Evening star., 1932-09-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Just as there are no more ugly
women, so there are few beauties. In
the old sense.
Is this SO because there really aren't
any, or simply because In the old days
the level Of homeliness was higher?
A woman had to be loveliness itself
to shine under a pompadour.
She had to posses the features OF an
angel, In order to strike the beholder
as beautiful. in the days Of the silly
unnatural waists.
Today all the girls look so much alike
that few Of them have any chance OF
standing out from the crowd.
Even in the musical comedies the
only way the audience can tell the
principals from the chorus Is by the
physical fact that they step forward
out Of the group.
If the leading lady stayed back in
the line, most of the gawkers would
select, instead, the fourth from the
right in the front row.
II any one doubts the terrible uni
formity of the modern female face. let
him look at a row of magazines hang
ing on the newsstand line
There was time when the proprietor
had much the best Of 1t.
He had the backs of all the maga-
zines to him, while the customers faced
the cleaning array Of Hollywood teeth.
Now all that is changed.
The cigarette ads have substituted
real colored photographs Of the very
same girls, so that whether one looks
at atmodern magazine from the front
or back he sees the same old charmer.
The movie queen vogue has grown
SO that this lovely lady actually Is
the ideal OF America as to looks"
From q distance of 10 feet. however,
one may successfully defy the sharpest
eye to tell one from t'other.
And these women, 1t must be held in
mind, represent a careful search made
for appearances sake.
They no doubt come to their star
dom, at least partly. because they pos
sess the certain sleek looks" which
modern America prefers.
But things have come to such pass
that the real distinction among them
is based almost solely upon what used
to be called "a woman's crowning
glory"
Miss A is a blond, Miss B is red
head" and Miss c is the possessor OF
raven locks.
When the screen appeal of Miss A
begins to wane, the directorate sends
her to a hair dyer. and she becomes
"red-head," whatever that means.
Mostly it's nothing but henna, anyway.
II 1t wasn't for these periodic heady
overthrows. not even the most devoted
fan" could tell 'em apart.
And what applies to the motion pic
ture stars" Of course, applies with
even more force to the millions Of
women who ape them.
The crowds along F street any after
noon all look like one girl, mysteriously
divided and subdivided.
One has a green dress, and another
brown dress, and still another a white
outfit, but exactly the same sort of
face appears under every hat.
The tilt of the brim over one eye
or the other may fool one, at first,
into thinking he Is seeing different
girl each time.
Let him look closely. however, he
sees nothing Of the sort. but one woman
endlessly repeated, block after block.
The theory and practice Of being
alike is a gigantic program undertaken
by the entire womanhood OF America.
This program has four facets, three
physical and one mental.
The four factors in this startling
merging of types, so that most women
come at last to look amazingly alike,
are as follows:
/. Bobbed hair.
2. The exact uniformity Of dress.
3 Lack of individuality in teeth.
4. The mental desire to look alike.
This quartet demands a few words of