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April 23, 2004/Iyar 2 5764, Vol. 56, No. 31
A force in Phoenix's cultural life
Time capsule
IRA MORTON
Time Capsule
Brenda Weisberg Meckler, who arrived in Phoenix in 1918 at age 18, was a seminal force in the cultural life of the city for over six decades. Her work in theater and communications had a bonding effect on both the Jewish and general communities.
She wrote, produced and directed programs, plays and pageants for almost every Jewish organization in town. The most notable was the 1954 pageant titled "To be Free," which commemorated the tercentenary of the arrival of Jews to America.
The pageant chronicled almost every era of American history and showed how each was impacted by a Jewish influence. It was presented with music and a large cast in full costume at the Phoenix Union High School auditorium, then the largest theatrical venue in town.
In 1922, Meckler helped establish the Phoenix Little Theatre and served as its president in 1932-33. She also appeared on stage as an actress and directed some of the theater's most memorable productions. Included in this group were "If I Were King," "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Some Way to Heaven," which she also wrote.
In 1937, Hollywood called and Meckler spent the next 15 years working as a screenwriter for Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and RKO. It was there where she changed her first name from Goldie to Brenda.
Brenda returned to Phoenix in 1952 and married her brother-in-law Morris Meckler, a recent widower with two children.
In 1988, Algonquin Books published her autobiography, "Papa was a Farmer." She died in 1996 at age 96.
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