Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1929, Page 87

- THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNT. 30, To20_PART 7.~ oan Lowell Talks About “These Masculine Women” The Much-Discussed Authoress, Who Was Brought Up in Men’s Clothing, Declares the Things She Likes Best Are Feminine Ways and Graces—The F lappers Who Are Striving to Become “Good Fellows.” HE eternal feminine—no one knows just what it is, but it is as old as { Adam’s rib, as overwhelming as love and as inescapable as death. You can give women independence, you can educate them as men are educated, you can give them the ballot, you can give them typewriters instead of dishpans, and pay en- velopes instead of babies—but you have just what you started with—women. And your most independent woman, who “caft take care of herself just as well as any man,” will end by envying the sweet young clinging vine who gets what she wants because there are a dozen men just waiting to provide any trifle, from a rose to a diamond necklac?, that her capricious heart demands. Take, for instance, Joan Lowell, this very much discussed and debated young woman who wrote the ‘“Cradle of the Deep,” who spent much of her early life at sea and was brought up among sailors and South Sea Islanders in overalls that she might not become conscious of her beauty and femininity. What was the first thing she wanted when she took up life on shore? According to her own words, she wanted to acquire femininity. Without knowing what it was, or how to get it, she knew it was what she needed to fit her for life. . “The most baflling and insurmountable qual- ity I had to battle with,” she said, “was this thing called ‘femininity’ I had none of it myself, or at least what I had was completely undeveloped, but I could feel it in every woman that I met—every one that I admired. And I was completely beaten by it. “I had, you see, thought I was a pretty smart kid because I could take care of myself. I had muscles like a prize fighter. If a man got fresh with me, I could haul off and land one that would put him out of commission for a while. I could swear as hard as he could. I could outrun most men. I could turn a close bargain with natives. I could bully sailors. I could fight my way, but I soon found that wasn’t the way I wanted to get along. “MEANWHILE I watched other women get- ting away with murder — women who had no ability to take care of themselves, and who had always worn silk until they were silky themselves. I saw them lead men on, work them for presents and attentions, and have nothing to go on but a smile and ‘femininity.’ “I saw these women admired, adored and wor- shipped, not because they gave favors, but be- cause they had the most delightful little tricks and because they could wear appealing and sometimes impudent little frocks. They were women, just as I was, but they knew how to advertise. They knew what it was all about and I didn’t. They were feminine and I was not. “I had a sailor’s directness about sex. I had seen sailors woo and win native women. I knew biology—but I didn’t know sex.” It was considerable of a blow to Joan when she found that men did not like her, or at least that they did not notice her if there were girls of the femimine type around. “I was pretty cock-sure,” she admits. “I did know life pretty well—in the rough—and I let them know I did. When they were inclined to make a pretty speech I would cover my confusion with some good salty profanity, or I'd say, ‘I dare you to say what you really mean.’ “I didn’t realize then that the only girls who got away with brutal frankness with men, and the ones who were seemingly the least im- pressed by their masculinity, were really the ones who were the most feminine at heart— but men know this instinctively. “You know yourself that the type of girl who looks well in strictly taillored clothes is the one who is so feminine that the very contra- Yes, this is Joan! But she says that, early in life, she discovered that shipboard gymnastics were not the height of feminine allure. diction has charm. No one hands the mascu- line type of woman much in masculine clothes, “To this day I sometimes resent this femi- ninity stuff and wish it were possible to get rid of it, but I know now that it can’t be done. “I think it would be nice if men and women could be honest with each other and be friends as well as sweethearts. It would be more com- fortable to be just what you are, instead of al- ways leading on to something that really isn’t there. But I guess men love to be fooled, and smart women give them illusions rather than facts.” So, having decided that femininity won, Joan's next problem was to acquire it. “And, naturally,” she admits, “ I saw only the externals at first. There was something about an artificially quirked finger and its highly pol- ished nail that because of its artificiality seem- ed to me the symbol of high-powered allure. 4 glimpse of Joan Lowell’s earliest and little known triumph— entering the Tia Juana bullfight arena in 1924 as “Queen of the Day,” the first girl from the United States so honored. , .different arid my ways were not those of “MY first job on shore was that of a wait=| ress, and on those patrons I tried all my tricks. I used to practice holding thosé inch-thick cups with an affected elegance; | “I bought cheap perfume at the 10-cent store and soaked myself with it, because I was| enchanted by the odors of perfume wafted from feminine women. “I wanted to shout out to every one, ‘Hey, can’t you all see how feminine I am? - Just look at my fingernails. Just smell this jasmine stuff. Feminine, isn't it?’ # % “I sewed cheap lace on my underwear after | I had dyed it the most violent pinks and| orchids. I bought clothes that were ruffied and accented my naturally slim ‘waist. Heaven only knows what I looked lke, but I felt like an achievement, 2 e “I even learned to sew and to cook bscause | these were womanly things to do. And to day the greatest compliment any one can me is to say that I am feminine. I love it. Incidentally, Joan is always dressed in most feminine of frocks, and her curly brown hair, uncut, is coiled into a most feminine knot. And her taste today runs to chaise | longues and taffeta curtains, 2 “However,” she went on, “I found it much | easier to look feminine than really to be fem- inine. That is, I always felt different from other women, Frankly, I felt inferior. And suppose that made it difficult for me to friends with women. “I can't ever tell any one how much wanted a girl chum. But I hadn’t much ; common with girls. My early life had been s EE E. 8m T conventionally bred girl. Y “I've fought tears often, watching girls going along in pairs, laughing and chatting. I seemed always to be alone, and I was so con-~ scious of my inability to adapt myself. how I did admire smartly dressed women! i “ON!dnynlmcoln;downunketaM in San Francisco I saw a woman who fairly took my breath away, she was so attrac~ tive, so graceful, so seductive, so feminine. I ' was enchanted! I wanted to her. picture in my mind. For she what I wanted to be, I shall never forget how lovely her small feet looked in their expenmsive hoslery and their triple A's. Without realizing it, I followed her. I must have followed her some distance, and I must have been staring wild-eyed, \ i “She turned once or twice and noticed me. I had no idea I was displeasing her. : she demanded, ‘Why are you following me?’ “ ‘Because,” I stammered, me from being myself, . “Perhaps I have a sallor’s sentimentality about women. I think they are lovely, mar- velous and mysterious—though I know they can be ruthless and cruel. Really feminine creatures always give me the old sense of in- Continued on Thirteenth Page.