New age "pinup girls"

Lorys Crisafulli of Monongahela at her photo shoot for a 2008 calendar featuring a dozen women, the youngest of whom is 68 years old. (photo by Chris Grilli of Grilli’s Studios, New Eagle, Pa.)

MONONGAHELA – As Miss January, Lorys Crisafulli is bearing “some of it all” inside a black convertible GT, dripping pearls with a bottle of champagne.
Miss October, Kathleen Bordini, is seated in a coffin beside a black cat and pumpkin in the risqué 2008 calendar featuring a dozen different “pinup girls” from the Monongahela area, the youngest of whom is 69.
“Every one of them was intimidated at first,” said Crisafulli, 80, who is hoping to put her home area on the map with the idea. “There is a lot more giggling going on.”
She was inspired to do the project after seeing the 2003 movie “Calendar Girls.”The film starring Helen Mirren revolves around the true story of a group of Liverpool women who became a media sensation after posing nude in a calendar for a charity.
Crisafulli, a retired owner of a New Eagle antiques shop, first approached the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the calendar. But its board politely declined, thinking the project didn’t stand a chance to raise money, she said.
“The initial response is, ‘Oh, no,’” said Claudia Williams, a local furniture store owner who volunteered to sell advertisements to pay the printing costs.
“My sons kind of laughed, really. I don’t think they’re overly surprised by the things I do,” said Bordini, 74, a nutrition supervisor for Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services/Aging Services in Charleroi. The photograph of her in the casket appears beside the caption, “Get the best for the rest of your life.”
“At least I got out on my own,” said Bordini, who cast a ghostly smile in the shot. “It’s better than going in there and staying.”
None of the women took off all of their clothes, but gave the appearance that they might be nude. Such props as a car door or a vase of flowers are strategically placed to hide certain body parts that, if shown, could give the calendar an R rating.



Sally Stephenson, 84, shown above, second from right, appears in the calendar beside the Monongahela River wearing what appears to be only a Navy collar and saluting behind a lectern.
“If anyone asks if I was nude, I’m going to say that only the riverboat pilots know,” said Stephenson, a retired California University of Pennsylvania social studies professor.
She also was among 1,000 females in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services during World War II who taught instrument flying to male pilots.
The profits from the sale of the calendars will go to the Monongahela Area Historical Society, which found the project to be a “daring idea,” said its president, Sue Bowers.
“It had been done before, but not around here,” Bowers said. “It was a wonderful surprise that this spunky ladies were willing to do this ...”
In its first printing, 500 calendars will be sold for $10 apiece.
“I anticipate selling 2,500,” Williams said. “I have classmates out of state who can’t wait.”

The calendars will be published in mid-July 2007, and sold in local stores, as well on the City of Monongahela’s Web site.

Published with permission of the Observer-Reporter

Adult viewing recommended

WQED-TV will feature the Monongahela “Calendar Girls” Wednesday (Oct. 10) in a segment on its Emmy-winning news magazine.
The group of older women from Southwestern Pennsylvania who posed semi-nude for charity will appear when OnQ airs at 7:30 p.m., the public television program announced Tuesday.
The women, the youngest of whom is in her late 70s, have sold nearly 3,000 of their 2008 calendars to benefit the Monongahela Area Historical Society. Their story is expected to air in repeats.

(Caption: Calendar models Lois Phillips, left, and Kathleen Bordini at a fireman's parade in Monongahela.)

Vixens of the Valley

The Monongahela “Calendar Girls” have been turning their hometown in Southwestern Pennsylvania on its ear. The dozen women who posed semi-nude in a calendar for charity drew a huge crowd Wednesday to the Monongahela fireman's parade, where they showed up in sexy convertibles.
Dot Krol, 74, a fitness technician, shown at left in the photo, and Peggy Savadeck, 82, a Senior Olympics national gold medalist in the high jump, greeted their fans while riding along Main Street in a Volkswagen. They were Miss March and Miss November, respectively, in the calendar that has been selling like hot cakes and raising money for the Monongahela Area Historical Society.
The women have become a media sensation since the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa., broke the story in June. A big city newspaper photographer from Pittsburgh followed them through the parade route last night, as did Channel 4’s spot news cameraman, Tommy Sypula. Riding their gravy train, this was the fourth time these “pinup girls” have appeared on this blog. Bad clichés aside, they always give a big boost to the number of hits “Travel with a Beveridge” sees in a day. Rock on ladies.


Lois Phillips, 80, an artsy type, left, and Kathleen Bordini, 74, a nutrition adviser, take their places in the parade.

Hot parade

Kathleen Bordini, 74, appears a bit ghostly as Miss October in the "Ladies of the Mon Calender." (Photo: Chris Grilli, Grilli's Studio)

MONONGAHELA – The dozen older women who are showing some skin in a fund-raising calendar are about to set their hometown on fire.
The “Ladies of the Mon” will ride in hot convertibles or period cars Wednesday and make their first local appearance at the Monongahela Fire Department parade.
“The girls might not be bare, but they’re gonna be cute,” said Lorys Crisafulli, 80, who organized the calendar for charity.
Taking a cue from the 2003 movie of the same nature, “Calendar Girls,” the Monongahela woman have produced a 2008 calendar containing pictures of them staged to look as if they are nude. The income from sales will benefit the Monongahela Area Historical Society.
Within days after their story broke in June, the women – the youngest of whom is 68 – became a media sensation. They are expected to appear soon on TV’s “Inside Edition” and “Good Morning America.”
They initially planned to print 500 calendars, but quickly had to order another 1,500 to keep up with the demand for them.
“They’re just counting the money,” said Crisafulli, a former schoolteacher and owner of an antiques store.
Esther Cox, 75, whose family runs a local market, will lead off the parade in a pink Cadillac convertible. She is Miss April in a photograph of her partially hidden behind a pink umbrella.
Lois Phillips, 80, will ride the parade route in a rumble seat in a reproduction of a 1920s white automobile.
“Lois used to date her husband in a rumble seat,” Crisafulli said. “She had her hip replaced, but she said, ‘I’m going to get in that rumble seat.’”
The parade will begin a 7 p.m. at Chess Park and continue south along Main Street.
Observer-Reporter