100 Star Secrets Of Hollywood Glamour
It is with pride that the editors of Photoplay present—for the first time—an encyclopedia of Hollywood’s favorite make-up, beauty, hair, personality, posture, fashion, diet, exercise and charm secrets. The information available from studio experts on these subjects is, of course, unlimited. Here, however, are published only those glamour hints which the stars, after many experiments, include in their daily routines:
1- Lana Turner: I put on all my make-up with a sponge. I wet the sponge thoroughly
and then squeeze it out very well. I put on pan-stik with this damp sponge and smooth it out until it’s practically unnoticeable. I don’t like a thick look. Then I wash out the sponge, squeeze it out again and while it’s still damp put on dry rouge with it. I do this very delicately to get a sort of water-color effect. I wash out the sponge again and, squeezing it very dry, put on powder with it. The excess powder I brush off with cotton pads. I never use my fingers to apply make-up. This, I think, enlarges the pores.
2- Terry Moore: I do think when you first start using lipstick it is important to learn
to use it correctly. I use a lipstick brush. They use these brushes in the studios, so it was only natural for me to use one at home. A brush keeps your lip line cleaner and less messy. I put on a lot of lipstick at first. Then I blot it off with tissues; bite on the tissue, too, to prevent any lipstick getting on my teeth. Finally, I wipe the corners of my mouth so the little crevices won’t be filled with lipstick. I blot and blot and blot! The finished result is a clean outline—but not very much lipstick.
3- June Haver: I have a fair skin on which color contrasts show up very sharply. So I’ve learned to mix a little lipstick with a bit of cream and rub it into my cheeks instead of using rouge. This way I get a perfect match.
4- June says too: The most important beauty weapon a woman has is her modesty. That’s something she should guard and cultivate more than trying to become a personality kid and an effervescent career-girl type. One of the most beautiful things about a woman is the mystery that surrounds her. The more of a real woman she is—the more real allure she possesses.
5- Linda Darnell: I use a discreet amount of dark brown eye-shadow on my eyelids and a little mascara on my eyelashes. But I have a trick for applying the eye-shadow. Using an eyebrow pencil I make a slight slanting line from the outer corner of my eye. Then with my fingers I blend this “upswing” with the eye-shadow itself. It is provocative.
6- Betty Lynn: I have lots of freckles so I use a light coating of Technicolor makeup to hide them. This make-up which has a pink-tan cast can be duplicated in most of the pancakes. I use a lot of water and put on just the very lightest film.
7- Jeanne Crain: Instead of eye-shadow, I use skin oil on my eyelids—a glamour trick that gives them a gleam. I also touch my eyebrows and lashes with this oil—to make them shine. Then I just barely touch the ends of my lashes with mascara.
8- Another from Jeanne: Having just had my fourth child, I know you don’t have to look like a frump when carrying a baby. Maternity clothes are surprisingly inexpensive. And plain colored smocks can be glamorized by sewing sequins on the collars, or choosing lovely colors. I made most of my own maternity clothes this last time, and I found that smocks in my very best colors made my figure less noticeable. A smock can be glamorized in many ways. You can do a Chinese-style version of it, with a high plain collar. You can wear black velvet smocks over adjustable pajamas—for those evenings at home. Most movie stars look lovely even during those last few weeks just before their babies are born. This is due to their flair for making the most of maternity fashions.
9- Miriam Hopkins: Since I’m a blonde with very light eyebrows and eyelashes I wear a light brown mascara. I use this mascara however only on my upper lashes. It gives one’s face a sort of a bal de masque look—about the closest a blonde can come to the new doe eyes.
10- Ruth Hussey: Pancake is drying for some skins. But I have a special trick to combat this. I cream my face first with a light cream, wipe it off with tissue, then pour some witch hazel into the palm of my hand, dash this over my face and wipe it off with a towel. Then, putting on the pancake with a damp sponge, I use a lot of water and very little pancake and immediately blot it dry with tissue. In this way pancake never gives my face that about- to-crack feeling nor does it dry my skin.
11- Gordon Bau, head of make-up for Warner Brothers: If you have small eyes, make them seem larger by drawing a line with white grease paint directly under the eyes and outward, in sort of a doe-eyed effect. Use mascara the usual way.
12- Peggie Castle: The most frequent mistake girls make is in selecting a foundation or powder to match the skin. Your foundation and your powder should add warmth and color to your appearance. Make your pancake, for instance, give your skin a slightly ruddy glow, or a darker coloring. The difference in shade shouldn’t be so noticeable as to make a line where it leaves off, but do give yourself the break of a better skin tone.
13- Claudette Colbert: Sex alone won’t make you attractive. Nor beauty. It’s gaiety. Gaiety is a habit. You can persistently think life is awful, problems are insurmountable; tragedy is stalking your every footstep. Or you can find laughter in living. You can look on the happy side of things. This doesn’t mean of course that if real trouble enters your life, you should hilariously brush it aside. Remember, a beautiful face is a happy face.
14- Judy Canova: We can’t all be Lana Turners, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for us. Instead of complaining because you weren’t born with a figure like Venus de Milo, learn to make people laugh or, just as good, give them sympathy and understanding. Forget about yourself. Concentrate on making the other person feel gifted, clever, important, intelligent.
15- Joan Fontaine: I was always a very shy girl, always worrying about what other people thought of me. I’d been ill a lot as a child and hadn’t had much of a chance to mix with people. When I came to Hollywood, I found it so difficult to answer questions about my personal life that the Hollywood Women’s Press Club gave me the lemon one year for being the most uncooperative actress. This really started me making myself over. Not everyone is born with an extrovert personality, or even a personality that attracts. I knew I had to cultivate confidence in the people with whom I came into contact. I discovered that the secret of making people like you is to like people. When a girl is popular, it only means she does not go around feeling mistrustful of people.
16- Bette Davis: An attractive woman has to be interesting, and she’ll be more interesting if she doesn’t have an all-female mind. The woman with the all-female mind does things in a devious way. I can never understand, and I’m sure men can’t, the woman who is all-female. It is very hard to justify the things she does, for she operates by emotion, instinct, whims—instead of logic. Drive and courage and iron strength are not exclusively masculine traits. The woman who possesses them can be feminine as well as direct. Essential womanliness is not helplessness, or our pioneer grandmothers would never have survived the hardships of their lives.
17- Audrey Totter: When I first arrived in Hollywood, I made a picture called, “The Sailor Takes a Wife.” Shortly afterward, I was invited to a party at Mr. Mayer’s home. When I got there, I was petrified. Clark Gable was there and Greer Garson, just the biggest stars. I was sitting in a corner when a woman came up to me and said, “I am Joan Crawford. I wanted to tell you that I saw ‘The Sailor Takes a Wife’ and you are going to be a star.” I haven’t seen Joan Crawford since but I think she is divine. She has a generous heart. I learned right then—with all those stars present—that it isn’t beauty or fame that make you admired. It’s being a big enough person to be thoughtful and kind.
18- Ginger Rogers: To be an interesting woman, you have to be well-rounded—but, then, the American girl usually is. She has more spunk than any other girl from any other country. She can look chic, she can cook a good meal, she can fix the car, she can open a locked door, she can sing a song, she can dance a dance, she can drive a car, she can drive a truck, she can plow a field, she can have a baby, she can fly a plane. There isn’t anything that the American girl cannot do or will not try to do. I think it’s this capability coupled with femininity that makes a woman interesting, and a lot more fascinating than dangling earrings and seductive perfumes.
19- Dinah Shore: Anyone can have a glamorous pleasing speaking voice. You just have to be analytical about it. If your voice is naturally pitched too high, lower it. All you have to do to lower it is to think about it, remind yourself not to raise it or to shriek. If it is harsh and strident, cultivate a softer tone and study enunciation. If you can, listen to your voice on a wire recorder. You can’t correct a fault unless you first realize you have it.
20- Diana Lynn: To be attractive, you must feel as if you are attractive. If you feel attractive or glamorous, you’ll take constructive steps to look that way. The first rule about a correct mental attitude is to refrain from saying anything you don’t want others to think. Don’t say, “I’m too fat.” Or, “My complexion is awful.” Never call attention to your defects by mentioning them. Do something to correct them, but don’t make everyone aware of them.
21- Ruth Roman: There are so many Hollywood parties and they are so big that you often find yourself in a roomful of people you never saw before. Sometimes, the hostess has disappeared, and you are left high and dry. At really large parties, it’s not mandatory of course for the hostess to take you around and introduce you. But it is mandatory for you to make yourself part of a group. You can turn to the person next to you and just start conversation—anything that is socially acceptable. You can even mention the weather! You can remark on how well the party seems to be going. The thing you shouldn’t do is to sit and wait for others to notice you.
22- Jane Wyman: Knowing how to enter a room can be a great social asset. I have learned that if you quickly size up a room as you walk into it, you can seem poised and assured, even if you don’t know a soul. For instance, you can spot your hostess somewhere in the throng. Pause at the doorway, scan the crowd briefly to locate her, and then walk to her directly without wandering around aimlessly. Or if you happen to know some of the guests, locate them, and join them.
23- Arlene Dahl: I keep my skin in good condition by using fresh cucumbers and lemon juice. I grind up the cucumbers in a meat grinder. To the pulp of one cucumber, I add two tablespoons of lemon juice. I use this mixture as a mask. It’s a cleanser as well as a bleach. Sometimes, I put this pulp into a cheesecloth bag and add an ice cube and rub it over my face. The ice acts as an astringent. When you wash off your cucumber mask, your skin feels very clean and refreshed—and it has a slight glow.
24- Ava Gardner: You always read advice on how to apply make-up or how to do your hair according to the shape of your face. But few of us really know what shapes our faces are. You might think you have a round face when you really have a square one. Stand in front of the bathroom mirror, pin your hair back and confine it under a towel. Take a piece of soap and draw the outline of your face on the mirror. When you are through, transfer the outline to a piece of paper. Then you have something to really work with. You have actual measurements. You can plan your make-up by the real outline of your face. I work out new hair styles this way by being my own sketch artist.
25- Elizabeth Taylor: I have a few black moles on my face and shoulders. They look like little freckles and are quite small. When I want to cover them up for pictures, I use a light layer of pan-stik—with just a little extra dab right over the mole itself. If the pan-stik is the exact color of your complexion, you can’t tell you have it on—but the moles don’t show.
26- Amanda Blake: I’m a natural redhead and I have freckles. Some girls look very cute with freckles. They are the outdoor type—like Doris Day—and freckles only make them look healthy. But I’m not the athletic type. I look horrible with freckles and must avoid them at all costs. The only thing I have ever done that really helped this problem was simply to stay out of the sun. I wear beach hats to the beach in the summer—or, preferably, just don’t accept beach dates. If I go swimming in a pool, I do it after four—when the sun is down. I bide my time—for summertime is not my dish. I look a lot better when winter comes! I’ve used a lot of the bleaches on the market, but I’m the type of redhead that has a very thin, fine skin. It can’t take severe bleaches. The strongest I ever use is pure lemon juice, which is a little drying—so I follow it with a little cream before putting on my make-up.
27- Joan Bennett: During the war I wrote a book called, “How to Be Attractive.” To write it required a great deal of research. The most valuable thing I learned was that the greatest single beautifier is complete cleanliness. That doesn’t mean a quick dash in and out of the shower. You should wash your face with a mild soap (but never scrub it). When your face is tingling clean, blot it dry. Then apply a thick nourishing cream and get into a warm (not hot) relaxing bath. Put witch hazel pads on your eyes—and just relax for ten minutes. Then, scrub yourself thoroughly, using a scrub brush for those stubborn areas—your back, elbows, and feet, and briskly rub yourself dry with a turkish towel. Rub some cream into your elbows and hands to combat dryness, and shave off any excess hair. Lie down with your head down and your feet up for ten minutes. You can almost feel the blood go to your head and erase fatigue. When you erase fatigue lines, you are on your way to beauty.
28- Joan also advises: Posture tells the world a lot of things—including how old you are. An identification mark of the walk and posture of the older woman is a forward thrust of the head. Her back may be straight, but her head leans forward to watch her steps. This makes all the throat muscles slack and loose. I used to have very bad posture, and I had to take lessons to correct it.
29- Esther Williams: There’s no reason why you can’t look lovely while you are swimming. I do my hair in braids so that there are no curls or strands to droop down when I’m in the water. But the way I prevent both my body and my hair from getting too dry is to rub oil all over my body before I go in the water, and I literally soak my hair in oil before I braid it.
30- Judy Clark: I have a beauty routine I go by religiously. One week, I use the treatment every night; the next week, every other night. First I wash my face with a lanolin soap which is good for dry skin. I rinse thoroughly with warm, not hot, water, and blot dry with a towel. I put almond oil all over my face and neck and leave on for half an hour. Then I wipe it off and again wash my face. This treatment opens the pores thoroughly for a complete cleansing and then shuts the pores so they will not become enlarged.
31- Susan Hayward: Anyone can develop a beautiful smile. And you should do it before you establish a pattern of laughing that is not attractive. Perhaps you have a long thin face. If you pull your smile ton “wide,” you will get wrinkle-lines down the side of your face which may later develop into deep crevices. Learn to smile with your eyes, without stretching your face all out of shape. If your gumline shows when you laugh, and you don’t want it to. practice laughing without lifting your upper lip so high. Immobilize that upper lip. let it come down and frame your teeth. Modify your smile. If your upper lip is too long, tilt your head slightly when you laugh. What Hollywood stars must learn to make their smiles seem more attractive, you can learn, too.
32- Another from Susan: Something we should all learn in our teens is that our posture and the way we walk tell others what we think of ourselves. The girl who carries herself with assurance and poise is more apt to get that job, to be seated at the best table, to be welcomed into that special group. A girl who droops apologetically, is labeled as uninteresting before she has a chance to prove otherwise. When you walk and stand gracefully and confidently, people are attracted to you—feeling you have something to offer.
33- Adrian Booth: I believe in stimulating the skin to give it that radiant look. I first cleanse my face with soap and water. Then I rub in a little cleansing cream and wipe it off with cleansing tissue to make sure that every bit of dust and grime has been removed. Now, for my special secret! I use a cream that has a basis of camphor. Camphor is very stimulating. But, since it is also very drying, this special cream has rich oils in it to combat that dryness. After using this stimulating cream for a week, even the most sallow person will have pink cheeks. Without rubbing off this first cream, I rub a nourishing texture cream into my face—with gentle massage. This is a fast beauty treatment—it doesn’t take twenty minutes a day.
34- Vivien Leigh: My only beauty trick is the ability to relax. I learned relaxation from cats, which I adore. I have also learned not to push myself to the breaking point. I don’t try to go out at night if I have been working all day. I budget our social activities. When we do go out, I generally try to lie down and relax for a half hour beforehand. Tenseness makes your face drawn, your neck cords stand out and, in general, destroys the serenity of beauty. Anything you can do to combat tension acts as a beauty aid.
35- Vera Ralston: Every time I go out in the sun, I take a carrot, mash it—or put it through a strainer—and mix it with my regular nourishing cream. I rub it all over me—on my face and body—and it gives me a nice even tan, and not a freckle. Something in carrot juice prevents freckling.
36- Judy Holliday: My neck is short, so I always comb my hair up on top of my head. In “Born Yesterday,” all my clothes were designed to lengthen my neck line. I didn’t wear any little round collars or high collars, and my hair was cropped short to make my neck seem longer.
37- Viveca Lindfors: I don’t like a look of studied glamour. I’m a soap and water addict. I like my hair clean, my nails clean, my clothes clean. But I don’t believe in much make-up. I don’t like a set look to my hair. I think you can work to achieve a casual look—hair that flies just a little, clothes that are informal. I think people feel more natural around casualness than they do around formality.
38- Rosalind Russell: I’m tall, and I’m fortunate in that it has never embarrassed me. I’ve never tried to look shorter. I don’t wear low heels. I like being tall. I’ve always dressed to make the most of my height and my long lines. I find I can wear clothes better than the short girls. I believe in holding yourself tall. I don’t stoop. Tall girls can’t do a thing to minimize their height, so they might ,as well accept its advantages.
39- Ann Blyth: I believe in taking care of your hands. I don’t go to a manicurist, but I take painstaking care of my hands and nails myself. I rub hand lotion into my hands after I’ve done some household task. I keep my nails carefully filed, to a nice oval length—never that long, long length. Naturally, it goes without saying that I keep my nails very clean. I use a nail brush and soap for this, and also clean them with an orange stick during the day. Whenever I use nail polish, I use the colorless, or very pale pink.
40- Quoting Ann again: I don’t believe in the same hair style day in and day out. One way may be definitely more becoming than another, but you get so bored with yourself! I change my hair around several times a week. Sometimes I comb it back with big four-inch combs. Other times I pile it on top of my head.
41- Greer Garson: Sometimes, certain roles demand unusual and rugged routines. When you are called upon to dance, or when you have to do such things as tumbling acts and acrobatics as I did once in a picture called “Julia Misbehaves,” you can’t afford to get stiff. I put five pounds of Epsom salts in a tub of warm water and just lie there and relax. It takes every bit of tiredness away.
42- Mona Freeman: I think beauty is a p habit. My little daughter, Monie, is not quite three years old, but I believe that the earlier you start the pattern of beauty, the better. Monie and I run around the house, our hair in pincurls, with matching nets. Monie has her own drawer in the bathroom with her own beauty supplies—her hairbrush, nail clippers, nail file, hair ribbons, bobby pins. Beauty is a habit and it’s never too early to start this habit. Then, in later life, you don’t go around the house in a sloppy robe with your hair stringing down.
43- Loretta Young: Those who talk with their hands—I do at times myself—should study the graceful use of hands. Public speaking, or voice coaching, or drama at night school are good ways to learn this. Hands, effectively used, can be a tremendously interesting adjunct to your personality, which every actress knows.
44- Sally Eilers: I use a cream masque daily. I put it on wet and keep it on until it dries. I wash it off with water and then use a skin freshener. It stimulates circulation and keeps the skin firm and pliable.
45- Janet Leigh: I don’t believe in wearing any make-up at all except lipstick. I think your skin should show. Even without make-up, you can achieve a beautifully groomed look by making sure your hair is attractively styled and every hair in place, your eyebrow line clean, and your lipstick carefully applied.
46- Joan Evans: When I was quite young, Joan Crawford—who is my godmother—reprimanded me about the way I was carrying my shoulders. She told me that you have to possess an awareness that you have shoulders, and an awareness of how to carry them. If your shoulders droop down instead of having a nice square look, you can practice holding them up a little.
47- Coleen Gray: I believe the best thing you can do for your beauty is to be honest about your flaws. When I first came to Hollywood, my teeth were a little crooked so I wore braces except when I was in front of the camera. It wasn’t easy to go to social affairs wearing braces, but now my teeth are straight. You can’t improve your appearance if you shut your eyes to things that must be done.
48- Vera-Ellen: Graceful posture means perfect balance. You can learn perfect balance by using your kitchen stepladder stool. Walk up the three steps on tiptoe, your hands on your hips, and a book on your head. Practice doing this until you don’t wobble but have perfect body control. Then remember to hold yourself in that balanced fashion when you walk into a room.
49- Bud Westmore: There are certain things all women do as they grow older that immediately wrap them in a mantle of maturity. After thirty-five, there is a gradual slumping down into the waistline that is in high contrast with the alert, interested posture of the younger woman. With each successive year, we settle more down into ourselves, sometimes into our very shoes. You can’t hunch over and look eighteen.
50- Peggy Dow: Many women hold themselves well when they are still, but betray themselves the moment they are in motion. Then, they either bounce, lope, sway from side to side, or plod. I practice walking the Indian walk, one foot right in front of the other, toes neither out nor in, but perfectly straight ahead. You have to hold your head up, of course, but the trick is to think of your head being suspended from the ceiling by a long string. That’s perfect body alignment, and something every actress must have.
51- Jane Russell: I never throw my shoulders back in a military stance. If you hold your body perfectly straight, if you stand lightly on your feet with your back straight and your head up—you have good posture. But for that relaxed, casual look, as if you’re really not trying very hard at it, I recommend letting your shoulders come slightly forward. This is the posture of all top-drawer models.
52- Rhonda Fleming: I’m tall and I know the tall girl can never lope; she has to hold herself like a queen.
53- Sally Forrest: So many people think that good posture means your position while standing or walking. But your sitting posture is equally important. You can’t sit hunched over the dinner table, nor slumped down in the armchair. A common mistake is for a girl to walk over to a chair, turn around to sit down, and then sort of “reach” for the chair with her derriere. I have a trick. I walk over to the chair, turn around and feel for the chair height with the back of my leg. Then, I know where the chair is and I seat myself as far back as possible and hold myself as if I were a puppet suspended from the ceiling from an invisible string in the center of my head. This keeps your bosom high, your throat line attractive, and your profile inviting.
54- Peggy Knudsen: To dress outstandingly. you have to find your type. Discover the thing in which you look best and feel best. Discover the colors that make you look pretty. If you have just average coloring, you should wear colors that make you happiest. If you are a teenager, watch all the magazines that show clothes on teenage models. Pick out models who are similar to yourself. Don’t look at the long, lanky ones if you are short and dumpy.
55- Peggy adds: Work unusual touches into your wardrobe. Make cuff-links out of old buttons by joining them with heavy waxed thread. I went down to Chinatown and got a little porcelain boat and had it made into a pin. I saw some little brass door knockers and had them made into buttons. A flair for distinctive originality isn’t achieved by just buying a ready-made dress and accompanying accessories.
56- Jane Powell: Since I’m rather short, I have to be careful not to wear clothes which might make me look even shorter. I almost always wear dresses that are one color instead of mis-matched outfits which cut me off in the middle. I’m short-waisted, too, so I wear the waistline of my dress just a little longer than my natural waistline. I wear my skirts just a little shorter than the length currently in style to avoid looking short from the waist up.
57- Joan Leslie: I have a wardrobe trick that gives me a hat for every outfit. I select one basic hat and design wrap-around trimmings that tie on. I get veiling just the shade of a certain blouse and sew it to grosgrain ribbon of the same shade. This I just tie on. You can make these wraparound veilings in four or five colors and can give your hat wardrobe a lot of variety at a minimum cost.
58- Walter Plunkett, designer at M-G-M: Girls who are plump should not wear their clothes too tight.
59- Mr. Plunkett again: Where the body line is firm and solid, even if rounded with a little fat, no girdle is best. A girdle will take inches off your hips, but those inches go right up around your waistline. A thickened waistline is what you most want to avoid.
60- Another Plunkett tip: Find your beauty “center.” Dramatize it. Vivien Leigh, for instance, has such an unusual face that it needs to be almost set apart from her body. When I designed her clothes for “Gone with the Wind,” I used high collars to break the eyeline between her face and her figure. When I dressed Jennifer Jones for “Madame Bovary,” I emphasized, above all, her grace and rhythm of movement.
61- Walter Plunkett again: Too many women forget there are dark pastels as well as light ones. If the dark but not brilliant yellows, the soft purples and the like are becoming to you, remember nothing is more individual.
62- Shelley Winters: I believe in finding the right hair style and then staying with it. For quite a while, I believed very firmly that long hair did a great deal for me. That was when long hair was fashionable. Then the short haircut came in and I followed suit like everyone else. But it was with grave misgivings. Now, I realize that short hair really does things for my face and, regardless of future hair styles, I will always wear it short from now on.
63- Kathleen Hughes: A wardrobe trick I’ve found helpful is to buy accessories of just one color. I build my wardrobe around one basic color scheme—black or brown or navy blue. This means I only have to buy one pair of black date shoes, one handbag, one pair of gloves, one hat. Of course, if you want to really splurge, you can do the same thing with brown and blue—but that runs into money and leaves you less to spend for other things.
64- Ingrid. Bergman: Ingrid, five feet eight in height, generally wears flat-heeled
ballet shoes. For cocktail wear, she glamorizes low-heeled playshoes by sewing her initials in sequins on the toes.
65- Marie Windsor: I make most of my own clothes because I can make them more inexpensively than ready-made things. But I always achieve a professional look by having the belts and buttons made professionally.
66- Janis Carter: I have a small waist, and I like to emphasize it by wide belts, cummerbund tops, and so on. If I can’t find this wide band in regular stores, I spend a few dollars more and have just what I want specially made up.
67- Another Carter cue: I have a long neck, and I camouflage this by always wearing high collars, even on my coats. I turn my blouse collars up and wear pearl chokers to hold them up. If I wear an off-the-shoulder dress, I wear a heavy choker around my neck.
68- Joan Caulfield: Most people choose I colors because they have blonde hair, or black or red or brown hair. Or they choose blue because they have blue eyes. But the most flattering colors for you are those which flatter your skin. When I am going to have a suit or a dress made up, or even I a blouse, I hold the yardage next to my face. I see what the color does for my skin tone. If my skin looks more alive and k vibrant, that’s the color I choose.
69- Barbara Bel Geddes: You can’t look well in clothes that wrinkle. If you are buying your own yardage, a good way to test material for wrinkling is to take a comer of the material and squeeze it up and hold it as hard as you can for a minute. Then let it go. If it wrinkles and stays wrinkled, don’t buy it, no matter how pretty it is.
70- Jeanette MacDonald: I believe in adding the glamor touch of jewelry and making sentiment an inspiration for unusual jewelry. Some years ago, my husband, Gene Raymond, gave me a lovely charm bracelet. He adds to it from time to time for important professional events in my life. When I was in New York, I went to the museum and saw Egyptian mummies with charm bracelets. They are thousands of years old so you never have to worry about a charm bracelet being dated. The important thing to remember is that jewelry doesn’t have to be expensive to have sentimental value and to be in good taste.
71- Alexis Smith: I have a wardrobe trick that doubles my outfits. If I am particularly fond of a certain material, I have a skirt made up and two jackets or tops. For instance, I have a white skirt. One top, out of the same material, has shirt-maker lines. It’s strictly daytime. The other top is low-cut and trimmed with beautiful white lace.
72- Virginia Grey: Black is a favorite color of mine. To relieve its severity, particularly with suits, I buy crepe of lovely shades—just a third of a yard—for scarves. I wear these scarves as ascot ties. This way, I can get a dash of a favorite color where it is the most flattering—next to my face.
73- Cyd Ckarisse: I am a great believer in the fact that you can’t look good on the outside unless you first are healthy on the inside. I go on a liquid diet one day a week. This keeps my figure trim and the poundage down, and it also keeps my complexion clear. I don’t believe in starving myself, just staying with liquids. This is what I eat on that one day:
Breakfast: tall glass of orange juice, 1 glass skim milk.
Ten o’clock: glass vegetable juice mix, or sauerkraut juice and tomato juice mixed (half and half); full can of beef bouillon.
Noon: clear vegetable soup (or clear chicken broth); glass skim milk; glass orange juice.
Three o’clock: cup of beef bouillon; 1 glass grapefruit juice (no sugar added).
Dinner: celery and apple juice mixed, 1 glass (or celery and tomato juice); 1 glass orange juice; 1 glass skim milk. For dessert: 1 glass frozen grape juice, diluted with water; or, 1 glass of pineapple juice.
74- Piper Laurie: I don’t think this will come as news to anyone, but I don’t think there is anything like health to give you that radiant look. And, of course, one way to keep in condition is to make sure you have a correctly balanced diet. So many kids fill up on hamburgers and ice cream sodas. I believe that you should start the day with a well-balanced breakfast—fruit, toast, milk, cereal. I think you should reach for a salad instead of a sandwich at lunch time. I also think it helps to study books on diet and learn what foods do what things for your body. For instance, proteins are muscle-building foods, carbohydrates give you energy, and so on. If you have a particular problem—your skin, your hair, your teeth—I’d find out what foods and what vitamins would help you correct that problem. Every day I try to drink lots of milk. I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and the proper amount of lean meats for protein. I stay away from rich desserts. I think it’s wise to start this kind of thinking early in life.
75- Olivia De Havilland: Whenever I have to lose weight for a role (as I did some time ago when I had to look ill and undernourished for my role in “The Snake Pit”), I go to Terry Hunt’s and have steam baths, massage, and exercise—then I just cut myself down to 1,200 to 1,400 calories a day. For breakfast, I have lemon juice in hot water, and coffee, without sugar and cream. I have a large lunch—generally vegetables because of their low caloric value. I have a little book on calories. You can get such a book in any book store.
76- Penny Singleton: I keep my thigh and tummy muscles firm by doing calisthenics every morning. I ring in my whole family so I don’t have to do them alone! I do alternate straight leg raising for my thighs, and sit-ups for abdominal muscles.
77- Betty Grable: There’s no reason why you can’t keep your weight just right at all times. Whenever I have to gain, I eat certain weight-adding foods for a few days; whenever I have to lose, I eliminate them from my diet. The dos and don’ts that guide me are:
TO LOSE: No hot breads, jams, jellies, cakes, pastries; no starchy vegetables such as lima or baked beans; no olive oil or mayonnaise or salad oils; no cocktails, beer, snacks, malteds, sodas; no candy; no cheese, spices, fatty meats, creamed gravies, sauces; no sugar.
TO GAIN: Eat all the above foods.
The most important thing to remember when you want to lose weight is to forget those between-meal snacks. Stick to just three slimming meals a day, and no deviations.
78- Lucille Ball: When you have to go through a rigorous routine such as I did in “The Fuller Brush Girl,” you have to get in condition for it. You can’t just suddenly hang by your hands from netting, or a steamship stack, for take after take without preparing for it. Three weeks before I started the picture, I went into regular training. I took exercises. I rode a bicycle. I strengthened my muscles and developed them gradually. A certain amount of exercise, done regularly, will keep your muscles firm and adaptable. Your figure never develops those little bulges if you keep fit.
79- Betty Hutton: I took ballet as a child. I think it helps give you balance and grace. This also developed my legs; it not only made the calves larger but stretched them. If young girls have underdeveloped legs, dancing lessons are wonderful.
80- Virginia Field: I try to lie down for ten minutes every day with witch-hazel pads on my eyes in a darkened room.
81- Evelyn Keyes: You are only as old as your figure. Even a very young girl looks matronly from a distance if she is overweight. One thing you learn right away in Hollywood is that your figure is dependent on your skeleton. If you have large bones, you’re never going to be the petite type. Skeletons are as different as faces. The ideal measurements are bust and hips the same, with the waist ten inches smaller. But don’t give up if this doesn’t apply to you. Start from the waist and then balance your figure. Big or small, fat or thin, you can still seem to have a well-balanced figure if you will start with your waistline and go on from there. If your shoulders are narrow, do “push-up” exercises to develop them. If your hips are too wide, roll across the floor. Anyone can seem to have a dream figure if she’ll just remember the magic key words: Balance your measurements.
82- Julie London: There is one beauty secret that is so common it almost doesn’t seem important, but it’s the greatest secret of all because it flushes your system and keeps your digestive processes in healthy working order. The juice of a lemon in a glass of hot water every morning is a miracle worker.
83- Ann Sheridan: When I want to gain weight, I drink a glass of half cream and half ginger ale several times a day in addition to three good hearty substantial meals. The ginger ale cuts the thick cream so that it isn’t too hard to get down. It makes a very good cold drink, as a matter of fact. You can add ice cubes if you like. It’s a pleasant way of gaining.
84- June Allyson: We have an electric mixer, and I use half a cake of Castile soap to two cups of water and mix this into a shampoo. It’s the consistency of French dressing. There’s nothing better—or cheaper—for your hair than pure Castile soap. After I shampoo my hair, I rinse it many times. I add the juice of one lemon to the final rinse water. This cuts the soap and makes the hair soft and silky. I rub my hair dry with a towel and just comb it down straight while it’s still a little damp. I never set it.
85- Kathryn Grayson: I never let a permanent ruin my hair. I have one trick that guarantees a soft curl no matter how recent the permanent. Just before the permanent, I soak—literally soak—-my hair in olive oil. I put a warm towel around my head to make sure the oil really soaks into the hair and my scalp. Then I wipe off all the oil I can, and the permanent begins. The curl always turns out soft, silky, and completely manageable.
86- Marilyn Maxwell: When I want a soft, almost straight, curl, I make big pin-curls and turn them in like a page boy. When they are fastened, they are not flat on my head, but stand out. I can see the holes through them. If they dry in this position, they comb out into a soft, casual curl—not at all tight-looking. This is a boon to the girl with naturally curly hair.
87- Rita Hayworth: The glamorous Rita was born beautiful, but the one thing Hollywood make-up men found annoying was her low forehead. The make-up department at Columbia used the wax treatment on Rita’s forehead, moving up her hairline a full half-inch—which gave her a lovely, high forehead. This treatment can be given in any beauty parlor. It consists of putting warm wax on the area and ripping it off quickly when it has cooled.
88- Ann Sothern: I have my own hair dryer, just like the ones you see in professional beauty salons. I think a home hair dryer is a wise beauty investment. You don’t always have time to go to a beauty parlor, whereas you do have time to take a few minutes out at home.
89- Ann also says: If you want your hair to dry fast, dampen it with cologne instead of water.
90- Barbra Fuller: When I do my hair a new way, I look at it from every angle, not just front view. Since more people see you from the side and back than from the front, beauty and good grooming should be as apparent when you walk away as when you meet someone face to face.
91- Donna Reed: I brush my hair all the time. I rarely take a comb to it. When a hair stylist does your hair, you generally look very special. One reason for this is because he has spent a lot of time brushing, combing, and dressing your hair. It isn’t just the new shampoo and wave he has given you, but the fact that he has taken time to make it look attractive. Also, when you handle your hair a lot, you develop a knack for fixing it.
92- Gene Tierney: Some years ago, I was told that the best thing you could do to stimulate your scalp was to pull your hair. Every morning, I catch handfuls of my hair and just tug on it with a steady strong pull. I don’t mean you should yank it until it hurts—but pull gently. When you can feel the circulation tingling in your scalp, start brushing.
93- Barbara Stanwyck: My hair is graying and I refuse to do anything about dyeing or tinting it. I think graying hair is a soft frame for any woman’s face. However, when hair begins to gray, you have to make sure it’s kept very well groomed. You should experiment and experiment until you find the right hair style. I tried my hair nine different ways in a week before I was satisfied.
94- Mitzi Green: I wear my hair long because of my profession. Entertaining in night clubs as I do, long hair makes it possible for me to do a greater variety of characterizations. But long hair is difficult to curl. One can’t wind shoulder-length hair into pincurls. Instead, I dampen the ends of each curl and tie it with strips of cleansing tissue. I look like Topsy, but the curl dries in no time. It’s very soft. The added advantage is that it is possible to sleep with your hair in this type of “curlers.”
95- Yvonne De Carlo: Now the clean sweep back of the hair is so fashionable, many girls don’t know how to achieve that look of “not a hair out of place.” At Universal-International, they show us how to keep stubborn tendrils in place by smoothing hair wax on the hair. I also take particular care to carefully groom the hairline, brushing the edges clean from any powder or make-up with a stiff toothbrush. You can’t achieve that clean, crisp, slightly severe, look with your hair flying around.
96- Lizabeth Scott: I think glamour should never have a hurried feeling about it. I am always ready ten minutes before my date calls for me. This gives me a feeling of relaxation and composure. I’m ready; not hurried or worried. I don’t think the breathless look, that “I just made it!” feeling, flatters either your date or your appearance.
97- Eve Arden: I believe the most glamorous thing a woman can do is to really listen to what the other person says. If you give a man your sincere and undivided attention, if you show by your laughter that you think he is clever or amusing, if you forget anyone else is around—you have a sound basis for glamour. At least he’s going to think so!
98- Corinne Calvet: I think perfume and glamour are synonymous. But I think you should use the right perfume for the right hour of day. No heavy scents on the golf course, nor musk scents at noon. I buy good perfumes in the smallest possible quantities I can—just half a dram, for instance. I try it out, see what it does for me, how I feel when I wear it. If I really like it, I buy a larger bottle. I never settle down to just one perfume. I don’t like to be identified with just one aroma. I like to choose my perfumes as I would my accessories—very carefully and with thought as to the outfit I will be wearing. Seductive, provocative perfumes for evening, flower scents for daylight, spicy scents for around the house. I think one of the most feminine things a girl can have is a perfume wardrobe.
99- Joan Crawford: My one glamour secret is that once I’m out of the dressing room, I stop dressing. I don’t think it’s good taste to let your companions compete with your compact. Careful grooming before you leave gives you the assurance to refrain from touching your hair, glancing in a mirror, or adjusting your collar.
100- Gloria Swanson: Glamour is a state of mind. So many times when someone says a girl is glamorous, you get a mental picture of someone who is all decked out, with make-up, jewelry, a low-cut dress and heavy perfume. If you look up glamour in the dictionary, however, it says, “Magic, a spell or charm.” It doesn’t say anything about how you look, but merely your effect on others. There are too many kids trying to be glamorous without being worth while—yet there has never been a really glamorous woman who didn’t have a great deal besides what was on the surface. For real glamour, you have to start building from the inner self out. Three things are responsible for holding your youthfulness through the years: intelligent eating, your mental attitude, and heredity.
THE END
It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE JANUARY 1951