Free to Be... You and Me is a children's entertainment project, conceived, created and executive-produced by actress and author Marlo Thomas. Produced in collaboration with the Ms. Foundation for Women, it was a record album and illustrated book first released in November 1972 featuring songs and stories sung or told by celebrities of the day including Alan Alda, Rosey Grier, Cicely Tyson, Carol Channing, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy, and Diana Ross. An ABC television special, also created by Thomas, using poetry, songs, and sketches, followed sixteen months later in March 1974. The basic concept was to encourage post-1960s gender neutrality, saluting values such as individuality, tolerance, and comfort with one's identity. A major thematic message is that anyone—whether a boy or a girl—can achieve anything.
Free to Be... You and Me
Margaret Julia Thomas is an American actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom That Girl (1966–1971) and her children's franchise Free to Be... You and Me. She has received three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Peabody Award for her work in television and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
Thomas in That Girl (1966)
Thomas (center) with co-star Ted Bessell (left) and guest star Mary Frann (right), in a 1968 photo from That Girl
Thomas at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, September 17, 1989