Radio mirror (May-Oct 1935)

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Editor's Note: We present with pride this amazing series of articles by a woman whose life is more exciting and glamorous than any novel you have ever read. You've heard her over the Columbia network in her own charming program. A few years ago Cobina Wright had an income of $100,000 a year in her own right and was one of New York's most brilliant hostesses, one of the first to have a real salon, to which came society people, artists, diplomats. But she was never content to be simply a social light. W-hile she was being wife, mother and hostess, she was also being a concert singer, with an offer to go into the Metropolitan Opera which . she refused. At sixteen, she made her debut in opera in Europe and later she sang with the Boston Symphony and other big orchestras from Coast to Coast. She was chosen by Arthur Honegger to interpret his songs and toured with him all over the United States. Puccini was interested in her voice and personality when she was very young and sang La Boheme and Madame Butterfly. She has been able all her life to do a wide variety of things and do them well. In the stock market crash she lost her money and she is now earning her own living successfully. But she still gives wonderful parties, invitations to which are eagerly sought. Now she is going to give you the secrets of being a successful hostess — advice which you can use whether your income is $100,000 a year or $500 a year. And she will also tell you charming, amusing and intimate stones about the numbers of radio, screen and society celebrities whom she knows well, people who always have a wonderful time at Cobina Wright's. "]^fO one has less patience with the stupidities of "soI^B ciety" than have I. Last year, 1 was amused to note that my name had been left out of the Social Register, for what reason 1 do not know. Was it because I must make my own living? Was it because of my divorce? I cannot say. But I can assure you that 1 have not lost any sleep over it. I went out in good company. The name of Rosamond Pinchot and President Roosevelt's son and many other prominent people whom I consider well born were dropped, too. All right. 1 think in these last few years people have used the Social Register only for a telephone book anyhow! No. it doesn't bother me.' I broke the rules of society. •At every party 1 have given, whether the guest list numbered five or five hundred. 1 have dared to be different. And people have always been kind enough to say that they are amused at my home. That, then, it seems to me, is the first piece of advice I should give you. Be different! Have a style of your own! There is, of course, a certain technique in entertaining, a technique which I hope these articles will bring out. But when you have mastered the simple mechanics of being a hostess you can make your parties unusual. Every artist has broken technical rules. And being a good hostess is an art. For instance, your English teacher undoubtedly taught you that the use of the word "very" weakened a sentence. Then along came Ernest Hemingway and in his excellent novels used the word "very " over and over again, but instead of weakening they strengthened every sentence and gave him a style all his own. He did not do this out of ignorance. He knew the rules. He wanted an effect and he dared to be different. One of the greatest actors I ever knew told me that the secret of wonderful acting consisted in learning all the technique, all the tricks of stage craft — and then forgetting them ! So it is with being a hostess. Know the rules (they form, a background which supports you) and then have the courage to break them. For if you are innately a lady, if there is within you the knowledge that you are kind and gracious and would do no other person a deliberate harm, then your instincts will guide you to the right gesture. And whatever you do to be amusing, no matter how different it might be, it will be correct. "INCIDENTALLY, to be a lady one does not necessarily have to have money and social position. Several socalled ladies and gentlemen I know have dreadful manners and behave in a fashion one might expect from uneducated people who have had no chances, and apparently no desire, to better themselves. However some people with little or no education, people with rough exteriors who make grammatical errors, have the most charming and delightful manners. They are thoughtful, gentle, considerate and honest. If one has these four qualities one is a lady. I have always believed that if you gather together a group of people who are interesting and have mutual interests, give them good food — which doesn't necessarily mean expensive food — and guide the conversation skillfully, your party will be a success. Although I have often mixed artists and musicians and actors with my social register friends I have been careful to have them all the same type — people who understood each other. I have known beforehand whether they would mix or not so that they would not collect in groups and one group be ill at ease