Page 8-Thursday, May 3, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Rula Lenska (?) fan club grows
By PATRICIA HAGEN
Who isRula Lenska? Who cares?
Apparently a loof people do care,
says David Lewis, an advertising
writer from Berkley, Michigan, who
noticed that lately "everyone was
asking, 'Who is Rula Lenska?' " So, as
a joke, Lewis started the Rula Lenska
Fan Club. In just two weeks, to his sur-
prise, the club has acquired more than
100 members.
RULA LENSKA is the red-haired
actress who announces "I'm Rula Len-
ska" and goes on to extoll the virtues of
Alberto VO-5 hair spray and hot oil
treatment in TV commercials.
"I don't know who she is," explained
Lewis, who only knows that she is the
British actress who does the Alberto
commercials. "I don't want to know
any more about her," he added em-
phatically.
Two weeks ago, Lewis typed up an
application letter for the fan club and
distributed it because of a joke cir-
culating his office. The letters started
coming back to him with membership
fees enclosed. There are now about 107
New Rula Lenska fan club
starts as ad man's joke
members, including some from Boston, envision Rula Lenska."
Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. LEWIS DOESN'T want to take the
"Most are from friends and fellow em- chance of destroying his glamorous
ployees," said Lewis. He said he expec- image by meeting her in person. "I
ts the club to continue to grow. might find out that she has zits up close.
"I'LL HAVE to limit the membership I don't want my fantasy spoiled."
to 24 million," he said with a chuckle. By paying the $2.97 membership fee,
"No, really," he said, "I hope it gets anyone can become a lifetime member
really big." of the club, according to Lewis. "You
Lewis called his "dream girl's" fan get an official Rula Lenska fan club
club a "joke" that has been blown out of membership card and six months of the
proportion. He said he is delighted that official Rula Lenska fan club newslet-
so many other people want to par- ter," as well as the right to purchase
ticipate in his prank. "I'll do anything special Rula Lenska T-shirts and
for a joke," laughed Lewis. bowling shirts," said Lewis.
Lewis said the club is based on his With the membership fees, Lewis
fantasy image of the commercial ac- said he expects to break even on prin-
tress. "I see this attractive woman get- ting and mailing costs.
ting off a plane, in a mink coat, getting THE NEWSLETTER, according to
her picture taken all the time," Lewis, will be a satirical publication,
described Lewis. "That's a fantasy written in a style comparable to
person," he realizes, "that's the way I National Lampoon. He plans to write
reviews of Lenska's commercials and
tongue-in-cheek interviews.
Lewis said he is enjoying the creative
possibilities offered by his fun idea. His
job is writing commercials about food
products, but, he said, "You can only
write so many humorous com-
mericals." "This is my outlet,"
laughed Lewis, "My chance to do
something crazy."
Lewis, a 1976 graduate of Eastern
Michigan University, would like to
write for television and comedians. His
other ambition is to meet Pam Dawber
of the television situation comedy Mork
and Mindy. "I have a crush on her," he
giggled.
The account supervisor of the Alberto
advertising account, Chris Loefler,
hadn't heard much about the new fan
club, but he was enthusiastic. "I think
it's terrific . . . It's great that she's
becoming a property. We're quite
pleased about it," he said. The
popularity of the fan club, Loefler ex-
plained, shows that the public is
becoming aware of the actress and the
products.
False claims source of senator's funds
From AP and Reuter
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Herman
Talmadge's financial secretary
testified yesterday that some of $80,000
transferred into the senator's personal
account in 1975 likely came from
falsely-claimed reimbursements for
Senate expenses.
Allyne Tisdale described under oath*
complex chain of money transfers in
which personal investments and expen-
se funds received from the Senate were
regularly mixed over a period of
several years.
SHE TESTIFIED before the Senate
Ethics Committee which is hearing
evidence on five specific allegations of
financial wrongdoing by Talmadge,
chairman of the Senate Agriculture
Committee.
Last year, after the investigation into
Talmadge's affairs had begun,
Talmadge's office accounts were
audited and the Georgia Democrat
agreed to pay back $37,125 in expense
claims made against the Senate from
1972 to 1978.
Talmadge has characterized the
over-reimbursements as resulting from
staff error and confusion over Senate
rules on legitimate expenses.
HIS PRECISE role in the handling of.
his finances is not clear. Tisdale said
the senator sometimes reviewed Senate
expense vouchers in detail and at other
times Wtas too busy and left it to his
staff.
During her testimony, she
acknowledged signing several expense
vouchers with his name.
The $37,125 in refunds to the Senate
resulted largely from a practice in
which expenditures were claimed for
the senator's Georgia office, although
the money was not actually spent.
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TISDALE, WHO has worked off and
on for Talmadge since 1966, was asked
a series of detailed questions about
Talmadge's finances by Carl Eardley,
special counsel of the ethics panel.
In a soft Georgia drawl, she said
$25,000 of the $37,125 was surplus money
for which Talmadge had been over-
reimbursed. The remaining $12,125 was
the result of a "ruthless audit," that is,
expense claims which might have been
legitimate under some interpretations
of Senate rules.
Eardley asked if reimbursements for
expenses were deposited in a special of-
fice account which also included fees
for speeches given by Talmadge and an
$90,000 certificate of deposit purchased
from the Trust Co. of Georgia.
TISDALE: "Yes. sir."
Eardley: "In the $90,000, some of this
surplus was generated by the reimbur-
sements."
Tisdale: "You could say that could
account for some of it." Talmadge ex-
pressed outrage that committee
lawyers even raised the issue of the-
$80,000.
"THIS WAS A personal fund," he
said. "It had accumulated over a period
of several years."
The trial-like open hearing broke up
for the day when James Hamilton,
Talmadge's attorney, objected as Ear-
dley attempted to introduce evidence in
documents supplied by Daniel Min-
chew, the senator's former ad-
ministrative assistant and now his chief
accuser.
Minchew admits to establishing in
1973 a secret account in a Washington
bank, into which he funneled some
campaign contributions and excess ex-
pense reimbursements.
THE ETHICS panel can take no final
action against Talmadge, but its
recommendation would carry a heavy
weight in any Senate consideration of
the allegations. The only two punish-
ments specifically set out in Senate
rules are censure or expulsion.