Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 25

Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, November 30, 1977 Section 2 Costly stress triggers corporate concern for you If the more, the better. It's what I run on. It motivates me." STRESS, WHICH makes some people tick and others have heart attacks, no longer is a private problem. Now, companies care. Memoranda on stress circulate, personnel directors speak of "relaxation-response," and medical counseling staffs are being enlarged.

Behind this benevolence is an era of corporate social responsibility and accountability, of executives quitting in midcareer for farm life in Vermont. The ranks are being filled by '60s graduates taught to care more about the quality of life than their predecessors did. Whether corporate concern over employe stress is a new paternalism is not clear. What is clear is that stress has moved from the nether world of "emotional problems" and "personality conflicts" to the corporate balance sheet. Stress, directly or indirectly the cause of more than half the medical problems company By Kathy Slobogin rnEW Y0RK 11 is mMmorn- I i I 'n8 on trading floor of a I I 1 1 Wa" Street commodities firm.

Of the 75 persons, half yell at any given time. Eight clocks show the time in major world cities. The short floor-to-ceiling distance magnifies the sounds of making money: Traders scream offers, telex operators yell quotations, men shout market prices, phones ring, machines tick. Barryr Long (not his real name)-, who earns $50,000 to $100,000 a year, may haye on the phone a Hong Kong buyer, a London seller, and three others on hold. He may trade millions of dollars in commodities that day; he could lose $5,000 in five seconds.

He is a nexus of numbers, phones, and people. After the day's trading, he sits exhausted, bleary-eyed, his hair disheveled, his tie loose, his voice hoarse. He is only 30, hut his hair has begun to gray in the year he has been a trader. "I CAN'T stand stress," he says. "Why do I do this? This is a very short-run, what-did-you-rio-for-us-today environment," he continues.

"There's a very high level of paranoia. It's difficult to let off steam. I'm beginning to question whether the money warrants what this job is doing to me." Lynn Salvage, 31, recently was elected president of the First Woman's Bank, which lost nearly $1.5 million in its first year and half of operations. Her task is to turn around the trend. "My day is very long, and pressure is very much a part of my job." she says.

"The pressure of visibility, of being a symbol of what women can do. The pressure of responsibility for more than 7,000 shareholders, many of them first-time investors who put up their own money for a hank they believe in. But I need pressure to function doctors treat, now is seen as not only troublesome but expen sive. Businessmen now re alize that stress also can lead to low productivity, absenteeism, hospitalization for disease, and premature death. All cost money.

"WHEN AN EXECUTIVE Chinese spirits invade U. S. If the Russians could market Stolichnaya Vodka to the American market, the People's Republic of China figures it should have a piece of the action, too. Their offering, from Shantung province, is Great Wall Chinese Vodka, billed as "the world's most expensive vodka." The new drink will be advertised only in the New Yorker strictly not for the peasants. Let them drink water A very popular brand of premixed bottled cocktails has been advertising its wares in the liquor trade magazines, including the proof measurement for each drink.

The Extra Dry Martini, for example, is listed as being made with gin and vermouth in a 9 to 1 ratio. And it is 40 proof. Now with gin averaging 86 to 9fi proof, how is it possible that this tiny bit of vermouth has cut the alcohol content so drastically? The answer is that the dastardly deed was done with water. It's illegal for a bar to water drinks, but OK for a bottler to add water to premixed drinks. "Besides, most people don't want that strong a drink anyhow," said the editor of one liquor trade magazine.

But those people wouldn't be drinking martinis, would they? Recycling, with a catch The packaging industry is very sensitive to public unhappiness about litter and waste, and it has been on the lookout for recyclable materials of all sorts. Thus, Goodyear introduced its new polyester soft drink bottle happily because it was "easily recycled," Waste Age reported. The company noted that 20 of the half gallon bottles could bt recycled into enough plastic to make a car steering wheel. The only problem was that Waste Age could not find any garbage experts who knew how to separate polyester inexpensively from the rest of the refuse, diminishing the impact of the claim that "The polyester bottle you drink from today could be the pants you wear tomorrow." The bottles are recyclable-only if the user finds a recycler. Pepsi-Cola, the first to use the bottles, told Waste Age it will try to collect the used bottles at supermarkets.

If no market arises for the bottles, Pepsi will burn them in refuse-to-energy plants, not exactly the same as recycling them. Unlikely job hazards Most people associate hazardous jobs with heavy machinery, chemical plants, or the personal peril of police and firefighting work. But health-threatening jobs are more as evidenced by the report on commercial artists by Job Safety and Health. Many chemicals and pigments used by commercial photographers and artists are poisonous, and artists have poisoned themselves by forming a point on a brush between their lips (Japanese silk kimono painters develop a high incidence of bladder cancer), by smoking or eating with paint-stained hands, and even by handling pigments that break down the skin surface and enter the body through the hands. Perhaps the oddest occupational hazard uncovered in recent months was that of a New York City stage hand.

His job was powdering strippers to take the shine, off their skin before they went on stage. The talcum powder he used too often ended up in his lungs, creating the disease talcosis after considerable exposure. No more telltale breath Word comes from Tokyo that a Japanese farmer has succeeded in breeding a garlic plant that smells like garlic, tastes like garlic, but doesn't give the consumer garlic breath. If the plant continues to reproduce without regaining its aftereffects, the whole dies of a heart attack at 45," says James M. Greenwood, a management consultant at IBM, "his skills and knowledge are lost.

The years between 45 and 65 are wasted, a cost to the company that trained him." Company efforts to combat stress have been eclectic, from mountain climbing to meditation. Corporations have selected some counterculture tranquilizers; counterculture entrepreneurs have tailored their techniques to corporate purposes. About 120 companies participate in Continued on following page Tribune Graphic by M. G. Lord Wrestling seminars help hopefuls become lord of the ring rv Pani Weinnarten WAS NOT a slick seminar.

No color brochures, no coffee and doughnuts, no comfy chairs. Just a handful of hopefuls, sitting silently in a small room, dreaming about the his own in the ring. (The peak years are 40 to 50, he says.) He even tests his pupils by pitting himself against them. His credentials unchallenged, Sabre (his real surname is Duane, but ring announcers always mispronounced it) started pitching. "There's a shortage of professional wrestlers," he told the group.

"It's not that more people don't want to do it, but they just don't know how to start." So for 10 years, Sabre has run seminars regularly, recruiting young blood for his American Wrestling School and for the sport he loves so much. He charges rookies a few dollars each, just enough to rent a gym. After they're trained, he takes them on the road to play the "hick town circuit" on bills he promotes, usually including himself. He never expects overflow crowds at the seminars, just the hardcore. He proudly rattles off alumni of the school: Rndeo Jones, Vito Martino.

Tom Demarco, Duke George, and a galaxy of stars familiar to wrestling buffs everywhere. (Wrestling and I he school are just sidelights, however. Sabre makes his living by writing and taking pictures for several wrestling magazines.) "IT TAKES A lot of guts to become a pro wrestler," he says. "It's like wanting to be a Marine. You know it's going to be hard.

Some Continued on page 4 fciyc, SH 4 1 i big time. Dreaming of wild, chanting crowds, money galore, and the ultimate thrill: climbing into the ring with one of their heroes, maybe even Dick the Bruiser, or Krusher, or The prospect of coming to grips with their idols was chilling, of course, but the brave few showed up anyway at the Ravenswood YMCA to take the first step toward a career in professional wrestling. While they waited for Bob Sabre, the featured attraction, they examined yellowed news- paper clippings of exploits long since forgotten, and studied colorful posters promising thrills and action to the residents of Small Town, U.S.A. Suddenly the silence in the room snapped quicker than a slap in the face. Sabre strode in, bristling with enthusiasm, beaming a big smile.

He didn't look like a professional wrestler, standing only about 5 feet 10 inches and weighing a svelte 185. In fact, he seemed more like a double for former boxing champion Rocky Graziano, right down to the sandpaper voice. Tribune Photo by Earl Gustie Jeannine Mauriello puts a headlock on wrestling coach Bob Sabre, proving but a pro wrestler he was, and he assured there's a place for women in any sport. the recruits that even at age 50 he could hold Bonnie Franklin i it: if tv 1 TV success came 'One Day at a Time' Bob Lardine By world soon may be eating garlic without announcing its presence hours afterward, In Japan, the first country to receive its benefits, the new garlic will sell for twice the price of the old. Those who eat enough of it can recoup their investment by saving on mouthwash.

The American eating empire Thousands of years from now when archeologists dig through the remains of ancipnt civilization of the 20th Century, they may come to the conclusion that a single culture has taken over the world. In Argentina, Hong Kong, Western Europe, and perhaps even in Russia before the end of the decade, American-style fast food is catching on. Different items do better in different places: Hong Kong turned thumbs down on Kentucky Fried Chicken because it wasn't to the taste of residents raised on street corner snacks of chicken legs and wings braised in soy sauce and garlic. But locals there snap up Kui Mo Ba (Big Macs to you) with the same verve that an Argentine snaps up a Big Cheburger. Egyptian students who worked as farm laborers in England created a market for Wimpy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken in Cairo.

Kuwaitis who vacationed in London took the Colonel and Wimpy to Saudi Arabia, Dubai even Iraq and Morocco. And McDonald's has been negotiating to build golden arches in Russia in time for the 1980 Olympic games. American television has had a lot. to do with the spread of fast food around the world, too. Even though American commercials don't travel with the shows, dramatic, situations that show Americans eating hamburgers subtly set the scene for local versions of that ail-American meal.

In fact, Advertising Age credits the popularity of Kui Mo Ba (which can be translated as "food of the to the Fonz, who is just as popular in Hong Kong as he is in America. Alary Knoblauch ONNIE FRANKLIN has always 1 wanted to look like Audrey Hep- kburn. Unfortunately, she is short, 'stumpv, and freckled. And then, her right eve occasionally crosses too. and she speaks with a nasal twang.

"My Fair Lady" she definitely isn't, and Ronnie has finally realized that at 33. "1 know now that it's never going to happen, rate her among the best. But somehow the adulation doesn't entirely satisfy the orange-haired performer with the milky skin. Maybe it's because she still is admittedly spoiled and bedeviled by myriad complexes. But at least she isn't egotistical, and doesn't envision herself a movie star.

In fact, Bonnie couldn't care less. "I jitst don't think about films," she says. "I even turn down TV movie-of-the-week offers. I have incredible respect for great movie actors, but the medium has never appealed to me." THE STAGE Is another matter. She's aching to return to Broadway, scene of her brilliant triumph in "Applause." And nightclub work continues to intrigue her.

During her recent hiatus from TV, Bonnie toured several cities with a lively act that appealed to most reviewers: "She's one of the world's best singers. Her ingenuous charm inspires belief in a lyric before it's two bars gone." "She has a vivacious personality that shines through every word she sings or says." Bonnie would be the first" to admit, that her accomplishments stemmed from a resolve to overcome physical shortcomings. It all started when she was growing up in Hermosa Beach, which is just a short swim from her Santa Monica birthplace. "I got my complexes from living at the beach," she sighs. "People were always telling me that 'beauty comes from within.

Any girl hearing that knows she's ugly. I never did look like the typical California girl, anyway. Few long-legged, blond beach Venuses Continued on page 16 with somehow I'm learning to nvi ve but it." What helps ease the disappointment is the conviction that she can sing and dance circles around Audrey Hepburn. Can she act better? Well, Bonnie may never be romanced by Rex Harrison, but she's the darling of 30 million television viewers who know her as Ann Romano on CBS' "One Day at a Time," and critics Mindful of the job insecurity of TV. Bonnie Franklin has a nightclub act in the wings.

WOO)! LOOK AT 'M ALL! LOOK HObJ SMlNV TMEV THE NEXT TlAtE VOL' STICK SOME ON ANV PAPis5 LT ME KN0UL. see hClfc BOX Or LITTLE Smile I ILL LICK 'EM I Up ir Thursday in Tempo Once the only requirement for a beautiful bridge was that it stay up. But as bridges have changed, our perception of beauty has been swayed, reports Paul Wein-garten in a stroll across the bridges of history. la 11 II Ft II An ounce of prevention costs what a pound of cure cost a decade ago. Magazine 1 1 a ti 1 1 1 1 it 1 nfcr tjiiU ft 1 fTf4.