Evening star., 1942-02-03

tdAo' EbChIlChu-
Henry McLemore. ed gals and over.
sized gals. Serious gals and fighty
gals. All sizes and all sorts OF gals.
Since the attack on Pearl Harbor
CALIFORNIA; major sirplane factories
have employed thousands and thou
sands of woman workers. There Is
scarcely q plant that doesn't have .
powder room or where the rouge
and lipstick doesn't stand on equal
terms with the cut plug and the
briar pipe.
The girls are doing a magnificent
job. They have proved they are
worth the go and rs cents an hour
that they receive for helping in the
assembling Of bombers and fighters
and trainers. On the more monoto-
nous jobs-you know, the kind
where, for hour after hour, you tuck
a little bit of wire hefe, you twist q
bolt here, you pat something down
here-they have shown themselves
to be more efficient than men.
II
But the girls have produced few
headaches, Just as girls have always
done since Eve was determined to
keep the doctor away with . bite
into that forbidden winesap.
Clothes have been great problem.
When the plants were first opened
to woman workers the gals arrived
on the Job wearing any and every.
thing. They came in wolfe creations.
dotted swiss jobs. crepe print num-
bers, tailored suits. Mother Hub
bards, boudoir aprons, slacks, shorts
and almost everything else that you
can find in a girls wardrobe.
Tough foremen threw up their
hands in horror. Hard-bitten ma
chinists quivered and shook at the
sight. Overalled mechanics NUT
tered oaths that all but started the
motors Of nearby planes.
The girls were told that they must
report in slacks; that to allow them
to frisk around in billowing skirts
would endanger their lives.
No one really knew the variety Of
slacks that were worn until the girls
started showing up for work in their
slacks.
cir1 v.-orLere ,,reSt1,
ones, and the well-well, the WELL
built ones-took to slacks that were
more appropriate for the first line
of a Broadway chorus than an air.
plane factory. Quite rumpus was
raised when the foremen Of one
factory rebelled against a worker
wearing trousers and halter outfit.
He demanded that she cover up
some Of the exposed sections Of her
anatomy.
The girl said okay, she would,
but not until the men in the shop
abandoned the habit Of working
without their shirts. This developed
into quite a battle. The men said
they had been working without
shirts for years and they would be
blankety-blank If any gal could
come in and dictate how they should
dress.
You know who won, don't you, or
aren't you married?
What the airplane factories want
Is a standardized girl worker. Ones
that are too pretty upset the place.
AS q matter Of fact. the ones that
are too lovely and look too we'll in
a sweater. say, are not employed.
1t has been found that this type
upsets the production Of q plant.
Some nosey statistician has figured
out that to take q Hollywood
starlet through factory is magnifi-
cent for morale but terrible for pro.
duction, and costs dozens OF man
hours. 1t seems that no matter how
patriotic a workman is, how inter.
ested he Is in his work. he simply
can't help being more interested in
a delicious little thing in a sunsuit
than he Is In a bomber.
The thousands and thousands Of
woman workers are determined not
to lose their feminity. A Los An.
geles department store. in polling
them to ascertain market for their
merchandise, found that the girls
wanted only one kind Of clothes
the frilliest, fufiest stuff that could
be stitched up by hand or machine.
I'm afraid that. war or no war.
women are not going to be stand
ardized.
What are your views on the sub.
ject?
Write me care Of the Dead Letter
once and let me know.