Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, July 18, 1915, EDITORIAL SOCIETY, Image 18

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    The Omaha Sunday Be
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.MAGAZINE
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M!m Gladys Cooper, Whoft , 'v ' ! ::';V' -N J - '?' '
Beauty Is of the Fair Enf ' '';. " Vv';N;vS.' ' ' r''' t ' '
(Uh Type Not Infrequent Y ,". ,? ' ' V "x yVS - ' ' ' '"7 2Jt '
In American Families. '', ' -,V ': j0 ' '" JT. '' t y. ' ' jr
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j? . ' l. . . ' " ... ' " " '' " "' ? ' -
; ' '' b :v ' A Pose of MU
; ' V - ,' s . ' A Cassassa Showing f , Sssw
! ' fJ A' . Vf'v -.' V - ' the lines of Her . ',w-. -
I : 'A .. ' 7.- Keck and Arms.
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A Modern ' 'u'l j
.v3-" - "Judgment of ;Vw
Palmira ' A: V '
Ceccanl II v ' I J
a Typical U , JV "Is
Italian V, II
Stage Beauty. V
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York's Most Famous Artists and Why
They Gave the Golden Apple to
a "Melting Pot" Type
Miss Florence
Cassassa,
Winner in the
"American
Beauty" Com
petition for
"EJectrical
Prosperity
Week" at the
Panama
Pacific
Exposition.
She Is Photo
graphed in a
Pose of
MElectra," the
Symbolical
Figure for
That Occasion.
Senorita Valencia, the SpanUh
Dancer, 'Shown in Turkih Cos
turn. She Is a Representative
euty of That Count.
THE (election ot Miss Florence Css
ssssa, dsosbter ot aa Amerlcsn
mother and an Italian father, from
a Urge number of 'bsautlful contestants
to represent American beauty during
"Electrical Pre.perity Week" at ths Pan
' ama Paclflo laternattonal Exposition In
Ban Francisco, gives timely Interest to the
question, what makes an American Beauty?
Is beauty to be weighed, measured deter
mined by physical standards accepted by
painters and sculptors! It so. If proportions
la detail and prescribed physical "lines ot
beauty" hare standardised beauty, where
in does American beauty differ from that
of any other nation? If complexion, tints
of the skin and color of the eyes and hair
are factors to be considered. It will be
admitted that American beauty embraces
all color types, with variations virtually
indigenous In the West, East, South and
North ot the country. And so does beauty
In other nations. What, then, differentiates
the American typet
Probably there are Old World Judges
ef beauty who will deny the existence ot
such a thing as a separate and distinct
American beauty type, for the reason that
there la no such thing, etbnologtcally, as an
American except the American Indian,
who has never entered Into such competi
tions. They will remind you that "Amer
icans" are a crucible product, a result of
persistent and generous use of the "melt
ing pot"; that they are an amalgam ot all
nations under the sun, and can only be
considered as such. Therefore "American
Beauty" should be hyphenated in the beauty
catalogues English American, German
Amurlcan, French-American, Italian Amer
ican, and so on.
Yet "American Beauty" Is famed the
world over. Yon hear the term even with
Inflections ot rapture In every European
capital. It Is freely acknowledged that the
type Is not only distinct, but admirable,
the equal ot any, ancient or modem. Why
te thlst
Does the answer depart from the phy
sical standards, dealing with the psycho
logy of the subject Is It the mind, the
spirit, the moral nature, the cbaraHer of
the American beauty, shining through and
UlumlnaUag her physical charms which
Alstlngutshee her from all other types ot
beauty T
Mar It not be true even so short a time
as three hundred years ten generations
have developed in descendants of the old
Puritan stock character, Inner elements ot
beauty which now express themselves out
wardly? Never In history haa there been
quite such an opportunity In the develop
ment of a race to bring out the beauty
forces of character.
Do these qualities become attenuated
when thrown Into the "melting pot"? Does
marriage with aliens of widely differing
races tend to blot out thete characteristics,
or are they potent enough, like the Biblical
"little leaven that leaveneth the whole
lump," to persist, and even gain force, in
the offspring? The facility with which the
first generation born of such marriages
takes on the characteristic American aem
blsnce la everywhere remarked. After the
first generation the "hyphen" Is obliterated.
There are only Americans, and the beauty
la only American beauty.
Of such origin is Miss Florence Cassassa.
The committee of cele-trated artists who
selected her to Impersonate "Electra"
during "Electrical Prosperity Week" at the
Panama-Paclflo Exposition, frankly ac
knowledge her to be a product of the great
American "melting pot'; nevertheless she
is selected for her superiority among beau
ties who are America. 8he la tall and
"queenly," with the artist's Ideal In ' fea
tures, called "regular," and those features
are animated by those beauty factors of the
sout, mind and character which distinguish
American beauty wherever it is seen.
Of course, Mia Cassassa had to pasa the
purely physical tests always applied by
artists, the artistic standard being the
Venus de Mllo. Here are the measurement
comparisons:
Venus De Mile MlasCaaaaaa
Height S.4 6.S
Weight 122 139
Neck 123 12J
Chest SS $4.7
Cheat, full 35.1 37.4
Waist SS 28
Hip. 38 sal
Thigh 221 23S
Knee 134 144
Calf 13.2 14.1
Ankle .7.4 .. , . 7.S
Upper Arm 12 J 13.1
Copyright llll, by the Star Company. 1
Fere Arm.... .... e.s g.a
Wrist 5.9 54
Shoulder S4. 874
Foot, length 8. .
Arm, outstretched . . 63 8)
Mr. Alonso Kimball says that the Ameri
can type must possess a beautiful mind,
a pleasing temperament, without which
nobody, no matter how physically perfect,
can be anything but Insipid, and uninspir
ing. Me believes that the true American
type Is ot medium coloring, light brown
hair and clear complexion, and ot medium
height and figure. Hence after much men
tal travail he finally-cast his vote for Miss
Cassassa.
Nickolakl, the artist from Greece, the
very birthplace ot the beautiful, believes
that the American type of beauty la In
process of evolution. After the American
girl haa adapted her complexion to with
stand the over stimulation ot the climate,
she will be even more beautiful. She Is a
composite of many races, but perhaps, the
most typical ta the combination of the
Anglo-Italian, the resuK of the fusion ft
the Teutonic and Latin races. Miss Cat
sassa la a perfect example of this union, a
wholesome type, athletlo of figure, with
lovely teeth, and gtsat vivacity and intelli
gence. She comes nearest to the American
Ideal of the future.
O. Warde Traver believes there eau be
no beauty without refinement, character
and health. She should embody the Ideal
of the higher life of harmony, and must
therefore possess an instinctive under
standing of the laws of health and happi
ness. This kind or girl by just being her
self uplifts American thought: from heraelf
aha evolves the flower of beauty, grace,
loveliness. "That la the kind of girt," said
Mr. Traver. "I like to paint 1 must fall in
love with her Just a bit or how can I un
derstand her? end ehe must be er sym
pathetic, or how can I fall In love. It s
part of the game. Miss Cassassa appeals
to me aa fulfilling the moat exacting re
quirements of what ehe must and must not
be."
Probably never again will a prise beauty
of any nation enjoy such exploitation as
Miae Caeaaaaa la achieving. The electrical
exhibitors at the exposition are scattering
postcards of "Electra" broadcat In
millions.
urttsia Rlshta Reaervse
' s
in
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Mile. Renouardt, the Paris Footlight Favorite and a French
Beauty Type Much Admired in That Country