Beatrice Fairfax Tell Me What To Do 1915 – This popular vaudeville song sung by famous singing comedienne Emma Carus is about America’s first newspaper advice column, “Ask Beatrice Fairfax”, which began in 1898 and was written by Marie Manning. It anticipated the Dear Abby and Ann Landers columns by half a century. Despite becoming a national success story and having her column made into a hit song and even a major film, Manning was denied pay increases because she was “doing woman’s work” and eventually resigned in protest.