Screenland (Nov 1942-Apr 1943)

( / GOTTA PATl S> MOM . . . I have to have Noxzema for my Powder Base— it gives such a smooth, long-lasting foundation; as a night cream it helps smooth and soften my skinhelps heal externallycaused blemishes. ...I can't do without Noxzema. It helps soften my tough beard, gives me a swell, cool, comfortable shave; and my skin doesn't feel tender and sore afterward! ... I wish all mothers knew how grand Noxzema is for baby's tender skin when it is chafed or irritated by "diaper rash." It cools and soothes so quickly and helps promote healing! OFTBN BURN 1 MY HAMPS... ( COOK/A/G J • and Noxzema's wonderful for those minor "kitchen" barns and for rough, chapped hands, too! Keep a jar in the kitchen, the bathroom, on your dressing table. Let this famous family favorite help you, too! • Try Noxzema as above— and for the relief of many similar externally-caused skin troubles. Over 15 million jars are used every year! IMPORTANT) While the supply lasts, you can get the big 75<* jar of Noxzema for only 49^ (plus tax)! Due to wartime limitations, this yearly offer may never be made again! Take advantage of it. Get Noxzema at any drug or cosmetic counter today! "Women will always be glamorous. It is inherent with them. It is their natural-born instinct to posses glamor. But that doesn't mean that they can't do their part as well as men." I left Jon and Maria discussing all this and went over to M-G-M to see Joan Crawford, who was busy making "Reunion." She was looking more feminine than usual — probably because she had just been married to Philip Terry in a surprise ceremony. Joan seemed an especially good person to talk to on this subject of femininity and war and independence since she has always been extremely independent and has openly said that she intends to go into various fields in the picture industry, fields heretofore held by men almost exclusively. "Are women losing their lemininity ?" she asked me as an answer to my question. "Well, women doing men's work is not such a new idea to my generation. Practically all of my contemporaries are career women. Today we are used to women working whether they are wives or mothers or not Most of my friends are working women. During the last war, the fair sex doing men's jobs was a novelty, I understand. That just isn't true any more. And it seems to me that the career women I know have managed to keep their femininity. I use this word now in its best sense. But there is a type of woman who still exists today, a type I have never liked, who may very well profit by the emergencies of total war. These are the idle women — the clinging vines, the infantile ladies. You know that type — they rely on their husbands for everything. They talk baby talk. They are fragile, helpless creatures. If that's femininity then it would be a good job if they would lose it. I have a hunch, however, that some of the real infantile creatures of my sex will manage somehow to keep their men. It is the strong woman who can send her man off to war without flinching and who can make sacrifices. I think your little whining, complaining, namby-pamby weak sister will always be sure she is 'protected.' It would be an excellent thing to have this type face reality for a change, to see what it is like to do real work. I believe in work. I think it's as important as anything in life. I believe that nothing not earned through hard work is worth having. I hope, therefore, that the war can change the clinging vine into a woman of strength. In other words, into a really feminine woman." As I left Joan, I bumped into Ann Sothern, the lady who has made a character by the name of Maisie into a composite of the countless rules for femininity. "Ann," I said abruptly, "what do you think about women today? Aren't they sort of trying to be carbon copies of men?" "Definitely not!" Annie said. "Women today are only proving that they can do what is expected of them when it becomes necessary in an emergency. Would you rather that they remain at home in the parlor wearing chiffon dresses and spending their time at beauty parlors instead of getting out and helping to win this war? They've got a big stake in this fight too. As big as you men. They're working to protect the one thing that makes them feminine — the home. Besides, you must know that they never forget for a moment their desire to be feminine and womanly. Take a look at your factory workers, for example. Your women workers. Nine out of ten of them may rivet all day or do other types of difficult work. They get grease on their faces. They give up the idea of being able to keep their hands well manicured. But whenever they get the chance to be out of uniform and when they are off from work, you'll find their femininity reasserting itself. They immediately change into pretty, soft, and flattering clothes. And they make themselves as charming and appealing as possible. The woman who still remains a fac tory worker when she gets home or who has an extended case of uniformitis isn't really feminine to Degin with." The kino, of a man everyone visions as the head man, the rugged male, is Victor McLaglen. Vic has seen the changes in women since the last war. He remembers what they went through in those days. And he is not alarmed at the trend of today. "This war, as terrible as it is," Vic began when I saw him on the set of "China Girl," "will really make women regain their femininity. For a while, in the past, they were in danger of losing it. Some ot it appeared to have been lost in the shuffle of slacks, overalls, shorts, mannish hair bobs, tuxedos for evening dress, and the like. But war is a tough, brutal, masculine business. In contrast to its horror and destruction, all of the nice, tender, and sweet things about women must pervade everywhere. As that famous slogan goes, 'A woman's job is morale.' Being feminine in appearance as well as manner is the most appealing morale a soldier can have. And that is the one danger that some of today's women overlook. They think that their time should be devoted exclusively to their own work. They forget the man at times who is fighting and his dreams of a lovely girl dressed in very feminine things. They forget he wants to hear them talk — not about factories and war — but about strictly feminine things. I am sure that most women realize that today. And, as a result, I expect them to be also more sympathetic and understanding after this war than ever before. "All this monkey business about women becoming more masculine because of uniforms and war work outfits doesn't worry me much. Have you noticed that they're wearing more curls in their hair than they ever have? And have you noticed that they definitely have not forgotten that their manner— and yes, their attack — must be more feminine ?" Ann Sheridan believes that the work women are doing now is not dangerous to them as women at all. On the contrary, it is a godsend. I caught Ann just after she had finished "George Washington Slept Here" and just before she began work in "The Edge of Darkness." "There is no more feminine trait in my mind," Ann said with her typical frankness, "than the desire to protect the home and children. The only way a woman can do that in war time is by doing her part to free men for active service. Whether she accomplishes this by working in a war plant, nursing, buying bonds with her spare money, or joining the Women's Army doesn't matter. She is doing her part to protect what is vital to her — and that is being very feminine. "Anyway, the kind of a job a woman does doesn't really change her. She may look less attractive in overalls and covered with grease, but she certainly doesn't lose her interest in being feminine. And attractive. And the chances are that such a job only makes her more eager to primp and wear the latest modes when she is through working. She wants to be as womanly as possible to make up for it. "Then there is the type of woman who has been out of the spotlight all her life, content to be a housewife and sticking close to home. The war has taken her out of a rut, given her new interests, new independence. Her present attitude _ toward life gives her much greater appreciation for the male than her former wishy-washy approach to life. "And, last, there is the type of woman who wasn't overly-feminine to begin with. It took the war and the separation from her soldier sweetheart to make her realize that when he is on furlough he isn't interested in a 'good pal' girl. As a change from camp life, he wants to see his girl in extremely