The New York herald., 1922-06-18
Brains or Beauty.

that all stars are as clever as their
press agents proclaim them, any
body may be forgiven an honest
doubt as to how many Of them
would ever have achieved fame or
fortune without their natural pull
chritude. II star has a winsome
smile and a perfect profile there
Is no reason why her director
should not do all the brain work,
leaving her free to concentrate on
the important business of register
ing sweetness and light. Many
cinema stars undoubtedly are in
telligent. But do they receive more
fan" letters in their daily mail than
the beautiful know nothings? The
number Of such missives received,
take 1t from the press agents, is an
accurate gauge OF a stars popu-
larity.
Much more numerous (and FREE
quently much more beautifully than
the stars themselves are the hosts
of minor actresses and extras who
appear In crowd scenes. Had they
each the wisdom Of Solomon, the
erudition Of Erasmus, and the mag
netic personality Of Lady Nancy
Astor. the chances are that they
would have no chance to display
these attributes in their screen
work. They are hired for their
looks and their ability to wear
Gmart raiment with at least a
modicum of saroir taire. So for the
rank and file Of picture actresses,
beauty minus brains does very
nicely indeed.
The professional mannequin is an
other beauty who may turn her
back upon marriage and quite
honorably commercialize her looks,
either in posing Tor fst;hion photo
graphs and other kinds of advertis-
ing pictures or in displaying hats
ard garments upon her comely per-
son, before wholesale buyers or pri-
vate customers. The mannequin
may be clever, but she doesn't
actually need to Be. All she needs
to know is how to dress her hair
hecomingly and how to get that
slinky. slithery, sinuous mannequin
glide. The rest is silence, and a
very comfortable weekly stipend.
much more comfortable than many
brainy. alert and toiling boekkeepers
are able to command.
Brainless Girls Not
Wanted in Chorus
Thus it will be seen that a beau
tiful girl who Graves independence
has several chances of success and
remuneration, even though she has
no brains to brag about. OF course,
if she Is fortunate enough to have
intelligence along with her beauty
there are even more Interesting
careers awaiting her.
There is the chorus.
Perhaps it has not been generally
understood that chorus girls must
have brains. Friend >Hattie's idea
that beauty and brains are usually
divorced, and that either alone forms
complete life equipment is still,
alas, more or less prevalent. But it
is an utter fallaey in so far Is
chorusing Is concerned, and we have
that on the authority OF no less an
expert in the chorus line than Mr..
F1orenz Ziegfeld.
"a girl who is merely beautiful.
nothing more, might just as well
have no looks at all, so far as making
good in the chorus is concerned"
declared Mr.. Ziegfeld emphatically
when asked his opinion of the rela-
tive value of beauty or brains.
"a merely beautiful girl is lifeless,
lacking in the spirit and vivacity
that make a chorus interesting.
Brains plus beauty are absolutely
necessary, in my judgment. don't
give mental tests to chorus appli-
cants. but I certainly do weigh a
girls alertness, cleverness, initiative
and native intelligence along with
her looks. Nobody can do anything
with beautiful empty doll"