Richmond times-dispatch. [volume], July 18, 1915, Image 47

About Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current

Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

                
York's Most Famous Artists?and Why
They Gave the Golden Apple to
a "Melting Pot" Type
Mis* Florence
Cassassa,
Winner in the
"American
Beauty" Com
petition for
"Electrical
Prosperity
Week" at the
Panama
Pacific
Exposition.
She Is Photo
graphed in a
Pose of
"Electra," the
Symbolical
Figure for
That Occasion.
<?) S*
Pai/i.
SenoriU Valencia, the Spanish
Dancer, Shown in Turkish Cos
tume. She Is a Representative
Beauty of That County.
THE selection of MIbb Florence Cas
sassa, daughter of an American
mother and an Italian father, from
& large number of beautiful contestants
to represent American beauty during
"Electrical Prosperity Week" at the Pan
ama-Pacific International 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? If so, if proportions
in detail and proscribed physical "lines of
beauty" have 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 bo
admitted that American beauty embraces
all color types, with variations virtually
Indigenous in the West, East, South and
North of the country. And so does beauty
In other nations. What, then, differentiates
the American type?
Probably there are Old World judges
of beauty who will deny the existence of
such a thing as a separate and distinct
Amorican beauty type, for the reason that
there Is no such thing, ethnologically, 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
persistont and generous use of the "melt
ing pot"; that they are an amalgam of all
nations under the sun, and can only be
considered as such. Thorefore "American
Beauty" should be hyphenated In the beauty
catalogues ? English - American, Ge. in
American, French-Americnn, Itallan-Amer
lean, and so on.
Yet '?American Beauty" Is famed the
world over. You hear the term?even with
inflections of rapture?In every Europoan
capital. It is freely acknowledged that the
type la not only distinct, but admirable,
the equal of any, ancient or modern. Why
is this?
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 character of
the American beauty, shining through and
Illuminating her physical charms which
distinguishes her from all other types of
beauty?
May 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 of
beauty which now express themselves out
wardly? Never in history has 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 ahena of widely differing
races tend to blot out these 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 whfch the
first generation born of such marriages
takes on the characteristic American sem
blance is everywhere remarked. After the
first generation the "hyphen" is obliterated.
There are only Americans, ana the beauty
is only Am-rran beauty.
Of such or'g'n is MIsb Florence Ca?sassa.
The committee of celejrated artists who
selected her to impersonate "Electra"
during "Electrical Prosperity Week" at the
Panama-Pacific 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 American. She is tall and
"queenly," with the artist's ideal in fea
tures, called "regular," and those features
are animated by those beauty factors of the
soul, mind and character which distinguish
American beauty wherever It Is seen.
Of course, Miss Cassassa had to pass the
purely physical tests always applied by
artists, tho artistic standard being the
Vonus de Milo. Here are the measurement
comparisons:
Venus Do Milo MissCassata
ni
Height 5.4
Weight 122
Neck 12.5
Chest 33
Chest, full 35.1
Waist 26
Hips 38
Thigh 22.5
Knee 13.8
Calf 13.2
Ankle 7.4
Upper Arm., 12.6
5.8
139
12.9
34,7
37.4
28
3CJ
23.3
14.4
14.1
7.6
13.1
Copyright. 1916, by the Star Company.
Fore Arm 9.5 9.9
Wri6t 5,9 *5.8
Shoulder 34.6 37.6
Foot, length 8.9 8.9
Arm, outstretched .. 63 69
Mr. Alonzo 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. He believes that the true American
type is of medium coloring, light brown
hair and clear complexion, and of medium
height and figure. Hence after much men
tal travail ho finally cast his vote for Miss
Cassassa.
Nlckolakl, the artist from Greece, the
? very birthplace of the beautiful, believes
that the American type of beauty is in
process of evolution. After the American
girl has adapted her complexion to with
stand the over stimulation of the climate,
she will be even more beautiful. She is a
composite of mauy races, but perhaps, the
most typical is the combination of the
Anglo Italian, the result of tho fusion p?
the Teutonic and Latin races. Miss Cat>
sasBrt is a perfect example of this union, a
wholesome typo, athletic of figure, -with
lovely teeth, and great vivacity and intelli
gence. She comes nearest to the American
ideal of the future.
O. Wardo Traver believes there can be
no beauty without refinement, character
and health. She should embody tho ideal
of the higher life of harmony, and must
therefore possess an instinc'ive under
standing of the laws of healt'u and happi
ness. This kind of girl by just being her
self uplifts American thought; from herself
Bhe evolves the flowor of beauty, grace,
loveliness. "That is the kind of girl," said
Mr. Traver, "1 like to paint. I must fall in
love with her just a hit, or how can I un
derstand her? and she must be- er?sym
? pathetic, or how can I fall iu love. It's
part of the game. Miss Cassaasa appeals
to mo as fulfilling the most exacting re
quirements of what she must and must not
be."
Probably never again will a prize beauty
of any nation enjoy such exploitation as
Miss CasBas6A is achieving. The electrical
exhibitors at the exposition are scattering
postcards of "Blectra" broadcast in
millions.
Great Britain Rights Reserved.
Mile. Renouardt, the Paris Footlighi Favorite and a French
Beauty Type Much Admired in That Country.