Elaine Hartman Wants To Visit South Pole

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28447, 29 November 1957, Page 2

Elaine Hartman Wants To Visit South Pole

Quite determined to be the first woman to visit the South Pole, Mrs Elaine Shepard Hartman, journalist, television star, actress, and international hostess, has arrived in Christchurch from the United States. This is no idle whim. Mrs Hartman sees it as the mission of a patriot. Her assignment covered, she will go back to New York and “tell the world about it’* through International News Service, as an accredited correspondent, and by television in her new programme, “Deep. Probe.” Well aware of* Rear-Admiral George Dufek*s strict ruling, “no women in Antarctica,” Mrs Hartman has her own argument to put up-to the officer in charge of the United States Antarctic programme. Ready for Hardships “I’ve slept in sleeping bags in the snow before; I’m prepared for | hardships; I’m married to an Air Force colonel, and I have great respect for the men down there on the ice. I’m not just a playgirl, I know how to behave,” she said, in an interview, yesterday. The right woman could be a very correct and stimmating influence on the men doing an important and difficult job in the Geophysical Year, Mrs Hartman believes.

“Some day, some woman must be the first to go to the South' Pole,” she said. “I have a feeling Admiral Du'ek will give me the privilege. I am sure he must have enough regard for women to know that they would not all be a bad influence on his men.”

I This assignment for, Interna- | tional News Service—“a pretty powerful syndicate”—would have a world-wide influence for good, she said. “It is no superficial stunt. It will be of ‘across-the-boards’ benefit.” she said. “I am not the answer to the sputniks, but I think it is time someone came up with something in the United States.” she said. “A woman going to the South Pole, then returning home to report on what is happening there would attract more attention than I if all the top men journalists in the United States wrote about it.” Of Pioneer Stock A beautiful young woman, with a film star face and figure, Mrs Hartman has determination, optimism. and, she believes, the health and resilience to stand up to the rigorous climate of the South Pole. She comes from a family of pioneers. Mrs Hartman left Donaldson Air Force Base, South Carolina, at short notice to fly to New Zealand. with a clearance from Bri-gadier-General Wade E. Hampton. who briefed her for the flight. She arrived at t Harewood “on spec.” As Elaine Shepard, she Was once voted the most intelligent and near-perfect model in the United States. On Broadway she played a principal role with Ethel Merman in “Panama Hattie” and understudied for Diana Barrymore at one hour’s notice in the lead for “The Land is Bright.” She was guest star in “Voice of the Turtle,” during this popular show’s provincial tours. In Rome she played Billie Dawn in “Born Yesterday,” the stage show she enjoyed doing most of all. Film Work

In films she has taken parts in “Topper,” “Ziegfeld Follies,” and

many others. She was leading lady in “Seven Days Ashore, ’ and in the Italian production. “Venezia, Rio Del Angelo,” not yet released in the United States. During World War II she entertained at Army camps and visited servicemen in hospitals. She is proud of the fact that she sold war bonds to the value of 116.000,000 dollars. She has travelled extensively and has a prominent reputation as an international hostess to diplomatic, political, and theatrical Her successful television shows include the “Hollywood Reporter” series, for which she interviewed the most famous film stars. For radio, she covered the 1956 Democratic Convention in New York, last year. “Deep Probe” As soon as she returns, to New York, Mrs Hartman, as v Elaine Shepard, will begin a new television show, “Deep Probe,” planned for interviewing international celebrities in the United

States and other countries. The idea behind it is to promote international understanding. “I- think it is most important that nations should try to understand each other. We cannot change one another. Television, so mercilessly intimate, is the medium for this.” she said. "Deep Probe,” she hopes, will begin with her own exclusive story, from a women's point of view, of the South Pole and the | united efforts of American servicemen in their great task. “The people back home, including Sir Leslie Munro (president of the General Assembly of the United Nations), have every confidence that I will get my South Pole story. I have taken a gamble by flying 10,000 miles in a Globemaster to come this far. and I have a strong feeling I will reach my destination.” she said. But no-one knows better than Elaine Shepard that it all depends on Admiral Dufek.