Show I t J Your Soci Social Niche Says Zoe Adkins 1 1 f. f I A And A n. n d 1 r I Th Thus I ius I-ius us A Avoid A VOl ed 1 Becoming Declasse 0 ec 1 I asse r Author r. r of Seasons Season's Successful P qty ay Declares Theres There's Some Seme 1 Sphere for Everybody y 1 t o-J o 1 t- t 0 By Jane Dixon Declasse To Declasse-To To alter the classification L ti tion Si J to to take away from a a. class change a a. a class P So says sa a much edition ofa French English school dictionary Simple enough i wordy word seemingly No thorns on its syllables no burrs burts burtson on Its letters no o oi poison in its pronunciation pro pro- i And yet yet there there is no French adoption adoption tion come to enrich enrich en en- S I rich our hardy I American language that has caused S S more heartaches I S 'S ZU m more 0 r e bitterness i more despair than thanS S this one we we have learned to slip L from our tongues S I ION so smoothly To be declasse is tc to be somewhat i lower r in the tha social scale scala than that i I sphere re to which we were born orS or I Which we have once attained S I. I I. I means going backward Instead of t I fo forward and the world has very little I S s sympathy athY with backsliders The heiress a la Ia N Newport who chauffeur IsS is I Ii I elopes with her fathers father's S 1 d declasse classe casse with her own set So Is is the personal maid who marries the I I i bu butchers butcher's chers cher's boy To remain strictly S Cl classe le she should mate with the tha but but- i. i Ie the butcher himself I LAd Arid rid now comes Miss Zoe Akins S I with her sketch book of or human nat nature na na- na- na t ture tu to ink In red letters on our map mapS mapo S o memory the tha portentous o od d declasse I I Akins hails halls from the rugged slop slopes s of ot the Ozark mountains where S if f they bothered with It at all the II I native sons sops and daughters would 11 Ii S probably call attempts at 1 something like Uke I I d di ey dee class ey and let It got at that mat l S The The fact tact that Miss Ethel Barrymore Barry- Barry I Ie I more more Is the star In play with th French French name might cause them themi i to pause vause aus and consider for a moment v whether ether the author might not bemore beJ be be- bemore J more more than the little chubby girl who wore wore pigtails and r romped all allover over the town and acted so queer for a kid fF r not even the far tar districts of ot the theS S Oia Ozarks ks are rural enough to exclude excludeS S th tha name O of the cleverest the most graceful and finished actress of ot the them S American m stage stage Miss Miss Ethel Barry- Barry more more S THE DECLASSE BUSINESS il asked Miss Akins what she 5 thought about this declasse declass business tl were sitting beside that rarest S of fall rall institutions a real open fireplace fire fire- pta place e with practical hickory logs that S blazed and crackled and sent their S rosy message of ot cheer through a a. modern mod mod- ern 4 New York apartment S Tile The playwright smiled Her Het brownS brown I S II dark eyes with their bright wells of ot fun the hickory logs HerI Her I merry face fell Into humorous curves an 3 l crinkles think it Is all a 8 lot of ot small J I talk was her answer It it Is S impossible for a a. person to toI b become me totally declassed here declassed here In inAm I I Am America S Sl l I M A period of waiting My hostess I a herself for elucidation S I wondered how she was going to toS S t lJ her her way out That was because 11 Si th the e flashed across the screen of ot the i pr present prent ent certain past performances of I whose in I I I S hidebound snobs purpose l 1 I seems to to be to keep the word vord wordS S i de declasse alive and kicking I. I There is really no excuse for anyS anyone any any- any any- S oJ one J submitting themselves to theS the 1 S and cuts of those who ho do not aJ ae e as to to- the correct correct and conventional conven conven- S course of life life continued Miss Iss S I Akins S SOne 5 I fX One ne can always find a a. congenial S I Cir l of friends What is lIs an clon ble offense in this set may be he t a. a casual occurrence In another For Fm ex example I suppose it would be a a. aS S S r hopeless blunder to drink a cocktail t 1 aH W W C C. T T. T U U. meeting The consumer consumer con con- sumer would be considered declasseS declasse S ind redemption And yet yet yet-in In S cel n circles not beyond the pale I eH cuber either er but inhabited by men and wOl women enot of artistic and creative ability S o birth and and breeding and of S hu ness sense a a. cocktail would be beI I considered quite a matter of ot course remember in the little Missouri where I lived as a child my mother was declasse because she wore gl gloves v s In the summertime The townspeople could not understand how howS S I In her right senses would for other than thant S dom gloves any reason S t the cold out They frowned upon such manifestation of elegance S j N NONLIVING LIVING COUNTERPART S nj Helen the declasse English Englishwoman Englishwoman S w woman man of title in my play is a purely c character yet I have no doubt Fj f as her counterpart in real life There are those who have charged me will making material of a very dear dearS ear S I p Personal friend Lady Colebrook of Engl En- En gl gland d. d Such assertion is abS abI ab- ab I S Sl 5 t t. t 5 The only points of resemblance b between leen een the former Miss Paget Faget an anI and andI andL I I L wy Helen are their generosity their h r an and their se sense se of Justice Lady I I 1 d ZOE AKINS QUEEN OF THE OZARKS OZARKS- S S t S M l 1 I L' L 4 4 p t t i S e i I 4 S SS S I 4 4 S S' S i 5 ti Fair young playwright tells what she really thinks think of the declasse business I Colebrook married one of the foremost noblemen of England a member of the kings king's s household Lady Helen married a butcher Lady Colebrook could no nomore no nomore more be 00 declasse In New York than Mrs could be declasse in London There Thera is nb no excuse for social unhappiness or unrest in Ameri America a. a We Ve have hav developed a fredom of thought of action ac ac tion which precludes censorship by any anyone anyone anyone one individual or group of individuals Complete social ostracism is as much a. a part of th the past as wasp asp waists or grandmothers grandmother's bustle The small town girl with big Ideas can always come to the city Her unfortunate unfortunate unfortunate un un- un- un fortunate sister who makes a a false step and fi finds ds the skirts of the smugly smugly- righteous drawn aside can an likewise come to the cit city t. t The asks n no questions All AU it demands is results Here you are as s good as you are not as bad a as you were It is sheer folly for tor girl or woman to suffer the voiced and demonstrated disapproval disapproval dis dis- approval of any anyone one set It Is a wide wide world built to fit tit many minds and ml miens ns Find the orbit in which yo you are happiest wherein you can best expand d and revolve In that orbit DEPENDS ON THE HEIRESS Do you think it is possible I asked Miss Akins the tolerant for a a. woman who marries outside the sphere to which she is born the born the heiress who marries the chauffeur for example example to to tobe be happy S That depends upon the heiress was the reply It If If she sets about to search out the worthwhile things In life Ufe to cast aside trivialities she will surely find happiness Emotions are Just as as' as Intense h hearts beat just as true in one I circle as another The woman with one frock imagines she would be happy if it she she- had three or three dozen Then when she gets the three dozen she finds she is exactly the same person as she was when she had but one 4 Nor Is there reason why the girl gir I I who marries above her situation so o faias far fai faras fart t as worldly opinion goes go-es g s should b be bet t I a abundantly happy Smart people are art easier to get on with then a lot o of other folk I might men prohibitionists mentions Ion and declaimers are radicals and those who Insist upon saddling their models and manners on others whether they are welcome or not Declasse is not a a. condition then it itis Sis is is a state of mind I suggested Exactly said the woman who has written the seasons season's most moat successful play The Th woman who is frowned down b by her self righteous trends friends de deserves deserves de- de serves the Hie insults L Let t her go out and gather u unto to herself a new circle of friends friend Let t. t her het find thid her niche nicke and l be bea bea a round peg in a 1 round hole Instead ad o of ot I If f forever re er fretting fretting- because sh she is a square peg In hi a round If she is Is' rl right sound at t heart no one can keep her from froma finding and anti claiming the happi happiness happiness ness which belongs to her ILLUSTRATION BY FLOWERS A box box of ot flowers interrupted our chat delicate pink rosebuds an and fragile white narcissus breathing the the fragrance fragrance fragrance fra fra- fra- fra grance of ot spring through the fl elit room MIss Zoe Akins writer and nd humanitarian human human- lifted one one of the buds from Its II f feathery thery green bed See Seo this rose site site- said fresh and I lovely and flush with the Joy of living living liv liv- ing Suppose I should put it in a aVasa avasa ayase vasa and aid set it there close to the fire tIre It Jt would droop fade wither away In Ina a little while it would be be- bea a colorless color I ugly lifeless thing i And that is Is' exactly what happens to the woman who insists upon stopping In Ia the atmosphere which Is uncongenial I to her where she she- must answer to that I most absurd of all charges charges being being declasse The girl from flom the tha Ozark mountains certainly brought he her P philosophy her her her-a a charming philosophy too If it Wi wt have the courage to follow on |