Tara Sheffer, Producer, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2023, NYU, $100k Feature Film Semi-Finalist

Project Type: Feature 

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Length: 118 pages 

Field of Science: Nutrition

Stage: Development 

Synopsis: 

It’s 1926. Josephine Hemphill, a whip-smart young journalist fresh from Kansas Agricultural College, talks her way into a job at the USDA’s Bureau of Home Economics. Eager to prove herself in the big city, she’s assigned the task of transforming a bland, faltering informational radio program into something the American public might actually want to hear.

Josephine joins forces with a team of brilliant but overlooked team of all-women scientists confined to the basement of the USDA: Bureau Chief Dr. Louise Stanley, meticulous food scientist Ruth Van Deman, and no-nonsense recipe tester Fanny Walker Yeatman. Their mission? To uplift rural families by translating the Bureau’s research into accessible, engaging radio content. There’s just one problem: Josephine can’t even peel a potato.

Thrown into a world of test kitchens and scientific jargon, Josephine gets a crash course in home economics and nutrition science. But she quickly realizes the real challenge isn’t learning the material — it’s making it sing. Determined to compete with the commercial success of Betty Crocker, the fictional spokeswoman of Gold Medal Flour. Josephine pitches a radical new idea: a radio show hosted by Uncle Sam’s fictional wife, Aunt Sammy.

The Bureau takes a chance on the concept. Against the odds, and despite Ruth’s fierce commitment to scientific rigor, the show becomes a breakout hit. Listeners across the country tune in for Aunt Sammy’s warm voice, practical advice, and scientifically-backed recipes. Letters pour in. The USDA expands the show to a five-day broadcast schedule, and “Aunt Sammy” becomes a household name, with regional radio actresses lending her voice to every corner of the nation.

As the program’s success grows, so does its impact. The women behind Aunt Sammy revolutionize the Bureau’s public image, elevate public health, and give voice to science-based domestic expertise—delivered with wit, warmth, and national flair. At its peak, the show reaches over a million listeners.

Aunt Sammy’s success continues to soar until the Stock Market crashes and the Great Depression sweeps the nation. To comfort a nation in crisis, FDR’s Fireside Chats take over the airwaves and Aunt Sammy’s radio reign comes to an abrupt end.

Determined to give their creation a dignified send-off, Josephine and her once-rival Ruth embark on a cross-country journey into the Dust Bowl of Arkansas to meet the real women who inspired Aunt Sammy, and to craft one final Thanksgiving menu, complete with a modern marvel: canned pumpkin pie.

AUNT SAMMY is a dramatic comedy about the power of radio, the hidden women of science, and the radical notion that the “science of everyday life” deserves a national platform. Through one unforgettable fictional homemaker—and the real women behind her—the film asks a revolutionary question: what is the value of women’s time?