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The woman, her back to the camera, is unblushingly and unmistakably nude. Slowly she begins to dress. At last she rises and turns to reveal—voilà!—a bra ($16) and panties ($9) by Berlei USA. So goes the latest milestone in the use of soft-tease hard sell: the first nude TV commercial in the U.S. The 30-second, $40,000 spot premiered last week on the cable USA Network and Cable Health Network, which together reach about 15 million subscribers. Starring in the eye-catching advertisement is Deborah Diehl, 25, a New York City actress whose previous appearances include an off-off-Broadway production of Henry IV, work as an extra in Francis Coppola's upcoming Cotton Club and TV plugs for Paterson Silks and Pergament paint. How does she feel about peddling panties in the buff? "It's not exactly Shakespeare," says Diehl, "but it beats selling paint." Even if it is a shade off-color.
Stephen Spender, British writer, on visiting a U.S. shopping mall: "It's like a zoo in which the inhabitants happen to be human beings, very excited about their new cage."
Abbie Hoffman, '60s radical, on an article suggesting Howdy Doody was a subversive show: "I was into Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Howdy Doody was obviously a puppet being controlled by Authoritarian Bob Smith."