Modern Screen (Feb-Dec 1959)

HELP continued DEAR EDITOR: I have a horribly boyish figure except for really tremendous hips. It's just ridiculous because I measure 33-22-37. I'm awfully embarrassed about it but when I diet I just lose in my waist and my bustline. My hips stay as big as ever. I go wild for slim sheath dresses on other girls, but how can / wear them myself with such a stupid figure? KAREN — TEXAS DEAR KAREN: Your figure sounds like the traditional hour glass in which all the sand has slipped to the bottom. No, dieting probably wouldn't solve your problem but a combination of the right exercises could. ... In the meantime, what you need are some undercover weapons : the right bra and girdle to flatter your figure. Since your waist is tiny, don't try to make it smaller or you'll only emphasize your hips. Wear a long-legged panty girdle to slim those hips, one with a natural waistline but rigid thigh control. And try a brassiere with an up-and-out contoured cup design to make your figure more feminine. Perhaps even one of the bras with a slightly stiffened under-cup. This is not padding really and looks very natural. Slip the smartest sheath dress over such support and you'll look great, Karen. It's just a matter of redistributing the sands in that hourglass. . . . DEAR EDITOR: I want so very badly to go to the senior prom this year. Last year I cried my heart out watching all the other kids getting ready and going. I have nobody I can really tell everything to so that's why I'm writing to you. My problem is simple: my face! I have a very wide nose and a long and narrow face. To make things even worse, I have to wear glasses all the time. I have heard the kids calling me the "Witch." If you could only know how deeply that hurts me. Please give me some ideas as to what I could do to look a little more attractive. CAROL — PENNSYLVANIA DEAR CAROL: Cruel and immature people who use such heartless nicknames are really not worthy of your consideration. But since every girl must look her best, you can easily minimize your problems. Helen Hunt suggests that you wear your hair long because "a long face looks best when framed in hair. Allow for enough hair to dip over your forehead and at the side to widen your face, plus enough to fall below your jawline and give it the illusion of greater width." Since you wear glasses, avoid big bangs. Instead sweep your hair to one side to reveal your brow. Remember that eyeglass lenses magnify your eyes and make them look sparkling and large. Because of that magnification you must avoid bright eye shadows and when you wear eye make-up stick to the browns and grays instead. Your nose can look narrower by a simple trick: apply a drop of eye shadow along each side of your nose. But be sure to blend it into your skin so that it is practically invisible. It will create the shadows that will narrow your nose. You see, Carol, if you face the problem that your face creates you can lick it, and transform yourself into the local Cinderella. . . . DEAR EDITOR: I've gone on plenty of diets, even taken some of those wild pills, but I'm still too fat. I'm really not such a big eater and I don't even gorge on sweets. That is, I don't sit around with my arm stuck in a bowl of candy like some kids. But I can't lose weight because I bring my lunch to school in a sack. Could you help me with this? I know it sounds screwy. My meals are proportioned enough and I don't eat between meals except sometimes a hamburger or a malt with the gang after a movie. It's just those lunches: I can't stand bringing celery or raw carrots and I know those sandwiches just pile on the weight. NANCY— FLORIDA DEAR NANCY: Sandwiches are not poison. There's nothing deadly to your waistline about a sandwich for lunch; it's what's in it that makes all the difference. Two slices of bread total 126 calories and you can stuff them with any lean meat, eggs, or cheese for lots of proteins and few calories. It's the dressings that put on the weight. For each teaspoon of butter slapped on the bread it's an extra 33 fatty calories; for each spoon of mayonnaise you're slurping up 31 units of fat. Pauline Kessinger suggests that "if you must eat sandwiches for lunch make it lean meat or swiss cheese on dry toast or bread." For dessert, have an apple or fruit jello, without the whipped cream. Of course, when you can get salads, without dressing, they are superior to sandwiches. "The hamburger is okay for the late snack," says Miss Kessinger. "Eat half of the bun and skip the mayonnaise. Substitute a scoop of sherbet (118) for the malt (280) . If this sounds dull to you, perhaps you may be interested to know that Tuesday Weld keeps her weight down by the same routine that I've suggested to you. Take a look at her in Five Pennies and you'll see the slender results."