Andy Warhol predicted that everyone would have their 15 minutes of fame. But even the pop artist might have been surprised by the amount of limelight that's settled in recent weeks on a certain group of white-haired ladies from Monongahela.

	Bill Wade "Miss September" Lois Phillips, 80, left, and "Miss October" Kathleen Bordini, 74, in the front seat of the 1933 Ford riding in the Monongahela Fire Department Parade. Click image for larger version.

It'd be naive to believe that, after stripping down to their well-disguised undies for a 2008 charity calendar this summer, the so-called Ladies of the Mon wouldn't attract attention from local media outlets. But calls from the big guns in the Big Apple? Live interviews on radio stations from as far away as Peoria and Miami? Personal notes from pen pal-seeking fans who also happen to be incarcerated at the State Correctional Institute in Fayette County? That's some serious fame.

"I know -- it's a little overwhelming," said Lorys Crisafulli, 80, as she scurried around Chess Park in Monongahela on a recent evening, sending the trademark rope of pearls about her throat swishing and swaying. In less than a half-hour, 11 of the calendar's 12 centerfolds would be making their first big public appearance as distinguished guests in the annual Monongahela Fireman's Parade. And as the group's unofficial mother hen, Mrs. Crisafulli was just a tad stressed that the girls had yet to climb into their designated classic ragtops parked on Seventh Avenue -- two per car, with Mrs. Crisafulli going solo in the 1919 Model T Ford.

"I put Esther Cox ['Miss April'] first, because she's wearing pink and that matches Miss Piggy's caddy," she noted, pointing a finger toward the bubble gum-colored '67 Mercury Monterey convertible parked near West Main Street, where hundreds of Mon Valley residents were settling in with lawn chairs and cameras. "But 'Miss February' [Fran Fusco] is sick, so we'll have 'Miss December' up front instead."

That would be Sondra Odelli Bordini, whose naughty pose with two giant Christmas ornaments behind a poinsettia-covered table gives decorating the tree a new meaning.

Not that the ladies aren't getting used to being rushed. Before the first calendar was even printed, Mrs. Crisafulli said, the group fielded calls from TV's "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition," the latter ended up filming in town June 22 for a piece that aired Wednesday evening.

Mrs. Crisafulli and Mrs. Cox, 75, who as "Miss April" on the calendar, frolics half-naked behind a pink umbrella, also were flown to Washington, D.C., to appear live on Retirement Living TV's "Daily Cafe" show. Additionally, the girls have been featured on local television (a request just came in from WQED's "OnQ Magazine"); done more than a dozen radio interviews, including a particularly lively session with WPTT-AM radio talk show host Doug Hoerth; and been asked to appear in two more community parades: Jeannette and Finleyville.

And that doesn't even take into account all the attention from fans. Everywhere they go, noted Sally Stephenson, who posed as the nautical "Miss July," people make a big fuss. Why, just the other day at Eat 'nPark on West Main Street, for example, everyone was asking where the calendar was.

"We thought it might be a local phenomenon, but this ... I don't know," she said, shaking her head.

Asked why she thought the calendar was generating so much heat, the 84-year-old retired college professor grinned. "Maybe it's the lightness of it, that it's not negative," she offered. Then, lighting up with another grin, she reconsiders. "And the fact that these older women have the nerve to do this."

And believe her, those saucy photos, which captured all 12 in various states of undress, took some nerve. The first question on most everyone's mind upon seeing them, the ladies readily admitted, is whether they were really naked. Answer: That's for you to decide.

Every month seems to have spawned its own fan club, with missives coming in from such diverse admirers as a member of a nudist colony out West and the Fayette County prisoners. Even photographer Chris Grilli, of Grilli's Studio in New Eagle, who shot the provocative photos for free, has received fan letters, including one from an 86-year-old gentleman from the Midwest who suggested he offer his services to an over-50 magazine for nudes.

When you're associated with something that's bound to raise eyebrows, though, you learn to take it all with some humor.

"I'm like, yeah, I'll get right on that," Mr. Grilli recalled with a laugh.

Or as Mrs. Stephenson jokingly tells county Commissioner J. Bracken Burns when he stops by for a visit before the start of the parade, "You will never let me salute the flag at a commissioners' meeting again, will you!"

It's been exhausting, all the unexpected commotion. But it's been a great deal of fun, too, Mrs. Crisafulli admitted with a smile, and not just because the calendar proves so delightfully that, despite their wrinkles and arthritic joints, these "Vixens of the Valley" still have it in spades.

No, what really matters is that the calendar is making some pretty big bucks for its beneficiary, the Monongahela Historical Society.

The women's initial plan of selling 500 calendars would have raised $5,000 for the society, thanks to the sale of a dozen $200 ads. Yet when word of the project leaked out, interest proved so great that they quickly increased it to 1,000. But even that couldn't satisfy the demand, so they ordered 1,000 more. Now, with the PR machine chug-chugging away and requests coming in from all over the country (it's even selling on eBay), their revised goal is to eventually sell 10,000 of the $10 booklets.

"We have a ways to go, but I think we have a good shot," said co-organizer Claudia Williams, owner of C.J.'s Furniture on West Main Street. "It's a great idea that just took off." So great, that this might be the first of many calendars, as evidenced by the T-shirt she wore on parade night. Stitched on the chest was: "Future Lady of the Mon 2037."

"That's when I won't know any better," she explained with a laugh.

That enthusiasm has extended into the Mon Valley at large.

"This is the most excitement this community has had in five years," agreed Jim McCune, owner of Monongahela Ford, who on parade night was fretting over the fact that, without pillows to sit on, some of the women might be uncomfortable in the three cars he donated as rides.

"It's funny and daring," said the car dealer who bought 50 calenders to give away to customers.

Indeed, when the ladies' caravan hit the review station at West Main and Third streets some 40 minutes into the parade, a raucous cheer went up in front of Dierkens Pharmacy. That cherry picker the members of the Carroll Township Fire Department trotted out was impressive and all that, and the Mon Valley Super Stars baton unit was certainly entertaining. But it was the ladies, with their broad smiles and lady-like charm, who twinkled like the stars they've become. And that's even before they hit the Noble J. Dick Aquatorium on the Monongahela River to sign autographs after the parade.

"This has been so much fun," gushed Phoebe Barkey, 80, who posed as the flowery "Miss May," just before she headed out into the crowd.

"I can't believe it. Can you imagine us?" added Bebe "Miss June" Barantovich, 85, who is pictured au naturel and smiling behind a grand piano. "We're so proud."