Show f "Old Stone Face" now con- - smile-whi- le — nibbling from pot at " on looks Prtcht daughter Betty Santa — $1 ? 1UI Television's original poker puss says life's OP ailarknow that his ulcer is gone By ED SULLIVAN as told to Marya Saunders and Robert Gaines rwl ' - iva bar IWy Sfcaafhr af paal The warmth and charm of lady's handwriting can only be captured by a good fountain pen And bere'i the moat feminine one of all I The Lady Sbeaffer pen ahuna ink bottles refiUa cleanly easily with drop in artridges o(Skrip writing fluid Illustrated: Paisley pen with gold --colored ac- ccnia 9ivK act who matching pencil f 1495 -- rsl WBDf I was n Pasjs last year I dined one evening with Chevalier My ulcer had been acting up all and day though we were in one of the most expensive restaurants on the Right Bank I 'could barely touch the mar' velous meal that was served to us v Chevalier noticed this and said "Ah my dear Edward are you feeling all right?" — ±"Fine" I said' T" He pointed to my plate "But you're not eating" -never eat I complained sourly Chevalier raised his eyebrows in the inimitable way he has as if to say "How crazy these Americans are! They fly 3000 miles to Paris and then refuse to taste its greatest pleasure—good food" How can you tell a Frenchman who has the very best cuisine what it is like' to live with an ulcer? How can you tell him what it is like to live on mush and baby food? Or how an ulcer can completely cut you off from the world of good food and pleasant talk? For 13 years— ever since my first appearance on TV— -- people and particularly the TV critics have used terms like "dead pan" "poker face" and "stone face" to describe me A few laughingly nicknamed me "Old Smiley" There was ample justification for this dour description I didn't smile An ulcer isolated me in a world of irritability Last June I had an operation My ulcer was removed surgically Eight weeks later I began discovering a brand-ne- w world— a world most people take for granted ' ' After my first live TV show this fall a friend stopped me on the street and said "Boy Ed did you look happy on the show! You even smiled" The following day cards letters and calls poured into the network complimenting' me on the show and the fact that I seemed to be smiling and happy and getting so much more pleasure from the acts-The reason was simple You saw a smiling and happy " mahi because for the first time you saw me on the air when I wasn't in physical pain If you have never had an ulcer it is difficult to understand the tremendous pleasure of getting over it 111 tell you what an ulcer is: you can be walking along the street and the mere' impact of your heel on the sidewalk will start a sharp pain in your stomach It spreads until it is in your upper back and you are encircled by a band of aching pain Smile? It wasn't easy It seems to me that for most of my life I have lived a freak existence Since high school back in Port Chester NY when my ulcer- began I've seldom had a decent meal Food has meant little to me except pain nausea and the constant depressing experience of pumping my stomach I got by on pills and powders arid nervous energy ' -'-- -- ' I always-enjoye- j r Ml : w "poached egg while everybody else was discussing the gustatory joys of their various stesks aad sauces Finally I would gef bored with' being the outsider and I would go home early Often I wouldn't even bother to go out at alL After re hearsala of our show the cast would go out together to eat - - ' The tragedy of an ulcer is not only that it cuts you off from the world of food but it can cut you off' from friends In spite of the fact that I have met many fascinating people my ulcer often made me a lonely man I couldn't count the aViumber of times I've sat in fine restaurants staring at a after-dinn- er but I would stay up in my dressing room and wait for them to bring me back a container of milk and pound cake This is the world that has so recently come to an end for me The ulcer is gone now and I eat like a horse Ifs the "goldarndest" feeling I even look enviously at other people's plates and fed like swiping what they're eating! Some people get ulcers because they produce excess adds in thejr digestive tracts When they are upset or tense the vagus nerve which controls the supply of acid becomes - overly active- and acids spUl 1ntotheStohach Once in the stomach this add begins to eat away at the lining' Imagine what it would be like if you had a little scratch on your hand and each day you rubbed add on it In a short time you would have a good-sizirritation This is what happens in the stomach' when you have an ulcer - - ed 10 i SheafferS 12 Family Weekly December If ISM been smaller branch nerves Before that time doctors could only' cut out the ulcer not the cause In the case of an ulcer as bad as mine this would have left only 20 percent of my stomach and the dreadful prospect of acids still eating away Once the flow of add is cut down you realize you are free of the ulcer and begin to live like a normal human being I even eat like one" Now I love to eat and for the first time in my life I can eat anything Anything! Now that I enjoy three full meals aday Tve developed new reading habits too Not only do I oaref uDy read every menu that comes my way but I own a calorie book This interest in calories is actually a deliberate plan on the part of my doctor and me I'm trying to gain weight You gals may not think so but this is very difficult After my operation weighed 130 pounds which was 25 pounds under my normal weight In three months I've put on 16 Bounds Now that'a nrctiv moaA hHm! Someone asked recently if I could name imy favorite feast of calories now that I was so busy eating Well the meal would start off with oysters on" the half shell then creamed chicken hash or two FrenchS lamb chops As side dishes I fCoftttntted) " " ' " has an fast years operation Obtlt pi tbs to sever the main vagus nerve and tie off the ' : j ' ' : |