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American Women Big Losers
/ j-.-VXs-- Pl |
Americans lose
some $2 billion in
cash each year,
and women find
ingenious ways to
lead the way.
John Saxon was all right until
he relaxed, but then
The Bold Doctor
Almost Fainted
By DICK KLEINER
Hollywood Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD—(N E A)—
“The most advanced
operating room in the
country is right here—on
Stage 14 at Universal
Studio.”
It is, apparently, the truth
that biotechnologist Byron
Bloch speaks. He helped de
sign and equip the operating
room they are using for the
doctor third of NBC’s new
series, The Bold Ones. And
it is, he says, the ultimate
in well-equipped operating
rooms.
The Bold Ones is three
rotating stories in the same
hour on NBC. One is a
lawyer story, one a law
enforcement story and one a
medical story. There is no
connection between the three
—so , far—but, theoretically,
By HELEN HENNESSY
NEA Women's Editor
NEW YORK—(NEA)—
Marshall McLuhan has
called cash “the poor man’s
credit card.”
And according to two re
cent nationwide surveys,
adult Americans lose their
“poor man’s credit card” at
the rate of about $2 billion
per year.
Women, who claim they
can co mpe t e successfully
with men if given half a
they all involve men who are
bold and daring.
I dropped into the three
sets, to see what bold and
daring things were going on.
The law enforcement team
had Leslie Nielsen working
on the case of a convicted
murderer (Robert Drivas)
trying to get a new trial.
The lawyer show was shoot
ing a scene in which Burl
Ives had an argument with
another lawyer (Dana
Elcar). It all seemed about
as bold and daring as Peyton
Place.
But real boldness was go
ing on on Stage 14, where
John Saxon was operating.
There were two genuine
surgeons from UCLA in the
team, plus a UCLA anes
thesiologist, a nurse from St.
Joseph’s and “the best heart
lung machine man in the
U.S.” running the heart-lung
machine.
chance, can take a bow of
achievement as a result of
these surveys. We’re way
ahead in the battle of the
sexes when it comes to los
ing cash. Approximately one
woman in 12 is a cash loser
compared to one in 20 men.
Don’t get ruffled feathers
and cry “discrimination.”
There’s a reason. Findings
of the surveys show that al
though it’s generally as
sumed that the cash loss
hazard is greatest when
traveling, this is not so.
Stay-at-homes, it seems,
have even greater loss fre
quency. Most cash is lost at
home, at work and in shops
in one’s home town.
Why wouldn’t women be
the greatest offenders under
these circumstances? Who’s
at home more? Who does
most of the shopping and
works, too.
The surveys also indicate
that college-educated adults
have a loss frequency nearly
twice as high as that of high
school grads. Perhaps there
should be college courses in
how to live in an affluent
society and remain affluent
ourselves.
Loss of money is not a sub
ject to be taken lightly. And
most of us who have lost
They worked away, as the
camera turned. An emerg
ency. Turn on the heart
lung machine. David Hart
man signaled the machine
operator. He pulled a lever,
turned a switch.
Red fluid—blood!—coursed
through the transparent
plastic tubes in the Dispos
able Total Body Perfusion
Oxygenator. They watched
the track of the heart on the
television monitor.
“What happens now?”
Saxon muttered, low enough
so the microphone couldn’t
pick it up.
He kept on operating. The
nurse handed him another
instrument. He sewed
another stitch in the sheet.
“Why don’t they cut?”
said Hartman.
They finally did cut, and
the actors relaxed. Bloch,
cash are loathe to discuss
it because so often the cir
cumstances show us up as
careless or foolish. Obvious
ly, the public generally
needs to acquire a better set
of money-handling habits.
How do people lose cash?
Half the time those who have
lost money don’t know how it
happened. Among those who
do, two out of three times
the loss is “off the person”
—out of a pocket, or purse—
either stolen or accidentally
dropped. This is because so
many of us retain the his
toric “mattress and money
belt” psychology regarding
cash despite the modern
popularization of banking as
an institution in American
life.
Women are notoriously
careless with their handbags
while they are shopping, and
petty thieves thrive on re
moving wallets. Their meth
ods vary, but ladies, if a fel
low shopper asks you to ap
prove her selection, clutch
your bag while you answer
her or your companionable
smile may turn to a look of
dismay when you find your
money gone.
Here are a few comments
from born losers who were
asked how their money got
away:
W ~x IBH
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the biotechnologist, said that
the best operating rooms he
knew about were at the
Methodist Hospital in Hous
ton—w here Dr. Michael
Deßakey works — and the
National Institute of Health
in Bethesda, Md.
“They have equipment like
this,” he said, “but not as
good. This is the next gen
eration, beyond Deßakey’s.”
It is valued at somewhere
around $400,000, which would
make it probably the world’s
most expensive set—except
that it is all on loan.
Saxon seems extremely
deft in his movements, and
he has a logical explanation
for his dexterity: “I think
it’s because I can eat
Chinese food with chop
sticks.”
Dr. Peter Henning, the
genuine UCLA surgeon who
was in the on-camera team,
said it was a shame Saxon
Griffin Daily News
• “I put money in the
mail for payment on a TV.
It never got to the com
pany.”
• “There was an item in
a newspaper about custom
plastic slipcovers and when
the man took the order, he
took a deposit. Then, accord
ing to the district attorney,
he left town.”
• “I had been out shop
ping and carried my money
in my bra. When I came
home and was undressing I
leaned over to flush the com
mode and the money fell out
of my bra. The sewer was
S2O richer.”
• “Someone came in the
back of the church during
services while we were all
kneeling and took all the
purses.”
• “Fell asleep on the
couch in someone’s house.
When I awoke, my money
was gone.”
The relationship between
most cash losing and care
lessness is obvious.
Among Americans, the
surveys report, carelessness
is so persistently a part of
everyday living it must be
deemed almost a national
habit. And women, it seems,
lead the march.
hadn’t gone in for medicine.
His calmness as well as dex
terity impressed the good
doctor. He said he would
like to see Saxon in his class
at UCLA in the fall.
But Saxon, who costars in
the series with E. G.
Marshall and Hartman, is
not about to give up acting
for medicine. He is serious
about doing a good job, how
ever, and went down to St.
Joseph’s Hospital to observe
a few real operations.
“He was always kind of
queasy,” says his lovely
wife, Mary Ann, “but he
wasn’t when he was doing
research like that.”
Saxon says he found that
if he concentrated on the
technical aspects of the real
surgery he was all right, but
as soon as he started relax
ing his mind, he almost
fainted.
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