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PAGE 8, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1974, WHITBY FREE PRESS KALNINS ON .. . Stripper's Lament This week I went to my favorite health club in Toronto - The Village Green - for my usual treat of cup of coffee. I sat on the pidgeon stool, enjoying my coffee when sudd- enly a fuzzy-looking creature plumped down beside me. As I stretched my neck for a closer look, I saw this huge dirty-blonde wig sprouting in front of me and a pair of dark blue eye lashes beneath it. The lips were painted redder than the railway box-cars at the CN yards and the mouth was wide open, spewing out gutter words a la mode. The face was somewhat skinny and well covered with cosmetic aids. At close range, it looked like a Halloween mask. Nonchalantly, my strange companion struck up a con- versation. She introduced herself as Linda Christine Doss, 29, who had some interesting observations about Toronto, its people, and her own occupation - stripping for money. To put it bluntly, Linda is a professional stripper, travels all over the world and presently appears at Starvin' Marvins. a well-known strip joint on Yonge Street. Before coming to Toronto, Linda has plyed her art in cities such as Las Vegas, New York, Paris, Honolulu, San Francisco and Montreal. She began her stripping career at the age of 16, leaving her parents' house in Quebec and heading straight for the greener fields in the United States. Soon afterwards, her parents split, her mother going to Hollywood and her father remaining in Canada. When Linda was 19 years old, she already made good money. Then, she started to meet "all kinds of showbiz people". One might say, her life was one big bed of roses. Although she got into stripping "out of sheer desper- ation", the money, nevertheless, kept rolling in. At times stripper Lindy was making as much as 20 G's a year. A-nd all the money that she piled up, she blew on herself and some of her closest friends. Today, the wide-eyed Linda- Christine is no longer a striptease superstar and her income from taking-it-ali-off has dropped considerably. "I guess I'm getting old", she lamented, slowly sipping her coffee and looking somewhat bored. "You know, all the young chicks are getting the jobs these days For example, at Las Vegas "Bottoms Up" strip joint, only young girls are auditioned for strip acts. Worse, about 70 girls are unemployed in that city, all willing to do anything to land a job. Therefore I decided to come back to Canada and try my luck in Toronto." "First, I met this ,photographer Norm Betts", she told me. "He took my picture - the worst I have seen in a long time, but, WOW, I landed on the front page of the Toronto Sun." I'd really like to wring his neck, said Lindy, because I caught this terrible cold while posing in my bikini beside tbe swimming pool. Furtbermore, Lindy complainied, he neyer mentioned tbe place wbere I work. "l'm on the warpath because of tbat shot of me", she thundered. "Wait 'tii I get bim; I'il give bim a piece of my mind". Despite front-page publicity, top-notch strippers make about S200 a week in Toronto. Out of this money, she bas to pay for costume repairs. For instance, if Linda's G-string breaks, sbe bas to sheli out five or six bucks in repairs. If the silver dress is bursting at the seams from too many gyrations, Linda is once again asked to pay ber repair bis. After ail, tight dresses are bound to disintegrate once in a wbile. It's ail part of the occupational hazards. "What are your future plans after ail tbese setbacks?" I asked her gently, pointing towards the stars. "Future plans?", sbe pouted. "The bell with the future! Ail I want is more money". But, a few minutes later, Lindy cooled down. She said she'll start her career "all over again" with a professional agent. "I need somebody who can handle publicity for me", she moaned. "Would you like to be my agent?" Well, after those kind words, I almost fell off the chair. I felt badly, but I had to decline her offer - at least for the time being. letters to the editor box 206, wh.itby "Whitby Y In Action" is the theme of the 8th Annual Meeting of the Whitby Dis- trict Family YMCA on Fri. February 22, in the Cafetor- ium of Henry Street Higb School from 7 - 9 p.m. Another title could be "Active Youth" and Adults too as the Y presents this outstanding demonstration of the on-going Y activities. The Saturday Gymnastics Club are taking a feature part of the stage display with balance beam, floor routines, trampoline and other features of their weekly activities. The Y Gymnastics Club now has 78 registered in the Junior Gym and 34 in the Seniors and their demonstration alone will be worth seeing. The Y Judo Clubs will present a Kata Judo number by the St. John's Club which has now over 50 members and demonstrations of thr- ows by the St. Paul's Club of over 35. Judo has had a great growth and the well established Y Clubs will pre- sent a superb demonstration. The Canada F'itness Award will be demonstrated, a floor hockey scrimmage arranged and some other special fea- tures are to be announced. Prior to the regular annual meeting business which will be very brief displays are being arranged including wo- odcraft, needlecraft, 4H Club, adult programs, Ladies-Take- A-Break, Day Camp, Cross Country Skiing, Antiques., etc. Small children will en- March 1... Last day! Save on taxes and add to vour retirement fund by subscribing to Victoria and Grey Trust Company's Registered Retirement Savings Plans. But right now! Last day to register tax reduction savings is February 28. See Victoria and Grey - today! Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation VICTORM.. GREY TRAusT COMPNNY StNCr 1889 Lorne D. Reid Manager 308 DJNDAS W. joy participating in the Let's Create or Noon Hour YMCA Program. Colour slides of many Y programs will be shown during the Buffet Lun- cheon following the demon- stration. The Annual Report cover- ing the extensive 1973 Y program activities will show a major increase in partici- pation and variety of activi- ties. In this years Day Camp program attendance increased from 423 to 560 participants during the 8 week program conducted at Heber Down Conservation Area. Usually the Y Annual Me- eting bas been a banquet and guest speaker, however the YMCA Board of Directors approved a complete change in the presentation and as a result over 100 will partici- pate in the program. About 250 can witness the program. Formed in late 1965, the Whitby Y has had a trem- endous growth. It began as a small committee interested in developing community ac- tivities. The Whitby District Family YMCA was chartered as a member of the National Council of YMCA's of Can- ada in November 1966. It employed it's first profession- al staff in August 1967 in the person of Ron Hupfield, the present Executive Direc- tor. Mrs. Elizabeth Moore became Program Director 4 years ago. Mrs. Joan Bridge is the office Secretary. The Y office is in the Whitby Centennial Building but its activities are carried on in 10 different schools, four churches, two Oshawa pools and the Heber Down Conser- vation Area. Anyone interested in se- curing tickets for the 8th Annual Meeting should phone the Y office 668-6868. Tick- ets are $1.50 adult, 50 cents for students. WHITBY Whitby'Y'Annual Meeting