The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 42

42 The VANCOUVER SUN: Dec. 23, 1970 1 Time to cash in at Christmas 'By ANN BARLING Here comes the milkman in a natty new tie. Hand-knittod. The mailman was given a box of chocolates by the sisters in Suite 4 and the man from the scavenging department walked off with a Christmas cake. Home-made, with sherry.

It's the season of goodwill, and time to remember the carrier boys and cleaning ladies, babysit ters, barbers, delivery-men and teachers. You don't? Many do. Most people give cash. Cat-, rier boys may collect a mone-; tary gift when they call for their subscriptions. The mailmen and garbagemen receive financial remembrances.

They also receive more personal gifts. "The men hate to be sick around Christmastime," said a spokesman for the garbage-. men. What do they get? "Mainly something wet." The garbagemen of West Vancouver are something special to the residents of the area. They do try harder, according to these people, who thank the men with cake and ties, money ami liquor.

"I think we do put out more effort," said scavenging department (yes, really) super-' visor Norman MacLeod. They also brighten up the place with their summer dress of boaters and bermudas. Cash is usually the practice for business firms who like to say thank-you to their postman. But the men may also receive ties or chocolates or the odd bottle. In England the make a practice of knocking on the door at this time of with the greeting, "Happy Christmas from the dustmen, ma'am." As many a British householder knows to his cost, they expect more than a mere greeting in return.

Forgo the Christmas box and you'll be up to your ears in garbage come January, Here, however, those people give us service throughout the year solicit at their peril. One mailman was caught sending out Christmas cards to all the people along his route, "and he wasn't even putting stamps on them," said a spokesman at the post office. One housewife, who slips, a few dollars into a card for her milkman every year, says, "I wouldn't dream of letting that poor man who gets up so early on cold, winter mor-; nings go without something at Christmastime." She added that the same goes for her carrier boy, gar-bageman, dry cleaning deliv-eryman, babysitters, domestic helpers and her husband's barber. She estimates these "little gifts" will total $40 this year. But few of these people come close to the ladies' hair-dressers when it comes to gifts.

One stylist across the border admitted he has received expensive sweaters, shirts, jewelry, 'a cassette tape player and. a stereo radio. But the' Canadian hairdressers -often are well-thanked', too. "The girls often receive gifts of perfume," said the owner of a Vancouver beauty salon. One stylist once decided not to pussyfoot around; he told all his customers to give him i "anything In leather." Another said he, is often amazed, and delighted, by the thought shown.

He men tioncd he was doing some sketching and was presented at Christmas with an antique pewter mug full' of sharpened pencils. This same stylist has received gifts that vary from a gold pen to tables for his house. j' I "But that was in the old days," he said. "People don't give the way they used, to be; cause we charge so, much more now." WHY NOT GIYE YOUR KITCHEN A NEW LOOK TODAY? Planning Construction 100 financing Factory clearance, pre-finiihed kitchen cabinets complete in-Itollation. OR DO IT YOURSELF! 20 OFF HALL DESIGNS LTD.

(Gerhard Tietz Construction) 3570 West 41st Ave. PH. 261-8511 MAMIE MOLONEY Sick, living Unmerry time at the Home amid horror and this is a poor substitute, I'm afraid, for what they really need. "This is one of the reasons why our night time work oyer the past three weeks has stretched well past midnight and into the small hours of the morning: Why kids have exploded wide open around bedtime and why we have been hard pressed to provide, 'emotional first aid' on the spot, over and over again. "It isn't easy to take when kids are lovable but thor-.

oughly unloved, meet any intervention on our. part, no matter how kindly meant, with kicking, screaming, swearing, spitting and des-tructiveness impossible to dis-cribe. "Tony, for instance, is a sensitive affection-hungry seven-year-old. His mother is psychotic, his father weak and rejecting. His two-year-old.

sister is showing the beginning signs of emotional sickness. And yet this is all that Tony has. He sees no reason why he should not go home for Christmas like some of the other kids and he attacks almost defensively any rea- soning to the contrary. MAW i 1 1 i USI Christmas is an unhappy time for emotionally disturbed children. "If I had it in my power to banish Christmas for all disturbed kids I would probably do it," said the director of a home for emotionally disturbed children.

"I know of no other season in the lives of rejected, displaced youngsters that does more, to accentuate their deepening sense of loneliness and 'not belonging' than does the 'threat' of Christmas. "Excitement, anticipation, dread, anger, grief all churning together with equal parts of homesickness, hate, resignation, fear and any other feeling you can mention produce a very unmerry Christmas at our place. "We have a group of kids who are hurting, and hurting badly. Some of them are able to take Christmas and all it stands in their stride because they know where they stand with their families and the 'welcome mat' is out when they go home for Christmas holidays. "But for some of our children (family or no family) there is absolutely nothing to sustain them except the Home HAVING A CHEESE WINE PARTY? Call the Hostess Cheese Shop.

We supply ready-made cheese trays. We rent wine glasses. The Hostess I Cheese Shop King Edward Mall 952 W. King Edward Ave. 738-5229 APRIL CURTIS winging and warbling through The Enchanted Forest Three faces of April WASHINGTON (AP) Sis teen-aged girls who served last summer -is i -Ralph Nader task force inspecting nursing homes said recentlj conditions in many of 'the facilities were horrifying, disillusioning, heart-breaking anfl totally inexcusable.

1 j. The girls, testifying as a group before the Senate Spe cial Committee on Aging blamed doctors, government officials and nursing home owners for what they called an epidemic of national neglect for the sick and old. The girls, students last year' at an exclusive private school in Connecticut, worked with their teacher on the summer-long study project. Leader of the student group was Claire 18, daughter of Robert Townsend who wrote the best-seller, Up the Organization. "The conditions in the nursing homes are terrifying enough in themselves," Miss Townsend testified.

"But together with the total lack of federal government responsibility in setting high standards and in enforcing high standards, the total picture presents an intolerable situation." 346-page report of their study criticized what it called a "serious lack of medical supervision" in the deaths of 25 patients from salmonella poij soning at a Baltimore, nursing home last July. It also accused the Social Security administration I delay, in setting new safety standards after 32 patients died in a fire at a nursing at Marietta, Ohio. Heavy smoke from a burning carpet was blamed for the deaths in an earlier Senate hearing. A Social Security spokesman said the task' force's charges were inaccurate and distorted. Nader, who appeared with the girls at the Senate hearing, said in a preface to their report that treatment of thi elderly can be summed up in the phrase: "out of sight, ou of mind." Treat your family and guests to these festive favourites from SHverwood's famous brands JERSEY FARMS VELVET Available from your convenient neighborhood stores or phone 879-2(134 wrote a happy ending Shakespeare never planned.

They moved to England "so Michael could get the British back in his blood" and opened a Thailand-import stall at London's Portobello Road. After a year they packed up their wares for California and ran a "milk route" between San Diego and San Francisco, selling handicrafts, Buddhist amulets and woven cloth, But the large import houses were making all the money. Between sales the couple acted with the theatre groups on the Monterey Peninsula. Then once again they moved on this time to Canada and arrived three months ago with a German shepherd, four cats, Japanese fish and a 12-string guitar. Vancouver, says April, will be home.

Later April attended San Francisco State College, graduating in theatre arts. "Then I was going to New York to become an actress," she recalled, sitting cross -legged on a leather chair at the Arts Club. Depending on her mood of moment, the 25-year-old actress sat straight up, feet on the floor or lounged in the armchair. She seldom sat still, and would have been happier on the "close to the ground" furniture at her cottage in North Vancouver. "But before New York I decided to spend a year in Thailand, where my mother was living," she said, tugging at her red poor-boy sweater.

At an amateur theatre production in Bangkok, April as Desdemona met Michael (a salesman) as Othello and they The Curtises arrived here three months ago from California to "find fresh air, space and people who still have time to give directions." Also, Vancouver provided British -born husband Michael a nice combination of England and America. He can buy Bovril at the corner store and still enjoy the service of an "American" supermarket. "Michael and April hope to earn their living as professional actors and will supplement their incomes with an import export stall in Gas-town. April she was born in March in Hollywood has been singing, acting and dancing since she was old enough read plays written by her mother. Daughter directed and performed mother's works for the neighborhood kids.

ROUNDABOUT A CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME Parking no problem at apartment "And so the story The only thing we are really sure of sometimes is that we do have a responsibility to protect these Mds against the inevitable no matter how difficult this may be for them to accept or comprehend. In doing so we take the full force of their hale and aggression. Our therapists have the bruises, cuts and scrapes to show for it," said the director. For some kids, Christmas is the unhappiest time of the year, ATLANTIC LOBSTERS Live Cooked or Frozen For Your Holiday Dining 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

MARITIME PRIDE LOBSTER. DIST. 750 Malkin Ave. 255-9411 I "IF YOU I I DRINK I FREE KEY CHAIN while they laif ro coffee purchaseri, en request, On Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th, we will 5 give a free you drive drink- 5 Murchie's key chain to those who purchase coffee only and re-1 quest a key chain.

3 5 Remember oyer the 5i holidays for that small, dif- ferent gift to take when IS dropping in on friends, pick tip tasteful pack of jt Murchie's tea from $1.35 up. Pttf TEA in your gift- ing, I 850 PARK ROYAL (W. Von.) 922-3136 ifSKSSi)! 3 By JOHANNE LEACH It's a mother it's a. traveller no it's a bird. Actually, it, or rather, she, April Curtis, will play the part of all three in the children's musical, The Enchanted Forest, opening Saturday at the Arts Club.

The play, sponsored by Robert Edgar Associates, was written by Daphne Goldrick and Bill Millerd, and will be performed at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily until Jan. 3. This is April's first appearance on stage in Vancouver.

Her husband made his debut at the Playhouse in Rosen-crantz and Guildenstern are Dead. 'Clay day' didn't mould HALIFAX (CP) Although the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design said in its invitations that guests for its "clay day'' could take off their clothes and roll around in an 18-inch floor of clay, the only takers were a couple of small children. A spokesman for the college said about 50 persons, mostly students at the college, went only as far as taking off their shoes and socks to walk and roll around in the clay, while a couple of small children discarded all clothing to frolic in the warmed clay. The spokesman said the purpose of the event was "just to see how people would react" in the situation. Some moulded the clay, some anointed each other with mud-packs, some rolled around in the mud and others were content to just wiggle it between their toes.

The 10,000 pounds of clay is still usable, the spokesman said, and will be cleaned and placed in bins for future work. SWITZERLAND y305 BY THE FAMOUS WHITE-ROCK PLAYERS will be performed in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Saturday, Dec. 26 Two Shows TICKETS I LOWER ORCHESTRA: $2.50 Parents move into hospital LEXINGTON, Ky. (CDS) -In most of the world, children in hospitals are cared for by their parents. In our culture, this responsibility is turned over to the professional nurse.

Borrowing the have-not nations' idea, the University of Kentucky Medical Centre in Lexington established a care-by-parent unit and found after a trial period that a surpris- ing number of mothers can, with supervision, take complete care of their ill children. Dr. Vernon L. James, Jr. pediatrician, is convinced the plan lessens the emotional trauma of hospitalization for the child and provides a learning experience for the mother who later must take care of the child at home.

The special unit is designed much like a motel. The series of private rooms each has a shower and toilet. There is 'a common utility room with a refrigerator, stove, washing machine, dryer, bathinette, and iron. Mea's are served in the room from a hospital cart or at the general cafeteria, ff the child's condition permits Mothers collect 24-hour urine, get the "chest case" to cough, observe and record the effects drugs and other tlurapy and give all medications, except for injections. The cost: $19.78 a day as against $33.93 a day for conventional hospitalization.

party The Sills and the Brenns, all of Vancouver and retired, found themselves living a block apart in Ajijic a coincidence that must qualify them for the small world de- partment. THE YEHUDI MENUHINS are an interesting couple. He is quiet, charming and unassuming. She is vivacious, volatile and full of anecdotes. One she told was about the performance of William Walton's Facade, a piece originally commissioned for an entertainment at the Sitwells and which later received public acclaim.

At this performance, Constance Lambert read Dame Edith's words to the music, at the end which there was an ovation. "Bravo, Bravo," called the audience and Constance Lambert took her bow. Author," they cried and Dame Edith appeared. Then a voice was heard, "Composer, Compos- er," and the crowd took up the chant. But nobody could find William Walton.

No wonder, he was in the front row, calling "Composer, Composer." HAVE YOU SEEN the Women's Lib Christmas card? It reads, "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And she's fat." PENNY WISE ON HOLIDAY 0Kl ALL OTHER SEATS: $2.00 CHILDREN $1.00 On sale at VANCOUVER ner party they found an extra portion of their favorite marsh ma Hows to celebrate the occasion. Mrs. Walter Sattely of Fort St. John and Mr.

and Mrs. Forrest Randall of Whittier, California, were among the 25 dinner guests. Gordon Hunter gave the toast and Mrs. Hunter was named honorary "Mother of the Bride" for the day! BOB MALKIN was on the Hourglass Forum the other night, when Jack Wasserman interviewed publisher Stuart Keate. Curious to know how one gets on the forum, we phoned to inquire.

How do you get asked? Bob did not know just why though he has made several guest appearances. They called him, asked him and he went. Is it an interesting experience? Yes, though he feels a trifle long-in-the-tooth compared with the others. Do members get paid? The answer is No. But back to the Interview with Stu Keate.

Take heart all who have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous typos. Written on a cue card (you know, the thing they keep behind the camera in case the interviewer forgets who he is talking to) were the words, "Stewart Keate." THE WADE TYNANS have gone to Mexico for the holidays. They plan to spend Christmas at Puerto Vallaria with Pip and Joy Sills and then go to Ajijic for New Year's with Roseanne and Gordon Brenn. By BARBARA O'HANLON Parties have a different feel, at Christmas. They don't seem to be "return rounds," but give the impression of being strictly for pleasure.

And a one-of-a-kind party, even in these hospitable times, was the B. J. McCon-nells' on Sunday, when everyone in their apartment block, all 86 suites, was asked to drop in between 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Young Rosemary, Boyd and Debbie McConnell did the de-corating. They strung double strings of lights around the balconies, trimmed the tree and lit the candles.

No other lights were used though the Grouse Mountain Ski Lift obligingly glittered across the way to help the glamor of it all. And the punch and bread and cheese were ready by 4:00 p.m. when the guests arrived. People who had never seen each other in the building met and many discovered they had mutual friends, some had even come from the same town. I seems a fine idea for any season of the year and what a lovely thought going to a party in the west end without a parking problem.

THERE WERE appreciative spectators at the dinner last Friday which celebrated the morning wedding of Dr. Honor Kidd to Len Timbers. They were the racoons families of them who come nightly onto the patio for some goodies. After the din TICKET CENTRE. Eaton's, all stores.

Tha ftitrhorShorme. 3388Kingswasr Earle Peterson, New Westminster. 2256W4l9t. H.R.MacMillan Planetarium LougheedMalL UBC ili i 'm i riii' nrV Net proceeds to of HOPE FUND lip" MSMM I II RWf I WMM.