Radio and television mirror (May-Oct 1940)

Meet the Swings (Continued from page 15) women resent a woman being placed in as important a position as a man. "Why? A number of reasons. Chiefly it can be attributed to the inferiority complex most women have. The average wife has been raised to believe that all she was put on this earth for was to raise a family and tend to the drudgery of housework. She envies the woman who has the gumption to revolt against this and win a respected place in the world." It's hard to believe that Betty Gram Swing is in her forties. Her face is oval, and while it is pretty, you don't notice this at first glance because it is so mobile with joy, aliveness and health. She is slim, graceful, continually on the move and, almost as continually, brushing back her blonde hair and laughing with you and at you with deep, blue eyes. She speaks rapidly, with a genuine, uncontrollable enthusiasm. THE respective careers of Raymond ' and Betty Gram Swing have taken them to the far corners of the earth. They've been in dangerous spots, together and separately. They've lived through two decades of turmoil in this changing world. And these things have made them fascinating as individuals and doubly fascinating together. They are two of the most interesting and exciting people I have ever known. And a day with them would soon convince you that marriage need be anything but a dull routine. They live in an apartment in the East 40's, which is the jumping off place for their activities. From this simple, tastefully furnished home, Mr. Swing goes each day to the Mutual studios to broadcast to the nation. And from here, Betty Gram Swing hurries to the meetings and lectures that keep her as busy, if not busier, than her husband. Their real home, however, is in a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse north of Westport, Conn. Here, Mr. Swing and his friends gather to play and discuss music, or talk over the happenings of the week. Here, their three children, Peter Gram Swing, aged 17, Sally, aged 15, and John Temple Swing, aged 10, take an active part in the discussions and cultural enjoyments of their father and mother. Like their father, the children have always looked on their mother's work as being fully as important as his. Betty Gram Swing is more than a mother to them. She's a personality doing things in order to make this world a better place in which to live. There is never a dull moment when you spend an evening with the Swings. In one corner, Mr. Swing may be composing, or the children, who all play instruments, may be gathered about their father, playing chamber music. Or, perhaps, something unusual has happened in their mother's life that day and they will all be discussing it excitedly. To me, the Swings represent a family way ahead of their times. An ideal family of the future. For where will you find a father who is not only a famous commentator, but a composer? Or a mother who speaks at Town Hall Tyith Mrs. Roosevelt and knows people like Dorothy Thompson, Mrs. Borden Harriman and Lady Rhondda, and SEPTEMBER, 1940 Radio's two garrulous old men of the Ozarks come to life! Lum and Abner make their film debut in RKO's "Dreaming Out Loud." who writes and paints, as well? Do not suppose from this that Mr. and Mrs. Swing are stuffy intellectuals. Far from it. Laughter is continually filling the Swing home. The children curl up with delight when their tall, easy-going father with his keen, merry blue eyes, tangles in discussion or raillery with their energetic, quick-witted, vivacious mother. MO wonder they find her viewpoint ' ^ so stimulating. One of the first things she said to me when I visited her in their home was: "It's a shame," she said, "that women weren't present when the Versailles Treaty was drawn up. Nor did they have any important part in the League of Nations conferences at Geneva. Perhaps, if they had had, the world wouldn't be in such a shambles today. Men haven't done very much to insure peace in the world. "It's a fact," she went on, "that women suffer as much from war as men do. Now, they are being attacked physically, just like men. Flyers don't differentiate between the sexes when they drop their bombs. Women are killed as ruthlessly as men. In time of war, they, too, are forced to endure hunger and disease and pain. And yet, they have little to say about the governments or conditions that force war upon them. "That has to be changed," she said forcefully, "and our biggest fight right now is getting women into important governmental positions. Our task is waking them up and making them realize their potential power and importance in the world. "It's gratifying," she pointed out, "that women are waking up to some extent. A few years ago, it was considered unladylike for women to be interested in or discuss what was going on in the world. Now, radio and newsreels have brought them face to face with something they can't ignore. I know that women are now concerned with the world and what goes on in it, because of the enormous number of women who listen to Mr. Swing's broadcasts and because of the intelligent letters they write him. "Mr. Swing is as pleased about this as I am," she said, "for, you know, he's always been an ardent feminist. He's always believed that women should serve in every capacity that men do. His grandmother was president of Mt. Holyoke College for ten years. Mt. Holyoke was founded by a woman in order to help young women seeking careers. Now, for the first time in the history of the school, a man has been appointed president. "I don't want to give you the idea that I think family life is unimportant. The center of life for my husband and me has always been our home and family. The job of bringing up my children, however, has been in the hands of a very capable woman. She looks on her job as a career and, frankly, she is able to look after the daily needs of my children much better than I could. What my husband and I try to give them is the benefit of whatever knowledge we've been able to gather working in the world outside our home, a world in which they are just now beginning to take their places. IT seems to me," Betty Gram Swing ' pointed out, "that women would be better fitted to raise children, if they had at least some idea of the problems their sons and daughters are going to face. Particularly their daughters. Nowadays, young men are discovering they can't afford to get married unless their wives are willing to work and help out financially. "Statistics prove," she went on, "that the woman who works has a better chance of holding her. husband. The reason for that is logical. A normal man loves a woman he can respect, one with whom he can discuss problems intelligently. What 61