Evening star., 1934-01-31

haps as anv living man of his genera
ton" thinks the Roanoke Times. which
adds that the Fisher girls were truly
glorious creatures, and the man who
could gaze on their charms without the
eye kindling or the heart qIickening its
heat was, indeed voman-p proof in the
strictest sense Of the word" As to the
artists career the Times states: Pro
f1cient in other lines than illustration,
Mr.. Fisher had completed many port
rats in oils and etchingS But il was
as an illustrator for the magazines that
he gained fame and il Is for his beauti-
ful girls that hc Will he remembered
Sometimes We have had the low and
unworthy suspicion that no woman
could possibly be as beautiful as a Har-
rison Fisher girl on the cover of a
magazine. Bat the very thought is
heresy. of course and not tc be enter
tained for a moment. Still. those Har-
risoh Fisher girls were very. very lovely
and there are comparatively few
women who honestly merit that de-
scription."
Until Harrison Fisher, Howard
Chandler ChrlSty and Charles Dana
Gibson began seriously TO portray the
American girl. no one waS particularly
conscious Of her as a type" observes
these gifted fellows took her up and
displayed her on the covers Of maga-
zines and al critical moments in ro-
mantle novels the die was cast. There
after she was decided type of Young
woman, built on sweeping lines and Of
a square and forcetul beauty. A free
stridine. fearless creature altogether
ravishing. She bore the vicissi-
tudes of changing style with infinite
grace-:he huge picture hat. the veil.
the waSp-like waist. the ribbon, the
curl. the voluminouS skirt. In all of
them she moved in maiden meditation
fancy free And no matter what the
Harvard anthropolOgistS evolve from
their multltudinOus statistics at the
Worlds Fair this Summer where they
measured hundreds Of American girls
with scientific aloofnesS and eXactitude
the girl of Harrison Fisher Will remain
The American Girl
The Fisher girls were fair and ap-
pealing. and their beauty was more
than skin deep" attests the Rochester
Times Union. for Fisher insisted that
his models must have charm. an inner
beauty. and not mere outside prettiness
If We could have a collection of the
Fisher girl pictures from the turn of
the century to the present We would
see the emereenCe Of the American girl
from the stiffness of 1890 10 the free
and frank beauty of today. We would
see her from when she appeared in
those early automobiles with wind
blown veil on her mead and the long
skirts and big sleeves and high collars
that appear so queer now. Yet the
Fisher girl of that time has not lost
her appeal. though she is outmoded. for
the charm is still there. the charm that
Fisher always demanded"
The little lady with the bright eyes
and tip-tilted nose" according to the
Rockford Register Republic. never took
herself any more seriously than the
public took fer-the vast public whose
aesthetic appetite she somehow salts
fed. She was never hung in solemn
museum, but always seemed perfectly
content to smile sweetly out at the
world from magazines whose circula-
tior ran up into the multiple thousands.
We happened to see her again only the
other day. in her 1884 tam and ski
clothes. and on her face the same ex-
preston of not-too- bright femininity
that she wore under her first pompa-
dour: Mr.. Fishers nice little girl who
never grew up. and who all her life
exemplified the truism that 1t is COM
Portable and often profitable to be
beautiful and dumb"