WOMEN: Mrs. America

For a 24-year-old mother of four, Mrs. Janice Pollock was having some weird experiences. A manifestly shapely young woman (128 lbs., 5 ft. 6½; waist: 25½; bust: 34½; hips: 35) with handsome brown hair and eyes, she had journeyed from her home in Columbus, Ohio to Jackson, Miss. to compete in a beauty contest sponsored by a dressmaking company. In giddy succession, she had edged 19 other unusual wives out of the title of “Mrs. America,” won a $2,500 prize and assorted “emoluments,” and sat on a glittery throne. All she had to do in return was to travel around the country for five months modeling the dress company’s products.

On her night of triumph, while her sponsors and the losing contestants warmed up at a cocktail party, Mrs. Pollock called her husband to tell him the great news. But Salesman Marion S. Pollock was in an ornery mood. With great abruptness, he told his wife to get her winning combination home “and stop showing it off in Jackson.” Weeping openly, Mrs. Pollock packed her bag and took a plane for Columbus.

Three days later, while telegrams poured in congratulating both Mr. & Mrs. Pollock on their stands, it was clear that Mr. Pollock’s husbandly heat had cooled. Announcing that his wife’s abdication had been entirely her own idea, he indicated that Mrs. Pollock would probably make the tour after all. And just to prove that there were no hard feelings, the whole family was thinking of going along—in a private plane, accompanied by a nurse and stewardess, with all expenses paid.