100 New Yorkers of the 1970s | Page 9

Arpel gasps, "Thank
you!" with schoolgirlish delight. There is something almost surreal in
her creamy white complexion. "I think sunbathing is absolutely deadly,
and that there is no reason in the world for a woman to sunbathe," she
says. Moments later, she admits that "high heel shoes are not very good
for you," but that she wears them anyway, "because they're very
fashionable. They are something that really can be a problem -- if
they're pitched wrong. If you have a good shoe and it's pitched well,
you shouldn't have a problem"
Does she think it would be a good idea for women to give up high heels
altogether? "No, no. I don't think you'll ever get women to give up
fashion. So we can tell what's problems, what's really hazardous, what's
going to be injurious to your health, and what's going to just hurt a little
bit."
She never thought of writing a book until about four years ago, says
Arpel, because "every second when I was away from my business, I
spent with my daughter. Now my daughter's 16 and a half, and has a
boyfriend, and goes out, and doesn't want to spend every minute with
me. This all started when she was about 13." Adrien and her husband,
manufacturer Ronald Newman, moved to the New York metropolitan
area right after they were married in 1961, and acquired an Upper East
Side apartment last summer.
For her own health and beauty regimen, Adrien begins her typical day
with jumping rope. She thinks weight training for women is "terrific,"
but considers jogging the best all-around exercise. "Now, jogging has
its negatives. I get up very early in the morning, and if you jog while
it's still dark out, it can be dangerous. I also have long hair, and you
have to wash your hair after you jog. So for someone that works, I find

that I can only do it three days a week."
She has a facial twice weekly. "Facials are not luxuries. They are
necessities to peel off dead surface skin. ... Air pollution is the reason.
If it wears away stone on buildings, think what it can do to the skin." A
facial, she explains, consists of "all different sorts of hand massages to
deep-cleanse the skin with coconut-like milk, or some sort of sea kelp
cleanser. Then there's a skin vacuum which takes blackheads out --
electric brushes with honey and almond scrubs which clean out the
pores. And at the end, a mask. Nature-based again -- orange jelly, sea
mud, or spearmint."
Arpel believes that a woman's makeup should be largely determined by
her profession. She reveals a humorous side when asked whether a
woman stockbroker, for example, should always dress conservatively.
"Well, if she was wearing a see-through blouse and no bra in her office,
I'd certainly think she had poor taste," she laughs.
A nonsmoker who consumes little alcohol, she confesses to at least one
vice: "I drink two cups of coffee in the morning, sometimes more. Also
not wonderfully good for you -- but I never said I was a hundred
percent good."
********
WESTSIDER ISAAC ASIMOV Author of 188 books
10-29-77
In 1965, when the Science Fiction Writers of America held a national
convention to vote on the best science fiction ever published in this
country, they sifted through hundreds of nominations dating back to the
1920s before coming up with the winners. Nightfall (1941) received the
most votes for a short story and the Foundation trilogy won for the best
series of novels. The author of both works: Westsider Isaac Asimov.
Had Asimov died 25 years ago, his fame would still be secure. But he
remains more active than ever. He is, among other things, one of the

most prolific authors in the world, publishing an average of one book
and three or four magazine articles per month.
He is sitting at an electric typewriter in his West 66th Street penthouse
when the doorman informs him that two visitors have arrived. Asimov
is expecting a single reporter; but he says OK, so my roommate John
Cimino and I get on the elevator. We stop at the 33rd floor. Asimov,
clad in his undershirt, meets us at the door, hangs up our coats, and
takes us into the living room adjacent to his working area. Along one
wall is a glass-enclosed bookcase containing the 188 books Asimov has
written in his 40-year literary career.
"This is my section of the apartment," he says. "The blinds are down
because I always work by artificial light." I tell him that John has come
along to ask questions about science -- Asimov is an expert in more
than 20 scientific disciplines -- while I will be asking about science
fiction Asimov complies, and after