Glamour Never Takes A Holiday

Ever wonder what makes a movie star shine and attract? Ever wish you could look like your favorite star? You do? Then ask yourself the following questions and see how you compare:

1. Do you use the proper amount of make-up for the proper time and occasion? 

2. Do you keep your clothes neat and tidy at all times?

3. Do you avoid excessive use of bangles, baubles and beads?

4. Do you remember to keep your hair shining clean?

5. Do you treat your figure to the clothes that flatter it rather than fatten it?

6. Do you remember that a smile is much more becoming than a frown?

7. Are you careful about the way you look, from the tips of your fingers to the toes on your feet?

8. Do you get plenty of sleep?

9. Do you have the courage to experiment with your hair and your make-up?

10. And do you try to be charming to yourself and your family as well as to outsiders?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to eight out of the ten questions, you’re in the same league with the glamorous beauties of Hollywood, who are mothers, wives or just bachelor girls doing their own household chores—and doing them gracefully and glamorously.

“Just because a girl is at home where only her family can see her, there’s no reason in the world why she shouldn’t be as sparkling and vivacious and as good to look at as when she’s on public parade.”

The quote is from Barbara Rush. We were discussing the problem of bringing glamour and gaiety into everyday living.

“Sheilah, yesterday I went to the market to do my weekly grocery shopping,” Barbara continued. “At the vegetable counter, while I was busy pinching some tomatoes and seeing if the strawberries were as nice at the bottom of the box as they were on top, I glanced up and saw a very good friend of mine, also shopping.

“I really had to look twice, though, to be sure it was the girl I thought it was. She’s really very lovely, with beautiful hair, wonderful complexion and a nice figure. But you’d never have guessed it from the way she looked in that store. She had an ugly scarf tied around her hair, and bobby pins were sticking out from under it. Her lipstick was half eaten-off and her make-up smeared. She had on a shapeless housedress which did absolutely nothing for her, and her shoes looked as if she’d been wearing them steadily for at least a year. In short, she looked a perfect mess.”

Barbara paused for breath, then went on: “Admittedly, grocery shopping isn’t the greatest thrill in the world. But since it has to be done, there’s no reason why a girl can’t look nice while she’s doing it. It’s as much trouble to slip into something that’s droopy and dreary as it is to put on an outfit that will give your morale a lift and, at the same time, give the morale of others a boost, too. I think it’s the duty of every girl not to look like a horror when she runs around the neighborhood doing her shopping. After all, she’s much more likely to meet someone she knows in her own bailiwick than if she were going downtown to do her shopping. Yet a lot of girls dress to the hilt when they go downtown, but don’t give a hoot what they look like when they’re on their own home ground.”

Lori Nelson is another Hollywood doll who knows the value of looking well-groomed at all times, whether she’s in the kitchen preparing dinner or in the parlor entertaining her date, whether it’s a blue Monday or a swell Saturday night.

“There’s really no secret formula for glamour,” Lori claims. “Any girl can attain it, whether she’s a movie star, a secretary or still attending school. I think the fundamental basis for glamour can be summed up in just two words: tidiness and cleanliness. These are the keynotes to beauty in both person and dress.”

Lori has a routine which she follows each night and morning, “and it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, or if I’m going to stay home or go out. A girl can’t put a timetable on beauty and use it only when she’s out in the public eye. It’s just as important that she look nice in her own eyes as in the eyes of others.”

Lori’s plan is a simple, yet obviously effective one, for she’s one of the most sought-after dates in this glamorville of ours where girls outnumber the male three to one. Here’s what she does, as she told me:

“Before going to bed, I wash my face thoroughly with soap and water and, after that, I spend at least ten minutes brushing my hair. A fresh complexion and lustrous hair can do more for a girl’s looks than almost anything else. Then I check the clothes I’m going to wear the next day to see if they need a quick pressing, if any of the seams are ripped, if there are any spots on them. I also check my shoes to see if they need brushing or polishing.

In the morning, after I bathe, I sprinkle myself with a nicely scented body powder. I don’t know why, but this gives a lift to my entire day. Then I add a little face powder and lipstick and comb my hair. If I’m staying home, I wear an attractive cotton dress or apron. In fact, I dress as though somebody I like very much may drop in any moment and, indeed, somebody might. I always try to look the way I would like others to see me.”

When other people see Debra Paget, the epitome of glamour, they’re never disappointed, for Debra is one girl who dresses for the occasion and makes an occasion of her dress.

“I like to feel luxurious and dress accordingly,” Debra admits. No one would ever catch her in the kitchen looking like a drudge, or in any other room of her mammoth mansion looking anything but her best. “A girl’s home is her castle, and who ever saw a queen with a dirty face?” Debra asks—and rightly so.

“I try to look my best every minute of the day. And if I don’t like what I see in the mirror when I get up in the morning, I try to change it to what I do like. For instance, my hair. I experiment with its color and its style. I try to make it look different and becoming. I spend a lot of time with myself and with my family. I feel that it’s important to please them. When you come right down to it, glamour is the impression other people have of you. This is gained not only by being well-dressed and groomed, but also by your graciousness and manner towards other people.

“Life at home can be as charmingly pleasant as it is anyplace else, if an effort is made to make it so. I know that when I wake up each morning, I have the choice of being nice or being nasty. I make the choice of being nice, and this makes a big difference in the entire day. I don’t growl or groan when mother asks me to do some chore for her. If I have to do the cooking for the family on a particular day, I try to prepare a little surprise for them to make the meal more interesting. Surprises are fun and exciting. In fact, life is fun and exciting, once you make up your mind that it will be.”

Martha Hyer believes a girl should look as pretty as a picture, even when she’s painting one.

“Actually,” Martha says, “I’ve discovered that it’s easy and inexpensive to make both your home and yourself look nice. A little paint can go a long way towards brightening up a drab corner of the house or, for that matter, a drab face. Color, when it’s wisely used, whether in a room or in a dress, can add up to eye-catching beauty. I keep a special wardrobe on hand for wearing while I’m doing household tasks, and it didn’t cost a fortune to buy. There are so many attractive cottons and seersuckers on the market—things that are easy to wash and iron—and they cost so little. Every girl should have them on hand to give her morale and her looks a boost.”

That cute Natalie Wood also has a trick or two up her sleeve when it comes to looking charming, when she goes to bed at night, getting up in the morning and all the time in-between.

“I’ve been wearing make-up since I was six, so I’ve had to be extra careful of my complexion. Every night before retiring, I put a very light coating of lanolin on my face. That doesn’t mean I go to bed looking like a greasy spoon though. This preparation I use isn’t gooey or sticky, and it has a nice scent to it. I have to put my hair up every night, too, but I cover it with a colorful hair net that completely disguises what’s underneath. I brush vaseline into my eyebrows. This shapes them, keeps them in place and gives them a slight sheen.

“I like to massage my feet at night with a liquid cream. I rub my hands and nails with cream. In this way, I get my beauty treatment while I’m sleeping.

“But in the morning, off comes the hair net, out come the bobby pins. After all, I couldn’t very well go around the house looking like a spook. My folks would have a fit, and my younger sister would tease me unmercifully. Besides, I think too much of my family ever to depress them!”

Gloria Talbott has authority as an actress, dignity as a mother and yet she possesses the girlishness of a coed. This youthfulness is no accident because Gloria has always had respect for her body.

“You shine up merchandise you display in a store,” Gloria told me, “so isn’t it intelligent to take the best care of your looks? And I have somebody I want to look good for—my son, Mark. Although he’s only four, I love him too much to take advantage of his age and let him see me looking a mess. But charm isn’t entirely a matter of looks and grooming. It’s also a matter of thoughtfulness and graciousness. I know that around our home I want to do little things that add tremendously to both his and my own joy of living. For instance, it’s so easy to pick some flowers from your garden—if you have a garden—or buy little bouquets from the florist—to brighten up your table or a corner in he living room. It helps add warmth.

“But getting back to looks, no amount of make-up sorcery can give you true beauty unless you also cultivate warm inner understanding and friendliness. It takes a genuine heartfelt smile to make even the most beautiful face appealing and alive. It’s as necessary to concentrate on your personality as it is your surface glamour, because the latter means nothing without the former.”

Marisa Pavan has a favorite expression for a woman who lets herself go. “In Italy,” she says, “we call such a woman disordinapa. That means—I don’t know how you say it exactly in English—but out of order, not kept well, run-down looking. There’s certainly no reason why a girl should be disordinapa here in America where everything is on hand to make her lovely.”

Marisa herself is not disordinapa, “although sometimes I get a little lazy and forget to put make-up on at home. Then my mother complains and says: ‘You look like a dead person. Put on some color.’ And I do. Really, all a girl has to do to look presentable is to wear some lipstick and see that her face is clean and her hair combed. I am very fastidious about my face. I wash it two, three, maybe even four times a day. And I am also fussy about my nails. I spend a great deal of time doing my nails. Sometimes my mother complains about that, too, because she says I could be doing useful things with the time I’m spending on my nails. But I believe that for a girl, lovely hands are very important.”

One of the useful things that Marisa’s mother refers to is sewing. “I’m no expert at it,’ Marisa confesses, “but I’m learning. And it’s such a pleasure to make things for my little sister and my mother as well as for myself. And if a girl can sew, she’s certain that she will always have nice clothes to wear, for it’s such an in-expensive way to have a beautiful wardrobe. Then she won’t ever have to worry about being called disordinapa.”

“Being natural, well turned out and being clean will carry you a long way,” vivacious Debbie Reynolds remarked. “That’s all glamour is—learning the trick of being immaculate in every detail—straight seams, well-shod heels, clean skin, hair and nails. But the busier you are the more you have to learn about organizing your time.

“One thing to avoid if you wear make-up, and I wear very little, is patching it up. It cakes in the laugh lines and makes you look worse at the end of a day or evening than if you hadn’t worn any at all. I believe that even if you’re not in the public eye that first impressions in your appearance influence one hundred percent.”

So there you are, as George Gobel might say. It’s quite evident that everybody appreciates the extra time you take with the way you look and dress. And believe me, it isn’t vanity to spend time on yourself, to beautify you, to make yourself charming for your most intimate circle. It’s more of a compliment to your friends and family.

THE END

—BY SHEILAH GRAHAM

 

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 1955