Masseuse Rubs Shoulders With--and of--Stars

Suzanne DeFranco reaches out and touches the stars on a daily basis. Naomi and Wynonna Judd, the royal family of Saudi Arabia, members of the band Little Feat and other heads of state, athletes and entertainers have benefited from the masseuse’s educated touch.

“We are a ‘touch-deprived’ society to start with,” says the Laguna Niguel resident, who has been working as a masseuse for 14 years. “High technology of the ‘90s leaves little room, if any, for people-to-people contact. Computers, phones, fax machines all insulate us.

“Add to that a very fast pace where appointment books have the say in what we do and the phrase ‘We don’t stop until we drop’ becomes reality. Massage therapy by a licensed professional helps cope with the often overwhelming stress. It gives you time to drop everything, relax and listen to your bodies and spirits.”

Beauty shops and skin-care centers in Southern California report that massage appointments have tripled during the past year. Area health clubs have discovered that clients appreciate after-workout rubdowns to ease weary muscles, and physical therapists are offering a handful of healing massage methods. Even pregnant women are finding relief from back pain with special massage.

The proliferation of massage centers has caused some confusion. It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish the therapeutic massage centers from illicit establishments listed in the Yellow Pages. If an establishment discourages female clients, think twice about it.

The most reliable selection method is to get a personal referral from a friend or health professional or to telephone the California Massage Therapy Assn. at (408) 365-7401 for the name of a member salon.

DeFranco says people in the entertainment industry counteract the stress of traveling and performing with massage. Madonna, Sting and Bob Hope travel with a massage therapist.

When the Judds, the singing mother-and-daughter country-Western duo, appeared at the Pacific Amphitheatre earlier this month, DeFranco greeted them again with open arms. She met them in Omaha last year. “I massaged Naomi Judd (the mother) right after a show, and we ended up talking until 2 in the morning,” says DeFranco.

The 39-year-old masseuse met John Wayne through her father, who was one of Wayne’s business partners, and she later traveled with Wayne.

It was through this association that she recognized the special needs of high-profile, pressured people in the entertainment industry, sports and politics.

DeFranco, who has lived in Orange County most of her life, traveled to Kona, Hawaii, in 1973 and met “Auntie Margaret,” who taught Lomi-Lomi massage.

“She was not supposed to teach this art outside of her Hawaiian culture,” says DeFranco. “But she was a Christian and finally decided that this technique should be shared. She felt that people with loving hearts should be able to pass it on with their hands.”

DeFranco returned to the mainland fascinated with the art of massage and enrolled at the California Institute of Massage. There she learned basic Swedish massage, and she has since studied other massage styles.

DeFranco stresses the importance of selecting a well-trained, licensed massage professional.

“Ask if they’ve graduated from an accredited school, how many hours they’ve studied and if they belong to a national association for massage therapists,” she says. “Be sure and ask for references.”

The more than 100,000 registered masseuses currently in the United States attest to massage’s growing popularity.