Imperial Valley press., 1937-03-07

ties. l am not a believer in very
young marriage.
"A great many people, too, are
totally unsuited for marriage.
Certain people should not marry
at all This is true of virtually all
the film lot. 1t is not silly that
they should get divorces so often,
but it is silly that they should get
married at all. The very nature
of their work, the false glamour
and pseudo-romance the artificial
atmosphere of their daily lives
make them perpetually suscepti-
BILE to the Establishments of the
attractive people with whom they
are constantly associated.
"A beautiful young woman ap-
pearing with a handsome young
leading man is attracted to him,
he to her, during the course of the
filming of that picture. They
marry. Then the romantic picture
is completed, they are cast in
other roles with other attractive
people, and they divorce each
other and marry some one else.
And so on and on, over and over
again. An endless cycle of new
marriage and fresh divorce.
Here Mr.. Priestley gave an in
teresting sidelight on the psy-
chology of the two sexes, and the
necessity for each to understand
this difference in the other part
ner's personality. He said:
II take the relation of the sexes
to be this: That every woman in
stinctively wants to have posses
sion and mastery over a particu-
lar man, but that it is necessary
that that complete mastery never
be obtained. 1t is always impor-
tant that there be a part of the
mans mind into which the woman
cannot penetrate, a part into
which she cannot see, a part that
looks outward, and away from
her. All of this was made clear
by Milton, when he talked of Eve,
and said: He to God and she to
the God in him.
II think a wise man will often
ask his wife's advice. But he must
be let alone in his major interest,
whether that be his work or his
passionate interest in something
apart from his work. The wise
woman will understand this and
refrain from interference. But
there is another kind of woman,
possessive and dominant, a wo-
man who wants to destroy"
L /ARRIAGE is wrecked in
M many different ways, ac-
cording to Mr.. Priestley, who
mentioned some of them. He said:
81 should imagine, to begin
with, that more than so percent
of marriages are wrecked through
physical incompatibility. Of the
remaining so percent, I should
say that the greater proportion
were spoiled not because of any
inherent serious defects in the
character of the people concerned,
but simply because they have a
mistaken idea of marriage. They
are expecting from it more than
they can give to it, and at the
same time they have given it
nothing.
"They think, when they marry,
that they are going to walk into
a huge fairy tale. When they are
in it, they are childishly disap-
pointed. 1t doesn't prove to be the
wonderful illusion they had pic
tured it. So they get very angry.
They begin to smash things. They
are encouraged in this romantic
and infantile attitude by senti-
mental literature.
ut is very desirable, if pos
sible, for man to marry his
equal. Marriage should be more
deliberate thing than it is. The
would-be partners must be more
calculating and thoughtful about
their choice.
Many pitiful and very tragic
cases of broken marriage come
about when a man of exceptional
ability marries, when he is young,
a girl who has not the same ca
pacity for growth that he has, one
who even deliberately refuses to
join him as his interests and
horizons widen. She deliberately
and very foolishly narrows hers"
At this point Mr.. Priestley
attacked the popular system of
plying such a so-called dis
carded wife" and condemning the
husband who cast her from him.
He said the sympathy should be
distributed the other way about.
when an intelligent man mar
ries young, is successful later,
only to find that his wife cannot,
that she even refuses to keep pace
with him, the result is complete
wretchedness for the husband just
at the time in his life when he
should be the happiest.
HE has achieved success. He
would like to share it with his
partner. But she is either inca
pable of this sharing or deliber-