Radio varieties (Sept 1940-June 1941)

Jane Alden Fashion Stylist This ioimer 4-H Club girl from an Iowa farm has attended European salon style openings, attends all the American openings, and as a leading American stylist today interprets personal and home styles for the radio audience over WLS, Chicago. QNCE UPON a time, and not so long ago, either, "well-dressed women of America thought fashions might come from anywhere, but style — ah., style — that had to come from Paris I That is what Jane Alden thought, too — ion til she took a trip to Paris. She knew that the American girl had a style of her own, and believed she should have a style of dress of her own. So she returned to America and embarked on a career of informing American women on style. Jane Alden was bom on a farm in Iowa and engaged as a girl in 4-H Club activities, like so many girls living on forms today. But Jane Alden has vision; she wanted to bring style to the girls on the farms of America. She, too, went to Paris, to observe the fine points of style, and today Jane Alden is known to millions as the woman who dresses the farmer's daughter. And certainly, thanks to radio and motion pictures, the farmer's daughter today wants to be dressed in up-to-the minute fashions. As stylist for the Chicago Mail Order Company, Jane Alden conducts her own radio program over WLS, Chicago, at 10:30 A. M. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Miss Alden's gay, chatty talks have proved inspiring to many housewives, since her down-toearth advice on personal care and charm, as well as on good groomilig for the home are practical and workable on limited budgets. The secret of her appeal is the bold, straight-forward way in which she blasts through the snobbishness of staging which characterizes many presentations of Paris, New York and Hollywood designers. Miss Alden talks in the plain, MidWestern manner, picks out the styles she thinks practical for American women. She is smart and clever, but her attitude toward styles is refreshingly direct. In her broadcasts, entitled Page 20 JANE ALDEN "Fashions for Living", Jane Alden discusses the fashion ideas/ of famous and interesting personalities whom she has interviewed especially to report to her radio audience. Among those whose interviews are to be reported are Kate Smith, the Grand Duchess Marie, Antoinette Donnelly, Orchestra Leader Griff Williams, Prince Obolensky, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Joan Blaine, the radio actress. When Jane Alden interviewed Joan Blaine, they found they had a lot in common, for they grew up on neighboring Iowa farms. Miss Alden lived on a 500-acre farm near Fort Dodge, wnere she grew up with her five sisters. She still remembers the cold Iowa winters, how when the men would come in the girlsi would yell "Close the door," and hurry to put the rug back against the crack between the door and the floor, where the wind and snow whis tled in and sent icy shivers up their backs. She well remembers how, on rainy days she and her lour sisters would cut out and color the paper dolls in the magazines. But it was the fine weather little Jane Alden really liked, the days when she could be out on her Shetland pony, romping over the rolling farmland. It was, however, best to stay away from the farmyard with her pony. For whenever Aunt Sally saw her in such boyish pursuits. Auntie would call her in for a lesson in mending or darning socks, with a warning that she had to learn to be a lady. It was Aunt Sally, too, who gave her one of her first lessons in styling. Another early lesson, too, came from Aiont Sally. Jane was fascinated by the variety and beauty of a neighbor's clothes. She chattered away to her Aunt about them. But wise Aunt Sally only nodded her head and answered: "She should have nice clothes. Every cent she has, she puts on her back. But you ought to see her house." And today, Jane Alden, stylist, gives a large part of her broadcast time to discussion of home furnishing, as well as to clothes style and personal charm. This Iowa farm girl has grown to be a style leader, a true sophisticate. She attends all major style openings in this country, and before the war, all those in Europe, including the openings of the swank salons along famous Parisian boulevards. But for all her smart style, Jane Alden is still a home girl, practical and unspoiled. One of her pet peeves is the heavy smear of lipstick some women use — then leave most of it on the rim of a glass or coffee cup. And Jane Alden still loves to get back to the home farm in Iowa, to rest and visit with her sisters and to talk with 4-H Club girls about their dress problems. RADIO VARIETIES — NOVEMBER