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CONSTANCE should have been
A BOY
BY HER SISTER
JOAN BENNETT
She is completely honest. She says what she thinks and does what she likes. She does not conform to the conventional mind. A man can get away with it — but a woman can't. So says Joan, about her dynamic sister
SHE should have been born a boy; for, had such been the case, those very traits of character — that aggressiveness, that daring, that independence, that decisiveness — which have earned her frequent criticism, would have won her unstinted admiration.
Connie is one of the few completely, honest women I have known. She says what she thinks, does what she likes— and, man-fashion, takes the consequences of any mistake she may make without a whine. I never have known her to trade on the "privileges" of her sex.
I can readily understand why some people persistently misjudge and resent, or even dislike her. Her cardinal sin lies in the fact that she does not conform to the conventional mould. Furthermore, she is superbly sure of herself, exasperating in her self-confidence. She is, at times, very intolerant. She is sometimes inclined to be overbearing. Having reached a decision, she is prompt to translate it into action, and seldom does she have the patience to explain or defend her motives.
Let the action be its own justification — that, always, has been Connie's way.
Because of the difference in our ages and because of the still wider difference in our temperaments, there has never been between Constance and myself that close companionship which one might expect to find between sisters. Yet we have always been loyal to each other, and, possibly because all members of "that Bennett clan" share certain fundamental traits, we have understood one another remarkably well.
Frankly, I always have stood somewhat in awe of Constance. She always has been the dominant, older sister. She always has told me what to do—and I usually have accepted her counsel, for experience has taught me that she is almost always right.
I have stood in awe of her mental strength and her abilities, not of the fact that she happens to be the elder. She was born to dominate. The effort to rule the lives of those whom she loves is as natural a gesture to her as breathing.
I have stood in awe of the aura of glamour which always has hovered around her. That glamour does not depend on her stardom, or her wealth, or her social position. It is a part of her, a radiation from her personality. It is something that defies exact analysis. To a certain degree, I suppose, it is a by-product of her innate poise and assurance.
Even as a school girl, she was glamorous.
23
The New Movie Magazine, June, 1935