A 1970's compilation of single, liberated, bright, attractive, well-paid women employed in one of the most famous, prestigious and enviable New York City corporations. Jack Olsen has interviewed them in depth and recorded their candid, bitter, assessments of themselves and each other, their intimate observations on the men they work for, sleep with, cover for, despise.
He has encouraged them to talk freely about their pasts, their families, their ambitions, sex during and after hours, female chauvinism, professional ethics, and their desperate entrapment- - tenaciously holding on to their jobs despite strong, conflicting feelings about the lives they lead.
What keeps then here? Why do they stay? How are they affected by the new currents in women's lives, women's lib, "sisterhood," the determination to be treated as equals in work and love?
Jack Olsen has gotten it all together in a shocking, poignant, powerful indictment of the quality of life-in-the-big-city that reads like a novel but is real life as actually lived by fifteen very different, talented, single women who share to varying extents a common despair at what their "advantaged status" has brought... and what it really cost to have the best of everything.
Some of the Girls:
Alexandra Oats, 38
Boss of the staff: tough, solid, smart. Very conscious of Women's Lib. Reluctantly admired by many of the girls.
Samantha Havercroft, 37
English import, top-notch secretary who's promoted and becomes disenchanted with the job. Violently overcritical about everything.
Gloria Rolstin, 38
Complicated and fascinating affair with a top executive. Generally liked by the girls.
Bettye McCluin, 25
Well-to-do family, spoiled, received good grades without training through Daddy's connections but is heartily resented. Over-skilled, sexy, aloof.
Phyllis Brown, 35
New York native, strict father, Catholic. Hates idea of sex but indulges. Suicidal tendencies.
Stephanie Grant, 28
Secretive and strange. Lived with Indians in Latin America and now enjoys her completely solitary home life in New York. A maverick to the other girls and thought of as weird, but decent and rather lovely.
Carol Ann Simkens, 25
Southern belle, great office efficiency but by far the wildest of all the girls. Village bars and stud bartenders after hours, back at her desk bright and early each morning.
Mary Adams, 27
Thinks New York men are the worst - emasculated and plastic - and New York the most vile city imaginable.
Calia Bartussi, 50
Fading jet-set cosmopolite. Absolutely petrified about aging and being frozen out.
Stacey Krupp, 41
Farm girl, originally very enthusiastic about New York and the office, but lands in a job working for the bastard of all time. Surmounts the experience and looks forward optimistically to a new professionalism in the office.
He has encouraged them to talk freely about their pasts, their families, their ambitions, sex during and after hours, female chauvinism, professional ethics, and their desperate entrapment- - tenaciously holding on to their jobs despite strong, conflicting feelings about the lives they lead.
What keeps then here? Why do they stay? How are they affected by the new currents in women's lives, women's lib, "sisterhood," the determination to be treated as equals in work and love?
Jack Olsen has gotten it all together in a shocking, poignant, powerful indictment of the quality of life-in-the-big-city that reads like a novel but is real life as actually lived by fifteen very different, talented, single women who share to varying extents a common despair at what their "advantaged status" has brought... and what it really cost to have the best of everything.
Some of the Girls:
Alexandra Oats, 38
Boss of the staff: tough, solid, smart. Very conscious of Women's Lib. Reluctantly admired by many of the girls.
Samantha Havercroft, 37
English import, top-notch secretary who's promoted and becomes disenchanted with the job. Violently overcritical about everything.
Gloria Rolstin, 38
Complicated and fascinating affair with a top executive. Generally liked by the girls.
Bettye McCluin, 25
Well-to-do family, spoiled, received good grades without training through Daddy's connections but is heartily resented. Over-skilled, sexy, aloof.
Phyllis Brown, 35
New York native, strict father, Catholic. Hates idea of sex but indulges. Suicidal tendencies.
Stephanie Grant, 28
Secretive and strange. Lived with Indians in Latin America and now enjoys her completely solitary home life in New York. A maverick to the other girls and thought of as weird, but decent and rather lovely.
Carol Ann Simkens, 25
Southern belle, great office efficiency but by far the wildest of all the girls. Village bars and stud bartenders after hours, back at her desk bright and early each morning.
Mary Adams, 27
Thinks New York men are the worst - emasculated and plastic - and New York the most vile city imaginable.
Calia Bartussi, 50
Fading jet-set cosmopolite. Absolutely petrified about aging and being frozen out.
Stacey Krupp, 41
Farm girl, originally very enthusiastic about New York and the office, but lands in a job working for the bastard of all time. Surmounts the experience and looks forward optimistically to a new professionalism in the office.
Used availability for Jack Olsen's The Girls in the Office