The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 17

Women's World and general news THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1971 Section vr' i I v) A 1 -i a i iiimiMM in umawini homietikliitmmmmr tf Above, Presto works his magic at Cedar Grove School in Shepherdsville with the help of Tony Nusz, left, pnd Robert Baker. At right, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Dopp pose, he in more formal attire than he's usually seen wearing. PRESTO! TTze magic clown charms the kids WDRB, Louisville's newest television station, stepped into a dressing room and Presto! Bill Dopp, was gone, Presto the Magic Clown was on, and Jaspan knew he had his host.

And, just like magic, Presto has charmed his way into the hearts of thousands of kids he gets fan mail in bundles and the writers are anywhere from 4 to 21 years old. The first week he told the children watching Channel 41, "Why don't you draw a picture of old Presto and send By SALLY BLY Courier-Journal Staff Writer Elmer Jaspan was getting desperate. He had a children's TV show going on the air in four days and, although he'd had a lot of auditions, he still didn't have a host. And then Bill Dopp showed up from Nashville, and said he'd like to have a job. Jaspan told him what he needed and told him to come back for an audition the next day.

So the next day, Bill Dopp went to When a television performer like Presto visits These first-, second- and third-graders at Cedar the schools, "yu get it all back," Dopp said. Grove are eager to participate on stage. it to me?" Although there were no prizes offered nor any promises to read mail on the air, within two weeks Presto had received 6,000 letters. In the six months he's been on the air, there have been 17,000 pieces of fan mail delivered to the clown. In fact, the weary mailmen are so tuned in that a letter addressed simply "To Presto, from Danny" found its way to the right person.

That simple address, though, says something else about Presto's popularity: Danny felt no need to sign anything but his first name. He was sure Presto had been talking directly to him all the time. That, Jaspan thinks, is the secret to Presto's popularity. From the first, "I liked his intimate quality," said Jaspan, who is executive vice president and general manager of the independent station. "He has an intimacy and rapport with the children.

He's not a 'boffo' type." In addition to doing five live shows a week and one taped show for Sunday morning, Dopp schedules at least one performance a week at schools in the area. His popularity has caused a loss of free time on weekends he's often visiting franchise restaurants and motel restaurants, shopping centers and other commercial places. At one shopping center he was approached by a group of high school students. "At first I thought they were putting me on," he said. "They kept following me.

But finally I got to talking gto them and they were real nice." One high school reportedly has a Presto fan club, a group of high school students asked him to speak at commencement told them I'd have to have an invitation from the and Jaspan said his 21-year-old daughter's contemporaries are big Presto fans. The secret to it, says Dopp, is that "I 5 in iiiimiiaiw-wwwwiiimtiiiwiiwtiwio A '1 fcvJ.ii'i:..iiiii.i i when he was in the sixth grade in a Chicago school. For a while he was the "tooth magician" and lectured on dentistry for the Good Teeth Council for Children of the American Dental Association. "I've always worked for children," said Dopp, alias Orenda, alias Presto. He worked at many Chicago-area schools.

He has also worked as a booking agent, and it was while trying to book performers for a parade in 1954 that he ran into a problem. "We were desperately in need of a clown," he said. "I resisted I was the type of magician who performed in tails and white tie." He gave in to the pressure and became a clown for a day. "The first time I did it, it went," he says with a smile. "He came home and said.

'I'm thinking about becoming a June Dopp remembers. "I knew that meant I'd have to get busy." She sews all his bright costumes and it was she who christened the new character Presto. Mrs. Dopp is very much a part of every performance, even though she never appears on stage or on camera. "None of this would be possible without her," Dopp said one day in his dressing room, while Mrs.

Dopp was adjusting his snappy red wig. She is the moving force behind and also makes all the costumes for J. Fred Frog, and Honey Bunny, two tiny characters that appear on television with Presto. Mrs. Dopp has personally read all those 17,000 letters Presto has received and makes most of the business arrangements.

She's also his "stage manager." "She knows exactly what I need," Dopp said. "We've worked together so long we know exactly how the other's going to react, we react well to each other." J. Fred Frog helps with some of th See CLOWN Page 4, column 1, this section decided a long time ago that it's one thing to perform to an audience and another thing to perform on television. This program goes right to one or two people sitting in front of the TV set. Other clowns work to a gallery.

That doesn't work as well. I work to one little guy sitting right there." Presto has another magic ingredient, Dopp said, and that's audience participation. He teaches them to make things, like newspaper hats, and he asks their help with his magic tricks. When he prepares to work his magic, he says, "One, two, three Presto!" And all over Louisville, children are shouting "Presto!" And, Dopp says with pride, Presto does REAL magic tricks. He doesn't goof them up.

-That's because Presto's predecessor in Dopp's character collection was Orenda the Magician. Dopp has been a magician more than 40 years. He started doing magic tricks Staff Photoi by Robert Stcinau "Presto!" cries Christopher Sears, and the napkin that was ripped apart becomes whole again. The magic wand probably helps a lot. Consumer Notes Group seeks market for additive-free whole wheat bread By LARRY WERNER CouriertJournal Staff Writer 1971, The Courier-Journal Some men feel the secret to immortality lies in inventing a better mousetrap.

Members of the Bluegrass Organic and Consumer Association say the secret to a longer life if not immortality lies in a better loaf of bread. So the 80-member group which consists of Lexington-area housewives and others interested in the over-chemicalization of food is asking Lexington merchants to put on the market an additive-free loaf of whole wheat bread. The "breadbasket project" is the second major undertaking by the organization since it was formed last January by Mrs. Mary Ann Cateforis, wife of a University of Kentucky math professor, contained ink in which PCB an industrial chemical had been used as a solvent. The boxes contaminated with PCB contained food products that ranged from breakfast cereals to dried milk to macaroni.

It is possible that the PCB poison could be transferred from the boxes to the food in them. The FDA says it is keeping close watch. So, the concern for cleaning up the environment by recycling rather than disposing of paper has created a potential health problem. It should be noted that there is no TCB problem connected with a recycling of Courier-Journal and Louisville Times newsprint. Offices in Kentucky Mill answer complaints Consumer complaint numbers: Kentucky Citizens Commission of Consumer Protection, 1-800-372-2960 (toll-free).

Louisville Office of Consumer Affairs, 582-2206. Better Business Bureau of Greater Louisville (BBB), 583-6546, and Lexington BBB, 254-3365. Mrs. Knatier invites consumer complaints With the almost weekly reports of food, drugs or other products causing health problems or other dangers, you might have wondered how to report "a food, drug, device or cosmetic you have reason to believe is mislabeled, unsanitary or harmful." Mrs. Virginia H.

Knauer, special assistant to President Nixon for consumer affairs, invites consumers to file complaints with the FDA. She advises anyone who suspects violations of food, drug, cosmetic and hazardous-substance laws to report the relevant facts to the nearest FDA regional office. An FDA office is located at 1141 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, 45202. Retail employes asked to report price rises The Consumer Federation of America is asking retail employes to "blow the whistle" on employers who raise prices during the wage-price freeze. The national federation of consumer groups is asking for reports of suspected violations from clerks, checkers, and other retail employes.

They can be signed or anonymous: "Retail employes are in the best position to know if consumers are being gypped," said Mrs. Erma Angevine, executive director of the federation. "CFA is therefore calling on retail employes to blow the whistle on employers." The federation says it will check out suspected violations through its nearly 200 affiliate organizations. Complaints should be sent to: Retail Employes' Price Watch, co CFA, 1012 14th N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.

store and didn't want to buy anything," she said. "We thought we could find people in Lexington interested in buying organic food and others, if any, who were interested in growing it and selling it." Finding people interested in consuming organic food was no problem. After starting with four housewives in January, the group grew to 33 families renting and tending organic plots in May. In August, Mrs. Susan Barlow also a professor's wife and co-chairman of the organization started the search for the perfect loaf of bread.

After checking local stores, she failed to find a loaf of whole wheat bread without additives. So the organization has decided to submit a recipe for such a loaf of bread and ask stores to make the bread and sell it. Mrs. Barlow said the group hopes the label on its bread will include full disclosure of ingredients, a nutritional breakdown and the organization's name "as the upholder of certain standards." She said the group has contacted several locally-owned stores about the idea, "and all expressed an interest if the market is big enough to support a profit." Mrs. Barlow said the group hopes to have its ideal loaf on the market this month.

She predicts success because, she said, the group is taking a positive approach. "We're orienled toward positive action," she said, "rather than just sit back and criticize and bemoan the fact that our food supply is hurt by excessive use of chemicals." If the bread campaign is successful, the group's co-chairmen say, they'll move on to new organic frontiers like a better hot dog. Consumer Center advises: Don't chew Crest tubes The University of Wisconsin's Center for Consumer Affairs has issued a warning that children (and presumably adults) should not chew on Crest toothpaste tubes. Those who do might get lead poisoning, the center says. The unusual alert followed a study of the lead content in tubes of the eight top brands of toothpaste.

Seven of the tubes contained less than 0.2 per cent lead and apparently do not present an imminent danger to toothpaste-tube-chewers. But the Crest tube contained 99 per cent lead, the study concluded. In case you're wondering, the study was prompted by two reported cases in Milwaukee of lead poisoning in children who had chewed on Crest toothpaste tubes. Both children have recovered. Recycling of some paper may cause health hazard An environmental campaign recycling paper may be producing a health hazard rCB-contamination.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that it found some TCB (polychlorinated bi-phenyls) in cardboard boxes made from recycled paper. The paper apparently Larry Werver coven consumer news for The Courier-Journal. From time to time, he assembles helpful and interesting items to keep consumer abreast of developments in this field. and three of Mrs.

Cateforis's neighbors. The first project was a cooperative organic gardening venture in which 33 families rented an acre of land where they were allowed to plant any vegetables of their choosing but forbidden from using harsh pesticides or commercial fertilizer. Mrs. Cateforis, co-chairman of the group, said that she decided to start the organization after reading books about the additives in commercial foods. "It got tr point whexa I went to th.