Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1951)

for those who know her best well know that her son, her husband and their home come first with Olivia; her career, second. “A kind of sacrament of life, that’s what comes to my mind,” Dr. Woodward said, “as I study this card. The Wise Men bringing gifts. The Dove of Peace hovering over the simplified manger-home, the pictured Joseph and Mary jointly adoring The Child, all this seems to say that a very dedicated and meaningful family life is the highest fulfillment of life to the one who chooses this card. “It could be, of course, that a person would choose such a card because her life was the opposite of the close family life and parenthood she wanted. In which case the person would be compensating. Compensatory behavior is fairly common. The little man with the big voice. The homely girl with the beautiful manners.” AND now, for a change of pace, we’ll take Betty Hutton’s card. And do you know that if you send a card like La Hutton’s you are the type who usually sends a photograph of the kiddies as a Christmas card? Or a sketch of yourself hanging from the Christmas tree. Or you may choose a pictured scene of a mother and father accompanied by their young. Now the young may be in the form of cats or dogs or chipmunks, but no matter — if the number is right it is meant to depict you and yours. In other words, you adapt some part of the Christmas myth to yourself, which is exactly what, in her own giddy, gymnastic fashion Betty has done. She has removed Santa Claus from his legendary chimney and put him in her next picture “The Greatest Show on Earth.” “To make people over in our image,” Dr. Woodward said, “is natural enough. Most people, if they have any kind of self-confidence, believe the world would be a better place to live in if their particular brand of selfhood was advertised to the world — and followed. This is a form of exhibitionism, of course, but frankly, I think it takes a certain amount of exhibitionism to make a good, well-adjusted human being. You have to like your role in life, as on the stage, and you have to like your audience. “There is a goodness of life in this card,” the doctor said, “an outflowing quality — and so I would expect the person who chose it to be a vivacious, physically exuberant individual.” And now we come to the Big, Bad Wolf as offered by big bad movie menace, Dan Duryea. But this wolf, according to Dr. Woodward, is no more dangerous than is Dan when he steps out of camera range. Said Dr. Woodward: “Traditionally the wolf is a destroying animal rather than the male pursuer we think it today. While the person who would choose a wolf card is likely to be one who embodies the wolf qualities in his own make-up, this card is different, this card symbolizes a wolf gone comedian. The fellow who chose this card is a person of strength and power, true, but he uses his strength not to destroy, but to do gay good. This wolf has learned to suppress his inborn tendencies so much that he now inspires laughter rather than fear. He’s a delightful wolf who, hat gaily cocked, takes you out for a good time. This card indicates the big he-man who is capable of being a wolf, and destroying you, but loves you instead! An insecure person would probably not choose this card. I would think of the person who chose this card' as an essentially gay, vigorous sort of person, very secure, unusually strong, and as safe as an accredited baby-sitter.” So endeth the tales told by the stars’ innocent-seeming Christmas cards. And a Merry Christmas to all! The End . . . the hose with the distinctive new heel-line that accentuates and slims your ankle . . . frames your legs in loveliness. In Airmaid's smart new shades with your choice of either the rich brown or the navy heel . . . And Airmaids now are delicately scented. Found exclusively . . . YOUR DRUGSTORE ♦THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR AIRMAID QUALITY. ACCEPT NO IMITATION! Famous for 22 Years Airmaid Hosiery Mills — Dallas • New Braunfels • Texas MIND YOUR 'MANNERS 4Elsa Maxwell’s • “Good manners,” says Elsa Maxwell, “are one of the greatest personal assets anyone can possess — a priceless insurance against failure and loneliness.” The approach to etiquette in “Elsa Maxwell’s Etiquette Book” (Cloth $2.50, Paper $1.00 — Published by Bartholomew House) is at all times simple and direct. Miss Maxwell offers down-to-earth rules for parties, introductions, invitations, engagements, showers, weddings, gifts and manners at table, in the business world Etiquette Book” is designed to banish social jitters and in public places, which should go a long way towards banishing self-consciousness and social jitters. Never remotely in awe of etiquette, Miss Maxwell illustrates her good advice with gay, amusing anecdotes about herself and famous people the world over who are her friends . . . the Duchess of Windsor, movie stars, theatre people and Eleanor Roosevelt, among others. An easy-to-read book designed from cover to cover for life as it’s lived today. 75