For now, I am skipping from December, 1960 to September, 1961 – I will talk about what happened during that time period later.
I had received a scholarship to attend a prominent Nursing School in Chicago at Pasavant Hospital. Even though I really wanted to become a nurse, it would mean I would have to continue living with my father for the next three years. He was very strict and controlling and would not allow me to go out or on dates. He was suspicious of every minute I wasn’t where he could keep an eye on me, so I felt I had to move away from him or go crazy. I passed up a great opportunity to go to that nursing school.
I stayed with him for awhile because I had started attending the Chicago Art Institute. I had entertained the idea of becoming a Fashion Illustrator. I took classes there for almost a year. In the beginning we drew still life such as fruit, flowers and other objects sitting on a table. Next we graduated to drawing live (nude) models who would maintain a pose for an entire hour without moving. My drawings were all in charcoal. Somehow over the years I lost all of my drawings which I thought were quite good. Fashion Illustrators drew pictures for newspaper ads of the latest fashions. The pay was quite good but I never followed through with it to pursue that career. After leaving the Art Institute I shared an apartment with a girl my same age who was the daughter of one of my co-workers at Carson Pirie Scott.
Our apartment was on the near north side of Chicago and was very much like the apartment that “Lavern and Shirley” had in their TV series (which was many years later). We were in a basement, two bedroom apartment. There was a window high up on the living room wall that was level with the street outside. It was $50 a month which was $25 for each of us. I loved it! I was free!! The “L” was close by and I would take the train to and from work each day. It was heavenly to be on my own and independent!
One day in August, 1962 a man approached me as I worked behind the department store counter. He said: “you are SO beautiful, why aren’t you a Bunny at the Playboy Club?” I told him that I had seen the ad and did not believe that I was one of the “most beautiful” women in Chicago. Besides, I had seen pictures of Bunnies and it appeared to me that they had long slender legs and big boobs, of which I had neither. He explained that the “look” was an illusion created by the Bunny costume and I should go and at least apply for the job. He also told me that I would get to try on a Bunny costume as part of the interview, and I would be amazed at what it did to my physical appearance. The kicker was when he said that Bunnies were earning a minimum of $300 a night (remember I was making $53.28 a week).
I muddled over the idea the rest of the day and all night. Becoming a Bunny sounded like a “pipe dream”, but I decided to at least go and apply – if only to get the opportunity to try on a Bunny costume. What the heck! I was aware of the location of the Playboy Mansion because it was located at 1340 N. State Street which was only about three blocks from the Plaza Hotel (on the corner of Clark Street and North Avenue) where I had been living. I might add that I never knew who this man was that “discovered” me. He was a mere “passer-by” that made a suggestion to me.
The very next day, I went to the Playboy Club to be interviewed by the”Bunny Mother”. She was the one who hired and arranged training for the Bunnies and also wrote their weekly work schedules, which constantly changed. She also “inspected” each Bunny before they were allowed to go to the Club downstairs to work. The costumes had to be perfect – always. I wasn’t even nervous about the interview because I was positive that I would not get hired anyway. To me, this was merely an adventure to try on a Bunny costume.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Chapter 4, Part 6 - DISTASTER STRIKES
Neither of us had ever drunk alcohol and didn’t know what we were getting into. Between the two of us we polished off the entire fifth!! Needless to say, when we woke up on Monday morning, we were sicker than dogs! When the nun came to our room to wake us up, we were both throwing up and had horrible headaches. We told her that we must have either gotten food poisoning or had serious cases of the flu. She bought the story and all day long we were taken care of, nursred and waited on, even having meals delivered to our room! (After that day, I could never drink bourbon ever again – even the smell of it makes me ill).
The big mistake that we both made, was to write letters to friends explaining what happened and how we had the nuns fooled into believing that we really were sick (rather than having serious hangovers).
The day of reckoning came, when the people we wrote to, wrote us back and referred to what we had told them about how funny it was how we fooled the nuns and got waited on hand and foot.
Like I said previously, the nuns read our incoming mail. The Sister Superior read the letters we got back from our friends about our escapade. We were in deep doo doo… We were not only in trouble for what we did, but for bragging about pulling the wool over the good sisters’ eyes! This happened at the end of November, 1960 of our senior year in high school, and we were both expelled!! We were told that we could still finish our senior year there, but only as “day students” and not as boarders. It was disastrous!
Marilyn lived in Evanston so it wasn’t as much of an inconvenience for her as it was for me. My father lived in Chicago (about 20 miles away). She did finish her senior year as a day student but for me it meant I would have to take the train to Evanston each day to and from school plus walk quite a distance from the train station. This proved to be impossible for me to accomplish because it was over an hour commute each direction. I had to leave Marywood, move in with my father, and find a new school! The entire situation was a nightmare to me.
They gave us a couple of weeks to try to figure out what we were going to do. I got so distraught that I ingested a bottle of aspirin (and every other pill I could get my hands on) to try to kill myself. The only thing that happened was I got a terrible ringing in my ears and got very sick to my stomach. My second attempt at wanting to die, failed miserably. Nothing would make the nuns change their minds about expelling me….even though I apologized, cried, begged and pleaded.
I found a new school in Chicago, fairly close to where I lived, called St. Michael’s Central High School. It was a Catholic day school, no boarders. I would take the bus to and from school and kept my job at Carson Pirie Scott working on week-ends and on two nights a week after school until 10:00 PM. The uniforms were extremely ugly. The school was in an Italian neighborhood. Chicago was like that – the Jewish, Irish and Italians etc had their own sections of Chicago and stuck together. I did not fit in at all. I was miserable.
Another big difference was the fact that it was not an all girl school like I was used to. There were boys that attended the school too. My father would not allow me to date anyone. I started classes at St. Michael’s around the first part of December, 1960.
I became somewhat of a celebrity in the high school because of my modeling in the newspaper and on TV. As much as I tried, I was just not happy there and regretted so much my stupid indiscretion about the alcohol. I really looked forward to graduation so I could get out of there, and get on with my life.
This was only the beginning. My biggest disaster was yet to come…..
******
Right now, I am not ready to talk about what happened to me next because it is just too painful and too awful to divulge to anyone yet. I am finding it necessary to delay talking about it at this time. I do need to tell this part of my story and I will talk about it when I am ready, just not yet…
The big mistake that we both made, was to write letters to friends explaining what happened and how we had the nuns fooled into believing that we really were sick (rather than having serious hangovers).
The day of reckoning came, when the people we wrote to, wrote us back and referred to what we had told them about how funny it was how we fooled the nuns and got waited on hand and foot.
Like I said previously, the nuns read our incoming mail. The Sister Superior read the letters we got back from our friends about our escapade. We were in deep doo doo… We were not only in trouble for what we did, but for bragging about pulling the wool over the good sisters’ eyes! This happened at the end of November, 1960 of our senior year in high school, and we were both expelled!! We were told that we could still finish our senior year there, but only as “day students” and not as boarders. It was disastrous!
Marilyn lived in Evanston so it wasn’t as much of an inconvenience for her as it was for me. My father lived in Chicago (about 20 miles away). She did finish her senior year as a day student but for me it meant I would have to take the train to Evanston each day to and from school plus walk quite a distance from the train station. This proved to be impossible for me to accomplish because it was over an hour commute each direction. I had to leave Marywood, move in with my father, and find a new school! The entire situation was a nightmare to me.
They gave us a couple of weeks to try to figure out what we were going to do. I got so distraught that I ingested a bottle of aspirin (and every other pill I could get my hands on) to try to kill myself. The only thing that happened was I got a terrible ringing in my ears and got very sick to my stomach. My second attempt at wanting to die, failed miserably. Nothing would make the nuns change their minds about expelling me….even though I apologized, cried, begged and pleaded.
I found a new school in Chicago, fairly close to where I lived, called St. Michael’s Central High School. It was a Catholic day school, no boarders. I would take the bus to and from school and kept my job at Carson Pirie Scott working on week-ends and on two nights a week after school until 10:00 PM. The uniforms were extremely ugly. The school was in an Italian neighborhood. Chicago was like that – the Jewish, Irish and Italians etc had their own sections of Chicago and stuck together. I did not fit in at all. I was miserable.
Another big difference was the fact that it was not an all girl school like I was used to. There were boys that attended the school too. My father would not allow me to date anyone. I started classes at St. Michael’s around the first part of December, 1960.
I became somewhat of a celebrity in the high school because of my modeling in the newspaper and on TV. As much as I tried, I was just not happy there and regretted so much my stupid indiscretion about the alcohol. I really looked forward to graduation so I could get out of there, and get on with my life.
This was only the beginning. My biggest disaster was yet to come…..
******
Right now, I am not ready to talk about what happened to me next because it is just too painful and too awful to divulge to anyone yet. I am finding it necessary to delay talking about it at this time. I do need to tell this part of my story and I will talk about it when I am ready, just not yet…
Chapter 4, Part 5 - 1960
My senior year at Marywood started out really great. I was modeling in Chicago and also was hired for a job in the Cosmetic section at Carson Pirie Scott – a very large upscale Department Store in the heart of downtown Chicago. I was making minimum wage plus commission on the cosmetics I sold. I was the youngest employee in that department. I started working there during the summer in-between my junior and senior years. I had started out as a “temp” and never knew which department I would be working in when I showed up for work each day. I started out working in the gift wrap department which paid off because I learned how to do fancy gift wrapping, plus how to make bows. There were no “ready made” bows back then. I liked working in gift wrap.
Over time, I got a permanent position in the Cosmetic/Perfume department. I had decided to work in a steadier job since modeling was sporadic at best. I spent the summer with my father in Chicago and really hated the ancient run down hotel he was living in, so getting a steady job got me out of there plus gave me an income and kept me busy. I took the bus to and from work and many times worked until 10:00 PM when the store closed. The (Plaza) hotel was about one or two miles from the department store. I remember if I worked a full 40 hour week, after taxes etc I cleared $53.28 per week which was considered pretty good back then. For example you could rent a fairly decent two bedroom apartment for $50.00 a month. Everything was a whole lot cheaper then.
My father still traveled to nearby states and was gone most of the time so I had the apartment to myself a lot. When he was home I had to sleep in a folding cot they would bring to the room. It was a very tiny apartment with a “kitchen” that was behind two folding doors. There was a restaurant in the lobby of the hotel (the “Hasty Tasty”) and we ate most of our meals there or had them delivered to the room. We did very little cooking. It was located on a corner across the street from Lincoln Park – a very large park slightly north of downtown Chicago. The hotel was about two blocks from Lake Michigan. I really hated that place with a passion. I actually looked forward to returning to boarding school!
There was an old movie theater across the street from the hotel and I found myself going to movies often, even watching the same movie over and over again. It was 25 cents to go to the movie there.
My roommate that year was a very sweet girl whose mother was terminally ill so her dad put her in boarding school. It was very difficult for her at home. Her name was Marilyn MacNamara.
Once a year there was a big event to raise quite a bit of money for the school. The students in the drama class would put on a play. At the play there was a program that was handed out with the list of actors and scenes etc. The job of the other students was to sell ads that would go in the program which is what raised the money. It was $100 for a full page ad, $50 for a half page and $25 for a quarter of a page. Many of the students had parents that owned their own businesses so it was quite a lucrative project. It was also easier for the day students to sell ads than it was for the boarders.
Each student had a “quota” of ads they had to sell. The incentive was that they would get a Monday off from school. The students that didn’t sell the quota would be required to come to school and spend all day in “study hall”.
My roommate and I just didn’t know anyone to talk into buying ads. Amazingly, we were the only two students in the entire high school that failed to sell our quota. The boarders were required to come back to school on Sunday nights after the week-ends and Marilyn and I were not only the only two boarders that had to return on Sunday night, but the only two students in the school that were going to have to spend all day Monday in study hall.
When we came back on Sunday night, Marilyn showed up with a fifth of bourbon she had taken from her dad’s liquor cabinet and she planned for the two of us to “party down”. Big, big mistake……
Over time, I got a permanent position in the Cosmetic/Perfume department. I had decided to work in a steadier job since modeling was sporadic at best. I spent the summer with my father in Chicago and really hated the ancient run down hotel he was living in, so getting a steady job got me out of there plus gave me an income and kept me busy. I took the bus to and from work and many times worked until 10:00 PM when the store closed. The (Plaza) hotel was about one or two miles from the department store. I remember if I worked a full 40 hour week, after taxes etc I cleared $53.28 per week which was considered pretty good back then. For example you could rent a fairly decent two bedroom apartment for $50.00 a month. Everything was a whole lot cheaper then.
My father still traveled to nearby states and was gone most of the time so I had the apartment to myself a lot. When he was home I had to sleep in a folding cot they would bring to the room. It was a very tiny apartment with a “kitchen” that was behind two folding doors. There was a restaurant in the lobby of the hotel (the “Hasty Tasty”) and we ate most of our meals there or had them delivered to the room. We did very little cooking. It was located on a corner across the street from Lincoln Park – a very large park slightly north of downtown Chicago. The hotel was about two blocks from Lake Michigan. I really hated that place with a passion. I actually looked forward to returning to boarding school!
There was an old movie theater across the street from the hotel and I found myself going to movies often, even watching the same movie over and over again. It was 25 cents to go to the movie there.
My roommate that year was a very sweet girl whose mother was terminally ill so her dad put her in boarding school. It was very difficult for her at home. Her name was Marilyn MacNamara.
Once a year there was a big event to raise quite a bit of money for the school. The students in the drama class would put on a play. At the play there was a program that was handed out with the list of actors and scenes etc. The job of the other students was to sell ads that would go in the program which is what raised the money. It was $100 for a full page ad, $50 for a half page and $25 for a quarter of a page. Many of the students had parents that owned their own businesses so it was quite a lucrative project. It was also easier for the day students to sell ads than it was for the boarders.
Each student had a “quota” of ads they had to sell. The incentive was that they would get a Monday off from school. The students that didn’t sell the quota would be required to come to school and spend all day in “study hall”.
My roommate and I just didn’t know anyone to talk into buying ads. Amazingly, we were the only two students in the entire high school that failed to sell our quota. The boarders were required to come back to school on Sunday nights after the week-ends and Marilyn and I were not only the only two boarders that had to return on Sunday night, but the only two students in the school that were going to have to spend all day Monday in study hall.
When we came back on Sunday night, Marilyn showed up with a fifth of bourbon she had taken from her dad’s liquor cabinet and she planned for the two of us to “party down”. Big, big mistake……
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Chapter 4, Part 4 - MY TRANSFORMATION
I want to interject something that took me years to figure out and I am certain many readers struggle with. It is a well known fact that it is extremely difficult to lose weight. (Unfortunately, gaining weight is a breeze)! Perhaps what I have learned will help someone else.
In my case, I have come to the enlightenment that dieting is all mental….totally. If you are motivated to really want to lose weight, then nothing can stop you. If you don’t have a deep motivation and a strong desire, then it is easy to keep coming up with excuses as to why you can’t seem to lose weight. I know because I have done that too.
You must have a goal…a specific reason why you want to lose weight…with a reward in the end that comes when you reach your goal. I already told you that both of my brothers weighed over 400 pounds each. Weight problems ran throughout my whole family. It is one of those unfortunate bad genes we all inherited. When you have a specific goal to achieve, you become like a missile….you head straight toward your target and nothing diverts you or makes you waver from heading in that direction.
In my lifetime, I have gained and lost weight many times and it took me a long time to finally figure out that “dieting” wasn’t the answer…motivation is the answer. Your mind controls your body. At about age sixteen, I started thinking that I might like to be a model. I didn’t realize until much later that I was just not born with a model’s body. I am five feet two and don’t have long legs and I have never been as thin as models need to be. You have to be born with a certain body type which you have no control over. It’s a gift from God.
I convinced my father to send me to modeling school. I figured whatever I learned, couldn’t hurt. I would learn beneficial things like how to walk and carry myself. Also important was to learn how to put on make-up and create diverse hair styles. The Model Agency (Patricia Vance) also said they try to get the students modeling jobs after they completed modeling school….but only if they were selected to sign a contract with the Model Agency. (The school and the Agency were two separate entities). So, I started taking classes. Somehow, I don’t remember how, I worked it into my daily or weekly schedule. I do recall taking the “L” into Chicago where it let me off right in front of the modeling school.
Upon completion of the course, they did ask me to sign up with their model agency! They explained to me that I was not the “high fashion” model type, but I could do some things such as Catalogs or Commercials and live modeling in some of the large Department Stores in Chicago. One of my first jobs was with the Chicago Tribune Newspaper. They had a fashion section in the newspaper that was printed once a week. I modeled clothing for the newspaper and as a result even appeared on a couple of local TV shows modeling some of the latest fashions.
I really loved it! I was beginning to feel like a celebrity of sorts. The girls and nuns at Marywood saw my pictures in the paper and watched me on the TV shows. On week-ends many times I modeled at the Department stores. They would put me in an outfit and I would walk throughout the store for the customers to see the clothes on an actual live person. I carried a card with all the information about everything I was wearing. In the course of one day I would change into about five different outfits. This all took place in the last half of my junior year in high school plus the following summer. The stores I modeled at were Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Fields, Carson Pirie Scott and Bergdorf & Goodman.
Another thing I did that year was enter the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Queen contest. That Parade is a huge event in Chicago every year and it was quite an honor to be chosen the Queen. The Model Agency recommended that I try out. I didn’t win, but I came in second, which was still pretty good considering how many girls entered the contest. I don’t remember how many but there were at least a hundred in the beginning and there were gradual eliminations over several weeks.
During the years at Marywood, I spent the summers with my sister in Fort Lee, Virginia, where her husband, Jack, was a Lieutenant in the military. We would spend the hot summer days at the Pool at the Officers Club on the Military Base. The first summer I was there I was still quite chubby and no one paid much attention to me. The following summer, I had grown taller and lost about 40 pounds. My brother-in-law always teases me saying he had to fight off all of the soldiers that wanted to take me out (I was 16). He did let me go out once with a soldier that was under his command but gave him a set of rules with lots of “don’ts”. Naturally it had to be kept a secret from my father because he didn’t let my sister date until she was 18 and he wasn’t going to let me date until then either. The Army Base even had a picture of me in a bathing suit by the pool, holding a very large thermometer that read 104 degrees. The picture was in the newspaper published at the Base.
It was while staying with my sister in Virginia when I was 16 that we learned that our mother had passed away from a second stroke. She died in Seattle, WA and we couldn’t go to her funeral. My sister was too pregnant to fly and our two brothers were there taking care of everything.
A funny story I have told for years is about my sister. Beverly was pregnant the second summer I went to Virginia and had to have regular visits to the Obstetrician. On one visit they told her to bring a urine sample with her on her next visit. When we got to the doctor’s office a couple of weeks later, the receptionist told Bev to put her urine sample on the table that was there with all of the other women’s samples. There were at least 20 other “samples” on the table, and they were all in tiny little bottles like the ones you get a prescription in. She brought out this large Mayonnaise jar from a paper bag that must have had a quart of her urine in it! She looked at me, shrugged, and said: “how was I supposed to know? They didn’t tell me how much urine!!” Nowadays they probably supply you will a container to take home. I couldn’t stop laughing every time I saw that huge jar on that table with all the tiny little bottles.
Also at the beginning of 1960, or perhaps the latter part of 1959, I remember reading a large ad in the Chicago Tribune about a new Club that was opening in Chicago. It was called “The Playboy Club” and the ad read something like this: “If you consider yourself one of the most beautiful girls in Chicago, come down and apply for a job working as a Bunny at the Playboy Club”. Included in the ad was a silhouette of a girl in a Bunny costume. You had to be 18 to apply so I wasn’t old enough, and besides, I did not consider myself to be one of the “most beautiful” girls in Chicago! However, it made me curious and intrigued me.
My senior year in high school was a time when two very bad things happened to me. The first one was partly my own doing….but the second was not. Everything was going so well for me. I was looking forward to and felt I was headed towards such a bright future full of hopes, dreams and success.
Unfortunately, my life took a drastic turn that year…..for the worse…. a turn that would have a lasting effect on me forever.
In my case, I have come to the enlightenment that dieting is all mental….totally. If you are motivated to really want to lose weight, then nothing can stop you. If you don’t have a deep motivation and a strong desire, then it is easy to keep coming up with excuses as to why you can’t seem to lose weight. I know because I have done that too.
You must have a goal…a specific reason why you want to lose weight…with a reward in the end that comes when you reach your goal. I already told you that both of my brothers weighed over 400 pounds each. Weight problems ran throughout my whole family. It is one of those unfortunate bad genes we all inherited. When you have a specific goal to achieve, you become like a missile….you head straight toward your target and nothing diverts you or makes you waver from heading in that direction.
In my lifetime, I have gained and lost weight many times and it took me a long time to finally figure out that “dieting” wasn’t the answer…motivation is the answer. Your mind controls your body. At about age sixteen, I started thinking that I might like to be a model. I didn’t realize until much later that I was just not born with a model’s body. I am five feet two and don’t have long legs and I have never been as thin as models need to be. You have to be born with a certain body type which you have no control over. It’s a gift from God.
I convinced my father to send me to modeling school. I figured whatever I learned, couldn’t hurt. I would learn beneficial things like how to walk and carry myself. Also important was to learn how to put on make-up and create diverse hair styles. The Model Agency (Patricia Vance) also said they try to get the students modeling jobs after they completed modeling school….but only if they were selected to sign a contract with the Model Agency. (The school and the Agency were two separate entities). So, I started taking classes. Somehow, I don’t remember how, I worked it into my daily or weekly schedule. I do recall taking the “L” into Chicago where it let me off right in front of the modeling school.
Upon completion of the course, they did ask me to sign up with their model agency! They explained to me that I was not the “high fashion” model type, but I could do some things such as Catalogs or Commercials and live modeling in some of the large Department Stores in Chicago. One of my first jobs was with the Chicago Tribune Newspaper. They had a fashion section in the newspaper that was printed once a week. I modeled clothing for the newspaper and as a result even appeared on a couple of local TV shows modeling some of the latest fashions.
I really loved it! I was beginning to feel like a celebrity of sorts. The girls and nuns at Marywood saw my pictures in the paper and watched me on the TV shows. On week-ends many times I modeled at the Department stores. They would put me in an outfit and I would walk throughout the store for the customers to see the clothes on an actual live person. I carried a card with all the information about everything I was wearing. In the course of one day I would change into about five different outfits. This all took place in the last half of my junior year in high school plus the following summer. The stores I modeled at were Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Fields, Carson Pirie Scott and Bergdorf & Goodman.
Another thing I did that year was enter the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Queen contest. That Parade is a huge event in Chicago every year and it was quite an honor to be chosen the Queen. The Model Agency recommended that I try out. I didn’t win, but I came in second, which was still pretty good considering how many girls entered the contest. I don’t remember how many but there were at least a hundred in the beginning and there were gradual eliminations over several weeks.
During the years at Marywood, I spent the summers with my sister in Fort Lee, Virginia, where her husband, Jack, was a Lieutenant in the military. We would spend the hot summer days at the Pool at the Officers Club on the Military Base. The first summer I was there I was still quite chubby and no one paid much attention to me. The following summer, I had grown taller and lost about 40 pounds. My brother-in-law always teases me saying he had to fight off all of the soldiers that wanted to take me out (I was 16). He did let me go out once with a soldier that was under his command but gave him a set of rules with lots of “don’ts”. Naturally it had to be kept a secret from my father because he didn’t let my sister date until she was 18 and he wasn’t going to let me date until then either. The Army Base even had a picture of me in a bathing suit by the pool, holding a very large thermometer that read 104 degrees. The picture was in the newspaper published at the Base.
It was while staying with my sister in Virginia when I was 16 that we learned that our mother had passed away from a second stroke. She died in Seattle, WA and we couldn’t go to her funeral. My sister was too pregnant to fly and our two brothers were there taking care of everything.
A funny story I have told for years is about my sister. Beverly was pregnant the second summer I went to Virginia and had to have regular visits to the Obstetrician. On one visit they told her to bring a urine sample with her on her next visit. When we got to the doctor’s office a couple of weeks later, the receptionist told Bev to put her urine sample on the table that was there with all of the other women’s samples. There were at least 20 other “samples” on the table, and they were all in tiny little bottles like the ones you get a prescription in. She brought out this large Mayonnaise jar from a paper bag that must have had a quart of her urine in it! She looked at me, shrugged, and said: “how was I supposed to know? They didn’t tell me how much urine!!” Nowadays they probably supply you will a container to take home. I couldn’t stop laughing every time I saw that huge jar on that table with all the tiny little bottles.
Also at the beginning of 1960, or perhaps the latter part of 1959, I remember reading a large ad in the Chicago Tribune about a new Club that was opening in Chicago. It was called “The Playboy Club” and the ad read something like this: “If you consider yourself one of the most beautiful girls in Chicago, come down and apply for a job working as a Bunny at the Playboy Club”. Included in the ad was a silhouette of a girl in a Bunny costume. You had to be 18 to apply so I wasn’t old enough, and besides, I did not consider myself to be one of the “most beautiful” girls in Chicago! However, it made me curious and intrigued me.
My senior year in high school was a time when two very bad things happened to me. The first one was partly my own doing….but the second was not. Everything was going so well for me. I was looking forward to and felt I was headed towards such a bright future full of hopes, dreams and success.
Unfortunately, my life took a drastic turn that year…..for the worse…. a turn that would have a lasting effect on me forever.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Chapter 4, Part 3 - MARYWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
Out of curiosity I looked on the Internet to see if Marywood is still there. It is, but it is presently The Evanston Civic Center, no longer a Catholic boarding school. It is registered under the National Historic Society. It was built in 1900 and was an all girls academy for seventy years, from 1915 to 1985 when it closed. I was there from 1958 until 1961
The three years at Marywood were the most enjoyable years I had in school. The nuns were nice and it was such a relief to be there after my four years at Holy Names! The ninth grade was good for me too because that year I got to stay with my sister and brothers quite a bit in their apartment.
Each Semester we would have a different roommate. That way we had the opportunity to experience living with a variety of different personalities. The nuns were the most lenient I had had so far. We were allowed to fix our hair in any style we chose. We would change into regular clothes after school which helped us obtain our own individualities.
We were allowed to use some make-up, but not a lot. After classes we were allowed to walk to the nearby shops and soda fountains without supervision. Our rooms were our own to decorate as we pleased, and the inspections were not nearly as harsh. We were even allowed to have a typewriter, radio and a TV in our rooms. I was happier than I had been in a long time.
The only thing I can remember not liking was the fact that the nuns opened and read our incoming mail before giving it to us. They did not read our outgoing mail, which both other schools had done. The reading of our incoming mail would prove to be my undoing. I ended up getting in big trouble because of it (which I will talk about later).
In my sophomore year, I even had a male teacher for the first time in my life! His name was Aubrey Serewitz. He was a very intelligent rather nerdy type. He wore thick glasses and had a ruddy complexion. He was diligently dedicated to Math, Physics and Chemistry. I believe they were the cornerstone of his life. He lived with his mother and he would take the bus to school each day.
My strongest subjects were the ones he taught, and I especially always loved math. It came easy to me and I truly enjoyed the challenge of solving problems. I was his star Geometry student. Once he gave us a problem from our Geometry book to solve for extra credit. I was the only one that solved it. He informed the class that everyone who couldn’t solve it was right….and I was wrong. He explained that there was not enough information given to enable anyone to solve it.
I insisted that I had solved it! It had taken me a long time and my solution was very long with dozens of steps. He decided to write the steps I had taken on the blackboard so the class could figure out where I went wrong. After close analysis of my work, it turned out that I had, indeed, solved the problem! He was ecstatic! He immediately planned to submit my solution to the publishers of the book. As a result, they had to make a correction in the next edition of the book. I received some kind of award but I can’t remember what it was. It was probably a certificate or something similar.
In my junior year he was my teacher for Physics and Chemistry. Since he was the only man I had ever known, I developed a mad crush on him. The poor fellow didn’t know how to handle it. I flirted with him, and it was my goal to try to get him sexually aroused (which I think I did). Being his student he couldn’t dare flirt with me. He did however start coming to the school on week-ends occasionally to play tennis with me. He would wear short shorts which made him look quite comical. I made the poor guy a nervous wreck! I really don’t think any female had ever come on to him before. Naturally, nothing came of it but I’m sure he never forgot me!
Also, in my junior year, I began to change, physically. I lost a bunch of weight by going on a diet where you took lots of pills all day long, most of them chewable pills. They were called “Regimen Tablets” and Jackie Gleason was pushing them on TV. I believe he owned the company that produced the product. It was the fad diet of the year. Either it was the pills, or the fact that I was mentally ready to start making an effort to look more attractive. I started paying more attention to my hair, clothes, make-up and of course, my weight. Perhaps it was my “crush “on Mr. Serewitz that got me started, I’m not sure. It probably was just the normal age when girls start feeling like they are becoming women. So began my transition.
The three years at Marywood were the most enjoyable years I had in school. The nuns were nice and it was such a relief to be there after my four years at Holy Names! The ninth grade was good for me too because that year I got to stay with my sister and brothers quite a bit in their apartment.
Each Semester we would have a different roommate. That way we had the opportunity to experience living with a variety of different personalities. The nuns were the most lenient I had had so far. We were allowed to fix our hair in any style we chose. We would change into regular clothes after school which helped us obtain our own individualities.
We were allowed to use some make-up, but not a lot. After classes we were allowed to walk to the nearby shops and soda fountains without supervision. Our rooms were our own to decorate as we pleased, and the inspections were not nearly as harsh. We were even allowed to have a typewriter, radio and a TV in our rooms. I was happier than I had been in a long time.
The only thing I can remember not liking was the fact that the nuns opened and read our incoming mail before giving it to us. They did not read our outgoing mail, which both other schools had done. The reading of our incoming mail would prove to be my undoing. I ended up getting in big trouble because of it (which I will talk about later).
In my sophomore year, I even had a male teacher for the first time in my life! His name was Aubrey Serewitz. He was a very intelligent rather nerdy type. He wore thick glasses and had a ruddy complexion. He was diligently dedicated to Math, Physics and Chemistry. I believe they were the cornerstone of his life. He lived with his mother and he would take the bus to school each day.
My strongest subjects were the ones he taught, and I especially always loved math. It came easy to me and I truly enjoyed the challenge of solving problems. I was his star Geometry student. Once he gave us a problem from our Geometry book to solve for extra credit. I was the only one that solved it. He informed the class that everyone who couldn’t solve it was right….and I was wrong. He explained that there was not enough information given to enable anyone to solve it.
I insisted that I had solved it! It had taken me a long time and my solution was very long with dozens of steps. He decided to write the steps I had taken on the blackboard so the class could figure out where I went wrong. After close analysis of my work, it turned out that I had, indeed, solved the problem! He was ecstatic! He immediately planned to submit my solution to the publishers of the book. As a result, they had to make a correction in the next edition of the book. I received some kind of award but I can’t remember what it was. It was probably a certificate or something similar.
In my junior year he was my teacher for Physics and Chemistry. Since he was the only man I had ever known, I developed a mad crush on him. The poor fellow didn’t know how to handle it. I flirted with him, and it was my goal to try to get him sexually aroused (which I think I did). Being his student he couldn’t dare flirt with me. He did however start coming to the school on week-ends occasionally to play tennis with me. He would wear short shorts which made him look quite comical. I made the poor guy a nervous wreck! I really don’t think any female had ever come on to him before. Naturally, nothing came of it but I’m sure he never forgot me!
Also, in my junior year, I began to change, physically. I lost a bunch of weight by going on a diet where you took lots of pills all day long, most of them chewable pills. They were called “Regimen Tablets” and Jackie Gleason was pushing them on TV. I believe he owned the company that produced the product. It was the fad diet of the year. Either it was the pills, or the fact that I was mentally ready to start making an effort to look more attractive. I started paying more attention to my hair, clothes, make-up and of course, my weight. Perhaps it was my “crush “on Mr. Serewitz that got me started, I’m not sure. It probably was just the normal age when girls start feeling like they are becoming women. So began my transition.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Chapter 4, Part 2 - THE "RICH" ROGERS FAMILY
One strange thing about all the years I was in various boarding schools and summer camps, is the fact that I always thought we were rich. My sister, brothers and I all attended expensive private schools where we grew up amongst our peers who were from wealthy families. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out how this even came about. My father’s boss, Lew Shalett and his wife Wanda, ran a very successful business based in Chicago (they were rich). My father was one of the many salesmen employed by them. He worked strictly on commission and had no other income. What he did for a living was always very difficult to describe.
The “product” that they produced was a program sold to large Corporations and Businesses. The purpose of the product was to increase individual productiveness from the employees. This was done with mailings to each employee, speeches, incentive seminars and large posters that were put on the walls throughout every building on every floor and in just about every office including restrooms. I guess you could call it an “Incentive Inspiring Program”. I also heard it referred to as an “Efficiency Program” and “How to Get More Work Out of Each Employee”. Each sale earned my father a very large commission and he would also do the follow up speeches and seminars etc. There were contests amongst the salesmen where they could earn extra bonuses.
Lew and Wanda had a very soft spot in their hearts for all four of us children. They were aware of everything that had happened in our family and had great compassion for the situation that was thrust on us through no fault of our own. They recognized many years before I was even born that my father did not manage his money wisely and would squander it quickly if they paid him an entire commission all at once. They took control of his money and doled it out to him as they felt necessary, wise and frugal. They paid his expenses on the road rather than give him the money to pay them. My father constantly was angry, resentful and upset with them as far back as I can remember.
It was the two of them that made sure that we were well provided for and sent to nice schools. They had no children of their own. I’m certain that much of the money spent on our tuition and uniforms came out of their own pockets, not my father’s.
Because my father was extremely flamboyant, ostentatious and boisterous, he always gave everyone the impression that we were wealthy. The Shaletts always made sure he wore expensive clothes and shoes and drove a new car every year. We always stayed in expensive hotels on our vacations from school. Therefore, all of us were convinced, with no doubts, that we were rich like our classmates, when in fact it was the Shaletts who were actually our benefactors.
One memory we always loved to talk about was something that happened on one Christmas. We were always excited and anxious to find out what we received from the Shaletts for Christmas. They were very generous. Wanda loved to go shopping, so our best presents were always from them.
My father in great anticipation carefully opened the envelope they sent him. Of course he was counting on a huge bonus check as his gift, which he often got. When he opened it, they had sent him a year of the “Fruit of the Month Club”. He would get a box of fresh fruit each month for a year! He was so furious, that it was absolutely hysterically funny. He turned red and spouted off a list of at least twenty nasty names and cuss words that he called them. We were all in tears laughing and told the story over and over for years.
At least twenty-five or thirty years later, there was a scene in the movie “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase where almost the same exact thing happened! The only difference was that their gift was a year of the “Jelly of the Month Club”! I have always wondered if the person that wrote that scene had somehow heard the story about my father. The similarity was so close it was just uncanny!
I didn’t start figuring things out until my Senior year in high school. My father’s sales dropped far below what they had been in the past. The Shaletts began to fill me in on things I had never known. At that point he was already deeply in debt and owed the Shaletts lots of money. I also found out that my sister and her new husband had been stuck with the bill for their wedding. My father had spared no expense when ordering the banquet room, flowers, food, drinks and musicians. Many guests were invited and attended. I know he ordered several cases of expensive Champagne and other kinds of liquor.
My sister didn’t tell me until I was older that it took them years to pay off their wedding. I must admit that I was in shock for quite some time after learning that everything I had believed my entire life was all a facade. I had known we were poor when I lived with my mother, but since my father gained custody I truly believed for the next twelve years that
we were well off.
Another of my father’s great fabrications was his telling everyone that we were related to Will Rogers. He claimed that his father and Will’s father were brothers, so they were cousins. Added to that was a photo of my father and Will together which he claimed was taken at the airport as he saw Will off on his doomed flight to Alaska where his plane crashed and both Will and his pilot, Wiley Post were killed. The picture was taken by a car outside. He always said it was the “last” picture ever taken of Will Rogers. Our whole family believed this our entire lives. After my father passed away in 1987, our aunt who lived in New Jersey took it upon herself to write a family tree. She spent a couple of years researching our family history. When she finished, she told us that she could not find anywhere that we were in any way related to Will Rogers. Knowing what a “BS-er” our father was, we believed it and accepted it. However, we all believed the picture was real. We had seen our father push his way through a crowd at a golf course so we could all have our pictures taken with Bing Crosby. So, we never doubted that somehow he finagled a way to have his picture taken with Will Rogers.
In September of 2012 (while I was writing this book), I found out that even the picture is a fake! David Gray, who is a Historian for a University in Oklahoma, was writing a book about Salesmen back in the 1930’s to the 1970’s. He had interviewed me over a year before for his book (as the daughter of one of those salesmen). I proudly told him about being related to Will and even emailed him the picture. He let me know that while doing his research for the book, he discovered that my father had had the picture made by having a photo of him and a photo of Will Rogers spliced together! After learning this, I took a closer look at the picture….and it was actually an obvious fake. He even told me that all of the salesmen that my father worked with all knew about the fake picture and laughed about it. He used it to get his foot in the door to sell his product to the CEO’s of large Companies. So, my father went to his grave having his family believe that huge lie. In my Playboy centerfold layout, it even says I am related to Will Rogers and I even made it into Walter Winchell’s newspaper column because of it.
The “product” that they produced was a program sold to large Corporations and Businesses. The purpose of the product was to increase individual productiveness from the employees. This was done with mailings to each employee, speeches, incentive seminars and large posters that were put on the walls throughout every building on every floor and in just about every office including restrooms. I guess you could call it an “Incentive Inspiring Program”. I also heard it referred to as an “Efficiency Program” and “How to Get More Work Out of Each Employee”. Each sale earned my father a very large commission and he would also do the follow up speeches and seminars etc. There were contests amongst the salesmen where they could earn extra bonuses.
Lew and Wanda had a very soft spot in their hearts for all four of us children. They were aware of everything that had happened in our family and had great compassion for the situation that was thrust on us through no fault of our own. They recognized many years before I was even born that my father did not manage his money wisely and would squander it quickly if they paid him an entire commission all at once. They took control of his money and doled it out to him as they felt necessary, wise and frugal. They paid his expenses on the road rather than give him the money to pay them. My father constantly was angry, resentful and upset with them as far back as I can remember.
It was the two of them that made sure that we were well provided for and sent to nice schools. They had no children of their own. I’m certain that much of the money spent on our tuition and uniforms came out of their own pockets, not my father’s.
Because my father was extremely flamboyant, ostentatious and boisterous, he always gave everyone the impression that we were wealthy. The Shaletts always made sure he wore expensive clothes and shoes and drove a new car every year. We always stayed in expensive hotels on our vacations from school. Therefore, all of us were convinced, with no doubts, that we were rich like our classmates, when in fact it was the Shaletts who were actually our benefactors.
One memory we always loved to talk about was something that happened on one Christmas. We were always excited and anxious to find out what we received from the Shaletts for Christmas. They were very generous. Wanda loved to go shopping, so our best presents were always from them.
My father in great anticipation carefully opened the envelope they sent him. Of course he was counting on a huge bonus check as his gift, which he often got. When he opened it, they had sent him a year of the “Fruit of the Month Club”. He would get a box of fresh fruit each month for a year! He was so furious, that it was absolutely hysterically funny. He turned red and spouted off a list of at least twenty nasty names and cuss words that he called them. We were all in tears laughing and told the story over and over for years.
At least twenty-five or thirty years later, there was a scene in the movie “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase where almost the same exact thing happened! The only difference was that their gift was a year of the “Jelly of the Month Club”! I have always wondered if the person that wrote that scene had somehow heard the story about my father. The similarity was so close it was just uncanny!
I didn’t start figuring things out until my Senior year in high school. My father’s sales dropped far below what they had been in the past. The Shaletts began to fill me in on things I had never known. At that point he was already deeply in debt and owed the Shaletts lots of money. I also found out that my sister and her new husband had been stuck with the bill for their wedding. My father had spared no expense when ordering the banquet room, flowers, food, drinks and musicians. Many guests were invited and attended. I know he ordered several cases of expensive Champagne and other kinds of liquor.
My sister didn’t tell me until I was older that it took them years to pay off their wedding. I must admit that I was in shock for quite some time after learning that everything I had believed my entire life was all a facade. I had known we were poor when I lived with my mother, but since my father gained custody I truly believed for the next twelve years that
we were well off.
Another of my father’s great fabrications was his telling everyone that we were related to Will Rogers. He claimed that his father and Will’s father were brothers, so they were cousins. Added to that was a photo of my father and Will together which he claimed was taken at the airport as he saw Will off on his doomed flight to Alaska where his plane crashed and both Will and his pilot, Wiley Post were killed. The picture was taken by a car outside. He always said it was the “last” picture ever taken of Will Rogers. Our whole family believed this our entire lives. After my father passed away in 1987, our aunt who lived in New Jersey took it upon herself to write a family tree. She spent a couple of years researching our family history. When she finished, she told us that she could not find anywhere that we were in any way related to Will Rogers. Knowing what a “BS-er” our father was, we believed it and accepted it. However, we all believed the picture was real. We had seen our father push his way through a crowd at a golf course so we could all have our pictures taken with Bing Crosby. So, we never doubted that somehow he finagled a way to have his picture taken with Will Rogers.
In September of 2012 (while I was writing this book), I found out that even the picture is a fake! David Gray, who is a Historian for a University in Oklahoma, was writing a book about Salesmen back in the 1930’s to the 1970’s. He had interviewed me over a year before for his book (as the daughter of one of those salesmen). I proudly told him about being related to Will and even emailed him the picture. He let me know that while doing his research for the book, he discovered that my father had had the picture made by having a photo of him and a photo of Will Rogers spliced together! After learning this, I took a closer look at the picture….and it was actually an obvious fake. He even told me that all of the salesmen that my father worked with all knew about the fake picture and laughed about it. He used it to get his foot in the door to sell his product to the CEO’s of large Companies. So, my father went to his grave having his family believe that huge lie. In my Playboy centerfold layout, it even says I am related to Will Rogers and I even made it into Walter Winchell’s newspaper column because of it.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Chapter 4, Part 1 - Chicago Illinois
The summer following my last year at Holy Names Academy, my father and I headed for Chicago. All of his belongings were already in his car because that’s how he lived – constantly on the road. I had so few belongings of my own that they all fit in a couple of suitcases and a box. This would be the first time in my father’s adult life that he was going to live where he actually had an address. I was headed to my third (and final) Boarding School.
The trip took a long time because we stopped to sightsee at all the spots that attracted tourists along the way. Places such as Yellowstone Park, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. There was no rush because we didn’t need to arrive at our destination for a couple of months.
The hardest part for me was leaving my two brothers behind and going so far away from my mother. My sister had already moved to Fort Lee, Virginia. Never in the nine years I had been in school did I make any close, permanent friends. Boarding schools had many girls that only attended for a year or two because of temporary family situations, therefore my friends constantly fluctuated from year to year.
Upon arriving in Chicago we stayed in a hotel while my father searched for a place to live and also find a Boarding School for me. Chicago was like nothing I had ever seen. It was larger and very different from Seattle, which so far had been the largest city I had been to.
There were elevated trains on tracks situated way above the ground that went for miles in every direction - everywhere. There were far more buildings that were taller, older and crammed together. The elevated trains (called “L’s”) came within feet from buildings where people worked or even lived! That never ceased to amaze me. How could people live or work with trains constantly whizzing by so close that the buildings shook and the windows rattled! The trains were so loud, it was almost impossible to talk to someone sitting next to you when riding on one. You had to yell close into their ear for them to even hear you.
My father’s boss knew of an elite school in Evanston, a suburb north of Chicago. One street separated them. On one side of the street you were in Chicago, and on the other side you were in Evanston. The school was called Marywood School for Girls. It was located two blocks from Northwestern University.
Marywood was a high school only, ninth through twelfth grades. It was run by The Sisters of Providence. Their Habits (clothing) were entirely different from my first two schools. They wore much more white than black as apposed to the other nuns whose Habits were completely black. Our uniforms were actually quite nice. They were powder blue jumpers made of very fine material with a white blouse worn underneath. We most often at that time wore white buck shoes which were in style, but we could wear our own choice of shoes.
This was my Sophomore year and at this school, there were no dormitories! All of the rooms were occupied by two girls each. They were all on the top or fifth floor. The building was designed so each room had a large window that looked outside onto the grounds, either in the front of the building or in the back. The classrooms were on the lower floors along with the nuns’ quarters and offices, etc. There were also “day” students that were not boarders.
This was by far the most expensive school I had been in up until then. Like Four Winds Camp I had attended, there were many girls from very wealthy families. Some even came from other countries. Most of the foreign students were from families that wanted their daughters to be exposed to the English language in order to learn to speak it fluently. Some of them knew very little English when they arrived. They were always assigned a roommate that was from the USA.
There were also many extra sports activities available that the other schools didn’t have. There was a large indoor swimming pool where we learned how to swim, do synchronized water ballet and various other water sports.
There were horse back riding lessons available at a stable nearby. To learn to ride you were required to purchase extra expensive items and clothing which included pants called Jodhpurs, knee-high black leather boots, jackets, vests, hats, gloves and a special whip called a crop. We were taught to ride in the English style and even learned how to jump fences! There were also lists of numerous other sports available.
My roommate was the daughter of the family that owned Borden’s Milk, which was very well known at the time. Some of you might remember the mascots for their ads were Elmer and Elsie the cows. Her name was Mary Ann Devine. I remember spending the week-end at her home and was very impressed to see my first colored TV! I had heard of them but had never seen one. Only very rich people could afford to purchase the first ones put on the market. This was in 1958.
There was another girl attending the school (a day student) whose father was the President of Montgomery Wards. He was the one who wrote the story “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Her family had a yearly Christmas tradition. They would have a party with their close friends and each family was to tell an original (new) Christmas Story. They would give a prize to the family with the best story. The rest is history. Her name was Joanna Mae. She ended up becoming a nun after she graduated!
My father found a small apartment in a very old hotel that had been converted into apartments. It was a very crummy place but he didn’t care because he still regularly traveled to the states nearby and wasn’t home that often.
The trip took a long time because we stopped to sightsee at all the spots that attracted tourists along the way. Places such as Yellowstone Park, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. There was no rush because we didn’t need to arrive at our destination for a couple of months.
The hardest part for me was leaving my two brothers behind and going so far away from my mother. My sister had already moved to Fort Lee, Virginia. Never in the nine years I had been in school did I make any close, permanent friends. Boarding schools had many girls that only attended for a year or two because of temporary family situations, therefore my friends constantly fluctuated from year to year.
Upon arriving in Chicago we stayed in a hotel while my father searched for a place to live and also find a Boarding School for me. Chicago was like nothing I had ever seen. It was larger and very different from Seattle, which so far had been the largest city I had been to.
There were elevated trains on tracks situated way above the ground that went for miles in every direction - everywhere. There were far more buildings that were taller, older and crammed together. The elevated trains (called “L’s”) came within feet from buildings where people worked or even lived! That never ceased to amaze me. How could people live or work with trains constantly whizzing by so close that the buildings shook and the windows rattled! The trains were so loud, it was almost impossible to talk to someone sitting next to you when riding on one. You had to yell close into their ear for them to even hear you.
My father’s boss knew of an elite school in Evanston, a suburb north of Chicago. One street separated them. On one side of the street you were in Chicago, and on the other side you were in Evanston. The school was called Marywood School for Girls. It was located two blocks from Northwestern University.
Marywood was a high school only, ninth through twelfth grades. It was run by The Sisters of Providence. Their Habits (clothing) were entirely different from my first two schools. They wore much more white than black as apposed to the other nuns whose Habits were completely black. Our uniforms were actually quite nice. They were powder blue jumpers made of very fine material with a white blouse worn underneath. We most often at that time wore white buck shoes which were in style, but we could wear our own choice of shoes.
This was my Sophomore year and at this school, there were no dormitories! All of the rooms were occupied by two girls each. They were all on the top or fifth floor. The building was designed so each room had a large window that looked outside onto the grounds, either in the front of the building or in the back. The classrooms were on the lower floors along with the nuns’ quarters and offices, etc. There were also “day” students that were not boarders.
This was by far the most expensive school I had been in up until then. Like Four Winds Camp I had attended, there were many girls from very wealthy families. Some even came from other countries. Most of the foreign students were from families that wanted their daughters to be exposed to the English language in order to learn to speak it fluently. Some of them knew very little English when they arrived. They were always assigned a roommate that was from the USA.
There were also many extra sports activities available that the other schools didn’t have. There was a large indoor swimming pool where we learned how to swim, do synchronized water ballet and various other water sports.
There were horse back riding lessons available at a stable nearby. To learn to ride you were required to purchase extra expensive items and clothing which included pants called Jodhpurs, knee-high black leather boots, jackets, vests, hats, gloves and a special whip called a crop. We were taught to ride in the English style and even learned how to jump fences! There were also lists of numerous other sports available.
My roommate was the daughter of the family that owned Borden’s Milk, which was very well known at the time. Some of you might remember the mascots for their ads were Elmer and Elsie the cows. Her name was Mary Ann Devine. I remember spending the week-end at her home and was very impressed to see my first colored TV! I had heard of them but had never seen one. Only very rich people could afford to purchase the first ones put on the market. This was in 1958.
There was another girl attending the school (a day student) whose father was the President of Montgomery Wards. He was the one who wrote the story “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Her family had a yearly Christmas tradition. They would have a party with their close friends and each family was to tell an original (new) Christmas Story. They would give a prize to the family with the best story. The rest is history. Her name was Joanna Mae. She ended up becoming a nun after she graduated!
My father found a small apartment in a very old hotel that had been converted into apartments. It was a very crummy place but he didn’t care because he still regularly traveled to the states nearby and wasn’t home that often.
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