X-Message-Number: 152 From ho5cad!att!arpa!RELAY.CS.NET!BEATTYR%JLCL01%dupont.com Fri Jan 12 08:37:34 1990 Return-Path: <ho5cad!att!arpa!RELAY.CS.NET!BEATTYR%JLCL01%dupont.com> Received: from ho5cad.UUCP by whscad1.att.uucp (4.1/SMI-3.2) id AA15166; Fri, 12 Jan 90 08:37:33 EST Message-Id: <> Received: from relay2.cs.net by RELAY.CS.NET id aa04260; 11 Jan 90 21:22 EST Received: from dupont.com by RELAY.CS.NET id ab03377; 11 Jan 90 21:51 EST Date: Thu, 11 Jan 90 21:25 EST From: "(Roy R. Beatty) Keane, Inc. [BEATTYR] 302-774-0335 B-10217" <BEATTYR%JLCL01%> Subject: CRYONICS - Enquirer Article To: ho5cad!kqb% X-Vms-To: @BWINE:[BEATTYR.MAIL]CRYO ***NEWS FLASH*** January 16, 1990 National_Enquirer front page story GERALDO BLASTS OPRAH . . . [er, that's not it] LIZ' BIZARRE PLAN TO LIVE FOREVER She'll Have Science Lab Freeze Her Head & Bring Her Back to Life in 150 Years [story on page 50. Three pictures, their captions: 1) "MICHAEL JACKSON, who intends to have his body frozen after death, convinced Liz it was the smart thing to do." 2) "EVERLASTING LIZ? The 57-year-old legend wants her head frozen for the next 150 years or so until science has the technology to bring her back to life." 3) A picture of Robert Ettinger doing his chores is captioned, "THIS STRANGE-LOOKING container is called a "cryostat" and is designed for the storage of entire bodies after they have been frozen." In spite of the file-photo of Ettinger, it appears that the story centers on Alcor, although its name is not mentioned.] Liz' Crackpot Plan for Eternal Life - She'll Have Scientists Freeze Her Head for 150 Years Liz Taylor has a bizarre secret plan to live forever -- she's going to have her head frozen so scientists can bring her back to life in the future! The controversial freezing process is called "cryonics." Liz recently toured a cryonics lab in southern California where frozen heads and bodies are stored -- and she came away determined to make herself immortal, say insiders. "She's totally obsessed with this crazy notion -- which she first got from her close pal Michael Jackson about four months ago," said a friend of the 57-year-old actress. "Liz plans to sign up for the program very soon. She says it'll cost her 'a minimum of $35,000.' "The plan calls for her head to be surgically removed upon her death and stored in a frozen container for the next 150 years or so until science has the technology to giver her new life in a new, young body." Liz excitedly told a source close to her: "No one can predict how far science is going to progress in the next century -- but we've got the technology right now that can keep alive the possibility of living forever.! "This isn't just some mad scientist's deranged dream. This is reality. People may laugh now, but they probably would have laughed 200 years ago if you'd described a computer to them. "This is our first step toward immortality -- and it's a step I'm going to take!" Michael Jackson's intention to have his body frozen when he dies has already received publicity. Late last fall he began pitching the idea to Liz, her friend confided. "Liz pooh-poohed the idea at first. But Michael kept talking about cryonics. One night he came to dinner at Liz' Beverly Hills home, and he told her: "'You're one of the world's most beautiful women. You deserve to go on. "'You could freeze just your head and have a new body transplanted in the next century. Those beautiful violet eyes would see forever!'" Liz still was skeptical. But over the following weeks Jackson kept sending her literature about cryonics . . . [sic] and as she read it, she slowly became fascinated by the idea, said her friend. "One day in November, as Liz was reading the literature in her bedroom suite, she told her boyfriend Larry Fortensky: 'There's a possibility it could work! What do I have to lose!' "Larry was dumb-founded. He told her, 'You can't be serious.' But Liz said, "If there's a chance this could work, it's worth taking a look at.'" Early in December, Liz dragged a reluctant Fortensky off to the southern California cryonics lab for a tour, say insiders. Scientists there told her that instead of transplanting her head onto another body, genetic scientists in the future would grow her an entirely new body -- a healthier, younger Liz look-alike -- from a cell taken from her head tissue. Liz liked the idea of this process, called cloning, say sources. The actress told friends she's miserable in her current body -- she's fat and has suffered terrible back pain for decades -- and is excited about the prospect of having a new body. The star confided to a longtime pal: "I'll be able to live the life I've always wanted, without a body constantly racked with pain and discomfort! "I won't have to turn to drugs and alcohol to escape the horrible misery I've endured in this life. "And I'm told that when I'm revived, science will have progressed to the point where I'll be able to eat whatever I want and as much as I want -- without gaining an ounce!" A source familiar with procedures at the California cryonics lab -- where several heads are already stored -- confirmed that experts there are convinced it will be possible someday to "bring people back to a living, conscious state from the head alone." When someone who's signed up for the program dies, his or her head is rushed to the lab where its temperature is lowered through a three-step process, the source told THE ENQUIRER. The head is first packed in ordinary ice to bring it down to 32 degrees. Then it's put in dry ice (solidified carbon dioxide), lowering its temperature to minus 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally the head is cooled to minus 320 degrees using liquid nitrogen, and it's stored long-term at that temperature. "Experts estimate that people can be generated from a single cell within 50 to 150 years," said the source. Incredibly, Liz has talked Fortensky into joining her in the deep freeze, her friend disclosed. "She told him, 'When I wake up in 150 years, I don't want to be among strangers. I want you by my side, Larry.' "Larry finally agreed. He later told me, 'If makes Liz happy, what the hell do I care? We're gonna both be dead anyway when they cut off our heads!'" -- JEROME GEORGE, STEVE HERZ and RICHARD TAYLOR Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=152