Dawn's Early Lightener

Of the many pretty girls to whom the Army looks for the joys of life, few have merited as much mass devotion as a cheerful, blue-eyed little number who was feted proudly by the Air Forces at Fort Logan, Colo. Known as "Beverly" on Denver's station KFEL, she is directly responsible for the fact that 28,000 Army men at Fort Logan and three other Army posts get up willingly before sunrise. Her hour-long program. "It's a Date at Reveille--with Beverly" goes on the air at 5:30 every weekday morning.

Since KFEL's smart owner, Gene O'Fallon, started Beverly off last autumn she has been setting her own alarm clock for 4:20. Reaching the studio by 5, she whiffles through her fan mail, sets up the morning's request numbers, grabs a bottle of coke. Current favorite among her recordings: Doin' a War Dance Down at the Cuckoo House, by Rudy Sooter and his Californians.

Most expressive tribute to Beverly's bracing quality was paid by a Fort Logan soldier: "She has a sense of humor as sharp as jailhouse coffee." One of the most tender came to her from a boy at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Cheyenne, Wyo. Said he: "You couldn't seem any closer than you do coming into this big barracks room. Your voice is all sort of warm and sparkling. . . ." Most telling tribute of all came from Army Morale Officers who now send her daily announcements they want their men to remember.

By last week Fort Logan had discovered that Beverly was as good-looking as her voice promised, that her real name was Jean Ruth, her age 22, her home town Philadelphia. Handed a basketball in the post gym, she acquired the title of "Swish Girl" by looping in 11 out of 12 shots.

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