Beauty pageant

“ The brunette, the blonde, the auburn-haired, each needs a different treatment, and if through ignorance or indifference any omits proper attention to a single item of the very important detail of her facial makeup, the result will be disastrous. All of which emphasizes the need of one's being properly taught on the start just how to makeup in a manner to bring out one's personality, to enhance one's beauty, and create the most pleasing appearance before her audience. ”

“ Truth to tell, a woman's natural chic, her taste in dress and her style of coiffure, are by far the most important factors towards her well-being. The day of the healthful, buxom, pink-and-white beauty is long past. The woman rendered artistic by soft chiffons, dainty blouses, and graceful tea-gowns reigns in her stead. Women nowadays are becoming very Continental. ”

“ Beauty fades, flesh increases, the attraction goes, and she is relegated to the shelf, a poorer, wiser woman than before. But meanwhile her scintillating success, the glamour around her, have acted as a bait to induce others to rush upon the stage. ”

“ Anyone with regular features can learn to apply makeup so that on the stage she will be as prepossessing as her naturally more favored sister-woman. A beauty unadorned by facial makeup, or a beauty not properly made-up, will be far outclassed in apparent beauty on the stage by the plainer woman who has mastered the art of makeup and knows how to apply it judiciously and correctly. It is all in knowing how, and the learning is not difficult. The professional actress will not fail to obtain personal instruction in this art from expert teachers, which is decidedly the best way. ”

“ Without strong opinions or pronounced color, loyal to her friends rather than to her convictions, of a calm and happy temperament, gentle in character, keenly appreciative of all that was intellectually fine and rare, but without exceptional gifts herself, fascinating in manner, perfect in tact, with the beauty of an angel and the heart of a woman—she presents a fitting close to the long reign of the salons. ”

“ Never had the matchless beauty of the great actress shown to greater advantage. She wore a dress of faint cream-colored brocade, half hidden in fine, costly lace, in the beautiful waves of her hair a large, cream-colored rose nestled, and with that she wore a set of diamonds a princess might have envied. The superb beauty, the half stately, half-languid grace, the southern eyes, the full, sweet lips, the wondrous beauty of her white neck and arms, the inexpressible charm of her attitudes, the play of her superb features—all made her marvelous to look upon. ”

“ These vanities harmonized with character and circumstance. The joy of living was then expressing itself in an overwhelming sense of beauty, and in material splendour which, unlike the material splendour of to-day, never overstepped the standard set by the intellect. Taste had become a triumphant principle, and as women grew in dignity and importance, they set a higher and higher value on the compelling power of dress. ”

“ The salon had become a vast engine of power, an organ of public opinion, like the modern press. Clever and ambitious women had found their instrument and their opportunity. They had long since learned that the homage paid to weakness is illusory; that the power of beauty is short-lived. With none of the devotion which had made the convent the time-honored refuge of tender and exalted souls, finding little solace in the domestic affections which played so small a role in their lives, they turned the whole force of their clear and flexible minds to this new species of sovereignty. ”

“ As a matter of fact, civilization owes dress a great debt, and women have an inherent good taste. And both these facts are forcibly proved at the country dance, where simplicity and harmony of color combine to give an effect that is wholly delightful and charming. The lesson we might take from this is that simplicity in dress has more beauty and effect than elaborate "creations." ”

“ I was in a mood, therefore, to appreciate the delicate loveliness of English women; but, even had I been surfeited with beauty, my eyes would have lingered in a species of wonder on the girl just seating herself in a corner of the stage box. It is possible that I have seen other women as beautiful, many more classically perfect of feature, but never have I looked upon a face so radiant, so bewildering. ”

“ If girls would rise above this, and desire to express by their dress the attributes of true ladyhood, [Pg 258] nicety of eye, fastidious neatness, purity of taste, truthfulness, and sincerity of nature, they might form, each one for herself, a style having its own individual beauty, incapable of ever becoming common and vulgar.
"A truly trained taste and eye would enable a lady to select from the permitted forms of fashion such as might be modified to her purposes, always remembering that simplicity is safe, that to attempt little, and succeed, is better than to attempt a great deal, and fail. ”

“ Is it extravagant to hope that some day a dress rehearsal will be a rehearsal of dresses at which some person of taste—everyone would accept Mr Wilhelm—will see all the frocks actually worn by the actresses upon the stage under the ordinary lighting conditions, against the scenery intended to be employed and then point out what is necessary to produce a real harmony of colour and also to take full advantage of, and in some cases enhance, the beauty of face and form possessed by the ladies who are to appear in the play? ”

“ Out of all the five hundred girls whose portraits had been accepted for the Beauty Show, there was not one more eager than Roma to win the prize—not for the money, but for the additional prestige it would add to her belleship. ”

“ At the present day a masque would only be endured as a spectacle for the picturesque grouping, the beauty of the actresses, the splendor of the dresses, the perfection of the dancing, the lovely songs, and the admirable skill and discipline of the company. When the principal actress was no other than the Queen herself, who led off a dance, followed by ladies representing mytholog{283}ical characters perfectly well understood by a Court of scholars, when the scenery, new and beautiful, was changed again and again, even though the fable was no great thing, the entertainment was delightful. ”

“ As for beauty, it must be something very remarkable that will on its strength alone secure a girl an engagement. Mere prettiness will not do. Nearly all American girls are pretty. It must be a radiant and compelling beauty, and every one knows that there are not many such beauties, stage-struck or otherwise.
The next question is most often put by the parents or friends of the would-be actress; and when with clasped hands and in-drawn breath they ask about the temptations peculiar to the profession of acting, all my share of the "old Adam" rises within me. ”

“ There were on the stage many women of more faultless beauty, but none whose features and deportment had such power to fascinate the senses and the hearts of men. The sight of her bright black eyes and of her rich brown cheek sufficed to put the most turbulent audience into good humour. ”

“ Tuesdays and Saturdays were the nights when the fashionable world was to be seen in the boxes, and the stage presented nothing more attractive than the beautifully dressed women of the audience, with their artistic coiffures. There were receptions in the boxes between the acts, and a belle's powers of attraction were thus publicly manifested to a people ever ready to add the tribute of its homage. ”

“ I am my own fashion-leader, and wear only what is becoming to my individual style of beauty. What a preposterous notion to proclaim that any particular colour or cut is to be exclusively fashionable this year for all women, for blondes and brunettes, for the tall and the short, the stout and the slim alike! What could have induced those women thus to annihilate their own beauty deliberately? ”

“ But thus far, so far as I know, my pageants are the only ones that regard the pageant as a musical as well as dramatic art-form and seek to work out its development as such.' Certainly the new pageant is one of the most interesting developments in American art, and it is especially interesting in view of the fact that it is a distinctly American idea particularly well calculated, one would think, to be a vehicle for the expression of the American spirit. ”

“ We all know that the love of beauty is inherent in all women—just as the pride of personal appearance is inherent in all men. It is a heritage brought down through generations of slowly developing culture. And we find to-day that Fashion is the means of expressing individuality.
It would indeed be a Herculean task to attempt to write a discourse on the ever-changing dictates of Fashion, on the constant whims and vagaries of Style. Each season brings forth striking new dress innovations—new colorings, new draperies, new lines. What is in vogue to-day is cast aside to-morrow as "out-of-date." ”

“ On the strength of her beauty she thinks she would make a success as an actress. (Hollywood is overflowing with this type of girl.) She is a good home dancer, and surely dancing on the stage is no different! Perhaps she is right in her estimate of herself, and then again she may be mistaken, for it requires more than mere physical appearance to be a top notcher in anything outside of an exclusively beauty show. Not that any lady's pulchritude is a handicap to a stage career or in any way undesirable. On the contrary, the stage has always welcomed beautiful women, and will continue to do so. ”

“ Her face, with proper makeup under our skilled direction, with the correct treatment of its features, consideration of the stage lighting, and her hair becomingly and appropriately dressed, may far outclass that of the pretty girl who has only aspiration without the necessary qualities to back it.272
In other words, beauty of the street and the home is a vastly different thing from beauty on the stage behind the footlights. ”

“ On the screen we shall be sure to meet many old friends. The young American society nuts, in square-rigged coats, spacious trousers, and knobbly shoes, will buzz around the pretty girl like flies around a honey-pot, clamouring for the privilege of presenting her with a twenty-dollar bouquet of American Beauty roses. The bouquet she accepts will be the hero's; and the other nuts will then group themselves in the background while she registers a glad but demure smile full in the eye of the camera. ”

“ But, here is another girl in the same social set who makes no claim to being a beauty, and does not think of herself as being of a type that lends charm to the stage—and this Cinderella may possess the very qualities that go to make the professional actress and dancer, and yet let the opportunity pass because of her failure to recognize her own value. ”

“ The tea gown, on the other hand, drapes the figure loosely so as to fall in graceful folds, and may be regarded as a distinct economy, as it so often takes the place of a more expensive dress. Beauty, which is one of Heaven's best gifts to women, is useless unless appropriately framed, and a well-known exponent on the art of dressing artistically, has laid down the axiom that harmonies of colour are more successful than contrasts. If we turn to Nature we have an unfailing source of inspiration. ”

“ I should call it, if the word weren't so for ladies'-maids the most 'elegant' thing I know."
"My dear child," the Duchess objected, "what you describe as making her ugliness serve is what I should describe as concealing none of her beauty. There's nothing the matter surely with 'elegant,' as applied to Tishy, save that, as commonly used, it refers rather to a charm that's artificial than to a state of pure nature. There should be for elegance a basis of clothing. Nanda rather stints her."
Mrs. Brook, perhaps more than usually thoughtful, just discriminated. ”

“ MODERN EVENING DRESS.
Equally to be deprecated are those who cling so desperately to youth that they entirely forget the later stages of life have their compensations. Women who in crowded ballrooms display their redundant or attenuated forms to the gaze of all beholders, whose coiffure owes more to art than nature, and who comfort themselves with the conviction that in a carefully shaded light rouge and pearl powder are hardly distinguishable from the bloom of a youthful and healthy complexion. ”

“ These ladies neither need nor desire a stage career; what they do want is freedom from awkwardness, a bit of pleasant reducing or filling out of hollows, a lasting development of the foundation of beauty. ”

“ She used to be very pretty in their first wedded days, before she grew so careless of her personal appearance—when she took pride in arraying her graceful little form, and dressing her beautiful hair, but slatternly clothes and unbecoming coiffure are sufficient to conceal the beauty of any woman. ”

“ From this place she went over to the international dress exhibit, more commonly known as the "Beauty Show." Here were fifty young ladies chosen from as many different nationalities in order to exhibit the fashions of the world in the highest art of dress. At the front was Fatima, the queen of beauty. Her booth represented a room in the Sultan's harem. On either side, reclining on an ottoman, were her waiting maids, and at her feet her special servant. All the magnificence of oriental splendor surrounded her. A group of at least a hundred people were continually crowding the railing in front. ”