From Church Page Editor to B-Girl Is
Assignment of Young Lady Reporter
(Editor’s note: Young news
paper reporters fresh out of col
lege always yearn for a big as
signment — but seldom get it.
When Mary Burdelak, 22, joined
the Gary Post-Tribune this fall,
she found herself editing the
paper’s church page. But she
soon got a new “beat.” Her job:
patronizing Gary’s toughest bars
and find out how borderline pros
titutes operate. To spare Mary
embarrassment and possible dan
ger, the Post-Tribune did not use
her picture. Gary is a suburb of
Chicago.)
By MARY BURDELAK
Written for the Associated Press)
GABY, Ind., (#) — From church
page editor to prostitute — even
make-believe prostitute — is a
big step.
Just a few months ago I was
studying journalism in a nice, safe
classroom at Marquette Univer
sity. I dreamed of thrilling assign
ments — and I became a Church
editor.
Then . . .
“Go just so far but no farther,”
my city editor told me when he
handed out the B-girl assignment.
It helped a bit to know that a
husky male reporter went along,
not with me but close enough to
help if things got rough.
I soon learned that practically
any young woman could get a B
girl’s job in Gary at the drop of
a beer bottle. All she needs is a
tight sweater, wild hairdo and
lots of makeup.
I received two offers in the very
first bar I entered, the first from
a male customer who wanted me
to work in another tavern. Then
the bartender. approached me:
“Get customers to buy drinks
for themselves and you,” he ex
plained. “The money is good.
Your drinks would be tea instead
of alcohol.”
He neglected to mention the
rear door leading to an upstairs
room. That’s where the B-girl
takes the next inevitable step
into prostitution.
Figuring I had learned enough
for a first lesson, I stalled off
the bartender and made a quick
exit.
Another contact saw I was ner
vous and tried to calm me with
a “soft sell.”
“Now, you don’t have to worry
in this place,” he said soothingly.
“There won’t be any mickeys, no
bodys going to paw you and you
won’t have trouble of any kind.”
The “salesman’ quickly outlined
the deal — $25 a week salary and
a 60 per cent cut on every drink
I hustled.
He called over a barmaid in a
bulging sweater to back up his
story.
“Sue, how much did you make
last Saturday?’ he asked.
“One hundred and four bucks,”
Sue replied enthusiastially. “You
can make good money, as long
as you don’t sit around all day like
some of ’em.” .
A little simple figuring showed
that even deducting the $25 salary
and pricing cold tea at a dollar a
shot, it would take $258 drinks
to make that kind of money in a
single day. Thats where the up
stairs room came in.
My brief career as a make-be
lieve prostitute ended abruptly
when one drunk and rather insis
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CANCER SOCIETY TO STUDY
FAMILY LIFE IN BAY STATE ;
BOSTON, Iff) — The American
Cancer Society has undertaken a
six-year study of the living hab
its of 15,000 families in 52 Massa
chusetts cities and towns in a
search for the causes of cancer.
The families will be questioned
about their diseases, operations,
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TAKE THAT . . .
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Iff) — A
trained bear, riding a motor
scooter in a nationally televised
circus act, ran into Walter
Klauser, his trainer, Thursday
night.
Police said Klauser was hospit
alized with a leg fracture. There
was no interruption, however, in
the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and
Bailey performance.
tent customer joined me in a tav
ern booth.
“Hey, I got a hundred dollars
in my pocket, and I’ll give you
$15,” he muttered.
When I pretended not to hear
him, he put his hand on my arm
and smirked, “Okay, $20 then.”
Right then I decided I’d reached
the “just so far but no farther”
point mentioned by my city
editor.
Now, I’m back on the church
desk, listing Sunday sermon topics
once more, but I’d think twice
before taking another B-girl as
signment.
There must be a happy medium!
DRAPES CLEANED
CURTAINS WASHED
ADD
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MODERN
Dry Cleaners
and Laundry
— Overnight Service —
Egan Launches
Work on Budget,
Increase Expected
JUNEAU — Governor William
Egan last week formally initiated
advance work on Alaska’s 1960-61
budget.
In a memorandum to depart
ment and division heads, the gov
ernor named a budget review
committee assigned the task of
“developing a final budget with
in the foreseeable revenue.”
In other words, said the Gov
ernor, he hoped to present a bal
anced budget to the 1960 Legis
lature when it convenes here
next month.
I But, he told a news conference,
it is still too early to say whether
a balanced budget would be pos
sible. He also declined to esti
mate the total amount of appro
priation requests he would seek
from the Legislature, although
he said the next budget would be
higher than this year’s.
The boost, he said, would follow
increased needs of state agencies
as they move to undertake ex
panded duties in their various
fields.
Budget requests from the var
ious departments of the state gov
ernment already have been sub
mitted to the Department of Ad
ministration, which will have the
appropriation review for the
Governor.
The review committee, the Gov
ernor said in his memo, “has
authority to make changes as it
may deem necessary, subject to
my final decision.”
The amount of the preliminary
requests already on hand was not
revealed.
“Under provisions of the Con
stitution,” Egan said, “we now
have an executive budget. The
advance departmental requests
are subject to change, and until
the Governor approves them there
is no budget.”
The budget review, Egan said,
would be handled by Administra
tion Commissioner Floyd Guertin,
Deputy Commissioner George
Nichols, and Richard Freer, head
of the department’s budget
division.
Former Territorial Senator Rob
ert Ellis of Ketchikan, named ear
lier as a member of the committee,
will be unable to serve. The Gov
ernor said Ellis had decided that
he would be unable to devote
enough time to the project, and
had withdrawn.
Superase Bond Typing Paper
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I ilM . 7M U ^—'A P"."-i22:
Sick Russian
Sailor Brought to
Kodiak Hospital
KODIAK, UP> — A U. S. Coast
Guard plane wingetjpjver the long
Aleutian Island chain Wednesday
night bringing a sick Russian sea
man to a hospital here.
The seaman was taken off a
ship of the Soviet fishing fleet
at a rendezvous at remote Dutch
Harbor, 650 miles west of here.
The Coast Guard identified the
Russian seaman as Shasha Pyetri
mtov, 32, of Vladivostok. Doctorf
said the Soviet sailor, who is ablfe
to walk, was in serious but not
critical condition.
Doctors at the Kodiak Naval
Hospital said he was suffering
from peptic ulcers and severe
hemorrhaging.
It was the second time in nine
months that a Soviet seaman had
been flown to an Alaska hospital
after being stricken on a ship in
the Bering Sea.
Word of Pyetrimktov’s illness
reached here Tuesday. A Navy
outpost at Adak in the extreme
western Aleutians relayed a ra
dio appeal from the refrigerator
ship Jana.
The Jana, with the sick man
aboard, steamed south and reached
Dutch Harbor Wednesday. The
Coast Guard sent a plane from
here to Dutch Harbor with a Navy
doctor, Lt. Dewey H. Yarley of
Coats, N. C.
Yarley was also aboard the
plane which flew Evgenij Ivano
vich Gneushev to Elmendorf Air
Force Base at Anchorage last
April after the seaman suffered
severe concussion in a shipboard
fall. Gneushev recovered at the
base hospital and was sent home
to Russia late in May.
Former Surgeon General
Dies in Chicago at 70
CHICAGO, UP) — Dr. Ross Mc
Intire, 70, former Surgeon Gen
eral of the United States and per
sonal physician t o President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, died yes
terday in Grant Hospital. He was
stricken during the night.
Since leaving government serv
ice, Dr. Mclntire had been execu
tive director of the International
College of Surgeons with head
quarters in Chicago.
Fine Job Printing At The Hugget
Nome Directory
Northwestern Alaska
Chamber of Commerce
Meets Every Monday Noon at
North Star Dining Room
Russell Hermann, President
ALASKA CHAPTER NO. 1
Order of Eastern Star
Doris Wilke
Worthy Matron
Helen Dunbar
Secretary
Meets first and third Mondays
ANVIL LODGE
No. 140
HERB JENKS, WM.
Norvin V. Lewis, bet.
Meets First and Third Thursday
of Each Month
NOME ROTARY CLUB
Ash Craft
President
Herb Jenks
Secretary
Wednesday Luncheon
Parent-Teachers Assn.
Meets last Tuesday of every
month at School.
WERNER BOHRER, President
VESTA SUNDSTROM. Secty.
— VISITORS WELCOME -