Elsa Sule was "50-50 Club" mainstay
COVINGTON - In the 1950s and 1960s, when Ruth Lyons' "50-50 Club" was
Cincinnati's most popular television show, the beloved host couldn't do it
alone. She counted on a staff that included a devoted assistant named Elsa Marie
Heisel Sule.
"Ruth Lyons realized early on that she could rely confidently on Elsa to handle
many of the important details associated with her daily program," said Bill
Myers of Anderson Township, who started his TV career as a "prop boy" on Lyons'
show.
After Lyons retired in 1967 and Bob Braun took over, Mrs. Sule continued working
for the live weekday show until it went off the air in 1984.
The Covington native, who in recent years suffered from Alzheimer's disease,
died at home Wednesday. She was 88.
She earned a degree in English literature from the University of Cincinnati
during World War II. Shortly thereafter, she joined WLW radio and was assigned
to work in the office of Lyons, who'd been hired at the station in 1942.
The "50-50 Club" made its TV debut on WLWT (Channel 5) in 1949.
Mrs. Sule "was an important part of those wonderful golden years when the '50-50
Club' reigned supreme," said former Channel 5 general manager Joe Lewin, now
president/general manager of the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg, Pa.
Indeed, the show was so popular in the 1950s and 1960s that fans waited three
years or longer to get a ticket
Mrs. Sule brought many talents to her work.
"She was a wonderful writer," said Dick Murgatroyd of Crestview Hills, who was
executive producer of the Bob Braun Show. "She wrote all the goofy questions we
used to ask the audience when we had a contest."
She penned musical parodies, and enjoyed performing them. She created daily
themes for the show, greeted guests and was the commercial coordinator. One of
her duties was to plan the food displays that were part of each show.
"We used to kid her," Murgatroyd said, "because Elsa was the first one to tell
you that she couldn't boil water."
Former Lyons' show staffer Mickey Fisher recalled the day a youngster at the
show saw Mrs. Sule and said, "I know you. You're the Peanut Butter Lady!" Fans
knew she used that ingredient to create some rather unusual concoctions, peanut
butter soup among them.
Her former co-workers said they never knew her to have a bad day.
"I loved every moment I worked there, and I know Elsa did too," said Fisher, of
Price Hill.
Myers, whose jobs at WLWT later included engineer, announcer and weatherman,
said that when he met first Mrs. Sule in 1952 at the station "she was as nice to
me, as an entry-level worker, as she would have been to an executive."
"Television screens glowed less brightly when Elsa concluded her career in
broadcasting," he said.
When the Braun show ended, she continued at WLWT as a board member and
administrator for the Ruth Lyons Children's Christmas Fund until she retired in
1991.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 29 years, Alader Sule, who died in
1990.
Visitation is noon-1:45 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Avenue Christian Church, 1530
Madison Ave., Covington. Services are at 2 p.m. Inurnment of ashes at Cincinnati
Cremation Co.'s Hillside Chapel.
Memorials: Ruth Lyons Children's Fund, P.O. Box 59, Cincinnati, OH 45201; or
Elsa Marie Sule Charity Foundation, 250 Grandview Dr., Suite 250, Fort Mitchell,
KY, 41017.
For consideration in Lives Remembered, please send information and contact
number to livesremembered@enquirer.com.
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