Women”s Sports Quiz: (1) Who is the only American woman to
win the Overall World Cup Skiing Championship? [Hint: 1983]
(2) Picabo Street won the 1998 Super G Gold Medal. What U.S.
woman won the same Gold Medal in 1994? Answers below.
Lightning Strikes
From the 11/8/99 issue of Newsweek magazine comes the
following:
“It is a tragic case, a pure act of God.” London coroner Dr. Paul
Knapman, in a report on the deaths of two Thai women struck by
lightning in Hyde Park two months ago, due to metal underwires
in their bras that conducted an electrical charge to their hearts.
Vickie Lynn Marshall, aka Anna Nicole Smith
Now gather ”round girls and hear the tale of Ms. Smith,
Marshall, whatever. Anna is the 9th grade dropout who was
selected Playmate of the Year in 1993. But back in ”91 she was
dancing at a strip club in Houston when this 86-year old
wheelchair bound guy attends her show. His name.J. Howard
Marshall.
It seems that old J. Howard was grieving over the recent deaths
of his wife and his mistress (Diane “Lady” Walker). Anna
cheered him up as only Anna could do back in those days.
Anyway, they became an item and by 1994 they were married.
Anna was just 26-years old and by then J. Howard was 89 and in
failing health. He was also worth an estimated $1.6 billion,
having made his money in the oil business.
Anna was madly in love with J. Howard..cough, cough. Her
life was now complete and she hoped to live out her years with
this cadaver. But the next year, 1995, he died, for real. The
nation mourned.
Actually, the nation didn”t give a damn but Anna and her step-
brother, 60-year old Pierce Marshall, had a huge fight that
continues to this day over what would happen next. According
to reporters Mark Miller and Ana Figueroa of Newsweek, “it got
so bad between Pierce and Anna that they fought over control of
his ashes and they held separate funerals.” Anna, herself, was in
such a state that she wore a low-cut white wedding dress to her
service.
Well, the court case that started with the death of J. Howard has
had many twists and turns but it is finally close to a resolution.
Anna wants half of the Marshall fortune, even though she isn”t
even mentioned in J. Howard”s will. Pierce is the sole heir. A
bankruptcy judge is actually figuring out how to split up the
estate as Anna filed chapter 11 awhile back. The judge is
expected to reject her demand for half the estate but she is likely
to still receive millions, at which point she wants to start her own
movie studio and remake all of Marilyn Monroe”s movies. We
at “Bar Chat” wish her all the best and anxiously await the
verdict and the first film.
Most Overrated Fashion Designer
According to Woody Hochswender, a former style reporter for
The New York Times, “Naming a single fashion designer the
most overrated is like picking the most self-absorbed model:
There are so many to choose from!”
Writing in the May/June issue of American Heritage magazine,
Hochswender continues. “To my mind the entire professional
class is overrated – by the humorless, adoring in-group that
fawns over every ruffle and seam, by a suggestible public that
pays premium prices to wear ”designer” labels, and, most of all,
by the designers themselves. The whole process is skewed by
the vast sums fashion designers spend burnishing their own good
names and reputations. Seductive images of their taste,
competence, good breeding, and tolerance for all races (if not
body types) are ubiquitous.”
Woody chooses Halston as most overrated. He was “the
forerunner of a certain breed of modern fashion figure whose
queen-sized ego far exceeded any particular talent he
demonstrated in the atelier (artist”s studio…I had to look this
word up), if such a name can be ascribed to his eventual
headquarters, a drug-ridden aerie in the Olympic Tower on New
York”s Fifth Avenue.”
Halston”s supposed genius “rested on the notion of elimination –
of pockets, zippers, ruffles, and so on…Just throw on a bolt of
triple-ply cashmere with armholes and an oval cut to let you pull
the thing over your head. (That”ll be five thousand dollars,
please).” What do you think, girls?
Brownie Wise
What? Who is she, you”re asking? Why Brownie invented the
Tupperware party! But first, you need to know who invented
Tupperware.
It was Earl Silas Tupper, a New Hampshire tree surgeon and
plastics innovator. He began experimenting with polyethylene, a
new material at the time. Tupper admired the material for its
toughness and nonbreakability. He received his patent for the
“Tupper seal” in 1947.
Enter Brownie Wise, a divorced single mother from Detroit.
Wise was a successful Tupperware salesperson in an otherwise
dreary market for Earl”s product. In 1951 he placed Wise in
charge of all sales and distribution. Her first step was to
withdraw all Tupperware from stores. Sales would be in-home
only.
The Tupperware party soon became a ritual of suburban
America. The new housing tracts lacked common gathering
places and the parties helped fill the void. Back in those days
women also had few ways of making money having been shoved
out of the work force after the men returned home from World
War II. A Tupperware hostess could make $25-$30 for a two-
hour party. Burp! [Source: U.S. News, 10/18/99]
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/31/70: #1 “I”ll Be There”
(Jackson 5.speaking of girls) #2 “We”ve Only Just Begun”
(Carpenters) #3 “Fire And Rain” (James Taylor).
Quiz Answers: (1) Tamara McKinney (2) Diann Roffe-
Steinrotter.
Girl Week wraps up, Friday.
