The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-07
Asked
for Women
in BarrOOnnS
Such Environment Is
Deemed Likely to Widen
Range of Conversation.
BY EVELYN SEELEY
Times special Writer

L in the baToom. Don't send Us
back 70 our dismal hen-party pur-
getcry.
We VIII be lost forever II your
Fundamentally crusade wins. We
know you can get along fine with
oft US. that in the good old-fash-
Ioned bars for which you are so
hcmcsick you may be better of.
But have a heart-what would We
do without you2 IN your presence
perhaps ne Will sparkle and be slim
uiated into bright and intelligent
conversation. Left TO ourselves We
VIII sink 70 the level Of curtains and
cosmetics and maids and personal
gossip.
You said. Mr.. Cobb as you waxed
50 amusingly nostalgia at a CO.
educational cocktail party the other
night:
Barrooms used to smell ike men;
they smelled Of stale sawdust. spit
icons, old cigar butts. state beer.
Now Cas you shifted disgustedly)
they smell Of perfume and gar
denias and all those things you
women put on your faces to make
you look what you aren't.
FIRST IL was the smoking car you
enCrOached on. Then the barber
shop. And now the bar. It's a hell
o. a note"
Charles Driscoll piped up: And
YOU spoil all the stories! You women
have a sense Of sin about a story.
You can take a clean joke and make
10 sound perfectly filthy. You're
menace"
We men can sit around in our
clubs and never miss you women"
Mr.. Cobb continued ruthlessly. We
never think about you except hoping
TO God you'll not come where we
are. You women sit around by your
selves and keep one ear open all the
time for the telephone to ring say
ing some man Is on his way"
Brands Talk Too Personal
Stop and think about the hen
parties you have attended. What
did you talk about? First you talked
about Aiinnie's new hat; then you
talked about James new apartment;
then you got into an involved and
devastating conversation about
Helcn's affair with Marys husband,
leaving Helen not a shred Of in
tegrity. When Polly got going on
"A discussion Of the A & p. grocery
situation Jane yanked the CONVEX
sation right back to her dealings
with her corner grocer.
Women left to themselves are too
subjective and are intellectually lazy.
DiSliking argument. and too unso-
cial-minded 70 project a subject be-
yond themselves. they pull poten-
TALLY interesting discussion right
back home into personal channels.
They drop into discussion of i'm
mediate and superficial common in
tcrestS because il IS so easy. And
il 1t is also unspeakably duh and
boring it does not matter. They
save their mental exeTtion until
they can challenge the men.
II isn't altogether their fault. If
women have been exploited, indus
trially. 10 depreSs the wage scale.
they have also been exploited. senti-
mentally. 10 depresS the scale Of
conversation. Men have over-em-
phasized their romantic values as
wives and mothers at the expense
Of their intellects.
Limited to Four Topics
Charm School" Margery Wilson
gave a conversation test to 10000
women and found them limited,
internationally, to four subjects
makeup. movies. boys and school.
Lord knows 1 hate to agree with
Nargery Wilson. whose charm
school" gives me a pain. but her
findings about 10000 women are sig
nificent. I would say they have an
other subject or two, and would
also exempt certain women-Such
rs my own colleagues-who talk
shop and thereby are lifted automa-
tically out Of their limitations.
Anyway. Miss Wilson's charm
school" won't cure us. A more ac-
tive interest in life outside of our
apartment walls, a better sense of
proportion and a stronger sense of
humor viii help. And If you men
at your bars won't help us acquire
these qualities who will?
We don't want to go back to the
kitchen and the hen parties it con-
notes. We want TO stay in the bar
room. II you give us a little help
with the left elbow We can pull our
selves up by our mental bootstraps
until, corversationally. we're chin
to-chin with you and you'll be glad