Martha Deane WOR Radio Program, 1957, Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield Collection,

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Martha Deane: It's 10:15 in New York and this is Martha Deane and good morning everybody, and I hope that each and every one of you has a nice holiday today with all the family plans coming off perfectly, according to plan.

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Before I tell you about our guest on the Martha Deane program this morning, I'd like to remind you to always to turns to the front page of The New York Times. This is a very good way to, uh, start the day I think. And when you read The Times every day you do know what's going on. You get all the news and you get interesting feature material too.

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Uh, you, if you've been reading The Times regularly you'll know, of course, where the charred-hulk of a motor-yacht recently yielded $15,000 in precious gems, and you know what famous biologist warned his fellow scientist to beware discoveries that could alter human life, and you know what kind of seasonings to put in Chinese pork and beans.

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You know all that. You know a lot more too if you've been reading the New York Times every morning. It, uh, you keep up with what is going on. This is a news paper that circles the globe to bring you on the spot coverage of all the news. But in addition, the New York times brings you something for fun and something for just light dinner table conversation and a lot of odds and ends of information that sort of adds to the spice, of well, your head. So there!

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Read the New York Times every morning I think you will enjoy it and it costs very little extra to have it delivered to your house or apartment. If you call them up, they will arrange for home delivery quickly and efficiently at very little extra cost to you.

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Then, I wanted to tell you again about Niagara Cyclo-massage. What these people have done is combine two age old tension relievers, heat and massage, in one relaxing soft comfortable pad, Niagara Cyclo-massage pad. And those who often feel tension caused by over work or poor posture in the back of the neck and the shoulders and the back, will be interested in this new drugless method for helping to relieve nervous tension and minor aches and pains.

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If you've done too much ironing or leaned over a desk for too long Niagara Cyclo-masage will take care of the aches and pains in the back of the neck and through the shoulders. And if you have trouble going to sleep at night, try Niagara Cylco-massage for 15 or 20 minutes and without pills and without drugs you will probably drop off into a deep relaxing natural sleep.

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An excellent product that has a Good Housekeeping Seal. But a good many of us at WOR have tried it now over a period of many many weeks and we like it and think you will too. The thing to do is to ask me for the literature and I'll have sent to you the catalog and the literature and you can then decide what you want to do. Send a postcard to me, Martha Deane, at WOR New York and just write on it Niagara and I will have the Niagara Cyclo-massage catalogue and literature sent to you right away.

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And now here are Jeanne Porterfield and Lisa Chickering and I am delighted that you're both here. And I am glad that you came back to this country long enough at least to appear on the Martha Deane program before you take off somewhere else. Are you about to do that?

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Jeanne Porterfield : Well, no it is sort of good just to be back in the United States for a change.
Martha Deane: Because you were gone 3 years.
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, we were and it is very good to be back after 3 years.
Martha Deane: And you just got back.
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, just in July, we arrived on the west coast.

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Martha Deane: But tell our listeners, Lisa Chickering,

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} going away because when you left for Paris you intended to stay three months, didn't you?

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Yes we did. mmm huh. I was going over for a singing engagement in Paris, and we were very excited because Jeanne and I grew up in Chicago together and as children do we had always planned

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far away places and trips and we had, I asked her if she could go with me and she said yes she could {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Oh I was delighted with the opportunity to go to Europe because I had wanted to go all my life.

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} So you two played together as children. {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Yes we did. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} and thought about far away places when you were just little ones

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{Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} That's right, as a matter of fact when we were children our families sent us out to play as families do and we proceeded to dig a hole to China from Chicago.

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Yes they said, I guess to get us out, "you know, China happens to be right under Chicago." So we proceeded to tear up the nice flower

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patch in the yard [[laughing]] that wasn't very good

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} But finally three years ago you went to Paris for three months. {Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} That's right {Speaker="Martha Deane"} So that you could sing.

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} That's right. Yes. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} And, and Jeanne Porterfield just went along.

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{Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} I just went along to see the sights of Europe at the time. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} But now go on, then what happened? Why didn't you come back for three years? {Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Well, of course that's a three year story but,

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the job I really went to go, to have, that is, fell through. Upon arriving. And of course, you can imagine my discouragement.

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I said "well, we've got to go back", and Jeanne is the optimistic type, and she said "well, no I think we can make out here, let's try to stay."

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so she took over the, uh, well you'd call it the managerial side of it [[laughing]], if that's a new word, and she worked out a show

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and we started one country after another. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} Didn't you have a great difficulty booking talent ahead in a foreign county?
Jeanne Porterfield :

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Well, as a matter of fact in the beginning we did. We first did some Army shows in Eastern France

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and Western Germany and we met other entertainers who

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told us about writing to the various hotels that used entertainers. So I sat down and wrote letters

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to the places I had heard of in Rome, over in Spain. Or I started first just one: Rome and they

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said "come on", put Lisa to the work,
Lisa Chickering: Yes
Jeanne Porterfield : so at least we got then from Paris [[?]] {Speaker="Martha Deane"} So how long... So how long did you stay in Paris then? Unemployed as you were.

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Well, about two months, really. Uh, cause we had gone with the intentions of staying about three

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and naturally we had saved up enough for that and you can live reasonably once you get over to Europe.

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It's not the most expensive place, on the contrary.
Lisa Chickering: And we did.
Jeanne Porterfield : Very reasonably. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} So you had money enough for Paris.
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, we managed. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} Well. What I really want to know is when you ran out of the money you had saved
Lisa Chickering: Well then a job, fortunately was waiting in Rome at the Villa Rosa down there and that

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was a two month engagement. It turned out it was only going to be for two weeks

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and luckily they kept renewing the contract.
Jeanne Porterfield : They liked Lisa very much. So they kept us down there for two months

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{Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} And during that job, I wrote on to a place in Spain and got another job

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that took up after the one in Rome finished. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} Now how did you

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live and what did you do in Rome when, when, Lisa wasn't actually working? What was it a night club? {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Well yes it is, but, uh,

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I knew a girl over there and she had worked for Powers when I did, here in New York

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} You were a Powers model? {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Yes, and she was doing

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beautifully over in Rome, modeling and she had this darling little penthouse and she had to go and do some fashion shows off in Berlin and she said "Do you want our apartment?".

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So we couldn't have been more delighted we got her apartment and a little maid and of course we couldn't communicate with the maid at all but we could, we learned

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[[laughing]] to say
Lisa Chickering: sign language {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} and she went out and did the shopping and we lived up in this penthouse

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} Now that worked out very well. {Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Beautifully, Yes it did. {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} It was a wonderful for us.

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{Speaker="Martha Deane"} And did you, did you have time, were you able to see all the things you wanted to see? {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Oh yes and Italy is just the most beautiful country and the art is unbelievable.

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} That's Jeanne, just loves art. Course I do too, but she's been .... {Speaker="Jeanne Porterfield"} Oh, I was up in those museums. When the doors opened, I was there, and if Lisa wasn't too tired from working the night before, she was there too.

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{Speaker name="Martha Deane"} Did you both study the language? {Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} No not Italian. We studied Spanish. We ended up studying Spanish. {Speaker="Martha Deane"} Cause you went to Spain next.

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{Speaker="Lisa Chickering"} Uh huh. {Speaker name="Jeanne Porterfield"} Yes, and I went in to see the agent in Spain about getting more work down in

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Southern Spain, and he only, he didn't speak any English not a word. So in the beginning I

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got an interpreter, and with the sign language and interpreter we lined up a lot of work for Lisa down in Gibraltar and Tangiers, but this experience with the agent

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made us both want to learn to speak Spanish. So we went to school in Spain and learned to speak Spanish fluently.

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Jeanne Porterfield: There's a course over there Americans can take. You know its the University of Madrid, you can go and take all the courses in Art, Literature, History. Of course it's all in Spanish. So, you have to learn the language.

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Martha Deane: And you did go to the University of Madrid? {Speaker name="Lisa Chickering"} Yes. Oh, we went to the University
Jeanne Porterfield : Got little diplomas
Lisa Chickering: We learned it, have our diplomas, and were very pleased with ourselves. [Speaker name="Jeanne Porterfield"] We ended up staying there. Imagine, we stayed there 8 months.

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Martha Deane: In Spain?
Lisa Chickering: In Spain, yes! Just loved it. Had a little apartment and all our Spanish speaking friends that didn't speak any English. So, ah...
Jeanne Porterfield : We had a lot of work out of Spain. Went over to Portugal and worked in Portugal. So that kept us there quite a while.

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Martha Deane: You know, this manager of yours, this Jeanne Porterfield, is quite a girl. Because it's a neat trick to keep a singer working all the time in her own country.

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Jeanne Porterfield : Well that's true but ... You need the talent to work with -- If Lisa hadn't been as wonderful as she was, and such an entertainer none of it would have come by either.
Martha Deane: It is kind of amazing a little thing like that is able to get enough engagements in a country where she doesn't speak a word of the language
Lisa Chickering: I know. I was always amazed how she did it. She'd say, "well now, we'll get something here. Don't you worry." We'd just certainly fall in love with a country and want to stay.

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And she'd say, "Well, I'll go see the agents." I'd say, "but you know, you don't speak the language." "oh, well, they'll understand," she'd say. And she'd go in and she, uh, would always come back. "I think we have a job."
Jeanne Porterfield : [00:09:45} Of course once they saw Lisa and heard her sing, that did a great deal too.
Martha Deane: [

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Well, you had something to work with.
Jeanne Porterfield : Oh, [??] to work with.
Martha Deane: But even so! So you had 8 months in Spain?
Lisa Chickering:

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Yes. And then down in Gibralter it was my first experience singing for an English audience.

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And they are the most wonderful audience. And they said you must go to England. Well, of course, that was another country. After Spain, we had full intentions to return home.

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And we'd write home: "We'll be home soon now!" But, uh, we wrote ahead to England.

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To the agent there, the top agent. And he said, "Come on and we'll hear you. And if it's right"...
Jeanne Porterfield:

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That's right. He wrote back, "If she's good, she'll work." So we proceeded to stay in England. [laughs]
Lisa Chickering:

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Five months in England.
Martha Deane: Five months.
Jeanne Porterfield: Yes
Martha Deane: Where in England?
Lisa Chickering: London. Just in London. Mmm hmm.
Martha Deane:

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You were in London 5 months? Again, singing in a night club?
Lisa Chickering: Yes, singing in a number of the supper clubs and-"
Jeanne Porterfield: Supper clubs too

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[[End recording segment]]

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LISA CHICKERING: - and it's a wonderful place, just lovely. And we were going to come back, and then it went on and on and on.

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, we managed to work our way, all the way, to --
LISA CHICKERING: Well, to China! [[laughter]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, where we started from as children.
MARTHA DEANE: And not by digging a hole from Chicago either! [[laughter]]
LISA CHICKERING: Well, practically.

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MARTHA DEANE: Well, now after England, what?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: After England, we went to the Middle East.

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We wrote to, ah, where was it, Lisa?
LISA CHICKERING: Well, it was the Istanbul Hilton Hotel.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, that's right.

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And, 'course, I thought - now this is really far fetched. You know. This is the finest hotel in Europe, and just a beautiful place. So, anyway, the letter went ahead and they wrote back, "We'd be delighted to have you."

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And, uh, so we took off for Istanbul, but we always went via - if we had a direction to go to and knew a job were waiting at the end, we would take a circular route, instead of going directly - which certainly wouldn't allow you to see much.

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We left from Athens. Well, of course, there's a whole new story on Yugoslavia, we must tell you about. But we drove through Yugoslavia to Athens. And from there took a plane all through the Middle East to get to Istanbul and then back to Athens. To pick it up - pick up the car and go on back.

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MARTHA DEANE: Well now lets stop right here in Yugoslavia because it's a little unusual, isn't it, for two American girls to drive all the way through Yugoslavia?

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, it is, we were warned not to do it. We were told that the roads were not adequate and not to try to make the trip.
LISA CHICKERING: Well they were aren't even roads ! -- There are --
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: They aren't roads -- [[chuckles]] !

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: We had a Volkswagen, which is a most wonderful car, and we got in this little car and we left from Trieste and we started down --

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We only were able to secure a 3-day transit visa - and it's a 1000 miles to go - and in a Volkswagen that's a long distance.

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And they said, you can't possibly make it. And so I said, "well if we don't make it, what?"

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And they said, "well, if you don't make it, they're going to put you in jail in Belgrade, until we can get you out."

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Anyway, well we said, well, we don't believe that, we're never discouraged.
LISA CHICKERING: We never let anybody discourage us.
MARTHA DEANE: "We don't go to jail in our family!"
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: No, we, no, nobody! [[laughs]]

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So, anyway we started out and after Belgrade the road got worse and worse, until there wasn't a road!
LISA CHICKERING: It was just a mud path.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Nothing!

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So I got out. There was another hobby, in this traveling, of taking movies. We have ten hours of colored movies of this trip. And I was out there, oh fascinatedly filming this town -

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- that I'd never seen anything like it with the Cyrillic alphabet and the Serbian-type dress and the curli-cued toes of the shoes -

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- and suddenly a voice, grabbed - spoke very harshly to me, and a hand grabbed my arm! When I turned around and looked into one of the angriest faces of a sol--

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LISA CHICKERING: - but still, being still a little optimistic I gave Jeanne the camera which she was about two feet and I could quickly get this.

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She got a moment of an arrest, and at that moment another soldier stepped up and arrested her and we were taken off to jail.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes --

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[[cross-talk]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: They didn't like it that we were taking these pictures. They didn't know what it was...
LISA CHICKERING: We really were. They didn't really know what we were doing. And we ah -

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They took our passports from us -

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Pulled out - in fact, it was at gun point they took us off, because we were most reluctant. We didn't see any reason - we were Americans, why, we weren't doing anything, why they would take us to jail?

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And then Lisa had the bright idea that we should run for it. [[laughter]] Just turn around and run,-

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- which I thought was a --
LISA CHICKERING: And Jeanne said, "well that's a wonderful idea, but they have our passports".

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MARTHA DEANE: And also shoot us in the back.
LISA CHICKERING: Oh, but it never occurred to me they'd do that. [[laughter]]

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MARTHA DEANE: So this was in Belgrade?

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: No this was south.
LISA CHICKERING: This was after Belgrade.
MARTHA DEANE: After Belgrade? [[cross talk]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: About 150 miles south.
LISA CHICKERING: Just a little village south of Belgrade.

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MARTHA DEANE: Well now, how long were you in jail? Tell me about the jail.

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[[cross talk]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh they detained us about 5 hours --
LISA CHICKERING: Which was a terrible detainment.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And we were very frightened. We were nervous.
MARTHA DEANE: Um -

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And, well we just sort of sat around this station not knowing what to do or who to talk to. And these men would come out and look at us. And you know they couldn't read our passports because their alphabet is different than ours. So, the passport made no sense to them really.

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And all of a sudden, about after 5 hours of this, Lisa just said to this man, now, "we are going!" in a very determined manner. This was it, "we are going!" And suddenly they handed back our passports and let us go.

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We never did understand exactly what took place.
LISA CHICKERING: Well, I think they thought, that we maybe were important, with the sudden attitude of, "we are going!" Because we had been afraid before and they had been treating us rather badly.

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MARTHA DEANE: Did they take the camera?

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[[cross talk]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: No --
LISA CHICKERING: No -- luckily.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Thank heavens!
MARTHA DEANE: Hmm.
LISA CHICKERING: We thought they would probably take the camera and all our film. Well, we didn't know what they'd do.

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MARTHA DEANE: Well now wait a minute. You had only 3 days to get through the thousand miles -
LISA CHICKERING: mhmm
MARTHA DEANE: - and you've already been 5 hours in jail -
LISA & JEANNE: Yes.
MARTHA DEANE: So?

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JEANNE PORTERFIELD: We were very nervous and upset.
MARTHA DEANE: Mm-hmm.
LISA CHICKERING: And then we came finally to the end of the road and it turned into literally a mud cow path.

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Now there was no way to turn back because the time was such that we wouldn't be able to reach the Italian border.

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So we kept on going and finally, even a river crossed the road -
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It was raining too.
LISA CHICKERING: - we drove through the river and we just made it within one hour at the border. Which would have been quite a bad thing, needless to say.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Were we ever glad to see Greece!
LISA CHICKERING: Yes!

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And their roads are paved in Greece. In fact it's sort of interesting, later in Burma, through friends in England we were very fortunate to stay with the British Ambassador and his wife in Rangoon and they knew were were terribly interested in meeting all these--

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LISA CHICKERING: - to an embassy party. And we met all the different ambassadors - the Russian Ambassador, the Japanese Ambassador, and the Yugoslavian Ambassador.

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So we very enthusiastically told him that we had just been through his country! And he had, we had driven through to Athens. He said, "oh, you couldn't possibly drive through to Athens, we're trying to get money

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to pave a road so that someday the tourists can drive through to Greece!" And then he said, we said, "well, we did it!" And he was quite astounded.

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MARTHA DEANE: Well, I suppose he went right back and canceled the order for the road - [[laughter]] - and said if these two kids from Chicago can drive through, why waste money on a paved road!
LISA CHICKERING: That's right.

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MARTHA DEANE: And then you were in Athens where you were supposed to, and then you were in Greece and you were supposed to be there.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, that's right.
MARTHA DEANE: uh, huh.

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LISA CHICKERING: And we stayed there, which is a magnificent experience, because we had, uh, always when we would enter a country we would arrive with lots of books to read about the country so when we were there -

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- because you know, ancient history to me used to be, I'm ashamed to say it, but it used to be a bore, but now it has become the most exciting thing, because you can't sit under the Acropolis -

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- and read about ancient Greece without really feeling it and loving it, which we did.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: I would say Athens was one of my favorite places of all. It's just a beautiful city.

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MARTHA DEANE: Hmmm - Did you meet a lot of people, did you have a chance, a chance to talk to people who lived

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there?
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, yes we did. We met many, many Greek people that were very lovely and hospitable to us.

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It would be funny - one woman, she was so nice, and she said - it was after church in fact - this woman said, "would you mind just dropping me off at my house?"

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And we said, "why of course not, why get in." And she said, another woman spoke up, "could you take me just by my house?"

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Well their houses turned out to be 50 miles out in the country, could we just drop them off, and we were driving all day long dropping our little friends off, but they were very sweet, -

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- wonderful people --
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It's a wonderful way to see a country too.
LISA CHICKERING: -- but they were thrilled to have somebody with a car that could take them somewhere.

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MARTHA DEANE: 'Cause a car is an unusual thing?

00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, except for the taxi drivers there, they all have beautiful American cars.

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:19.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: We were so surprised to see these beautiful new cars way off in Athens, Greece. Because they aren't that way in Europe - they had their own cars in Europe - but in Athens they were all these beautiful American cars.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:24.210
MARTHA DEANE: Taxis?
JEANNE & LISA: Yes, they were all the taxis.
LISA CHICKERING: And it was a little strange, because all through Athens we never passed --

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:39.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And then, all through Greece, that is. All through, from one end to the other there were no cars on the road, and suddenly you get to Athens and it's filled with beautiful American-- In fact it was the first time we had seen the new cars out, with the two-toned colors.

00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:45.000
MARTHA DEANE: Very different kind of fleet owners in Athens.
LISA & JEANNE: Yes. [[laughter]]

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:56.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well, now let me interrupt you for a second or two, or a minute or two with a shopping list that I brought along. And then we leave Greece and go, well, wherever you want.

00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:07.000
MARTHA DEANE: [[Advertisement]] And this is a suggestion for, well, winter coat shopping. Right now over at the Flemington Fur Company, in Flemington, New Jersey, their 37th Annual Sale is going on.

00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:22.000
And again, they offer especially low prices on fine furs and cloth coats. And later in the selling season, November and December especially, fur prices will be much higher and fine choice merchandise will not be in great supply.

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:42.000
By buying now you will save as much as a third over the late fall prices. The important furs for this season are mink, and Alaska seal, and natural-sheared beaver, natural-sheared raccoon, Persian lamb, and uh, Let Out muskrat, natural river otter, Siberian squirrel, mutton lamb for school girls.

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:50.000
They have everything, a complete selection over there. Beautifully styled to the finest quality in fur and at their famous low prices.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:13.000
The cloth coat selection is the largest they've ever had and the new fabrics and colors are beautiful and it ah, this year they have wonderful imported materials in cashmere, and tweed - Scotland, France, Italy, and England are big sources for the finest fabrics and they've trimmed many of these imports with their own fine furs to add still further beauty and versatility.

00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:22.000
You save a lot of money on a winter coat, cloth, or a fur-trimmed cloth, or fur, when you shop at the Flemington Fur Company in Flemington, New Jersey.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:31.000
They are open Monday through Friday to nine o'clock, Saturday and Sunday to six o'clock and it's a good idea to go early in the week to avoid large weekend crowds.

00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:41.000
The Flemington Fur Company at Flemington, New Jersey. 1000% reliable fur people, and they don't know anything about high pressure methods. You shop over there and you'll enjoy it.

00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:54.000
Then I have a letter from Betty Dixon who lives on 63rd Street in Brooklyn, and she says "Speaking of art, as a housewife, I can do wonderful things with Westchester Chicken and arrange a platter that would delight a gourmet."

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:59.000
There, that's the kind of girl I like. She likes to cook and she knows she does it well and she's just out with it.

00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:11.000
Our Westchester boned chicken is a useful product and you can do marvelous things with it. It's the perfect answer for many occasions when you want to prepare an interesting meal with very little effort.

00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:27.000
Perfect for luncheon sandwiches, of course. Excellent for picnics. And fine for salads as well as for various hot dishes, buffet dinners and you can whip up a chicken casserole in just minutes if you have Westchester boned chicken on hand.

00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:35.000
It's made by the makers of the famous Herbock's boullion cubes. And it's carefully prepared under the supervision of the United States Department of Agriculture.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:47.000
Look for that name Westchester, in a complete line of delicious chicken products at your favorite grocery store. But do try the Westchester boned chicken - this is a superior product and I think you're in for quite a surprise.

00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:52.000
You'll be surprised at how delicious it is. Westchester boned chicken. [[/Advertisement]]

00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.000
And now we get back to Jeanne Porterfield and Lisa Chickering.

00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:11.000
Chickering. We better stay with that name for a minute, hadn't we? Because it was your Grandfather who was the Boston Chickering, the Piano Chickering.

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:17.000
LISA CHICKERING: That's right, yes.
MARTHA DEANE: You told me that he invented the iron sounding board in the piano.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, he did.
MARTHA DEANE: hmm, hmm.

00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:24.000
LISA CHICKERING: I found that out from an Encyclopedia. No one had passed that knowledge down through the family, which is a terrible thing. [[laughter]]

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:30.000
MARTHA DEANE: Did you know him, that Grandfather?
LISA CHICKERING: No, no, I didn't, no. He was actually my Great Grandfather, Jonas Chickering.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:39.430
So, I didn't know him. He was the one that started the piano in Boston. And then they moved to Chicago. The sons - and that's where I came from, Chicago.

00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:53.000
MARTHA DEANE: Um, And Porter-- are you related to Bob Porterfield who runs the theatre in Virginia?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, as a mater of fact, I am. We're cousins and I've worked down there, for him, barter.
MARTHA DEANE: Have you?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: mm-hmm.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.000
Before we took this trip, I was down there.

00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:00.000
MARTHA DEANE: He's a nice fellow. I used to know him quite well when he was in New York a long time ago.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Isn't he though?

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:10.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well now we've organized the family background. [[laughter]] I left you in Greece didn't I?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, I think you did.
MARTHA DEANE: I better get you out of there. [[laughter]] And back to the--

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:22.000
MARTHA DEANE: We -- we might sort of stop here. You said you were able to live in every country pretty inexpensively.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: mm-hmm, that's right.
MARTHA DEANE: But that you didn't live in the kind of places where the tourist goes.

00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:39.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh never--[[cross talk]]
LISA CHICKERING: You know that what's so important, even for wealthy tourist really--they'd get so much more out of traveling if they did stay in the out-of-the-way hotels and inns. Because actually, if you stay in the luxury hotels in Europe, it was very nice but you might as well stay right here in New York.

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000
MARTHA DEANE: In a big hotel.
LISA CHICKERING: That's right, because it is identical.

00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:51.000
Even in India - the hotel, the finest hotel there, is like an American hotel. It's like the St. Regis or the Plaza. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:59.000
But if you've gone all the way to India, you certainly don't want to stay in an American hotel. And of course, we did it for the economical reasons.

00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:08.000
But no matter how much money I would have I would absolutely stay in these little places where, even though they don't speak the language, English, you can manage.

00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, you can always get along.
MARTHA DEANE: Of course. Where were you in India?

00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:27.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, we went to New Delhi, and down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and Jaipor the Pink City. We rode on elephants. And we went to Amber. And then even up to Kashmir, up to Srinagar and lived on a houseboat.

00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:40.000
And incidentally - speaking of a houseboat - the other day I read an article in a paper, and it was of a person who had gone to Srinagar and said, "never stay in a houseboat, stay in the luxury hotel". But the houseboat is one of the most fabulous experiences.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:49.000
We had a living room. Now this is right in the middle of Lake Dal --
MARTHA DEANE: And it is a houseboat.
LISA CHICKERING: Oh, it's a real boat.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: -- in the center of the Himalayas. It's absolutely Shangri-La.

00:24:49.000 --> 00:25:02.000
And it's a real houseboat. And we had a living room, a dinning room, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. We had 4 servants, a shikara which is the Kashmirian gondola, and we had 3 meals a day.

00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:16.000
And we could say to the cook, who did speak English, because the English, when they were occupying Engla-- ah, India --they always went there on their vacations. So we would tell them, we want Tibetan food tonight, or Indian food, or European.

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:27.000
And all of that cost us 7 dollars a day for both of us. Everything, our food, our boat, our little shikara, everything.
LISA CHICKERING: That's right. It was a reasonable place.

00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:32.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: So, when I read in the paper advising Americans to stay in the luxury hotel - Don't take a trip to Kashmir to stay in a hotel!

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:41.000
MARTHA DEANE: Seven dollars for both of you!
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: For both of us, yes.
MARTHA DEANE: And this elaborate suite with 4 servants?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, this beautiful, beautiful boat.
LISA CHICKERING: [[cross talk]] And tea in the afternoon with service.

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:46.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: You know, he would take us to the Shalimar Gardens which is so magnificent--

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:53.000
MARTHA DEANE: You mean the man who ran your boat, your chauffeur?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: [[cross talk]] Yes, that's right Adu, that was his name, yes. And he would take us - and in the shikara -

00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:05.120
- well, he would take us for lunch in the Shalimar Gardens and spread, ah, one of these fascinating materials on the ground and he then would serve us our lunch. And then he would take us all around, the 4 oarsmen taking us at any speed we wanted to go through --

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:15.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And, then at about 4 o'clock - he must have thought we were English - in the back, in a samovar, they would prepare hot tea for us.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:22.000
With uh, and actually that's not uh, they would put the hot coals in, and blow on the coals and we would be served hot tea in our boat,-

00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:28.000
- in the middle of Lake Dal. Now that's pretty wonderful, and you can't get that--
MARTHA DEANE: Oh, this I like. Tell me more. [[laughter]]

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:34.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, when we see the movies of it, we want to go right back, because it is the most ideal place in the world.

00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:39.000
LISA CHICKERING: Oh it's a real Shangri-La.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It is.
LISA CHICKERING: It's gorgeous. I've never seen such a beautiful place.
MARTHA DEANE: The house boat?

00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:45.000
JEANNE & LISA: Oh, the whole community--
LISA CHICKERING: You are surrounded by the snow capped Himalayas. The most beautiful setting in the world.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:52.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Of all the world, it is. All the world we saw. And also very reasonable.

00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:57.000
MARTHA DEANE: Oh, I guess so! [[laughter]] - 7 dollars a day for 2 with the food.

00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:02.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, we can beat that. Everbody's heard of Mallorca - Palma.
MARTHA DEANE: Sure!

00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:07.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, we had a beautiful room overlooking the ocean and everything with all of our meals, $3 a day for 2.

00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.000
MARTHA DEANE: In Mallorca?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: In Mallorca.
LISA CHICKERING: Mm-hmm, yes.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.000
MARTHA DEANE: I don't see why you ever left. [[laughter]]

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: [[cross talk]] No-- ninety dollars a month--
LISA CHICKERING: I've thought of that myself since I've been back in New York.

00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:21.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, prices have sky rocketed since we've been gone.

00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:28.000
So, we just think we'll go back to Mallorca forever, or Shangri-La. Up to Kashmir--

00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:34.000
MARTHA DEANE: You were in India a long time, then?
LISA & JEANNE: [[cross talk]] No. Not too long. About a month.

00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:41.000
MARTHA DEANE: Did you work there?
LISA CHICKERING: No I didn't. You see I worked in Istanbul just before that.
MARTHA DEANE: And saved your money?

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:53.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Ah yes-- It was a wonderful engagement at the Istanbul Hilton. And this was a place I was very nervous, because it was the first, ah, different type audience, you know, with different customs and all.

00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:01.000
We had been working with European audiences and lots of English speaking people, but this was the first completely Turkish audience.

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:14.000
So I was just very worried that Lisa wouldn't get over to these people. But she always did. She adapted herself just beautifully - to the new audience, the new situation, and she just won them over completely.

00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:22.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well, what kind of act did she do?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, she does show tunes and special material. She sings numbers in French and in Spanish.

00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:27.000
And, ah-- Oh, she plays the piano, too.
MARTHA DEANE: I should hope so,
LISA CHICKERING: Being a Chickering, naturally !

00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:33.000
MARTHA DEANE: If Miss Chickering doesn't play the piano, she can leave. [[laughter]]
LISA CHICKERING: Good-bye!
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes! [[laughter]]

00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:46.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, you know, I must interrupt here for just one second. Because in Egypt, we had, ah, some friends that we met there, take us to see belly dancers. Now you don't just go to Egypt without seeing a belly dancer.
MARTHA DEANE: Well of course!
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: No--

00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:52.000
LISA CHICKERING: So, I -- of course I was very shocked, and I said, 'Imagine!' And they said, well, this is our way of life here.

00:28:52.000 --> 00:29:02.000
So on New Year's Eve at the Istanbul Hilton they said, "Well, I hope Miss Chickering you don't mind but, tonight, you know, it is a Turkish audience, and you're going to have to share your billing with a belly dancer.

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:10.000
Well, this was the first time I'd ever had a competition of a belly dancer and was on the same show with one, which was a new and novel experience.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:17.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well, tell me about her.
LISA CHICKERING: Well, my, I don't know if I should-- [[laughter]]
MARTHA DEANE: Oh, go on, I'm older than you. [[laughter]]

00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:26.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, the bangles were going and - do you know here was this ah, well of course, it was an amazing New Years Eve because there were 5,00 people from all over Europe.

00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:30.000
It was the first New Years Eve that the Istanbul Hilton had been in existence.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:39.000
So it really was a fantastic thing with, uh, emerald tiaras, diamonds the size of, well what would you say? An orange --

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:50.000
I've never seen, I, it really looked like a stage setting. But the Turkish people in that audience when this women did her belly dance they lost their minds! [[laughter]]

00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:00.000
So I think maybe I should incorporate it in my act. But they really do love it. It is part of their world.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, it is a standard part of their entertainment. The show isn't complete to those people without a belly dancer.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.000
MARTHA DEANE: This is an old Egyptian custom?
LISA & JEANNE: [[cross talk]] All the Middle East. All of it. All the Middle East.

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:13.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: But Lisa held her own beautifully! [[laughter]]
LISA CHICKERING: Oh well, [[laughter]] I don't know how to take that.

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:20.000
MARTHA DEANE: This is carrying press agency too far!
LISA CHICKERING: [[cross talk]] Yes, I --
MARTHA DEANE: It really is!
LISA CHICKERING: -- think that I agree with you!

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:27.000
MARTHA DEANE: I don't know, I think your press agent has gone too far.
LISA CHICKERING: Now, I'm going to tell you she was the belly dancer.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: That's about it.

00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:39.000
MARTHA DEANE: Could malia... Wait till it... Have you girls been home to Chicago yet?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, we-- Yes, we drove through -- and drove out again. But, we just stayed a couple of days to say hello to family and get back here.

00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:50.000
MARTHA DEANE: But I'll bet 5,000 dollars, you didn't tell this story!
LISA CHICKERING: Well, ah, no I didn't. [[laughter]]
MARTHA DEANE: Leave this one out for the family in Chicago.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Well when you came back, you landed on the West Coast!
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, you know, and I've always dreamed, I've sat many times - I lived in San Francisco for a while and -

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:05.000
- I had sat out there and looked at that Golden Gate and dreamed of the far away places of the Orient that lay on the other side of the water.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:15.450
But never, ever once dreamed I would come through that Golden Gate from the other end, ever, from the - what is it - the west, coming east. So that was really a very thrilling exp--

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:22.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well, where did you end up anyway? Where were you at the time you sailed to come home?

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.000
LISA CHICKERING: Ah, well, Tokyo. I'd finished an engagement at the, in the Imperial Hotel there.

00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.000
And then we sailed, ah, from Yokohama on a cargo ship.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: There was no place else to go.

00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:41.000
MARTHA DEANE: So while you didn't, you don't advise anyone to stay in these big hotels, you were, you did work in some.
LISA CHICKERING: Oh, when I sing in them, yes, because -- [[laughter]] [[crosstalk]]

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:49.000
For several reasons, first of all, naturally I want to sing in them, but we also get our room, and all our food, plus the salary.
MARTHA DEANE: Oh.

00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:54.000
LISA CHICKERING: So, I think then, by all means everyone -- [[crosstalk]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: That's how we managed to save, you know, to go on to the next place.

00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:00.000
MARTHA DEANE: Who took care of the money, you?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes. Oh, I took care of the money.
MARTHA DEANE: I think that's good, because in the little bit I've seen of her,-

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:10.000
- she'd probably just lose it on the way, or something. [[laughter]]
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well -
MARTHA DEANE: And buy baubles and stuff.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, maybe a cobra from India.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:15.000
MARTHA DEANE: Anyway, the last engagement was in Tokyo.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes it was. And before that Hong Kong.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:21.000
And speaking of Hong Kong, it was so funny, it was the Peninsula Hotel there. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful place.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:32.000
And I was singing this song - and you know, Jeanne always would tell them what lighting effects to have because that's an important part of a show, are the lighting effects -

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:40.000
- and suddenly, here I was singing this love song and I was bathed in a deep green light, like Fu Manchu's wife ! [[laughter]]

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:46.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It was terrible and I discovered...
MARTHA DEANE: A mermaid !
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, thank you, Miss Deane.

00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:52.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: I discovered that a little bus boy, instead of the electrician, was doing the lights. I don't know how he got there, or why.

00:32:52.000 --> 00:33:04.000
But, for the first time in my life, I had to work the lights myself and get that terrible green thing off of her.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, he had a preference for green. He thought, "pretty, really pretty", he would say. "Green, pretty!" [[laughter]]

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.000
MARTHA DEANE: Now, what did you do in Hong Kong when you weren't working?

00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:14.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, a very wonderful thing, actually, that all women are interested in - we had clothes made.
MARTHA DEANE: That's what I want to know about.

00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:23.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, yes, it was a heaven for clothes.
LISA CHICKERING: You know in Bangkok, in Thailand, they had this beautiful material that you saw in 'The King & I', the movie.

00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:30.000
If you noticed, it was the most beautiful material possible. In fact, this suit I have is this Thai silk.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:41.000
And we bought this material in Bangkok and then went on to Hong Kong and had the most beautiful clothes made from every kind of thing that you can think of.

00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:54.510
Suits, cocktail dresses, shoes, bags, and a suit there that would cost you with material and beautiful workmanship - a suit that would sell in the United States, in New York, for 350 to 500 dollars -

00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:01.000
LISA CHICKERING: So, I mean, it is just a woman's paradise.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And they make the things so beautifully.

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:08.000
It's beautiful workmanship.
MARTHA DEANE: 'Course, what a good idea to get the material in Thailand and take it to Hong Kong.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, because it is more expensive in Hong Kong.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.000
If you buy the silk in Hong Kong, it's a little more.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:20.000
MARTHA DEANE: So you had a lot of clothes made. Did you have shoes made, too?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, shoes, bags. We don't wear hats, but I suppose they make hats too.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:25.000
LISA CHICKERING: They make anything, gloves, everything you have, that you want to wear, they will make.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:28.000
MARTHA DEANE: And they do it very quickly, don't they?
LISA CHICKERING: Well, yes they do.

00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:32.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It's better to work with them, though, more slowly. We had the time, so we took the time.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:40.000
LISA CHICKERING: But, it was like a movie set. Here we were in this hotel, and they would be lined up, the different dressmakers, outside of the door, and as the engagement was coming to an end,-

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:46.000
- and the clothes weren't ready, I'd call them and say, "you've got to hurry this now" - 'cause they knew we had time -

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:55.000
- and there they were, lined outside of the door, about six of them. And they'd come in and we'd have fittings and then they would rush out and it was very funny seeing --

00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:10.000
And the Amah, that the owner of the hotel gave us, was there and trying to keep everything right. She, that's the maid, they call them in China. But that is certainly all women would love.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:19.000
MARTHA DEANE: hmm, hmm.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, you can buy beautiful materials in Hong Kong. The English woolens are there. We had coats and Fall suits made. Everything.

00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:26.000
MARTHA DEANE: And then you went to Tokyo.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes. And then we went to Tokyo.
LISA CHICKERING: And that is probably one reason we came back on a cargo ship. By then we were so overweight,-

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:31.000
- because, ah --
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And we couldn't have flown - [[laughter]]
LISA CHICKERING: Well, it was just something awful.

00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:37.000
You know, in Amsterdam, before leaving to fly to Tokyo, there's this very wonderful system: Your ticket is good for one year -

00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:43.000
- and you can stop at all these places, which we did, from Baghdad on - all through the Orient and Asia.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:53.000
But it was 8 dollars a pound overweight. So, in Amsterdam they said, "now we're going to let you get as far as Amsterdam, from Paris". They said, "this'll be a gift for you".

00:35:53.000 --> 00:36:02.000
We started throwing out everything from pencils to bobby pins and everything, so we wouldn't be overweight. Because my music weighs 25 pounds and the gowns weigh a great deal.

00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:11.000
So we were traveling as far as personal clothes, very - extremely lightly.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Very few things.
LISA CHICKERING: So from Hong Kong, our weight was enormous -

00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:18.000
- and we did have to pay overweight to get to Tokyo.
MARTHA DEANE: You're talking about your baggage,--
LISA CHICKERING: Yes.
MARTHA DEANE: -- you're not talking about the two of you gaining so much weight-- [[laughter]]

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:24.000
LISA CHICKERING: No.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Although we did gain a lot of weight in Vienna. They have the most wonderful food there that I have ever eaten.

00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:31.000
LISA CHICKERING: Here we are back to--
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Wiener Schnitzel, and sauerkraut, and dumplings - divine food there. And we gained weight.

00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:34.000
LISA CHICKERING: But we lost it in the Orient, because it's, ah--

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:40.000
MARTHA DEANE: Of all the places you went, did you like the food best in Vienna?
LISA & JEANNE: I did.
MARTHA DEANE: Did you?
LISA & JEANNE: Yes. Oh, loved it.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:51.000
LISA CHICKERING: There and Holland. 'Course you see, we do have more of the American taste, we really, when they cook with so much oil in the Latin countries, it's very hard when you're living there.

00:36:51.000 --> 00:37:01.000
But if you are going there for two weeks, I don't think that would bother anybody.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: That wouldn't matter, but--
LISA CHICKERING: But when you live month in and month out in a country and have to eat your food saturated with olive oil, it's very hard.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:08.000
So Holland is just wonderful for food, and Vienna and Innsbruck. Austria, in other words.

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:14.000
MARTHA DEANE: Did you like Japanese food in Tokyo?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, especially sukiyaki or skiyaki as they call it. Now, that was delicious.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:22.000
But some of the other dishes, I wasn't too keen on. Seaweed and - [[laughter]] - I can't think of them all.
MARTHA DEANE: Bird's nest?

00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:29.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Yes, but that type thing.
MARTHA DEANE: Did you eat a bird's nest?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: No, I wasn't brave enough.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, I did.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Oh, did you? I didn't remember that.

00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:32.560
LISA CHICKERING: Bird's Nest Soup, isn't it called?
MARTHA DEANE: Yes.
LISA CHICKERING: Yes, oh, I--

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:43.000
Lisa Chickering: Oh, and I like shark fin soup.
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, the shark fin soup.
Lisa Chickering: But, in Japan, we always, we said to each other "Now, this is one trip in a million.

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:50.000
Lisa Chickering: And so, we'll probably never do it again. So, when we were in a country, even in Europe, we lived as they did,

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.000
Lisa Chickering: stayed where the Europeans stayed." Well we said "Now that we are in Japan, we are going to stay

00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:07.000
Lisa Chickering: where the Japanese stay." Well, this is outside of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. When we to Kyoto and Nara and Nyko, and we stayed in the Japanese inns where you sleep on the floor and it is wonderful. It's comfortable.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:20.000
Jeanne Porterfield : Very comfortable.
Lisa Chickering: It is. But the funniest thing is, you have this little girl that comes in and your sitting on the floor eating dinner, and she individually gives you individually each bite of food you are going to take. You can imagine how long dinner takes.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:27.000
Martha Deane: You mean she feeds you.
Jeanne Porterfield : She feeds you, that's it.
Lisa Chickering: Yes. And Americans want to get, get on with the business. You know, we want to eat our dinner. [[laughter]]

00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:36.000
Lisa Chickering: And she would sit there, and give me a little tiny piece of meat and really I mean a little tiny piece that I could barely, and you have to eat with chopsticks, I could barely get it up on the chopsticks.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:43.000
Lisa Chickering: But, uh, then she would give me a couple of little pieces of rice, and this went on.
Jeanne Porterfield : And dinner would go on into the night.
Lisa Chickering: Yes. [[LAUGHTER]]

00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:55.000
Martha Deane: That, that happened every time you ate in a Japanese inn?
Lisa Chickering: In Japanese inns, that's the way they did it.
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, yes.
Lisa Chickering: We couldn't, well naturally we couldn't convey to them, because out of, in the provinces they do not speak a word of English.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:09.000
Lisa Chickering: So when we would speak to them, and say "Well now" course it was ridiculous to try. But we would say "Why don't you give us all of it at once and then you can go". They'd laugh and laugh and then their friends would come in and sit and watch us as we'd eat.

00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:15.000
Lisa Chickering: They were fascinated with us. So all we could do was get laughter back at everything we said.
Jeanne Porterfield : Oh, we amused them greatly. [[LAUGHTER]]

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:23.000
Martha Deane: Well, I gather that you didn't have any problems at all. Financial, social or otherwise.
Jeanne Porterfield : No.
Martha Deane: You just lived in foreign countries for three years, just the two of you.

00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:30.000
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes. That's true there were no great problems, it was a wonderful, exciting experience and I'd love to do it all over again.
Lisa Chickering: Mm, hm.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:36.000
Martha Deane: Why did you come back?
Lisa Chickering: Well, now that.. [[laughter]]
Jeanne Porterfield : Where else was there to go?
Lisa Chickering: Yes, we were at the end. Yes
Jeanne Porterfield : We were in Tokyo

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:48.000
Lisa Chickering: Of course there is Africa. I could maybe sing. I'm going to ask Jeanne, of course I haven't asked her before this, but maybe I should now. She can't say no, maybe she can get me a booking with the Pygmies in Africa. They maybe would like a singer down there.

00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:53.000
Martha Deane: You could probably spend...
Lisa Chickering: Oh, I think we could manage it. She could speak Oukawake, or whatever that is.

00:39:53.000 --> 00:40:02.000
Jeanne Porterfield : As a matter of fact, the English people did want her to come to Capetown, um...
Lisa Chickering: Johannesburg
Jeanne Porterfield : Yes, in the south of Africa
Martha Deane: What did you do? How many cars did you have all together?

00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:10.000
Jeanne Porterfield : Well, actually we had two. We wore out one. Our first year in Europe we had a little Renault. And we actually wore it threadbare. The tires, it was nothing left.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:19.000
Lisa Chickering: Fourteen months it was and we drove 40,000 miles in that little car. And it nearly wore us out too, because it is not like a Volkswagen.
Martha Deane: So you sold it.

00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:32.000
Lisa Chickering: Yes, we did. And did you know that, can you imagine, each one of us lost $125 on it. In other words, reselling it we got $250 less then we paid for it fourteen months later and we had seen all of Europe,

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:45.000
Lisa Chickering: which is quite a recommendation. People should buy their little cars over there, instead of rent them. And never take an American car. [[LAUGHTER]] You can see why I'm redoing all of American...
Martha Deane: Oh, it's too expensive - to take one.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:53.000
Lisa Chickering: Oh, yes.
Jeanne Porterfield : And the little streets there are so narrow. It is very difficult to manipulate an American car in the little narrow streets.
Lisa Chickering: But, you'd be surprised how many Americans take their cars.

00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:59.000
Martha Deane: But, they're expensive to buy and they're expensive to transport.
Jeanne Porterfield : Oh, it is much wiser to buy a little car over there.

00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:03.040
Martha Deane: And, what did you do with the second one?
Jeanne Porterfield : We sold that.
Martha Deane: You drove it how far?
Jeanne Porterfield : About twenty four...

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:11.000
LISA CHICKERING: --thousand. Fifteen or twenty thousand.
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And that's the one --
MARTHA DEANE: To what point?
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: -- that we drove all over Yugoslavia and Greece and back up through Italy.

00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:15.000
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: And we had that over in England.
LISA CHICKERING: Up through the Scandinavian countries, we drove that too.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:17.000
MARTHA DEANE: You were in the Scandinavian countries, too?
LISA CHICKERING: Hmm, hmm.

00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:24.000
MARTHA DEANE: 'Cause I don't think you mentioned that.
LISA CHICKERING: Oh, well --
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: It's hard to remember everything, actually.
LISA CHICKERING: Hmm, hmm.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:33.000
LISA CHICKERING: Oh, well, it was between engagements in England and they said, "If you want to take a two week trip, why, you can run up and see the Scandinavian countries."

00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:41.000
And up to this point, as you probably have gathered, we took a long time to seeing things, so two weeks we had to do all of the Scandinavian countries.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:47.000
But, it's sort of funny, to Englishmen, it's certainly gives you an idea of what Europeans think of us, as far as speedy travelers.

00:41:47.000 --> 00:42:00.000
They wrote a wonderful song for me, that's about an American tourist that sees all of Europe, in a week. And it is so funny, that even when I do it, I think it's just wonderful.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:11.000
But, ah, this is one time I did follow that song. We just zipped into Norway and into Sweden and into, ah, Holland and Denmark - because we had to be back for another engagement.

00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:19.000
MARTHA DEANE: Well, I'm glad you came home - for no other reason that I was able to have you on the Martha Deane Program because it's really been great fun.

00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:23.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, thank you
JEANNE PORTERFIELD: Well, we certainly enjoyed it too.
LISA CHICKERING: Very much.
MARTHA DEANE: Well, what are you going to do now, work in New York?

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:35.000
LISA CHICKERING: Well, my agent is lining up hotels in the United States. Supper club engagements, only.
MARTHA DEANE: Good, good. I want to tell you all again that our guests today have been Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:48.000
MARTHA DEANE: [[Advertisement]] Before we go, I want to tell you about Shirley, Long Island. Walter T. Shirley has provided spacious homes sites just minutes from the ocean, with nearby stores and movies and schools and employment opportunities.

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That's, any parkway to Pachaug, seven miles east on the Montauk Highway to Shirley Model Home Village, opposite Howard Johnson's.

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Incidentally, I talked about this development at Shirley, Long Island a week ago, and two of our listeners have already bought homes out there. This kind of pleases me, I'm really very pleased about it.

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:51.000
So, if you drive out to Shirley, Long Island, you might ask to see the lots and the plans of other Martha Deane listeners.

00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:58.000
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Our guest tomorrow morning is the famous Allan D. Cruickshank, the Audubon Society's favorite photographer. Until then, good-b -- [[/Advertisement]]