[Good Grooming for Girls, 1940s]

want to talk to you before coming right down does she suspect anything now that she's announced her engagement oh she probably hasn't thought much about it I'm sure she doesn't suspect it for this afternoon anyway shall we hide in there you know she only has to come down from the T floor let's see are all the gifts on the table then all right well that's just fine now uh oh Janie you go behind the desk all right and the rest of you well go in my bedro all right all right be sure to give us a queue to come out just say um Jenny with a lucky girl you are and you deserve every bit of it all right I will and now Scamper and please try not to giggle or you'll give the whole [Music] away oh Jenny come in I'm glad you got down so quickly got because I wanted if something oh no I just wanted to chat you know when a girl gets herself engaged all her friends want to know all about it well there really isn't much to tell he just said and I said yes well you're a very lucky girl and you certainly deserve every bit of it surprise congratulations Jen it's wonderful I want to know everything what he said and what you said and everything oh well wait a minute suppose we let jinny look at her pres after all that's the main idea of a shower you know oh I suppose I should be C and say oh you shouldn't have done it but I'm not going to say any such thing I'll just say thank you and be happy I have such kind and thoughtful friends and they're all such perfect presents every single thing is something that I want and how did you know that I needed Justice frame for John's picture simply because I heard you say so at Helen's party last week silly and these coms of wonderful am I wearing them right Mary yes and they're very attractive especially for dress up occasions oh please let me try them Jimmy there how'd you like them on me Mary well Janie I I really don't think they're quite right for you you know that smooth upsweep looks much better on a round face your hair looks sweet just soft and fluffy oh dear hair is such a problem oh I know dear but you're not alone when I go to the schools to give my lectures so many of the girls ask me what to do with hair and they write me about it all the time so I didn't know you ran a correspondence course well I don't but I do like to help the girls with their problems you see so often I don't have time to talk to them individually so I suggest that they write me and I really enjoy answering your letters well then Mary will you answer a few questions for me what can I do to be glamorous well now that's always a popular question with the girls uh but tell me just what is glamour what it's oh you know yes I think I do as a French chef might say say soup in other words it's the little touch of seasoning that makes the dish just right but suppose you get in too much seasoning well then is no good well that's right and it's just the same with glamour now glamour you know is now in order for it to be effective that means that everything else must be right Glamour and poison charm too are all based simply on good grooming Mary poison charm of personality traits what do they have to do with clothes makeup and hair well Poise you know is simply a state of mind it comes as a result of confidence in the way you look if you know you look well your clothes are right your makeup natural your hair neat the Assurance of all these things brings with it that elusive Poise so Poise comes from good groomies and charm well now charm is the ability to make other people happy and comfortable with you now that means that you must forget yourself and concentrate on putting the other person at ease right right and I assure you no woman can do that successfully if she's worried about the way she looks is her lipstick on straight uh has she running her stocking or is her hemline even so so you see good grooming comes right in at the front door again why Mary I never thought of it that way what else do you tell these girls perhaps we could learn more yes Mary give tell us exactly what you do at those High School lectures well tomorrow morning at 9:00 I'll walk across the platform of a high school old good morning girls I'm going to talk to you this morning about the way you look now I've heard it said that we women attach too much importance to our appearance but that isn't true after all the way we look exerts so much influence on the way we feel and on the way other people feel about us that it really is very important when I talk about good appearance or good grooming or looking your best you probably think immediately of clothes or hairstyle or makeup well I realize that those things are especially interesting to you and they are important and I am going to talk about them but uh please remember that they are just really the trimmings just like the icing on a cake if the icing is very good well that's fine but if the cake itself isn't good you'd soon lose interest in the icing so let's start with the cake and come back to the trimmings later basically of course good health and intelligent physical care are the foundations of all Beauty we all want a lovely skin shining eyes a beautiful smile and loads of Pep but we can't have them except in a healthy clean body and I mean clean remember you can't have good looks without soap and water there's no substitute for the daily bath as a groundwork for glamour brilliant teeth need brushing gleaming hair means frequent and thorough shampooing and keep that air of freshness by using a deodorant regularly it's a shortcut to Social Security sleep comes next to cleanliness as a beauty base and I mean sleep not just going to bed if that means sitting up writing letters or listening to music I've seen lots of sparkling eyes and good complexion sacrificed to swing records at bedtime mind you I'm all for music in its place but there is a lot of sound sense in that old expression beauty sleep so snap out that light early enough every night to get eight or nine hours of this most effective Beauty treatment and then there's this business of eating it worries me to see that so many girls think a balanced diet consists of soda pop and a sandwich or a big gooey Sunday let's remember what we are taught in home economics about a well balanced diet meat cheese eggs or fish milk butter bread fresh fruits especially fruits green and starchy vegetables in proper proportion and of course some sweets and please go easy on fried foods beautiful skin Vitality glossy hair all the things you want begin with a balanced diet so watch it girls it pays big dividends then there's exercise preferably outdoors and when I say exercise many of you may think of work well a little work is a helpful Beauty hint but so is outdoor play I'll leave it to your own conscience whether you work in the garden ride a bike play ball hike swim or ski but try to spend some time every day Outdoors developing the grace that comes from toned up muscles and the complexion that goes with good circulation and even the ordinary things that you do every day can help to make you more graceful but not if you do them like this walking upstairs reaching up to a high shelf dusting all can be good body conditioning if you use your muscles to do them vigorously instead of slouching through them I don't know whether you think of posture as a beauty subject but it is just as much as it is a health subject so let's talk about posture for beauty believe me it is important because regardless of how much or how little money you spend for clothes they can't do the whole job of making you look your best unless you give them a certain amount of support I don't often advise you to take examples from the movies but just watch any good movie actress for posture notice how she walks goes up and downstairs sits down and gets up why if her posture weren't perfect she wouldn't be a movie star you know bad posture sort of sneaks up on you when you're not thinking about it for instance there's the girl who goes through the Halls supporting her books on one hip she looks like [Laughter] this then there's the stomach carrier she goes through her school life looking like this and of course there are so many wrong ways of sitting down that I couldn't begin to show you all of them there's a girl who throws herself at the chair as though she were playing living statues then there is the shoulder blade sprawler and the kn apart pigeon toed thinker now it's just as easy and a great deal more poised and Charming to uh sit down and get up gracefully all in one piece now there are a lot of little bad habits that many girls have that detract from Poison charm I call them meaningless gestures andms I'll show you what I mean by turning my back and describing some of the things that I know are going on in this audience right now even though I can't see them for instance I'll bet that right this minute there's a girl out there biting her beads and another one contentedly munching the paint off a pencil there are undoubtedly several of you who are playing with your hair twisting a pet curl round and round and round and of course there is the nailbiter the worst of all nervous little habits if you can't break yourself of this habit never never wear a nail polish because the bright polish will attract attention to your short ugly nails but don't go to The Other Extreme nails like claws claws are for cat well I can't leave this subject of habit without talking about the good old American habit of chewing gum yourself and whatever you do don't chew with sound effects well enough about habits except to this be sure you rule your habits don't let your habits rule you and take an inventory every once in a while just to be on the safe side now I know you're all waiting to talk about clothes well I love to talk about them too but since I can't give you a whole fashion course right now I think it would be best to talk about accessories and well-fitted clothes makes me think about best secretaries I ever had when she came to my apartment for an interview well I don't think that most people would have hired her I did because I thought she had ability and I knew I could help her with her appearance she had on a nice tailored suit but in the most important places it was a misfit and no suit shows off to Advantage unless the fit is right first it fitted badly in the shoulders there was obviously something the matter with the skirt and it took me a minute to figure out that it was too long so she had just rolled it over at the waist line no skirt will hang right if you adjust its length this way and an even hemline is a must her blouse was much too fussy for a tailored suit and her hat was all right but she'd spoiled it by adding a veil her bag was much too big for such a small girl but like so many of us she either thought she had to carry everything she owned around with her or she was too lazy to clean it out her gloves were much too elaborate and her shoes well they would have been all right for an afternoon dress but definitely not for this suit then after she'd been with me for a few weeks and asked me a thousand questions she looked like this the same suit but nicely fitted and the shoulders fixed she carried a smaller bag suitable for a girl of her size now plain gloves matched her hat the same hat but the veil was gone her plain pumps were in excellent taste a good buy because they could be worn with practically everything and her tailored blouse was perfect so you can see how important accessories are and well fitted clothes too some of you may believe if you had unlimited money for clothes you'd have nothing to worry about well that just isn't the case for no matter how much you spend if you don't take good care of what you have you won't be well dressed I spent a weekend with some friends of mine recently who have two daughters their wardrobe is the Envy of all their school friends they don't have a lot of clothes and what they have are not expensive but both eel and Louise know that a needle and thread some cleaning fluid good clothes brush and an iron are the hidden secrets of keeping well dressed they know too that either a sagging hem or gaping theme is a your way to kill glamour both of the girls spend a few minutes each day on their clothes it doesn't take long because they never let the work pile up until there is a lot to be done Louise uses a touch of cleaning fluid on the inside of collars cuffs and hatbands because even if no one else could see it she could certainly never feel well poised or charming or glamorous if she knew that collars or cuffs were soiled and both girls know that it saves time and saves clothes to get things ready to put on and then put them away neatly where they belong they spend no time frantically searching for clothes to find them crushed in the corner of a drawer or hanging shapeless on a hook it's not the size of the Wardrobe that counts you know it's the shape one thing more the final checkup see that the hemline is even the slip where it belongs the stocking seams straight and if those shoe heels are run down get them fixed Pronto then flick a cloth brush across the shoulders to make doubly sure that there is no loose hair or dandruff and you're ready to face the outside world and when you face the outside world be sure you put your best face forward now occasionally I hear the expression well it's the face I was born with and there's nothing I can do about it well that isn't quite true any girl can do a lot to get the most out of her looks the basic requirement is a clear glowing skin there's no substitute for that and since the skin is nourished by the bloodstream the things that you eat and the exercise you take have a lot to do with the way you look the most important thing I can tell you about the care of your skin from the outside is keep it clean for that you need a cleansing cream and soap and water here's how to do a really thorough job of removing makeup first pin your hair well back out of the way and if you wish cover it with a hand towel start to work with a cold cream smooth it on thoroughly all over the face clear up to the hairline and down under the jaw give extra attention to the pockets at the base of the nose and the Clift of the chin spread the cream on using little spiral motions always working upward but please not too rough no need to pull or push your face around it's the gentle massage with the cream that gets results now tissue the cream off with long thorough sweeps switch to a clean spot in the tissue after each sweep so that you don't track the grime right back again at this point lots of girls like to rinse with more Cal cream to make sure they've removed every bit of stale makeup you know in several girls colleges they have a course in good grooming for which they give regular college credits and believe it or not one full period is devoted to teaching girls how to wash their faces but you don't need to go to college to learn that I'd like to give you one hint though don't just slide a washcloth around and call your face clean friction is half the battle and back of your neck and your ears get their share of attention if an excessively oily skin is your problem use the liquefying cream as your cleanser and after removing the cream dab on a good astringent or skin freshener or if yours is a dry skin or if your face gets really chapped finish off with a nice rich dry skin cream one that's homogenized and has plenty of lanolin now if you're off on a day instead of off to bed makeup comes after cleansing and I mean after never apply new makeup without first removing all of the OES with the help of these two young ladies I'm going to try to give you a few pointers on applying your makeup the first step is a smooth base for that you can use either a makeup Pat or Vanishing Cream if the Pat is used you blend it out over your entire face using a damp sponge or cotton apply it sparingly and while still moist blend it to Super smoothness with your fingertips If instead of the pat you use Vanishing Cream the light touch is equally important put a little on forehead cheeks and chin and spread it evenly clear up to the hairline if you use Rouge try try putting it on with the tri dot system one dot directly under the pupil of the eye the second on the cheekbone and the third no lower than the tip of the nose now fill in the Triangle lightly and blend in carefully until no one can see that the Rouge is there not even you nothing dates you as much as Rouge that shows lipstick is your exclamation point Point use it sparingly but well use two strokes to outline the upper lip and one long stroke for the lower fill in with up and down Strokes so that the lipstick goes with the grain of the skin be sure that your lipstick harmonizes with your Rouge and your nail polish and check with any Reds in your costume to see that everything is in key now after applying your lipstick blot off the excess with a tissue last your powder it goes over your makeup all over your face choose the shade carefully when you find one that blends in with the color of your skin no lighter that's your shade if your skin is on the salow side you'll want a powder one note Rosier and please avoid the too powdered look use a clean puff or a fresh piece of cotton and keep it well filled press it lightly all over your face starting at the forehead and working working down use a Loosely folded tissue to brush excess powder away giving particular attention to hairline and brows and before you leave take a good look at your face and remember lots of people will see you in profile so be sure that the makeup goes all the way around to the sides now I know you want me to tell you something About Hair Styling in selecting a hairstyle remember that your hair is the frame for your face the ideal facial Contour is supposed to be the oval but some of us have round faces or square faces or long faces so what can we do to make our faces appear a little more oval let's start with round faces here's a face that lacks a little in length and has a little too much width at the cheekbones for a good oval now let's see what can be done to make it better or worse first let's take hair a feather cut wouldn't be too bad on this face if kept in hand but an overgrown feather cut gives too much hair at the sides and on the forehead and adds to the effect of roundness and this is a typical example of how not to wear your lipstick with emphasis on quantity rather than quality you never saw a natural mouth like that one other point for round face don't wear too high a neckline or a large bow at the neck it shortens the neck and increases the effect of roundness now let's start over again and see the right way here is a very good hair do for this type of face with a hair well off the forehead and flat against the temples the lipstick is applied correctly to follow the natural mouth line a v-neck completes the picture and gives the impression of a little more necklength to help make round face look oval you see there's quite a difference between this and this now let's take Square Face this face is really very similar to round face except that it has additional width at the jaw with such a face keep away from a hairo like this with bangs that take away from the length and hair hanging to the jawline that overemphasize the squareness and these thin straight lips emphasize the wdth of the jaw and a straight across sweater line just serves to square the whole thing off which is wrong of course now let's start over and do it right this hairstyle helps to take away from the shortness of the face and the squareness of the jaw this girl has thin lips so she follows the general lip line but fills out the lower lips slightly with her lipstick and she wears the same type neckline as round face to give the neck added length when finished there's a vast difference between the wrong and the right the third type of face is that which is long and narrow and frequently a long neck goes with it of course this hair do is all wrong because the hair piled on top of the head adds to the length of the face and because it's close at the sides it makes the face appear narrower this Vivid lipstick on thin lips gives the mouth a rather hard look the wrong effect is completed by a v-neck but again adds to the impression of length the same girl to make the most of her long face should wear her hair like this off the top of the head and fluffed out at the sides for added width and she may fill out her lips a little if she can do it artistically a high neckline or choker beads will help to detract from the long neck so instead of looking like this she looks like this well it's nearly time for your next class so I must stop talking but there's one more thing that I'd like to say and that is don't copy not hairstyles or mannerisms or anything else not from anybody in or out of Hollywood get ideas from people certainly But be sure there are ideas that can be adapted to your own personal after all each of you is an original and an original is always more valuable than a Cofe whether it be paintings or hats or girls and now before you go if any of you have any questions that I can answer just come up on the platform and we'll talk for a few minutes or if you wish you can write me for any advice on clothes or hair or makeup or any other part of good grooming I'll answer your questions just as soon as I [Applause] can I'd like to speak to you please Mr derson oh go right ahead I want you girls to ask me questions well I guess I have what you called a round face and I wear my hair the way you said I shouldn't but I don't see how how things like that and posture and mannerisms and the other things will make a girl more popular if she's not pretty to begin with sometimes I like to shake you girls when you worry so much about being pretty or not being pretty as though prettiness were a woman's only attraction if you'd spend just one month doing everything I talked about to make the most of your appearance you wouldn't need to worry about being pretty or popular I wish that I could wave a magic wand to show you what the difference would be prto like that why it does work you will be prettier you will be more popular good grooming will pay dividends to each and every one of you it will make you more confident and at ease in any situation well call that Poise or Charm if you will it will make you more attractive to the people around you call that GL popularity if you like remember at home at school or on a date anytime and every time appearance counts make it count for you by doing your best to look your success today and tomorrow is Sher and easier with good grooming [Music] [Applause] [Music]