Irene Yelton Berman, a television and film industry pioneer, longtime Miami Lakes resident and original member of the Miami Lakes Cultural Affairs Committee, passed away on January 17 at age 85.
Berman was the first female television producer in the United States with a long, successful career earning many awards producing popular shows like The Skipper Chuck Show, Miss Universe Pageant, New Year’s Eve in Miami, Getting Ready, the Orange Bowl Parade, entertainment specials, documentaries and educational programming.
She began working as an entertainer, a musician who sang and danced with her sister Doris at the age of 14. She became fascinated with television, performing on camera while wearing the required green lipstick for this new technology in the 1940’s.
In 1960, Berman fought to study television (women were not permitted), finally convincing the professor to make an exception for her, winning a spot in the television class at Lindsay Hopkins School (the only Florida school teaching classes for jobs in television).
In 1961, she was hired by WTVJ Ch. 4 in Miami to produce the Skipper Chuck Show, a popular children’s show which aired from Palm Beach to the Keys and throughout the Caribbean. As producer, Berman was responsible for many innovative segment ideas, contests and other new show elements, as well as writing the show’s script.
Around 1965, the show’s host Chuck Zink began expanding and getting involved in other types of programming and insisted that WTVJ have Berman produce those as well including parades, beauty pageants, game shows and entertainment specials – many of which were “live” productions.
She left WTVJ to form her own television production company “Video and Film Productions “known as “V&F Productions.” In 1978, her daughter Renée L. Sweeney began working with her on the nationally syndicated Wometco Home Theater television show “Getting Ready.” They decided to become business partners in 1981. Berman continued producing a variety of television shows and specials/promos/public service announcements and commercial spots. She had become well known and respected as a specialist in producing live television shows.
Berman positively impacted many lives by producing telethons for such charities as Muscular Dystrophy, Easter Seals, March of Dimes, United Cerebral Palsy, Children’s Cancer Caring Center, United Negro College Fund, and the Miami Children’s Hospital.
Behind the scenes, Berman served on many governmental advisory boards to promote the industry. She was instrumental in the formation of the Florida Film Office, and was personally responsible for helping to bring the L.A. production “Miami Vice” to Miami to shoot at the Ivan Tors Studios.
One of her pet projects was to institute a curriculum in colleges and universities throughout Florida, creating the ability for students to obtain a college degree in television arts.
When she retired from V&F Productions in 1990, she began writing a column called “Arts Scene” for The Miami Herald that ran continuously until she fell ill in 2008.
Berman is survived by her daughters Renée L. Sweeney and Cheryl (Sweeney) Henry, husband Larry Berman, sister Doris Bernhard, nieces Doreen (Bernhard) Ernst and Darla (Bernhard) Olsen, and nephew Dale (Chick) Bernhard.
Services were held on January 24 at the Caballero Rivero Southern Funeral Home in North Miami.