The Pittsburgh Press (February 11, 1946)
I DARE SAY —
Model, 1946
By Florence Fisher Parry
You will see, this week at Loew’s Penn Theater, in a fairly original and suspenseful motion picture, “Spellbound,” a young woman who has taken this country by storm. She is not an American; she speaks with an accent; she has the appearance of being on the plump side, for her face is round and her bones well covered. She is not glamorous in the sense that her predecessors were glamorous – but she exudes abundant health and forthrightness, qualities not usually looked for in a “glamorous” girl.
She is not the “sexy” type; yet she is infinitely desirable. She stirs emotions far deeper than those usually excited by “movie stars.” Men, looking at her, are moved by her purely. She invites the best in them. They think of peace, refuge, comfort, REST. They find themselves longing for that kind of woman … journey’s end, all problems resolved, safe in a secure love that is more than passion.
Women, too, looking at this lovely creature move serenely and surely in midst of conflict, find themselves envying her composure, her steadfastness, her emotional poise. They would like to be like her; sure of themselves, strong, fresh, UNRIDDEN.
They feel no jealousy of her. They rust this woman. Even when (as in “Saratoga Trunk”) she fills her assignment of being a hussy, they still are not deceived; they detect an innate HONESTY there.
The new ideal
Now it seems to me that the immense popularity of Ingrid Bergman not only augurs – it has already ushered in – a new Model of American Girl; an American Ideal who embodies a new set of virtues, a new behavior pattern, a new concept of health.
Sex Appeal, in the old sense, is Out. Mystery is out. Unhealthiness is out. The Garbo day is as dead as a door nail. So is the Varga silhouette. So is cerebral interest: Bette Davis, in contrast to the New Ideal, shows up only as a bundle of nerves, exhausting and boring. The American Girl has given place to The American Woman.
Yes, Womanliness is the Model, 1946.
We had a hint that this was coming, a number of years ago when, in a picture called “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” Greer Garson, in a role not designed to be important, created a future for herself as the quiet, composed, womanly wife of Mr. Chips. For a few years this sudden new tendency to glorify Womanhood was capitalized upon by MGM, and Greer Garson was subjected to a string of roles designed to put her on a kind of chaste pedestal.
But they made one fearful mistake; they made her too noble. They confounded womanliness with nobility and saintliness. They scared the men off.
Now we are told that Ingrid Bergman is, so far, in complete command of her own career in Hollywood. She will submit to no leg art. She will not “reduce” in order to make it easier for the camera-men. She will not provide fictitious copy for the movie magazines or gossip columns. She is a healthy happy young woman who proposes to remain so.
Currently she is to be seen (in New York, and soon in Pittsburgh) in three distinctly different roles: as a nun in “The Bells of St. Mary’s”; as a bespectacled psychiatrist in “Spellbound”; and as the “lure” “Saratoga Trunk.”
Self-possessed
Her performances in all three of these roles are said to be masterly and completely different. Yet one thing will be noted: Ingrid Bergman remains, in these as in all her prior roles, A HEALTHY YOUNG WOMAN, and (as the English say) well-tubbed, clean-limbed, a breath of fresh air.
And – this is important – A HANDFUL. She is ALL THERE. A healthy, full grown, superb animal of a woman whose breath never suggests nicotine, alcohol or bad digestion; whose eyes never shift; whose voice never disturbs; whose clothes never constrict; whose mood never is unhealthy. You feel: if this woman cries, she’ll wipe her tears and smile before her eyes get red – NOT because she’s vain but because she’s too healthy to let a mood “get” her. You feel: if she gets sick, she will make a quick recovery. You feel: here is a girl who will never make a fuss or a scene or trouble. She’s CAPABLE. She’s STRONG.
Possession of herself
I can’t imagine her being untidy, or lolling or loafing or mixing her ashes with her butter. I can’t imagine her sulking or whining. If she played a role like that, I wouldn’t credit it. There’s firm fleshed health about her that clears the air.
No wonder men like her. Men are long-suffering as a rule, very dumb about women, very easily taken in. But never so deceived that deep down in their secret souls they do not long for the deep broad bosom of PEACE. This girl embodies this to them.
No wonder women like her. She reminds them how it must be like to be fresh, unstaled, unweary, sure-footed and controlled; what it must be like to be DESIRABLE, even without make-up, even without perfume, even without beauty of the orthodox kind.
Maybe we women had better look more closely at this Model, 1946. She has a lot to offer. We could take example from her.