Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-08


II against the dangers of wife with
out a SMILE" eligible bachelors in
search of wives cannot be seriously
blamed if now and again they seek them
at the theatres-for instance, at the
Gaiety, or Debrett's Matrimonial Agen-
cy, as somebody rechristened it, Fer, as
even those who criticise them will ad-
nit. the ladies of the chorus certainly
know how to smile.
The quality and potency of their
smiles even impressed the serious Sir
Arthur Wing Pinero. Noting them, he
said: THE musical comedy girls will
be the salvation of the aristocracy of
this country. Just think of then-keen-
witted young women, full of the joy of
life, with strong frames, beautiful hair
and healthy, pink gums and big white
teeth
The smile which is the genuine ar
ticle, and is seen playing about the lips
OF a pretty actress in real life, is al
altogether different from the post card
article, and really, l find it almost as
charming as if | were-well, mere man
in the audience instead of an actor
who knows something of how such
smiles can be made to come on" and
off. And, incidentally, to relapse in
to Irish, isn't it a far, far better
thing for woman to have smile that
will come off rather than one that will
never come on?
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero gave the
eugenic view OF the situation, and the
right-minded section of any community
begins to conjure visions of the whole
sale benefits likely 10 be conferred on
posterity by thes "Actressocratic"
unions. But alas! Voices are soon
heard crying in the wilderness, or, to be
exact, the Mayfair drawing rooms in
quite another key.
Owing to this apparently incurable
habit she has acquired of settling down
I'm the peerage, the actress of the musical
play, we are gravely warned, CONSTITUTES
a menace to Society,"" and a whole
string of other uncomplimentary epithets
are hurled at her head She is attacked
as the most selfish, superficial and in
sincere of creatures by one of the
peeresses, who, as a critic says in re-
turn, besides having bony body has
ebony soul"
eff we accept the principle of heredity,
her frailties will be inevitably handed
down to her children shrieked an
dldrUllSI at one Oh UHe I6C6uI uTdNluS
room critiques of the actressocracy.
aft such alliances do nothing worse
than reproduce in the children their
mothers picture post card smile an ir-
reparable wrong will be done to our old
nobility"
But why ruminate on improbable pos
sibilties, when we know what have,
hitherto, been the actual results of these
,porra In almost pVprv paca thpv
have been love matches, and, when you
consider it carefully, there is really no
reason why love in a castle should not
be, ultimately, as happy as love in
cottage.
True, there, are advantages, such as
having a retinue of servants perpetually
about one, and also relations-in-law. But
Cupid shakes his small fist at little en-
barrassments of this sort, and, as
rule when an actress consents to marry
a. peers son-it takes two to drive
bargain, you know, and sometimes, the
lady is wooed. but not won-they do not
find it more difficult than any other hus-
band and wife to live happy ever after
Nor does experience show that the
chorus girl who turns peerless is fish
out of water Often she develops into
dazzlingly brilliant social success in her
new role. To be quite frank, thlnk, as
q matter of fact, she is deal more
fitted, by her training and mode of life,
to be the wife of peer than, let us say,
9he wife of a country doctor or subal'
iern in India. If one could escape SEEM
ing invidious quite an interesting list
might be drawn Of actressocratic unions
that have been blissfully happy
81 can never forget the debt | owe to
the Gaiety,' a sporting peer who mar
ried one of our best known actresses
never tires of telling me, land | love to
come back"
In the matrimonial mart of Great
Britains aristocracy the supply OF ell
gible young women is, as all the world
knows, considerably in excess OF the de-
mand Naturally, therefore, match-mak-
ing mothers have not been slow to re-
buke this yearly increasing propensity
of the chorus girls to marry into the
peerage.
Such touches of acerbity make the
whole world kin. They are merely the
result of a deplorable trade rivalry-the
inevitable sequel to that cut-throat COM