Fans Pursuing Alaska's `Saturn Woman' By Mail

JUNEAU, Alaska - Some want to know if she's a real Alaskan. A few want a date or a loan. Others just wish they were in Robin Millage Bieberdorf's rubber boots.

Bieberdorf was a largely anonymous cab driver in the quiet fishing port of Petersburg when advertising executives decided she was just the right person to create an image for General Motors' new Saturn cars.

Last fall Bieberdorf and her Saturn began appearing on television and in national magazines, including Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. Since then she has received dozens of letters and phone calls from fans nationwide.

They include children, a professor, prison inmates and a lot of city folk who envy her life in small-town Alaska.

Most of the letters come addressed simply to "Robin Millage, Petersburg, Alaska" - the ads were made before she got a new husband and last name. One correspondent pasted her magazine photo on the envelope, assuming the postman would know the face if not the name.

Fortunately, most everyone in Petersburg, population 3,576, knows how to find Bieberdorf.

The ads describe her as an independent, adventurous woman living an unconventional life. They capitalize on Alaska's frontier mystique to link those traits to the compact Saturn SL2 coupe - you know, the kind of car a real Alaskan drives.

But while some ask Bieberdorf about the car, more often they want to know about the woman standing next to it. One of the most common questions she has been asked is, "Are you for real?"

Bieberdorf is, indeed, for real. She moved from California in 1974 to escape crowds, pollution and crime. She has lived in Petersburg, 123 miles south of Juneau, for the past 11 years.

In addition to driving her Saturn taxi, Bieberdorf has mined gold, worked as a bookkeeper, run a plumbing and heating business and staged a rock 'n' roll band.

Although she considers herself somewhat adventuresome, Bieberdorf said she was surprised the Saturn people and her new fans found her life so exotic.

Several lonely men, including inmates, have sent love letters and asked about Bieberdorf's age and marital status. Too late, guys. She's 37 and taken.

Many writers have asked what it's like to live in Alaska, and share their personal dreams of escaping city life.

"I guess it wouldn't be out of place to say I wish I was in your rubber boots," a Pennsylvania man wrote.

One letter was written in Italian. Bieberdorf had to have a friend tell her it wasn't Spanish. "I still don't know what that one says."

She said some of the most touching letters have come from children, some of whom write about the crime and drugs in their hometowns. Students at a middle school in Chattanooga, Tenn., wrote as a class project. The Saturn plant is in Spring Hill, Tenn.

"We don't have much fights here, so don't be scared to come visit us sometime," one Chattanooga boy offered.

A few adult writers have amused her with their apparent belief that Petersburg lacks stores or is snowed in all year.

"If you need anything from the Lower 48 like coffee or hardware, don't hesitate to ask," a Madison, Wis., man said.

"What does one do with a car in Alaska?" a New Jersey man asked.

Bieberdorf bought her blue Saturn in January 1991 from a dealer in Spokane, Wash. It was the first to arrive in Alaska.

"I got a few phone calls from the company about how I liked my Saturn, and unbeknownst to me they were looking for interesting stories."

Bieberdorf's television commercial tells how Saturn dispatched a pair of seats and a repairman to Petersburg to replace the defective ones in her car. It was filmed last summer in town.

"A lot of people just want to know if the story is real or if it's just advertising."

Like her, she said, it's real.

Bieberdorf got paid $1,000 for the magazine ad and a brochure, and $1,800 for the commercial. She also gets residual payments for each time the commercial is broadcast - $7,900 for the first four months alone.