The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 76

76 THE BOSTON GLOBE TUESDAY. APRIL 16. 1985 3" After the silence was broken Insistent invitation to the dinner-dance ROBINSON Continued from Page 75 nicknamed Torchy because of the red hair that once covered his head, was the senior member of Mrs. Powell-Pouzzner's coterie. The top-drawer assembly nibbling melted goat cheese on toast, lime-marinated swordfish, and other delicacies from caterer Ellen Haiken's kitchen, included Symphony Orchestra patron Frances Fahn-stock of Boston, real estate developer Malcolm Pea-body and his film producer wife, Pamela, of Washington, and Museum of Fine Arts curator Theodore Steb-bins Jr.

of Brookline. Showing how perfectly adaptable she is to the Boston scene despite her alienation from it because of its snobbery, Mrs. Powell-Pouzzner wore an old dress given her by a friend who had grown tired of it. But at least it was a Blass, not just your ordinary hand-me-down. When a crowd like this swirls into Quincy Market in a train of hissing taffeta and dilating silk, they project something of an anclen regime image among the beery citizenry who haunt the granite play sV 1 Jennifer Kemeny and Tom Piatt.

GLOBE PHOTO BY MICHAEL QUAN a minor eye operation earlier in the day, forcing him to wear a bandage that covered a third of his face, whispered sweet nothings in the ear of aspiring actress Rosa Ferraro, the daughter of a Cambridge police officer. Elaine Uzan expertly orchestrated an internation al table of 36 souls, Tom Pierpont of Boston squired around his new fiancee, Pam Spinney of Nahant, made a rare appearance on the with a handsome Connecticut woman ground on a Saturday night. And in The Dome, among their glamour, sophistication and the exhuberant self-confidence of their class. Tom Piatt of Jamaica Plain, the and dined, quaffed and schmoozed" developer who has proposed a dramatic and work 'People have a preconceived notion of what upper people do at black-tie But look at this. It's so insouciance.

And when the second after dinner (those who wished joined the assembly at 9:30 p.m. for the $20), they animated the three dance bars like fresh recruits among the a preconceived notion of what upper black-tie parties," said Philio Wigglesworth Cambridge, one of the party's four co-chairs Garrison Rousseau of Boston, Polly and Ms. Uzan of Newton. this. It's so laid-back.

But my idea is they ought to serve fisherman's platters back. But my idea is that next year they ought to serve fisherman's platters for Philio CURB Continued from Page 75 On last week's "Donahue" show. Curb dressed in what she' termed "my Catholic schoolgirl costume," a plaid jumper over a white blouse. She was poised, alert clearly enjoying a throwback to girlhood media days. One man in the audience wanted to know "the bottom line for you in writing the book." She replied: "The bottom line is ending the centuries of silencing women and working to end women's oppression." The audience applauded.

Curb says that neither of her parents wanted her to enter the convent, "but for a Catholic girl born and raised in Chicago, there were two choices being married and having all those babies or becoming a nun. The convent was more appealing. I had always admired and loved the nuns. 1 wanted to be just like them." At 18, she Joined a Dominican convent in Sinsinawa, and was sent to Rosary College in River Forest, 111. She majored in biology and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

For three years, she taught biology and English at Dominican High School in Madison. In 1965. at age 25, she knew she had to leave. "I had reached the end of my rope." she says. "My growing and changing, my struggling to be a saint through the mortification of the flesh, my spiritual ecstacies, my descent into what 1 thought was the dark night of the soul, could not be translated into the language of the world." Nor could she deal with conflicting feelings about a sexual relationship she had with an older nun the last two years she was in the Dominicans.

"I didn't call myself a lesbian. I didn't know the word. I viewed my relationship as an accident of en- Katherine Henick Furniture 135 443 Albany St. 423-1136 M-F9-4 Sat. 12-4 i 1 selby to 5:30 Dally, Th, Fr lo 9 P.M.

CREPE SOLE Perforated, wedge height, cool and comfortable Sim 4 ta 11 AA UU i TO $3 00 more sizes over 10. CAPE 1 fl.lrfiMyijif iuSuLt 1 i ir-liT CAPE COD This Guide Tuesday, able plan to rebuild the disgracefully neglected portion of Tremont street along the Boston Common, re ROSEMARY CURB GLOBE PHOTO BY JUDY BAYERL vironment the causal effect of living in a community of women." In doing the book, she says. "I learned that at least one reason I entered the convent was attraction to women. But if someone had pointed that out to me, I would have denied it." When Curb left the convent, she moved into her mother's house in Omaha, taught school, then married a Nebraska college professor whose course she took in night school. She had Lisa and, five years after marrying, divorced.

For two years, she and her young child lived with a male professor at the University of Arkansas, where she completed work on masters and PhD degrees in English and drama. In 1976, she accepted a teaching job at Southern Missouri State College in Joplin and became active in the women's movement. Three years later, when Rollins College beckoned, she left Joplin, where she was under press-sure to resign; a fictional story she wrote about lesbians came under administration scrutiny. Curb says her mother warned her not to write "Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence." "She said, 'Why bother? Everyone thinks convents are full of lesbians. Don't you know you're committing professional suicide? And why hurt those nice people in the Catholic Church? They just might decide to fight back'.

"My mother worries that I will be hurt professionally and perhaps even physically. She doesn't want her daughter to be the one breaking centuries of silence. I think fears like hers perpetuate the silence that keeps the closet locked, whereas telling the truth about our lives can set us free." Curb says that during her seven years In the convent (1958 to 1965), "we were warned against 'particular friendships', but we didn't know that meant the first the sharp-tongued banker who and is related to old Boston families, night-capping assessment of the party: for all the people who have married think they belong." galed a table of young swells about in the Caribbean. Michael Bleakie of Scituate, in step toward a same-sex relation ship. We knew nothing about any kind of sexuality.

We were vir gins." In medieval and Renaissance penitentials used by the clergy, punishments were prescribed for men and women who engaged in homosexual acts. Nuns confessing to such behavior were assigned seven-year penances. Its noth ing new, not the relationships or the taboo against them." says Curb. "Both have existed through out history." Curb says that almost every where she and co-editor Manahan have traveled to promote the book, "they have been warmly received by nuns and former women religious. "They tell us how relieved they are that the silence finally is broken," even though at least one regional administrator of a New England order has complained to Curb about the fact that "no advance notice of the book was given.

But she wasn't angry that the book is out." Curb stresses that the book "does not assert that all or even most nuns are lesbians, nor does it condemn or condone sexual activity in convents. It emphasizes transformation in the lives of nuns, going from docility to self-acceptance." Curb says she has never made an issue of her sexuality at Rollins College. Recently, because of the book promotion tour, she did. "The result was overwhelming. The president came up and shook my hand.

Sister Kate Gibney, an administrator, hugged me and said, 'I'm so proud of Members of my department and my students hugged me. I think everyone's pleased except maybe my students' parents." Curb, who currently is writing a book on her academic specialty, black drama, says, "I've since told my dentist, my doctor, my chiropractor, my hairdresser, and my yoga teacher. How else can you write a book titled 'Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence', and not have people know?" Rollins College provost Daniel DiNicola, says Curb "is a serious scholar and a valuable colleague -highly regarded" by faculty and students. He views the book as "a serious piece of scholarly work" but acknowledges: "The topic is threatening to some people." Lisa Curb has had experiences with that. She appeared on the Donahue show with her mother and Manahan and was asked by Donahue, "Aren't you afraid you'll be gay?" The high school senior replied: "I'm not.

but my boyfriend is." KEEP COOL WHEN IT'S HOT. GET HOME DELIVERY OF The Boston Globe For home delivery call 929-2222 or toll free inside 1-800-532-9524 TV dinners: Fare to remember own, they radiated young downtown They danced class parties. laid- Wigglesworth his recent travels attendance despite Fran and Ollie to a meal of precooked beef, gravy, potatoes, carrots and peas. (It seemed that the side dishes were always always carrots and peas.) A new piece of folding household furniture was even contrived for the times: the "TV Tray." By 1959, dinners were the top sellers among frozen foods. Beef and chicken followed turkey into the marketplace.

Other companies began to get into the game. (The roster of today's major players includes not only Campbell and ConAgra, but also H.J. Heinz and R.J. Reynolds.) But sales eventually flattened out, and by the late 1970s the TV dinner picture was fuzzy. Between 1978 and 1981, annual retail sales of frozen dinners dropped from 396 million pounds to 296 million pounds, according to "Frozen Food Age" magazine.

But all those baby-boom kids had been trained on TV dinners, hadn't they? So in 1982 when the introduction of Stouffer's Lean Cuisine low-calorie frozen entrees spurred creation of both the Swanson Le Menu and Armour Dinner Classic lines of "premium" frozen dinners they simply reverted to old habits. Sales of frozen dinners turned around, and by last year they were up to 413 million air-blasted pounds representing nearly $1 billion and some 400 different dinners. "What we used to think when we first introduced Le Menu was that we'd have a specialty product at the top end of the market doing $50 million worth of business," says Steven McNeil, Campbell's group general manager for frozen foods. "Now we've got a $200 million business Which is not necessarily good news for the old-style, turkey-in-aluminum TV dinner. Many baby boomers have grown up to be called yuppies.

They are living in smaller households. They have less time and fewer kids. They are more likely to have careers. They want convenience. They also want to perceive a bit of elegance in return for their cash.

and Brooks Place Boston scene on his arm. with elegant string was added only to dance reduced price of floors and cash battle weary. "People have class people do at of along with Lyman of Arlington "But look at that next year for dinner." Mr. Rousseau, speaks Chinese provided the "This party is good names and TV DINNERS Continued from Page 75 The package containing those early TV Dinners was perfect: a fake woodgrain TV set complete with knobs, its "screen" filled with an image of the aluminum-clad meal itself. Who could possi bly care that the food looked dreadful? Just heat and serve! US Inspected! Yours for 89 cents.

The name was flawless, too. Baby-booming America was in the early stages of its television addiction. Who wanted to cook during the "Camel News Caravan with. John Cameron Swayze or "Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle? The Academy Awards ceremony was being televised for the first time in 1953. Howard Cosell and Dan Rather? The former was a rookie sportscaster at ABC radio; the latter was receiving his degree in journalism from Sam Houston State College in Huntsville.

Texas. (Swanson Frozen Foods held the US trademark for "TV Dinner" for several years, although the term eventually became generic. Swanson still uses it on pack ages in Canada.) Frozen foods had been around since 1930. when 10 western Massachusetts retailers had participated in selling Clarence Birds-eye's novel 26-item line. Fruits were initially the best-selling product, with vegetables becoming the favorite shortly after World War II.

But Swanson's TV Dinner gave birth to the "prepared frozen food industry," not to mention the notion of sitting down with Kukla, MARTHA'S VINEYARD BERXSHIRES CAPE ANN NANTUCKET appears in the Globe Wednesday, Thursday, Friday HYANNIS COD St. 617-771-5454. V1PUTCVIM PflVlinC Private beach, htd. pool. Walk to everything.

before IBlin lOrnAil bUtlUUO 615 after 631. Minimum 3 nights. 2-4 bedrooms. 2Vk baths, private So they're happy enough to buy "premium" frozen foods, including dinners in muted packages with subdued graphics. Many of them don't want the old-style TV dinners they grew up on.

TV dinners are Kukla, Fran and Ollie. (Even though Campbell's McNeil argues that middle and upper class buyers keep them around as "a truly emergency ra "Sales of TV dinners will decline at about 5 percent annually, and by 1990 will represent only about 10 percent of the total (fro zen) dinner market," proclaims a' 233-page survey of the frozen-food industry published in November by FINDSVP. a New York research firm. The same study, meanwhile, predicts that sales of. "premium" frozen dinners will leap by 575 percent by the end of the decade.

Today's standard TV dinner diners earn this evaluation in the FINDSVP "Preservers of status quo. Com-1 fort-loving. Seek to be part of a' group; do not want to try new things. Brand loyal." They are mainly young (18-24) and female, married, with two or more chil-1 dren, earning less than $25,000, per year. They tend to be home-1 makers, clerical employees or blue collar workers.

Like TV dinners they are survivors. But if the times have conspired against the old-style TV dinner, perhaps it can take comfort in a 1 "superpremium" line of 13 frozen entreeappetizers introduced in late 1982 by Westmount Enterprises, a now-disbanded sidiary of Joseph E. Seagram Sons, Inc. Called "Feast For One," the meals included such items as wine-glazed rock cornish hen and I brandied duckling. As their name i and price $4 to $7 implied.

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