Glamour of Hollywood (Apr 1939 - May 1941 (assorted issues))

CM TIE IT WITH Even this cockeyed world can't rob us of our faith in ourselves WE’RE beginning to suspect that our generation makes a good deal of sense. Enough sense to be able to spot values, to take the Long Point of View, to know what we want out of life and to work hard and honestly to get it. And “it” isn’t the alcoholic nirvana of the bitter, shellshocked era, nor the mil¬ lion dollar goal that lashed the succeeding generation into a frenzy. It’s something new. What we want is security, not the perishable kind that comes from possessions but the permanent security that comes from within. With the map of Europe spinning like a kaleidoscope, we’d be silly to think we’re safely barricaded behind a nest-egg, or Father’s bank account, or a good job. Those you can’t take with you, and our generation is interested in things that you can. We are putting an almost Victorian aura around marriage and the home — a regard for the deep se¬ curity two people can find in each other. We are putting our faith and hope for the future in chil¬ dren, pathetically unfashionable a few years ago. Now we want them . . . want them enough to give up luxuries and comforts to have them, to work before and after they come in order to pay their way. And once they’re here, we don’t turn them over to nurses or psychiatrists or grandma to rear. We do that ourselves, with emphasis on old-fashioned courtesy instead of the late rampant individualism. A JOB has become more than a weekly paycheck — it’s our guarantee of confidence in our¬ selves. We can never be frightened again by the nightmare of utter dependence upon some other hu¬ man being. Come what may by way of pink slips, we know we’ve earned our way once and can do it again. It’s this confidence in our own resourcefulness which is our greatest security. Nothing can rob us of that. Nor can anything rob us of our sane and bal¬ anced approach to life. Just think of the people you know. Now, more than ever, they want to live fully GENE TIERNEY is a beautiful gift from the stage to the movies. A Bronxville, N. Y., society girl, she started her career with a minor role in James Thurber’s wacky play, “The Male Animal.” The critics swooned at her feet, the movie scouts signed her up, now she’s a star. In her current film, “Tobacco Road,” she trans¬ forms the famous hare-lipped Ellie May into a po’ white belle instead of foolishly. Not like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Rover Boys and Girls of the post-World War era, who mistook liquor and sex for life. We of this war epoch are different. We know what it’s all about and still stand our ground. They can't scare us because we have something they can t take away. There’s been almost a mild Renaissance in the arts and humanities. An unprecedented number of us have become interested in music, for instance. By stretching the budget, we’re buying phonographs and building up libraries of classics — plus swing. We are actually taking an interest in personal libraries, even re-embracing the gracious custom of individual book-plates. We’re interested in art. We’re interested in the past, and love to pick up old things to mellow a room. We’re interested in the present, and do a thorough job every morning on the news¬ paper, every week on the newsmagazines. WE love good movies, good theater; we choose the better radio programs, with favorite news commentators and “Information Please” sacred trysts. And we also love the Sunday comics. We love seeing things for ourselves, and would mortgage the roof over our heads for a wonderful trip — to Mexico City or South America, or anywhere. It’s a roof well mortgaged, too, for the adventure of travel is something else, once owned, we can never be robbed of. It’s like education and kindness and a fierce feeling for social justice. We are getting a social conscience. Not many of us take it for granted any more that it’s inevitable for some people to be hungry all their lives. We know that the strong must help the wreak if democracy is to survive. At this point, when the world seems on the brink of unparalleled hideousness, we’re keeping ourselves steady with these small imperishables. We’ve built up a nice little fire of personal integrity inside so we can warm ourselves if the going gets rough. In the meantime, we know that jobs are no longer “amusing,” nor a stop-gap until marriage, nor a tiresome w?ay to piece out the budget. They’re something a girl needs to know just as she knows her way home in the dark. It gives her one more thing she can always take with her — con¬ fidence in her own resourcefulness, confidence that she can take her problems in her own two hands. 27 FRANK POWOLNY