The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

Showing Miss Trevor's celebrated black jet ring. Watch Your Hands says CLAIRE TREVOR Use deep nail tint when you want your hands to look their loveliest MEN may say they don't like deep-red nails, but they actually do like the effect," says charming Claire Trevor, Fox player. "Of course, a man with artistic taste usually admits he likes them." Just to show how important hands are in motion pictures, Miss Trevor recalled the time she was working with Irving Cummings, director, in "The Mad Game." In one part of the picture she had to roll a cigarette and, when she came to light it, strike the match on a large, carved, black jet ring. Just to go through with that one bit of action, Miss Trevor admits ; she had to practise eight or nine weeks. Hands play every bit as important a^ part in screen acting as the face, and, to look one's best, hand cosmetics are as important as rouge, lipstick and other things that women use to enhance the beauty of their features. "Deep red nail enamel makes the hands look whiter and lovelier," says Miss Trevor. "For the evening, deeper shades are always best, but it is a nice idea to change the color to suit the occasion, using lighter shades for business and sports. But I, personally, don't have time. I like outdoor sports, and if anyone asks me to play tennis and I have time to spare, I would hardly stop to go and have my fingernails re-enameled to suit the occasion. "To keep the hands looking beautiful, the nails should be manicured frequently. Nothing is worse than deep enamel that has begun to chip and peel. Many girls in Hollywood have trouble keeping the skin of their hands soft and smooth during the excessively dry weather, but I've never had any trouble. Perhaps that is because I have always Medium tint for daytime been in the habit of using hand creams and lotions just as regularly as I would use cold cream on my face. "Even ordinary-looking hands may be made lovely if they are kept soft and smooth and nicely manicured. Much depends, too, on knowing how to use the hands. It was part of my regular dramatic training to learn to manage the hands. We had regular training in pantomime— had to sit before the class at an imaginary table and show the class, simply by the use of the hands, precisely what we were doing. If we were pretending to be at the dinner table, we had to indicate precisely what kind of food we were eating. That sort of pantomime work with the hands will help any girl to use her hands gracefully and without needless gestures." That wasn't so very long ago, and yet Miss Trevor recalls that then and later when she was playing in stock, before she went into pictures, deeply enameled nails were not generally accepted. An actress used dark enamel only when she was playing the role of a rather fast woman. Now almost every girl in Hollywood favors red enamel. Miss Trevor favors very long nails, but she herself can't have them. Piano playing and tennis stand in the way. "Long nails," she says, "really aren't appropriate for the athletic type of girl, or for the girl who is interested in music or anything else that would make shorter nails easier to manage. It's the same way with rings. Large rings look best on languorous women ; exotic, foreign rings look best on the exotic type of woman. For myself I still prefer my carved black jet ring, though I haven't used it to strike matches on since 'The Mad Game.' " lHnK£-UP BOX BEAUTY KNICKNACKS AND KNACK OF COMBING HAIR IT ISN'T A RAKE: See the little glad girl at the right? See the big hooked weapon? No, it isn't a rake though it looks like one. It's an electric comb and you, and you, and you, who have been just too lazy or busy, or something, to brush and brush one hundred strokes each night for beauty's sake, can turn on the electric current and presto! Health, luster, strength, vitality flows through your hair. A Swedish inventor designed the comb and it has just arrived in America. No cords, no wires, and no electrical gadgets are visible, nor any electrical attachment or plug necessary. In the handle, however, a tiny battery supplies the gentle current of electricity which flows through the curved teeth and stimulates the hair roots to renewed activity. You can't even feel the current and its only when a pocket lamp bulb is placed against the teeth and it lights up that you know a battery is there. Regular use of the electric comb normalizes the oily glands and helps correct an oily condition of the hair; dry hair and scalp, too, respond to this stimulating treatment and in some cases, I am told, it restores the natural wave to the hair. And think what it will do for thin hair, dandruff, straight and stringy locks. Five minutes morning and night does the trick and you'll be astonished at the new beauty the use of this comb brings to your hair. AT HOLLYWOOD'S FINGERTIPS: The Hollywood people have been sitting up nights devising a number of new shades of nail polish for the moving picture actresses, but it won't make them very cross if the good word is passed along. This particular polish has the endorsement of several Hollywood stars (and both debutantes and dowagers favor startling colors these days). There are such exciting colors as platinum pearl, coral, carmine, rose, cardinal, and tomato red. The polish is so moderately priced that you may have all the colors on your dressing table and the luxury of changing your polish to match your gown. But in addition to the luscious new shades, they told me that the polish itself would not crack, chip or peel. Being a Doubting Thomasina, I promptly applied a coat of the tomato red to my nails. That was a week ago, and since then these poor little hands have been dipped into everything from cleaning fluid to suede shoe polish, and a careful scrutiny at this moment fails to reveal any change whatever in the gleaming surface of my nails. Hurrah! A LOVE OF A GLOVE: It's hard to decide whether news about gloves treated with a hand lotion should be turned over to the Fashion Editor or not. But gloves which have beauty in every one of their ten fingertips and which work while you wait, are something so specially interesting to all our MAKE-UP BOX readers that Fashion Department yielded gracefully to Beauty Department with the special plea that I talk good style as well as good looks. So here goes. I've used them so I know very well whereof I speak when I say they're good to look at and good for you. They're lovely, soft, washable capeskin as fine as the finest import. But better than that, the linings have been processed, with glycerine, almond oil, wax, and honey. Shades of Cleopatra! So the gloves are delicately fragrant and perspiration-proof. Not only do they form a smart costume accessory but they actually beautify and whiten the hands as well. It's a pretty practical idea because the gloves don't cost a sou more than an average pair of kid gloves. FAIR AND FALSE: Lest the mere mention of artificial fingernails seem utterly fantastic, may I hasten to explain that few have smooth, pale, perfect hands tipped by gleaming well-cared-for nails. All too often the devastating routine of housework, typewriter tapping, piano lessons, not forgetting the legion of fingernail biters (or what do you do?) results in brittle, broken, ridged, and ugly nails. So what? So, if you're clever, you'll get yourself a box of artificial fingernails. The nails look like thin, pearly shells. Place them snugly right over your own nails and cement thereon. All of which takes but five minutes. Then apply a favorite shade of polish and viola! ALL Gaul may have been divided into three parts, but the feminine world is divided into two parts . . . those who want to reduce the size of their bust and those who want to develop it. Because interest in this subject is so widespread, I interviewed several leading authorities, gathered all the available information and included it in this month's beauty circular which is yours for the asking. And if there's anything else botheri ng your pretty heads write to — IbariilLvi // you would like further information about the articles described, and other beauty news, write enclosing stamped envelope to Marilyn, Beauty Editor, Make-Up Box, Tower Magazines, 55 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. The New Movie Magazine, March, 1935