MODEL WHO EARNED $35 AN HOUR IN 1940S DIES OF CANCER AT 64

Candy Jones, the highest-paid model of the 1940s Cover Girl era and later a radio talk show co-host, died at the age of 64 of cancer in a New York hospital. Jones, who was born Jessica Arline Wilcox in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., won the Miss Atlantic City beauty contest when she was 16. The title included a trip to New York City where her modeling career began. The tall, blue-eyed blonde was hired by the Conover modeling agency, and she later married its founder, Harry Conover. The marriage ended in divorce. Jones was the first model to earn $35 an hour, tremendous pay in those days, and the first to be featured on the covers of 11 magazines at the same time. She was named model of the year in 1943 and was the model for a postage stamp honoring women in the armed forces in World War II. Jones married radio WMCA talk show host Long John Nebel in 1972, and both served as co-hosts on a late-night show. She continued on the show after his death in 1978.