I SINGLE LIFE
The Fax Of Romance
Barry Kushelowitz is using
modern technology
to make old-fashioned love.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Features Editor
B
arry Kushelowitz
hung his head low
as he aimlessly
wandered the
streets of New York
City. He hadn't shaved in
days; his tattered blue jacket
rested shapelessly on his
shoulders.
"If only I could meet a nice,
Jewish girl!" he sighed, gaz-
ing down at the still, deep
waters under the Brooklyn
Bridge.
A seemingly endless
number of happy couples,
their arms linked in
everlasting and eternal love,
passed beside him. Yet, true
love seemed as far from
Kushelowitz as Detroit is
from Utica, Miss., where the
population is 6,000 and the
biggest thrill around is going
to the Jitney Jungle, the on-
ly grocery store in town, to
buy a chocolate Yoo-Hoo soda.
Kushelowitz stopped in his
tracks. From out of nowhere
112
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1989
— just like in the movies --
came the voice of Frank
Sinatra singing a love song.
Feeling a sudden surge of
strength, Kushelowitz
straightened his jacket and
held his head high. He gazed
at the display case in the
busindss store in front of him.
"What, is this a, do I see —"
the words came pouring
ecstatically from his mouth.
At long last Kushelowitz
had stumbled upon his key to
romance, his Shangri-La, his
pot at the end of the rainbow:
the facsimile machine.
So it didn't happen exactly
like_ that. But it was pretty
much love at first sight bet-
ween Kushelowitz and the
fax.
Thday the two are united in
SinglesFax, Kushelowitz's
plan for bringing love to
singles throughout the world.
Women are invited to "Be
prepared for pleasant sur-
prises when you sign up to
Barry Kushelowitz: He's nice,
he's Jewish, he's single. He
lives in New York. But he wasn't
meeting anyone. His brother
wasn't meeting anyone; "He
had six dates and every one
stood him up." Then,
Kushelowitz faced the fax.
(Above) The SinglesFax logo.
receive one-page introduc-
tions from our fax hunks";
men can meet the equally ex-
citing "fax foxes."
It works like this,
Kushelowitz explains: in-
terested parties are asked to
write a one-page introduc-
tion. Next they may select,
based on a fee, how to make
their fax introductions. At
least 20 of these introductions
will come — how else? — via
the fax, so Kushelowitz ad-
vises men and women using
the fax at work arrive at the
office early Monday morning
to pick up those possible love
connections.
It was his own dream of
meeting that special fax fox
that drove Kushelowitz to
create SinglesFax.
"I kept seeing all these
beautiful women in New
York, but it's just impossible
to meet them. I thought it
must be like that all over the
world."
A 'native New Yorker who
doesn't think the Big Apple is
the center of the universe,
Kushelowitz attended Forest
Hills (N.Y.) High School,
which he proudly tells
everyone is also the alma
mater of singers Paul Simon
and Art Garfunkel and the
inimitable Captain Kangaroo,
Bob Keeshan.
He was studying pre-med,
then decided to become a den-
tist, but ended up assistant
books editor of Good
Housekeeping, where he
works full time. An article
about SinglesFax recently
ran in Good Housekeeping,
but Kushelowitz denies any
involvement.
"Are you kidding?" he says.
"If I'd written it, I would have
been on the cover. And I
would have had a big
headline: 'Will you date this
man? Please!' "
One evening after a day at
Good
Housekeeping