European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Joy it Mutieny hoi no hangups about having a famous wife Chicago mayoral candidate Jane Byrne. Wimp image unjust no hangul Byli Krasnow United press International l iving in the Shadow of powerful wives they re portrayed As everything irom opportunists to wimps. But Iho husbands of women who have made it to the lop Nam Erica say hey Are Gutsy men. Nol spineless. Today with Lem Les comprising 4d percent of the local work Force in the United Stales masses of husbands throughout history the Chiei breadwinners Are facing ills sociological shift. Experts say men must eel fulfilled As individuals to survive marriage to accomplished spouses. I have no hangups about having a famous Wile. She is a very talented lady Wilh a very rewarding career 5,nys Jay Mcmullon husband of Chicago mayoral candidate Jane Byrne. During his wife s 1979-83 stint As mayor of the City Mcmullen was a real estate writer Lor the Chicago Sun times Afler 30 years of political reporting or the now defunct Chicago daily news he Mel Byrne while coveting the City Hall beat i was always son of in the Public Eye Mynah Lor All these years so i Don i have any inferiority Complex says Mcmullen 65, who works part time Lor an advertising Agency. I Don l feel demeaned because i now choose to Lake a supportive role rather Ihan an upfront. Rna oho if she s elected he plans to help Jane Byrne in whatever she wants me to do. I m her husband and Ihal s Alt i really aspire to be. I Don i crave any recognition or position. As a matter of tact i Don l need the when he was Chicago s first husband he overexposure took its toll. He served As press Secretary Lor the mayor or a year and ended up feeling betrayed by Many of his old Media colleagues who constantly picked on Mcmullen and Byrne. You can never really be comfortable when you stick out like admits ecu Urien. You have a tendency to becomes Letitia Baldrige had been a career woman since College graduation and there was no Way i was going to shift gears when in 1963, Al age 35 she married Bob Hollens Elner. Real estate Developer. Baldrige s resume includes work As Jackie Kennedy s chief of stall and social Secretary in the while House laying Beauty Salon gossip into Roma Bomarc Idunn associated press w Hen her customers talk Sylvie runs the Wes Gale Beauty Salon inner Castle pa., where the gossip often turns to faltering marriages agonizing affairs or the travails of raising children. From Hal chitchat while culling and Curling Nair Sommerfeld fashions historical Romance novels. As a beautician believe me you hear All 1he stones says Sommerfield a 54-year-old grandmother. People Tell their doctor their psychologist and their beautician since 1979, summer fold has Lumen Oul 13 Romance novels creating characters out of her customers. More Ihan 4 million copies of her books Are in print boosting her income to six figures a year. Currently she s under con race Wilh Zebra books to write another 13 novels Heady stuff for a beautician who hoped Only so make a Lille Side in t it wonderful she asks during an interview at her new office a Sommerfield enterprises inc., a Lew doors from her Beauly Salon. Could you ask fora better thing Ihan this to get paid and learn to do better what you really enjoy doing in the first place. Once in a while somebody will Faugh and say please Don t put that in a Book but nobody has really said anything about in. They be been pretty encouraged by her lather an avid Reader find self Laught historian Sommerfield developed an Early fondness or literature while growing up on a Western Pennsylvania farm. She Wen to work for an insurance Agency Afler graduating from High school in 1919 because Money was vary very tight in our during her spare Lime she played around writing Short stories and poetry. But All her literary efforts were Sel aside when she married John fused in 1953 and had two children. To just devoted myself to being a Wile and Twenty years ago the bored homemaker took Over Westgate Beauly Salon from her brother in Law. She obtained a Hairdresser s License a few years later and soon was managing a staff of up to five stylists and a clientele of More than 100 customers a Day. But always in the Back of my mind was the Lack Hal i wanted to be a writer she says. It was in mid-1979. At age Al thai the decided to write a Book Al her husband s urging. By the end of 1979. Sommerfield had produced three 600-Page novels in her spare Sime. The manuscripts were rejected by several publishers before being accepted by new York s Zebra books which publishes romances adventures westerns and gothic As Well As mainstream novels. Leslie Gelbman Zebra s editorial director recalls thinking this woman has Talent and i think we can Page 14 the stars and stripes develop her into a Best Selling before the paperback books could be released however. Sommerfield was forced to undergo surgery in March 1980 because of a cranial aneurysm despite a Long painful recovery she managed to write iwo Mare novels by the end of the year. Her firs Book Erin s ecstasy was released by Zebra in october 1980. Tahiti s torment appeared in november Ollow Edby rebel Pride in december Sommerfield was in local Shock when she Gol a Multi Book contract offer irom Zebra. Her a sol two novels fared just As Well with sales averaging 70.000 copies on each of the books first printings. Her Izish novel Savage kiss was released this fall. The 13ih, captive embrace is due Oul in april. A main theme in All of Sommerfield s books is commit men. According to Kalhe Robin a reviewer for romantic times a bimonthly Trade publication in Brooklyn Heights . She s Able 10 pair up More characters happily Ever Aller than any other author in the genre says Robin who estimates i Here Are 600 to 700 Romance novelists in me United slalom when you read Sommerfield s books you eel a deep sense of commitment thai the characters have Tor cacti other the commitment that we All make in our lives every single Sommerfield gets 10 to 15 Sellers a Day from readers around the world who love her endings 68vs her husband a financial invest or who retired in 1980 to wednesday
