Biography
Arthura "Atra" Baer Cavataro was a highly regarded columnist at the New York Journal-American newspaper, a leading afternoon daily, through the 1950s and 1960s. Starting as a "copy girl" she worked her way up in the male dominated newspaper industry. During her nearly 30 year career with the Journal-American, and its successor the World Journal Tribune, she used the by-line Atra Baer. Her reporting assignments included the city desk, national news, feature writing and television, music and film critic. During the many lengthy newspaper labor union strikes of the 1960's, she wrote for many magazines and newspapers, including the National Enquirer, Weight Watchers and the New York Magazine. She also penned screenplays, songs and operas. On the Journal-American staff she worked closely with columnists, Ed Sullivan, Dorothy Kilgallen, Jimmy Breslin and Jack O'Brien, often collaborating.