SAN FRANCISCO -- Silicon, the second most abundant element in the earth's crust, is used in the manufacture of computer chips, glass and aluminum, and as a hardening agent in clay pots, bricks and decorative tile.
It also was responsible for topless dancing.
The technology of computer chips has caused flatlands at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay near the city of San Jose to be called 'silicon valley.'
Silicon also made possible 17 years ago the grandeur of Carol Doda's amazing breasts, and her cleavage endures as California's most impressive silicon valley.
During the spring and summer of 1964, Ms. Doda established herself as the favorite waitress at the Condor Club at the corner of Broadway and Columbus in San Francisco's North Beach section. She regularly go-go danced on the stage or on the piano on the stage, shaking, rattling and rolling breasts into which she had had 44 injections -- an unusually large dose -- of silicon.
'It was fun, those days,' she said. 'I had my regulars. They always asked for me.'
By the end of that summer, the rest of the world was asking for her, and others like her.
Davey Rosenberg, everyone's notion of what a press agent ought to look like (300 pounds, going on 400), at the time represented six clubs on Broadway: the Condor, El Cid, hungry i, Off-Broadway, Roaring 20s and Big Al's.
On June 18, 1964, Rosenberg asked the owner of the Condor: 'You want to fill the place up tomorrow night?'
Sure.
The next evening, Rosenberg gave Ms. Doda a radically altered bathing suit and said: 'This is your new costume. Wear it tonight.'
Ms. Doda tried it on. The costume did not cover her breasts. Which left a lot of her uncovered.
Her own 35 -inch bust ('They were all right, even before the silicon,' she says) had been pumped to a size which eludes accurate measurement, and the effect was magnified by her lack of height.
'They get bigger in the heat,' Ms. Doda explained. 'Smaller in cold weather. Remind me never to move to Alaska.'
That night, Ms. Doda danced, and long lines formed on the sidewalks of Broadway.
'Carol did 12 shows a night, so we could keep the crowds moving in and out,' Rosenberg said. 'The place was jammed for every show. Two other clubs went topless that week. Oh, it was exciting.'
Carol and Rosenberg had just given the world topless entertainment. They toured the major cities of America and every major magazine in the United States carried a story on her.
Within two months, Broadway was topless and the rest of the country quickly followed suit.
Carol Doda is still around, currently back at the Condor.
She was '19 or 20' years old when it all began, making her 36 or 37 now. She easily looks that young or younger, except for some crinkling around her mouth which blends in nicely with her dimples.
Her act, three times a night at the Condor, is high energy dance to tunes from ragtime, blues and rock 'n' roll. Each act is the same: first she comes out in a gold gown, traditional elbow-length gloves and a diaphanous wraparound; then she removes those items, leaving only a g-string, and for the final segment, she wears only the diaphanous wraparound.
Her tiny body looks slimmer without clothes than clothed, an illusion no doubt heightened by the dwarfing effect of her breasts. She has marvelous control of them: she twirls them in independent circles, points them at the ceiling with her chest muscles and only a slight tilting back of her torso and swings them back and forth.
Carol has had no problems with her silicon injections. Her body is firm, her skin smooth, her eyes bright, her voice often on the edge of laughter.
'I work out a lot and I take a lot of vitamins,' she said.
But she is getting older, and her long-range plans are pretty vague. She is taking dance and voice lessons, but is content for now to to dance at the Condor and stay in San Francisco.
