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Show The Habit Of Beau as told to Adele Wliitely Fletcher I wear no make-u- p when 1 am alone around the house. I like my skin to have a chance to breathe. And I'm satisfied this serves me well. When I get up in the morning 1 wash my face with warm water. Then I put on a lipstick to harmonize with the color I'm wearing. If I expect anyone, 1 may dust my face with a little powder. And that's it To make beauty a habit takes time, no question about it. But it's an investment that yields rich returns over many years. Hair care I find particularly time consuming. How often to shampoo? That's the question! And usually the answer is predicated on whether the hair normally is dry or oily and whether it is tinted. My hair is dry and it also is tinted. And I, who therefore should not have frequent shampoos, have them, by necessity, every other day when I'm in the studios, otherwise twice a week. But, brush, I brush and brush the natural oil back into it. using an There is nothing more deadly than reading about exercises, unless it is doing them. But there are two exercises, piece and parcel of my daily beauty routine, that I value highly enough to recommend. I understand that this exercise is required by football coaches as a muscle strengthener. And it is axiomatic that an exercise which strengthens the muscles also firms them and breaks down fatty tissue. My second exercise makes a beautiful contribution to posture and does slimming things for ankles. For my first exercise I lie flat on the floor. The floor, good and hard, serves better than any bed. I bring up my legs as far as they will go. Because I've been a dancer my legs will go all the way to the floor behind my shoulders. Most legs won't Then, slowly, I bring my legs back and down. When my heels are a few inches from the floor I hold them for the count of ten and repeat the exercise ten times. For my second exercise I kick off my shoes and stand against the wall. I wriggle back until my heels, buttocks I bring and shoulders touch the wall. Then, extending every muscle upwards and backwards, slowly and the small of my back close enough to touch the wall. Needless to say I'm meticulous about having a healthy diet and sufficient rest Here lies the bedrock of beauty. Here lies a brightness of eye. Here lies a vitality that is reflected in the voice and the carriage, and a spontaneous-n- ot ' enthusiasm. trumped-u- p There are women who are very careful to entertain no emotion that might produce wrinkles. That's not for me. I don't want to look as if I'd been punished by life; but I do want to look as if I'd lived! In a sequence of a fairly recent movie I made I had to play a girl The make-u- p department thought n was applied I found I couldn't move my After the first bit of to make this practical by using "fish-skinwith lights and camera it's no go!" mouth naturally. "Off with it!" I shouted. "If you can't make me look I would be terrified to have my face lifted for fear I wouldn't be able to cry or laugh or, occasionally, scream. I like to use my face. Also, I'm convinced the more we exercise facial muscles, the less constrained we look and the wrinkles we have. fewer discontented-lookin- g hair-bristl- ed cat-lik- e, fish-ski- ." A French teacher once told me that Parisiennes aren't nearly as prone as American or British women to either a "wooden look" or those wretched little wrinkles that seem to pull down the mouth, because the articulation of French requires so much more facial activity. To attain our greatest physical attraction we must, of course, keep mentally and spiritually alive. Let anyone who doubts this compare the dull heavy way her face feels when she's bored, with the light uplifted way her face feels ' when she's stimulated or amused. Company, once told me that My late husband. Alfred Steele, who was Chairman of the Board of the Pepsi-Col- a Magda Lupcscu, for whom King Carol II of Rumania abdicated his throne, was one of the most memorable women he'd ever met. "I first saw Lupcscu across a room," he said "and thought her quite ugly. Her features were not good and she was far too tall-gareally. But when we talked she so charmed mc by her gaiety, her warm empathy and some inner that made me feci important, that I decided she was a very beautiful woman indeed." she had quality We never should minimize the way thoughts and feelings creep into our eyes and our voices and reshape our mouths, momentarily at first, then permanently; or the mystifying and mystical way that such emotions as responsiveness and generosity of spirit or, contrarily. pettiness and selfishness, show beneath facial contours. I make beauty a habit. But I do not allow it to become a fetish. I've no wish to look like a beautiful waxwork. But I do want to come as close as I possibly can to being a beautiful woman. I want this not only for the sake of beauty but also because it is only when I know I look my best that I can step out with the greatest joy and confidence wky a rising young starlet named Lucille Le Seur was dancing in the Winter Garden chorus line, the old Movie her.The editor of Movie Wcekly.Adtle Whitely a contest among its readers to Fletcher, selected a namejrom the thousands of entries submitted that has since become legendary Joan Crawford. When Weekly magazine conducted re-na- November 1966 7 |