My New York Minutes - Chapter 2

The Move

My brother-in-law, Don, asked why I wanted to be a model. My official answer at that time was that I really wanted to be an actress, but one could segue from modeling. Look at Susan Dey - who some claimed I looked like - she was on the cover of my American Girl magazine and then she was in The Partridge Family. But the deeper reason was two-fold. In the family, I was 'the pretty one' and didn't really think I was much good at anything else. At school I was teased for my looks - skinny and awkward. They used to say "Flatsie, Flatsie, she's flat and that's that" - which was the TV jingle for a doll. So I had something to prove.

I am a bit hazy on the exact chronology of what followed but my Mom and I drove up to New York and went to the Ford Modeling Agency. We took the New Jersey Turnpike and parked at the Vince Lombardi park-n-ride and rode the train into the city. I went in and my Mom waited in the waiting room. I spoke to a nice French woman named Monique. She said, "I want Eileen to meet you but she isn't here today. Can you come back?". I told her I could. I told my Mom. We had lunch in a restaurant and went home.

We did go back. I did meet Eileen. She said, "You have a wandering eye. Try Stewart's". And that was it. Five minutes later I was sobbing on the sidewalk. My Mom was quite magnificent. She said as long as we were there we might as well go to some other agencies. This was very brave for her. Especially since she wasn't that keen on the idea in the first place. And we were from Delaware and this was New York. I think maybe Monique got her hopes up too. I told her about the Stewart's comment. There was also an agency I'd read about in one of my magazines called Wilhelmina. We went to Bloomingdales and used the pay phones and the phone book. We decided to start with Stewart Modeling Agency. We told them we were only there for the day and they agreed to let me come in. There were pictures of Susan Dey and Cybill Shepard in the lobby. So they were with Stewart's too!! I talked to a woman named Donna. Right away, she said Yes. They'd take me. I told her I had to finish high school, then I'd move to New York and I could start. She said Great. Give me a call. I went back to my Mom. We walked outside. I was so happy. We walked down the street. A big black man stood in the sidewalk and sang to us "Lady...you have a lovely daughter".

Back home I told all my friends and then I had to find an apartment. I was so scared. At the last minute, my big sister Sarah said she would spend the summer with me in New York. Sarah was two years older. She was a Hippie. She'd been traveling around making money by picking apples. I was so relieved not to have to go by myself. Our grandmother gave Sarah some money so she could study painting at The Art Student's League. We took the train up. We got The New York Times. There was one apartment we could afford ($185 per month). We went there and talked to the landlord. He said we could have the apartment. My Mom had given us a blank check for the deposit. It was 2 rooms - a 5th floor walk-up at 83rd Street and First Avenue. No one believes me when I tell them that I went to New York and got an apartment on the Upper East Side by answering one ad in The New York Times. But that's how it really happened.

Three days after my high school graduation, we packed some dishes, a small table, 2 folding chairs and 2 twin mattresses on top of our Plymouth Fury II and we were in. I couldn't talk to my Mom for about 2 months after that. I was too homesick, it was unbearable. I told her she couldn't call or write.

I had a bank check with all my savings ($3500) because we thought that would be like cash. But the bank told us it would take three weeks to clear. So we didn't have any money for three weeks. I cried but Sarah said it would be okay. Mom had given us some food. In the beginning I was sad and wanted my mother, but Sarah was really happy. We made curtains and slept next to each other on our mattresses on the floor. It was hot. The apartment had cockroaches and once I woke up at night and there was one crawling on my lips. We bought a used window fan from a man with a fix-it shop at 83rd Street named Mr. Claiborne. We walked in the Carl Shurtz Park. But we never went out at night. We thought New York was too dangerous. Even when our little brother came up and wanted to see the fireworks for the bicentennial. We took him to the Tall Ships but the fireworks were at night. He was heartbroken. When you are from Delaware, that's what you believe about New York. We learned how to use the subway. Sarah went to the Art Student's League and I started going on modeling interviews. Except they don't call them interviews, they call them 'go-sees'. You go, they see.