UNMATCHED

It can easily be seen that Aaron Spelling grew up in a far from lavish lifestyle. His father was an immigrant from Poland, and his mother was an immigrant from Russia. Both spoke little English. Spelling recounted that, as a tailor, his father would only make forty-five dollars a week, at most. He and his four siblings lived in a small house with one bathroom. They used to sleep three children to a bed, and Aaron “thought everyone did it”. Later in life, he realized that it was due to his economic place in society that he had to do this. Aaron was the youngest of five, and he was so small and unhealthy that they believed he would not make it. To add to the distress of constantly getting ill as a child, Aaron had to deal with racist classmates who beat him up for being Jewish.

The path to success for Aaron Spelling began during these troubling youth times. For months, little Aaron was so depressed he was unable to get out of bed. It wasn’t until his teacher, Miss Jones came to his rescue. She was the one to notice the gift Spelling had for storytelling. She was, arguably, the most influential individual in his life.  It was her who gave Aaron the opportunity to move on to the next grade if he wrote six book reports by the end of the year. He was able to finish those six in a week, and at the end of the year, he wrote a total of sixty-four reports. When he returned to school, Aaron would tell his terrorizers part of a story he conjured and gave the ultimatum he would finish the tale the next day allowing him to get home safely. It became his special defense against the tormentors.

Years later, Aaron enlisted in the air force and left after recognizing his phobia of flying. His fear did not stop his nationalism, though. He was awarded a Purple Heart after getting shot in WWII. Once home again, Aaron attended Southern Methodist University as a theater major. His time spent there wasn’t long, but he thrived in his niche. He was directing off-campus plays that casted his instructors. From here, he decided to travel to New York and then Los Angeles for new opportunities. Unfortunately, he still had a difficult journey ahead of him to gain the crown to the television industry. One morning, Spelling woke up to collect people’s newspapers to then sell to newsstands to afford a small breakfast.At this point in his life, moving from small gig to the next, he could have given up and moved back home. He could have decided to pursue something more stable, but he kept working and showing his skills where he thought would be helpful. Both Spelling and the audience of America can both be glad he didn’t give up. The imagination and drive that Aaron possessed were incomparable to any other. He was an innovator of television.

After some time acting to get his foothold in the industry, Spelling quickly learned that acting wasn’t getting him far. It gave him a good start, though, since he was able to send scripts to producers he acted for. He hit a huge turning point when he met with Alan Ladd. Spelling wrote for a script for the major production company of Warner Brothers, and he finally made a name for himself.

Arron Spelling quickly climbed the ladder of success and, before he knew it, was producing shows that were in the top five best series. Consecutively, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, Spelling had produced more and sixty prime-time dramas. Major networks including ABC, Fox, and Warner Brothers were given new life due to Spelling’s numerous genius series.

It is easy to focus on the fame Aaron Spelling received as a television king, but it is significant to emphasize the beginning of his life. Compared to the majority of the American population, the odds were stacked against Spelling. He had to fight for the opportunities he earned. Aaron Spelling is a prime example of what perseverance in a discriminatory and unfair nation can do for a person. He took his disadvantages and used America’s audience and resources to thrive.