Newspaper Page Text
Griffih Daily' News
Backyard pools
(Continued from Page 1.)
over long periods corrodes the
seals on the filter. That means
either an overhaul job or a new
filter.
An improper chemical dos
age eventually leads to what
pool maintenance men call an
“acid bath.” This requires
draining the pool and cleaning
the bottom and sides with an
acid solution. It’s costly, about
$65 in most places, and a nui
sance.
Pool builders or supply
houses provide a small pool
maintenance manual prescrib
ing the proper mixture and
amounts of chemicals, along
with a measuring device.
Dipped into the water, it will
tell the owner whether he needs
chlorine, acid or no chemicals
at all. Most pool owners mea
sure at least once a week, espe
cially in the summer months.
Proper pool maintenance is
vital if the owner wants to hold
down maintenance costs. Re
pairs to a faulty filter, for ex
ample, can run to more than
SIOO for just a few hours’ work.
Periodical pool vacuuming
and filter flushing are musts if
repair costs are to be held
down.
A swimming pool, in a sense,
is like an auto so far as invest
ment and maintenance are
concerned. The owner can
spend himself into near poverty
or maintain a pool for only a
few dollars a week if he does so
properly. And he can spend as
much building a pool as he
would on a small house if that is
his desire.
Charles Wickersham, a San
Diego, Calif., assistant district
attorney, has some thoughts on
the contractors who build
swimming pools. Presently he
is prosecuting civil damage
and injunction suits against
three California pool construc
tion firms on charges of false
advertising and unfair business
practices.
Similar actions have been
pushed in many states. Wicker
sham says.
In South Carolina, for exam
ple, he points out, the Federal
Trade Commission went to
court against a pool construc
tion company and charged the
firm with false advertising.
The court fined the company
SBO,OOO and ordered it to halt
advertising such claims as
lawn furniture and television
sets with each new pool. It de
veloped that lawn furniture and
TV set “deals” came true only
if the owners allowed their
pools to be used as “demon
strators” to attract new cus
tomers for the company, Wick
ersham recalls.
“Most pool contractors are
reliable,” he says. “But the
prospective pool owner must be
sure to get one of these, and
even then should read all the
terms of his contract carefully,
right down to the last line.
“Some contractors advertise
a pool for an amazingly low
price. But then you find out
that’s a crummy pool by their
own admission, so they trv to
sell you a better one at perhaps
double the cost.
"Some firms claim their own
crews build the pools, then sub
contract most of the job out to
others, leaving the owner virtu
ally unprotected as to work
manship, the length of the con
struction period, etc.”
2
If you have a backyard
swimming pool or plan to build
one, make sure it’s well fenced
and that the gates are locked
unless the prospect of a multi
million-dollar damage suit fails
to appall you.
Most cities have ordinances
requiring prescribed fencing
and locked gates. Few judges
or juries would award damages
to the survivors of a pool
drowning victim who scaled a
fence to swim where he or she
was uninvited.
Yet the pool owner in many
communities is liable for dam
ages if the swimming area is
not sealed off from the street.
This is as true of apartment
houses or hotels as it is of pri
vate residences, unless there is
a pool attendant.
Even under the stiffest safety
rules, thousands of children are
injured around pools every
year across the nation, and
hundreds of others are
drowned, despite the safety
rules practiced by most pool
owners.
Should you plan a swimming
party for your toddler, or even
teen-ager, make sure an adult,
preferably a good swimmer, is
invited to the soiree. That will
minimize the chances for di
saster and in most cases ab
solve you of legal liability in the
event a child is hurt or
drowned.
A chief source of grief around
private pools is the often unob
structed but wet and slippery
deck around the water. Chil
dren especially are inclined to
chase each other at top speed,
often falling and suffering
painful or serious injuries.
To avoid this, some pool de
signers install a planter or
some sort of garden along one
length of the pool to discourage
headlong races.
Often this has proved a sig
nificant safety factor. If the
kids can’t make it all the way
around the pool, they aren’t
likely to run so fast along the
deck.
Mobile toys around a pool ei
ther should be lashed down un
til tots are given permission to
play with them or kiddies
should be supervised during
romping periods with them.
Hundreds of children each
year push wheeled toys into
pools and follow them in, some
times drowning unless they are
observed by their elders. Tri
cycles are one of the blackest
villains in this tragedy.
Ball tossing around a pool
can be a dangerous pastime,
too, unless it is supervised
carefully. Children often
plunge in after an errant ball,
forgetting they are playing at
the deep end and can’t swim.
Some owners have installed
pool alarms, which set up a fu
rious buzz if an object falls into
the water. They can be in
stalled for about $l2O. How
ever, they often are so sensitive
that even a wind gust along the
water will trigger the buzzer.
Another safety device is the
pool cover, ranging from plas
tic to canvas, flat to dome
shaped. for use when the pool is
not to be occupied. These cost
anywhere from $l5O to $1,500
and sometimes are difficult to
install. Then a simple swim be
comes a tough production num
ber.
A clean pool, of course, i?a
safer pool. Gear, transparent
water makes it easy to spot ob-
jects on the bottom. Goudy, al
gae-ridden water could obscure
the bottom so that would-be
rescuers couldn’t see a strug
gling victim at the deep end.
A properly measured amount
of chlorine and acid in the wa
ter will insure transparency,
provided the pool bottom is
vacuumed periodically and the
filter then flushed. Don’t guess
at the proportions. Use a
gauge, available at any pool
supply store, to make certain
the proper amounts of acid and
chlorine are present to provide
maximum purification.
Be sure the pool filter and
water recycling devices are
working properly. If you can
afford it, a periodical check by
professional pool maintenance
men is a good idea.
But all the safety gadgets and
water purification devices and
chemicals on the market can’t
measure up to early swimming
lessons for youngsters who
spend much of their summer
around a pool, says Mrs. Mona
Tucker, a swimming instructor
who specializes in teaching tod
dlers to be buoyant.
“Mothers can teach their ba
bies water safety right on the
Maureen O’Sullivan
recalls film luck’
By NANCY ANDERSON
Copley News Service
HOLLYWOOD - If Maureen
O’Sullivan had spent her last
$250 sensibly, “Tarzan” would
never have had her for his
“Jane” nor, in all likelihood,
would Mia Farrow have had
her for a mother.
The $250, frivolously blown,
led directly to her casting as
Johnny Weismuller’s jungle
bride in “Tarzan, the Ape
Man” and indirectly to her
marriage to John Farrow, Hol
lywood writer, director and
lady killer .
“The greatest blessings my
career brought me were my
husband and children,” she
says now. “Though I know that,
if I’d never come to Hollywood,
I would probably have met
someone else who would have
made me happy. '
“I often think about what my
life might have been if I’d nev
er become an actress. If I’d
stayed in Ireland, I probably
would have met and married
someone in the foreign service
who’d be retired by now.”
Born in Roscommon in the
west of Ireland, Maureen was
the gently reared daughter of a
prominent family with no lean
ings toward the stage or screen
until she met a studio represen
tative at a party.
She was 17 years old and
beautiful and thoroughly flus
tered when he surprised her
with his version of “You ought
to be in pictures, baby.”
However, when she discov
ered that he meant what he
said, that he really wanted to
put her into movies, she talked
her family into letting her go to
Hollywood to appear in “Song
of My Heart” with the great
Irish tenor, John McCormack.
At that point, sound was so
new that anyone with a re
spectable speaking voice,
much less a fine singing voice,
was in great demand at the stu
dios with the result that McCor-
diaper table,” she points out.
“A child may not be old enough
to walk or talk, but he or she
can kick. When he does,” ad
vises Mrs. Tucker, “mom
should move the little feet back
and forth in a rhythmic swim
ming motion and pull the arms
in and out."
For adjustment to water, she
suggests the bathtub. The tech
nique is to hold the child close,
facing you, and blow bubbles,
repeating “blow" and “bub
bles." The little mimic’s reac
tion will be to blow out. rather
than suck in, when submerged
in water, according to Mrs.
Tucker.
“It takes a lot of patience and
loads of love,” Mrs. Tucker
concedes. “Every right re
sponse should be rewarded
with a big hug and kiss.”
Next, she continues, sit with
the child on the pool edge.
When the toddler is used to be
ing near the water, mom should
stand in the pool, take the
child’s hands and urge: “Come
to me,” until the child flops in.
This is repeated with one
hand outstretched and eventu
ally no hands at all.
And, of course, baby should
mack, Lawrence Tibbett, Mor
ton Downey and others were
being snatched from opera and
concert stages and thrust be
fore cameras.
Unhappily, many of these
overnight movie stars were al
so one-picture movie stars as
producers learned that a per
former had to project more
than fine tone to make it with
picture-show patrons.
McCormack’s career in films
was short-lived. However, the
little Irish girl who’d appeared
with him was treated more
kindly by Hollywood, primarily
because the 20th Century-Fox
organization was feuding with
Janet Gaynor and needed a
young actress to use as a threat
to the star.
“I was under contract to Fox
and was promoted as ‘the new
Janet Gaynor,”’ Maureen re
called recently while making
an ABC “Movie of the Week.”
“Os course I wasn’t like her.
Her fans didn’t accept me as a
substitute, and pretty soon the
studio lost interest in me.
“I went home to Ireland for a
visit, and while I was gone, Fox
decided to drop me. I wasn’t
told about this, but after I got
back to Hollywood, I simply
didn’t hear from the studio.
“I was living at the old Gar
den of Allah then, where my
rent was $250 a month, quite a
lot for that time.
“I’d reached the point where
I had only $250 left and couldn’t
decide what to do with it I
could have used it to go home,
but I’d left with such expecta
tions I hated to go back a fail
ure. On the other hand, I could
have used the money to pay an
other month’s rent in hopes
that I’d get some work before
the month was up.
“I hadn’t made up my mind
what to do when Russell Ball, a
very well-known photographer
who had a studio across the
street from where I lived, told
me that I should have new pic
tures taken.
be taught how to hang onto the
pool’s edge. Then if he should
fall in, says Mrs. Tucker, he
will bubble to the top and grab
on. Then an automatic, built-in
wail is likely to summon moth
er to the rescue.
The next step is for baby to
learn to climb out of the pool
unaided.
“You may have to let an ob
stinate youngster hang on the
edge until he gets so mad he
crawls out by limself,” Mrs.
Tucker says. If children are to
swim or play in the pool, the
water should be about 90 de
grees. And babies in the water
should be burped occasionally.
The major problem for pool
owners or operators is the unin
vited guest or pre-teen tres
passer who sneaks into the
backyard — sometimes over a
fence. The latter is not the en
tire answer to the drowning
problem, but it helps.
Now, if you still want to buy a
house with a pool, do so by all
means. But don’t come back
and write a letter to the editor
later that somebody recom
mended a pool purchase for
you.
“‘How much would you
charge to take them?’ I asked.
“‘Twohundred and fifty dol
lars,’ he told me.
“I gave him my $250 and had
the pictures taken, and, as a di
rect result of them, I got a new
agent who took me to MGM
where I was put into a Tarzan
picture.”
Thus it was that she became
established in Hollywood where
she married Farrow rather
than a British civil servant and
bore the Farrow brood, includ
ing Mia.
Though Miss O’Sullivan has
lived in the East — New York
and Connecticut —for a num
ber of years, she was happy to
return to Hollywood to star in
the ABC movie, “Lonelyheart
555,” not only because she liked
the property but because she
likes the town.
“I was always treated very
well in Hollywood,” she said.
“I’ve heard actresses talk
about studio executives who
chased them around their
desks, but no one ever did any
thing like that with me.
“I must not have had much
sex appeal.
“I was pleased when I was
cast in my first Tarzan picture,
because it had a very sophisti
cated script. You must remem
ber that Tarzan was actually
an English lord.
“That was in 1931, but even
then my contract said that
‘MGM reserves all rights in
cluding television.’
“Television! I’d never heard
of it, so I asked my agent,
‘What’s that?’
“He said, ‘Oh, it’s something
that will never happen.’
“But I had a feeling, so I told
him, ‘l’ll take less money and
you see if you can get the tele
vision for me.’
“He tried, but they knew.
Those studio people had a fore
knowledge. They are as treach
erous as can be and wouldn’t
give an inch.”