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Dorothy Copus Brush Razed Palace would produce empty parking lot A parking lot for a palace? I would have thought
the council members less than enthusiastic at the thought of
saving the Palace could have come up with something more creative
than a parking lot. Agreed, the once grand old theater has suffered
neglect over many years. To many she is an eyesore, and I wonder
how many visitors passing through town look at the decaying structure
and decide they are in a town with no pride. Should it come to
pass that the Palace is demolished and the area is paved over
for a parking lot, I believe it would be an empty parking lot.
Then the verdict of visitors would be they were passing through
a ghost town. * * * Hedy Lamarr died last week at age 86. She
was discovered by Hollywood when she appeared in a 1933 Czech
film. In that picture, she was nude in a 10-minute swimming scene.
That was a bit of history I had not heard, but it brought to
mind another story in the papers last week from England. It happened in a tiny village set in "England's
green and pleasant land," poet William Blake's descriptive
words from his poem "Milton." As for what happened
in the village, Gerald Massey's poem "Old England"
fits the story well. "Old England still throbs with the
muffled fire of a Past she can never forget; And again shall
she banner the world up higher; For there's life in the Old Land
yet." They were members of the local chapter of
the National Women's Institute. The husband of one of their members
died of leukemia after a short five-month illness. As a group
they wanted to raise money for leukemia research. Forget about bake sales. These highly respectable
middle-aged ladies wanted to raise lots of money. The death of
their friend left them shocked. Perhaps that was how they came
up with a shocking way to raise funds. They bared not only their
souls in their grief at his loss and for their member friend,
but they decided their annual $8 calendar would carry nude pictures
of their members. One of the ladies was married to a former
professional photographer, and he agreed to do the shots. Even
though they were all mature, sensible women they were inhibited
as they came closer to the picture taking day. They worked out
a plan to help their shyness. The photographer would set up the
shot, then leave the room and the model would snap the shutter.
That plan was discarded. One of the women explained, "We're all
great friends, so there was no embarrassment. In fact, watching
each other covering ourselves strategically with sieves, plants
and apple presses and the like was tremendous fun." Each woman wore pearls for her picture. The
shots were all in black and white, but a bright yellow sunflower
appeared in every frame. The colorful touch was added in memory
of the deceased gentleman who had planted sunflower seeds during
his illness but died before they bloomed. Amazingly the sales of the calendar brought
in $550,000. The most the women had hoped for was $2,000. Beyond
the financial success was the response to the pictures in the
calendar. Letters poured in from women of like ages praising
the idea. They talked of the boost it had been to their self-esteem.
Those staid English women showed through their daring there is
a big difference between pornography and good taste. Indeed there's
life in the Old Land yet. |