Hollywood (1942)

Fight War Time Uiii us ■ Co*cllillCl thinking of herself alone, and begin thinking of herself in relation to others. "That implies that she can't be selfish. She can't be a child, expecting every one to indulge in her self-pity. "I don't say that overnight women must become mental and emotional Amazons. They must remain feminine — they must remain women. But that doesn't excuse helplessness. It implies doing their part, being not only an incentive to men, but also the helpers of men. "There are a lot of jobs to be done today. Idle hands and minds are contrary to the tempo of the times. The day of the woman who spent her hours eating chocolates, while reading a romantic novel, is past. "We must acquire new values. After all, every crisis should help us review and synthesize our attitude. The woman who pulls in her head, hoping that nothing will As Told lo SOMA LEE ■ "Women today have a job cut out for them. Only grown-up women will have the stamina and the courage to rise to the emergency. The woman with the baby-faced heart and the tear-stained cheeks had better take stock of herself. In this present day world of heartrending sacrifices and utter confusion there is no place for the whining, empty headed woman who gives in to war time blues." Thus Rosalind Russell discussed the vital problem facing American womanhood today, and she didn't pull any punches. Rosalind has studied women. They have been her bread-and-butter. She knows what makes some women tick and what makes others run down. She herself has a crisp and cogent mind. It is completely bereft of indecision. Almost every role Miss Russell has ever played has been, if not a portrait, certainly a reflection, of her own personality. They have been women of purpose, competent, active: making a sturdy contribution to those in their immediate sphere. "The time of privilege without responsibility is gone. We can't take without giving something in return. Do you remember that sign modest restaurants used to display — 'Eat here and keep your wife for a pet'? The inference was that nothing should be expected of women, except to be decorative and affectionate. "No woman chiefly concerned with her own wants, likes and comforts is going to fit into this new world that's in the process of being built. She has to acquire a sense of responsibility. She must stop 40 Rosalind Russell, one of Hollywood's most brilliant women, warns American womanhood to wake up to its new responsibilities. She's in Mr Sisler Eileen change her mode of living, that everything will pass before she, herself, is touched, is a third grade moron. "Some women kid themselves into believing that if they go through the motions of Red Cross work, of having a man in uniform to dinner, or of buying a book of war stamps, they are doing their share. Their motives may be wrong. They are doing these things because of social pressure. If that's the basis of their activities, then they are still retaining their thirdgrade moron rating. Women must stop fighting the war in their spare time. "The need today is for an adjusted mental attitude. Whether we like it or not, we have to grow up. Women have to be the balancers, the stabilizers, the sane faction of society. That takes women who have grown up to their responsibilities and have assumed them. "All women seek security. There is no woman in the world who is completely happy if she has to stand on her own feet — make plans for her own future — provide for her own old age. Nature is pretty smart to fix things that way. It preserves and perpetuates the home. "But in an effort to get and hold security, some women believe that if they are completely helpless, as dependent as children are, they are more likely to have it. "Maybe that worked when men had nothing on their minds except bringing home the bacon. Now, they are impatient and scornful of such women. "Men aren't falling for the rattle-brains, the cuties, any more. They don't want fluff, they look for substance. A woman with common sense, who is willing and does work, who thinks straight, who doesn't dissolve in tears, is the woman of the year. "After a fashion, we are back to pioneer days. Everybody has a job to do. The useless women, the shirkers, the complainers, are the sand in the machinery. "It is up to us to help create security for ourselves. We must do it with our hands and our hearts and our minds. The selfindulged woman, who expects everyone t o humor her because she is a woman, will find herself pretty much ostracized. All of us are too busy to have patience with the whims or the moods of a childish woman." Rosalind Russell conceives a new and a better world in which women will live after the war is over. It will be a world of homes. A world in which women have ceased their pinchhitting and gone back to their fundamental tasks of homemaking. But it will be a world in which their silent voices will be heard at every political conference, at every round-table on social adjustment, in every phase of national life. "Men," says Rosalind, "are fighting for a better world. They are throwing the torch to their women. But it can't be caught and carried by women who aren't grown up." And to the women who have grown up, who have set aside self-interest, who are stout of heart, who are doing a job of pinch-hitting in the emergency, she adds a final word of warning: "Wear a ribbon in your hair, a smile on your lips. Keep a woman's heart, while you take your mind out of a rut." In other words, fight those war-time blues! ■