to members of the media who threw a bright
spotlight on animal cruelty, believing in our motto, "Cruelty
can't stand the spotlight." I don't know why I still think I
can change the world, but I do. And I think it will happen
through the media, because changing a mind is not like changing
a law. A law has to be passed and then enforced. Changing
minds, I'm very strong on that, on the Genesis Awards
concept.
Q. Five years later, in 1991, you decided to start
your own animal protection organization, The Ark Trust. Why was
the time right and how did you envision The Ark Trust being
different from the other animal protection organizations
already operating?
GW: In 1990, I was Vice Chairperson of The Fund for
Animals, trying to raise money to do my work there and not have
to ask Cleveland [Amory, the famous author and founder of the
Fund] for money. I was not on salary. One of my donors died and
left me a bequest. Meanwhile, I was going to retire in 1990. I
had been in show business for 40 years, so I bought land in
Santa Fe. I decided that I would go there, but then all of a
sudden—voila—a lady died and left me some money. What can I
tell you? I said to myself, 'Okay, why don't you have your own
organization that specializes?' Nobody else in animal welfare
or animal rights was doing what I wanted to do, which is just
interacting with the major media, believing in its power.
That's why I founded The Ark Trust in May of '91.
Q. While the news media are influential in shaping
public opinion, they still pale in comparison to a sitcom like
Friends in terms of audience reach. For example, The
New York Times' Sunday edition has a circulation of about
1.6 million readers, but they don't all read all the stories.
By comparison, a recent episode of Friends reached
nearly 22 million households, whose viewers hang on every word.
Do you see the direct impact that such entertainment shows have
on animal protection?
GW: Print is wonderful. I know I read the paper, but
I only read the stories that interest me. So you're very right.
Let me offer you something: What if the 'President' on The
West Wing were being lobbied to prevent U.S. companies from
exporting horses, dead horses, for human consumption? The
'President' could come out on West Wing and do more for
us on that issue than any bill that was ever passed. That's
where it's happening. Now that we have joined forces with The
HSUS, I will have more time to do that sort of thing: Lobbying
writers for those shows to include a secondary or tertiary
storyline that has an animal message in it. That's my goal
now.
Q. How do you work with TV and movie producers to
introduce animal protection issues into scripts? And how do you
decide which issues to pitch to producers?
GW: I've got a couple of scripts out now. Because
we've made such fantastic connections over the 16 years of the
Genesis Awards, we have about, at last count, 600 names of
media people. You have to work in the media to get a Genesis
Award. Those are the people we're constantly pitching. You have
to have something that's a good fit. It can't come out of left
field. And now that I'm with The HSUS, I will have more time to
devote to pitching news and story ideas.
Q. You're already preparing for the 17th Annual
Genesis Awards for next year. How have the awards been received
in the Hollywood community and how have they changed over the
years?
GW: The first year, 140 people came to a luncheon
ceremony. Now we have 1,000 people. We're in the International
Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. That's where the Golden
Globes happen. It is the room to be in. We have the red
carpet, we have the paparazzi, we have the stars. We are very
well received in the Hollywood community. We are listed as one
of the top award shows in this town. The media feel
comfortable. They buy tables. Warner Bros. takes a table.
Disney takes a table. They want to come. We honor the souls,
not the craft, and they find that quite intriguing.
Q. You and The Ark Trust joined The HSUS this year,
and we're happy to have you. How did the relationship start,
and what will it mean for your work?
GW: I started this ball rolling in December of '99. I
had become president of the Ark Trust, but I didn't want to be
president anymore. I wanted to work 12 months of the year with
the media. And when you're president, you have to do things
like fund-raise and meet with donors. I wanted to meet with
producers. So I am deeply, deeply touched by Paul Irwin and
Patti Forkan's interest in me and the Genesis Awards. We have a
visibility in this town that I think The HSUS will benefit
from, and you have the clout that I think I will benefit from.
It all started back in 1967 when I wanted to build that shelter
in Warwick, New York, and I knew that there was a group called
The Humane Society of the United States. I was in touch with
them, and a man actually came to Warwick and walked me through
it. It was because of The HSUS that I got that shelter first
built, and now I know all your senior management. Patti Forkan
is like my sister. We've been friends for many years. I'm
honored and I couldn't be happier to be vice president of the
Hollywood Office of The HSUS.
Q. When you look back over your career, what do you
hope that people will remember you most for?
GW: I think I will always be remembered on Broadway
because I was the singing and dancing star of the very last
Cole Porter Broadway musical in 1955, a show called Silk
Stockings, in which I introduced Cole Porter songs. As far
as my animal-protection work goes, I met with the president of
the State Senate in California in 1979, and because of my
introduction of the idea, he went with it. As a result, we
passed the first-ever Animal Rights Resolution in America, a
very touching resolution about the right of animals to be
treated humanely. It's a very, very important document. That's
No. 1 and No. 2. No. 3 is having created the Genesis Awards. I
would like to think that it will live forever. I hate to tell
you, but I don't think the time will ever come when we can walk
away from trying to inspire and nurture the media to keep
letting people know that the animals are suffering, and we can
change that. I think the Genesis Awards has become something
bigger than I ever, ever dreamed.
Q. What kind of animals do you have?
GW: I've always had a minimum of one dog since 1960.
I have one dog now. I adopted her from an animal shelter. She
was seven years old when I adopted her. I always adopt older
dogs because having run a shelter, I know that nobody wants
older dogs. Her name is Mocha, and she is a little poodle that
I absolutely adore. She's now about 12, blind in one eye. She
was attacked by a dog on the street this year, and lost one
eye. I also have four cats. Two of them just turned up on my
doorstep at different times. Then I have two horses; one was a
free-to-a-good-home, 21-year-old gorgeous big gelding named
Zephyr whom I love to ride. He is my dancing partner, and he
loves to be ridden. The other is a pasture pet named Gypsy.
She's a black thoroughbred mare whom I bought from a killer
buyer to keep her from being slaughtered. She had been thrown
off the track because, not unlike greyhounds, if racehorses
can't run fast enough, they are no good for the people who own
them, so they are dumped for auctions or killing. So that's my
animal population.