Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

74 Renee Adoree Explains the French Girl The leading exponent of French-girl types on the American screen contrasts the characteristics of her countrywomen with those of the land of her adoption. By Myrtle Gebhart THE French spirit, it is subtlety. The American, go and get it." Several of us, lunching at the Metro-Goldwyn studio, were talking, as every one is now, of "The Big Parade," and some one remarked we were making the usual comments on the psychological differences between the French and the Americans. Renee Adoree, hailing from France and being a young lady of intelligence, had done considerable thinking on the subject. Her work in "The Big Parade" has done much to arouse the interest in the differences between the two nationalities. "The American gets there first because all the time he hustles and rushes," she said. "In France, life is more quiet and leisurely. We take our time when we are young, because we think we have years ahead, so why not enjoy what is along the way? And when we reach old age, we have acquire' the habit. "Here, the girl tires out the man. It is odd, her endurance. All da}' she works, and dances half the night. Her gayety bubbles. It is like a balloon. The Frenchwoman, more delicate, is more easily fatigue', though the war proved that her spirit is strong when there is need. "An amazing revelation, America." Renee 's big eyes became as eloquent as her expressive hands and her shoulders, whose range of articulation is really marvelous. They have subtleties, those shoulders. Others merely shrug ; hers say : anger, joy, surprise, annoyance, and a hundred fascinations. "Such a freedom is allow' girls here. They dominate their men. Ma foi, they get what they want ! And in such a straightforward way, is it not so? They say, 'Gimme, gimme, gimme ; do this ; do that, quick-lee !' " She gave an animated illustration. Her slim fingers snapped, her eyes commanded. "See, I now know how. Oh, Renee is not so dumb !" Her laugh rippled. "At first, I am bewilder'. I attend a party. I see the girls order the men around, and I wonder that the men stand for it. "In France, it is not so. The man leads ; the girl follows. True, she gets her own way, but with a delicacy. She has bred in her, through generations, the art of appeal. She fascinates. This is how you phrase here the idea that she observes : she 'sells' the man her thought and makes him believe it is his own. To please her, he would give her the world. But he must give, and she accept. Were she to demand, the shock most likely would be fatal to him. "For an instance: In France, a gentleman is to take a lady to the theater. He is detain'. She waits. If she feel very certain of him, she may let him see her displeasure by a slight coolness of manner. "Here, when the tardy gentleman arrives, he finds that the lady has gone out with another man. Voila ! "When I come here, I stand back. I wait to be serv', and I get nothing. I am not popular ; I am unhappy. I feel strange. Mamma — she is shrewd, my mamma — she say: 'Renee, you are a leetle fool. In America they do things a different way. You must learn how. You like this country ; there is much here for you. To get it, you must watch and study and do as American girls.' "So I learn to say, just a leetle" — her eyes sparkled slim fingers crin'Gimme, gimme, and the kled — " gimme.' "But, And I get. am see, too be mind you, I French, and that is, I in my favor, so not much American do I come," she continued when the laughter at her antic had died down. "I notice that the foreign woman is an attraction here, as in France an American girl is a queen. It is the interest of novelty. It is — how you say? — an asset. "So now Renee" — the big eyes had a merry-goround of twinkles in them — "she is a leetle bit of each. And Renee is happy. "Frenchwomen are more feminine than American girls," she pointed out. "and yet, curiously, more elemental in some ways. They follow instincts, not what you call inhibitions ; and conventions are different. What is quite proper in one country would scandalize the other. "Do you recall the scene in 'The Big Parade' where the peasant girl looks on laughingly, without feeling immodest, while the American soldiers take a shower bath ? Here, only a bad girl could do such a thing. The French heart is simple and direct, with no false modesty. "The American girl is much more frank in some ways. Her friendly comradeship with men I like. She actual!} is allow' to give them ad [Continued on page 94] Renee Adoree appears once more as a French girl in "The Mocking Bird."