Farmlab Public SalonBill DeverellFriday, April 10, 2009 @ NoonFree Admission

Little Girl Lost: The Kathy Fiscus Tragedy and Modern California

About the Salon

On a bright Southern California day sixty years ago, a little girl playing in a field tumbled into an old well. Kathy Fiscus was three years old. Her tragic ordeal caught the attention of the world, as would-be rescuers worked around the clock to save her. Any number of unusual ideas were posed, tried, or discarded in the feverish hours of digging rescue shafts. Hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators came to the site, and television cameras and reporters invented live t.v. from the scene of the accident. This talk will explore the Fiscus tragedy in all its fascinating detail, as well as pose some questions and ideas about how post-World War II California saw itself and was in turn seen by the nation.

About the Salon Presenter

Bill Deverell is Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West: More Information


Image courtesy Bill Deverell