1972

Greetings; by the time you read these immortal words, spring will have sprung in earnest. There was not too much mail this month, but I did get another letter from Fabian Ropogol. It seems that Fabian was out West, looking for some new ideas for beer commercials. He was strolling along the beach in Los Angeles or one of those places out there where the women don't wear too much, and he chanced upon a man who ws not wearing too much, either. Impressed by this individual's confident bearing, friendly smile, and three female companions, none of whom was too heavily clothed, Fabian looked closer, and it turned out the lucky young swain was none other than Brendan O'Neill. It developed that Brendan had decided that since there was considerable demand for female models, and most of them were passable to look at, maybe there was demand for male models to hang out with the female types. Sure enough, demand there was, and Brendan is making a go of it, or so I have been led to believe. However, bearing in mind my New Year's resolution, if either I or Fabian got the facts messed up, there is lots of space in this space for elaborating. Tales of life as a male model might add a bit of life to this column.

On the more mundane side, Sheldon Prentice has been making good at National Life of Vermont, which has made him assistant counsel and officer of the company. Shel called the other day to tell me that he has taken up an interesting sideline, namely that of necktie sales representative. It seems that Shel was offered a really good deal, as he said, on about 200 neckties for our for-real tenth reunion. To date, he has sold about eight of these gems, and he is thinking of diabolical ways to move them, such as threatening to sell the remainder at our 50th reunion, which means that those of us who make it that far may have to buy about six of them. So spare our esteemed leader a little embarrassment and buy a tie. Shel says to say that they are really snappy looking, also.

Bill Downall recently was scheduled to appear on the Today show as one of the founders of a comedy group called the Panther Players. The group specializes in political and social commentary, as well as straight comedy, and they have received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Good luck, Bill.

Elsewhere in the entertainment business, John Rockwell wrote to announce the founding of Rockwell/Weinstein Productions Inc. of Brooklyn, N. Y. John specializes in all phases of audio production, and he had a part in the production of Playback 81, which is A.B.C. Radio's year-end commentary.

That's it for this month, but I'll leave you with a mystery to ponder. Who are Ralph and Eliza, and why do they need a fish tank?

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