In the time before Christmas, when there were many holiday parades, I kept processing past adult-child groups of spectators which were obviously families. The adults would say "I saw you on Stern," "Underdog Lady," etc. right in front of the children! Would the children next ask who was Howard Stern!? Sometimes other parade entrants, assembling for lineup, would greet me the same way; they were only children or teens who had watched the program!

After winter had passed, I was still getting the same acknowledgments, though the show had been off for months and the cartoons had been on Nick for almost a year. I began putting people to the question and was disgusted to find:

(1) People who called me "Underdog Lady" didn't know the first thing about the character or that Nick had been re-running the cartoons.
(2) People who spoke up about the Howard Stern show had forgotten what my topic had been.

Children, especially, although they might be VUNs, greeted me only via phrases #2 and #3, or repeated obscene questions or statements made by Howard or his assistants.

On August 8, 1993, I was making an appearance (not Underdog) at the Jersey Shore when one man yelled, "Underdog is a homo!" He meant "homosexual," referring to an evil question I'd been asked on "Howie-wood Squares." He claimed that Stern had made a video from some of his old episodes including one of me! I've seen no evidence of such a video in rental stores, but if it does exist, it would serve only to soil my good name all over again.

On September 5, on my way home from an Atlantic City appearance, I was accosted by a British couple who said that not only had they seen me on Stern, but that the telecast was at home in Britain! How many other countries over the world could have gotten brainwashed, via Stern, about me!!? Underdog has to be detoxified worldwide!

My performance situation has not improved because of all this. In fact, it's worsened! "I have been dropped from some circuits in which I used to be, and been denied entry into others... I've become a victim of negative pre-judgment and discrimination because of Howard Stern."

Dance-wise, I can perform staged recitals and concerts only 2 to 3 times a year, and in backward locations. All my other appearances are parades or block parties in which I don't even get to dance but merely drift around in costume, socializing. I've been termed a "star" and "celebrity" but have not been engaged in some celebrity-VIP-only events like the Presidential inauguration, Super Bowl Halftime, big-time charity telethons, special concerts or TV programs, etc. I'm still struggling, even worse than before, just to get a chance to put myself on display. I've suffered many impediments over many years and am in danger of forced retirement due to mediocrity or under-achievement.

There must be a drastic change of both viewpoint and opportunity if I'm to make any progress, especially with Underdog, in 1994.

UNDERDOG'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY WILL BE IN 1994!

Howard Stern ruined things for me but has never apologized. He would only seize the opportunity to change the discussion to sexual explicitness!

What kind of opportunity can I hope to get which would turn the tables for me, for Underdog and dancing in general?

I deserve to be remembered and not die as just another Jane Doe, ultimately forgotten!

This entire account is true.

Suzanne Muldowney

 

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