Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-22

WASHINGTON, ~. o., Aug. 16.-HaVe
you noticed the wax ladies in the shop win
dows lately? That is really trick question
because the wax ladies take long vacation
every year. Being wax they simply cannot
stand the hot summer sun for any length oil
time. But when you do see the patricians
of the show windows on display again take
hard look at them. Ten to one they are
entirely different from your mental picture
Of typical wax model.
The fact is the typical wax model with it's
saccharine smile, it's baby doll expression, and
it's eyelashes thick as tooth brushes, is now
declasse. In it's place has come a wax fig
ure that it still sweetly beautiful but much
more human looking. Each one has the pink
cheeks and ruby lips that come out Of a bot
tie for wax as we'll as human faces. But
each figure is modelled from life, as statue
is and the features of the model are faith
fully reproduced. One figure offered to the
display men this year is a wax bathing beauty
modelled from a champion swimmer with
Mary Pickford curls.
In the property room of big department
store score or more of these highest types
of waxen pulchritude may be seen. In one
small case a window trimmer pointed out
about $4,000 worth of wax.
There was one head of a Spanish type of
beauty. This wax lady would rank high in
any beauty contest, and dressed in an ex
p0uS4N0 4iOCh she WOuIu undoubtedly De q
triumph. Yet she had rather strong fea.
lures, and nose that was a trifle irregular
when viewed at close range.
Her neighbor in the case wore gray hair
to represent a woman of about SO years. This
matrOn was even more unusual for a wax
figure than the black haired debutante. She
had the perfect complexion and the elaborate
coiffure of carefully groomed society wom-
an. But she also had two distinct chins, and
there were ridges on the sides of the nose
where eyeglasses had pressed against the
bridge. This model usually wears glasses
when she appears in public to show how a
mature woman should look at bridge party
or on a motor trip.
Other types that rubbed armless shoulders
in the case were a short-haired high school
girl, a curly-haired little girl, and young
man with features that any movie hero might
envy. All the figures, however, were life
like. Some had even been given expressions
suggesting intelligence.
Cold Also Bothers Them
Between appearances and in very hot
weather the heads of the department store
wax works spend their time in the glass
case, which is kept at an even temperature.
The wax models are exacting in their choice
of climate. Extreme cold is as fatal to
their delicate constitutions as extreme heat.
They cannot be put in cold storage lest the
wax crack.
In spite OF their SenSltlVeneSS to climate
the models are almost always dressed unsea-
sonably. If you are an habitual window
shopper you know that the poor things bios
som forth in Palm Beach sport clothes and
bathing suits after Christmas, regardless of
the snow that may be piled around the win
dow.
In blustery March the models hurry into
sun. Ger clothes, and when the weather is
just cool enough to be cafe for a wax COM
plexion they have to put on winter overcoats
and furs.
Being a wax beauty is hard life with no
rewards With all of her charms, wax lady
is merely clothes rack. She must be beau
tiful merely because if she were homely the
passer-by would notice her defects and ridi-
cule her instead of studying the clothes she
wears. Her we'll groomed beauty makes her
an unobtrusive part of the picture, and the
shoppers, who know that the dress is the
thing to look at, see the wearer Of the-fine
feathers only vaguely.
The property room, where the wax models
stay when they are off duty, is an interesting
part of a departr" 3nt store rarely seen by
shoppers. This room, on the top floor or in
some ct of the way part of the establish
ment, is like a glimpse behind the scenes in
a theater. AS a matter of fact, the display
windows really are miniature stages, set
with scenery, furniture, draperies and other
properties similar to those used in the thea
ter.
One main difference is that in show win