Omaha daily bee., February 23, 1913, EDITORIAL SOCIETY, Image 19

About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922

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Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
Copyright, llt, by the Star Compury. Great Britain Rights Reserve.
Why the New Gospel
of Efficiency Must Be
Applied to Herself by
Every Woman Who
Wants to Succeed
and How
"To Bo Efficient a Woman Needs at Least Twelve Personal Maids," Says Gaby. Here Are Her Twelve Each of Whose Duties
Is Described in Her ArticleAbout to Begin Her Morning Toilette.
j)em9a rr
oman m
By GABY DESLYS
(The French Artiste Now Appearing at the Winter Garden, New York.)
Befuue njy smeentn mrinuay i icarneu
tho greatest lesson that H(e can teach
woman, the lesson that has imadp mo to
day the most talked-of. and one of the most
charming women In the world; the lesson that
being a woman Is a business.
In speaking of myself as one of tho most
charming of women, do not misunderstand mo.
1 am not giving to myself what your American
slang would call bouquets, non, non, I am only
stating a fact.
I, Gaby DeslyB, am self-made, I am one hun
dred degrees efficient because I made myself
80.
To explain how I learned my lcsBon, bow I
reached my Btato of efficiency, I must first tell
you some of my history that the world has
never known. I' am of a. bourgeolse'fainlly. I
was born in Marseilles, in what the English
would call tho Ipwer middle class. My father
had nil the prejudices ot his class, and, believe
ane, these prejudices aro deeper and narrower i
than any one not a Frenchman can understand!
The theatre was taboo In our home, Once
in my life, when I was fifteen, I was taken to
the circus, and J-bat was as near the stago as
I over got until I went to Parta and began my
fight for efficiency, ennrm ana woaun.
The very qualities that my father inculcated "Do not play at being a woman."
of man. Beauty is not overything." 1 said. "It
soon fades, but cbnrm will last so long as life
itself; that is, of course, if I do not grow lazy."
"Has all this work paid?" 1 m often asked.
"Judge for yourself," is always ray answer, "Cora
pare tho little girl of flftoen and sixteen, the
raw material, with tho finished product, the
nrtisto that I am to-day, 1, Gaby Deslys, as I
am to-day, is the answer to all questions as to
tho use ot it all. Look at my largo house In
Marseilles, where always I leave four servants
to keep it in order. Look at my bo beautiful
'hous'o five stories high in Faris, where I leave
six servants. Look at my npartmeuts here in
New York, at my motors, my Jewels, my gowns.
Bee . mo dance, hear mo sing, then jask me it
efficiency pays!"
Badk of all my deslro to charm was another
desire, and it was this second desiro that I now
realize, made mo so earnestly strive to acquire
the former, Wbon I. decided that I wpuld make
myself one of. tho most charming women in
tho worldf suddenly asked myself: Why?
What do you 'wish to win? Woalthl Wealth
was what I wanted. With wealth the whole,
world lies before woman. To many men
wealth Is In Itself a charm. Therefore, I said,
woalth I will have.
In mo to make me a good mlddleclass wife and
mother are tho very ones that have made me
one hundred degrees efficient, to my ratnora
sternness I owe most of my success in being a
woman. No woman can make herself efficient
who has not determination, pluck, application
and a keen sense of duty; who is not willing to
sacrifice the presont pleasure for the future re
ward. Even at fifteen I had great tenacity of pur
pose, and when 1 found myBolt facing tho world
I found that I needed this quality sadly. Hav
ing been denied the theatro, It naturally ap
peared to me as tho fruit most desirable, and
I began to study to make myself an actress,
"Hold a mirror to face, form and mind."
Before taking up any definite branch ot the
drama I had a talk, with myself, To speak in
your American business language, I took 'ac-,
count of stock. I was brutally frank with my
self, and here Is another reason for my buccobs,
I faced myself frankly. I did not deceive my
r.elf. No woman can becomo one hundred de
grees efficient who refuses to faco herself with
brutal truthfulness. Hold a, mirror to your face,
your figure and your mind, and remember that
the mirror d?es not He. If you aro homely in
tho mirror, you are homely out of it.
Picture to yourself, therefore, the little girl
ot fifteen holding up the mirror and studying
face, figure and mind! What did the mirror
show? Gray eyes, golden hair (I just missed
being an ash blonde), a nose thai was too long
for beauty and a skin that was soft and smooth
bb satin and the color ot roses In April. Pouf,
I said to myself, there are hundreds ot girls In
Marseilles, and thousands In Paris who are
prettier than thou art,
I looked at my figure. Well, nature and my
mother had been very kind to me my figure
showed promise ot being most graceful and
even chic. But. ot what use is the roost grace
ful figure in the world if one has not the clothes
to dress It In? The average figure to-day Is a
work of art (ot the corsettere'a and modiste's).
But I sighed tor more than my poverty, "You
are petite," I eald to my figure In the mirror.
"You can never be great; never be a tragedienne
liko the great Rachel."
I looked into my mind, and what did I see?
Not mueh ot any one thing, hut a little ot many
things! For tho first time in my life I realized
that I could think, and I have since utilized this
discovery to great advantage.
I said to myself after this discovery, "You aro
not a beauty and you have evidently no great
talent for serious acting. What can you do?"
"I will be a music hall artiste and a charmer
As I look hack to tho days when I had to
decld? what my life would bo I roallzo that my
decision to mako a business ot being a woman
is tho decision that, sooner or later, all women
will make. Just so soon as women appreciate
that being wom6n means being the most do
sired thing in tho world, just so soon as they
realize that efficiency is the strongest bulwurk
between themselves and the world, at that mo
ment will the weak, dawdling women stop play
ing at being women and worlf to make themselves
wemot- in earnest. They will make a business ot
being women just as a man makes a business
of bolng a banker or a tailor. I believe that
efficiency, will do more to eolvo the divorce
problem than any numbor ot laws.
Thoro Is nothing wrong in tho deslro to
charm, Woman has always been tho charmer
of man from .the day of creation. The deolro
!s born when Bho Is. It 1s as old as marriage
and marriage is as old as time itself, Mar
riage Is but the result ot woman's charm on
man. But the woman ot tho past waB a weakly,
inefficient creature. I believe that her incom
petency as a woman was the original cause for
divorce. Not her incompetency as a cook or a
laundress, but as woman.
Tho future woman will simply be woman.
Woman with every grace cultivated, with every
charm made the most of, In other words, wom
an one hundred degrees efficient, instead of
woman one hundred degrees inefficient.
I know one or two men ot affairs In your
country, One of them, a banker, tells mo that
to mako his great company thoroughly efficient
ho requires many, many men who work tor him
all. tho timo, and I say I am a woman making
a .business of my womanhood, but I have many
men and many women working all the time (or
me
. First, I will explain the duties ot the men
and women who have made, and who keep me
what I am. Any woman who desires to join'
mo on my mountain peak must havo these
helpers and work as hard as I have. Being an
artiste, there are several aides whom the wom
an of, society will not need; the manager who
assumes charge of all my theatrical affairs, tho
several stenographers and tho wardrobe maids
who labor only to mako me efficlont as au ar
tiste, She will neod practically all the others shown
on the tables below.
Woman .needs every atom of her being de
veloped to the highest degreo. She needs every
whlsp of, talent cultivated to tho thousandth
power in order to be- the siren of all sirens.
Sho will need the twelve maids, for to them
she will owe her personal beauties and charms.
5ary Deslys
1 i I r
gCCBETAnV iFEMHEccCHAnBREl iHAlffjjgjl
INTERPRETER
t
I
CHAUFFEUR CUTLER
I
i i-
COMER GR0MS1 1 IIOWEKUPil 8EAl)TYBlfiRT f HOOISlt jragijlPHYMXH
MAKER
MILLINER
STEHO&rallRlDIN&'MASTERll CHEF
CHAPLAIN
PERFUMER
I
X
WAriDROBf.
MISTRESS
I. COAL
APVI80H
MASSEUSES
TAILOR AND
HABIT MAKER
WARDROBE
MAIDS
DANCiWc"
MAiTER
FURRIER
MAKE-UP
MAD8
SINGING
MASTER
ALMONER
I
MANICURE CORSETI ERE
CHIROPODIST
I
X
ELOCUTION
TEACHER
BOOTMAKtWl
BATH MAIDS
X
LANGUAGE
TEACH EP.
JEWELER
X
PIANIST
r.aby Desly's Efficiency Chart, Showing the Number of Persons Necessary in Making a "Woman a
Successful Business."
The maids of bath will, no, must, give her their
vpcclal care twice a day, Rarly In the morning,
liaving had her hot chocolate, she will be given
the perfumed bath that cleanses and makes the
skin to glow and Strengthens tho muscles, and
at night the hot milk bath will induce sloop.
Beautiful hands and nails aro one of woman's
greatest charms. Manicure maids will make
each hand a poet's dream, each nail a pink rose
petal. Arms and neck must be so carofully
massaged dally to bring out their beauty. The
hair, woman's glory, will be treated with such
caro that each strand. wH gleam with beauty
of Its own and help to ensnaro fool man. It has
been said that my pink toes knocked over the
throno ot Portugal. Had I neglected them, had
they boon stubby and coarse, never, never
would this have been Bald. I made my toes
what they aro to-day, the prottlost -ln Franco.
The woman oho hundred degroos efficlont
will, like myself, havo lier mind mnrsogod dally
aB woll as her body. She must learn tho for
olgn languages, Ah, but this Is bt deadly im
portance. The woman who apoaks only her
own language can never
bo efficient. She must
have any little talent she
may havo cultivated con
stantly. Have I made plain what
I did to acquire my pres
ent place In the. world of
charm? I do not tell you
the detailed work ot every
one on the table, for their
dutios can be so easily un
derstood. On this list I am show
lng ono person who, above
all others, Is responsible
for my high degree of ef
ficiency. He really out
ranks the secretary, mana
ger and Fomme do Cham
bre. And this important per
on is tho habit dQtcctor
and eradlcator, Ho is the
expert whom I employ to
kepp myself and my staff
evr up to thtlr best ef
forts Being intelligent enough
to realize the value of
etflciencoy, I was intelli
gent enough to realize that
even the experts In charge of each
department, as well as those under
them, would unconsciously fall in
bad habits, would get into ruts and
thus lose time, and losing, time Is
one of the surest proofs that one is
losing efficiency. Thus the "habit
man" comes tor one week each
month and Jerks us up where we
need it.
Ho finds me biting my lip and
tells me that I will spoil the shape
ot my mouth. He finds my expen
sive secretary doing things that the
very inexpensive stenographer could
do, and so it goes. The forming ot
habits is one of the things that the
woman who craves efficiency should
avoid. But I do not mean that we
should never do the same thing In
the same way over and over again,
If we did everything in a new way
every time we could never acquire
efficiency! I mean, that doing a
thing in a certain way because we
have always done it that way does
not mean that that way Is right I
Oh, how easily I could
tell you this In French.
In English it is 'so dif
ferent.
So many, many wo
men are fifty, sixty per
cent valuable, but I,
Qaby Deslys, am one
hundred degroes, and
theworld, even to dark
est Africa, knows my
name.
Had 1 been content
to mako one hundred
dollars a week I would
never be known out
side of Paris, but as
the efficient earner
ot five thousand dollars
a week, and as the pos
sessor of pearls of in
calculable value, I am
one of the neat Known
persons In the world.
Therefore, efficiency is
my religion The busi
1188 of be'ng a woman
all 1 live for.
?",jwr, .
X
PHOTOGRAPHER
I
ISKNOCRAfHEES
r
PRESS
COURIER
r:.i, pn.:. inn Pr C.nt Efficiently in 100 Per Cent Gown, After a from
rnn.ult.tion with Her "Hblt Entdicstor." Is hot made
Gaby Deslys Profile, Whose Efficiency Is Maintained by One
Maid, Who Has Nothing EU to Do.
Aluminum Shoes, Hats, Clothes
To Defeat the High Cost of Living
THERE Is hope yet for the har
assed hjsband uto stands
appalled at the sUe ot his
wife's millinery bills and the other
everyday bills run up in the house
hold. It is not what wo eat that
costs, It is what you wear, laments
the average husband, but in All this
diatribe against the high cost of liv
ing end the cost of hltfh living, a
glimmer of hope is appearing in the
darkness. The wearing of hats,
boots and stockings mad of alumi
num is to be made compulsory by
Congress.
Man, the head of the family, is to
oo released from soma of the bills
that come In every month to sadden
his life. Some one has discovered
that these metal hats can bo made
for a minimum price,
The great value of this metal
when us6d for feminine garments
is that it never wears out, This
may seem a disadvantage to the
woman who changes her gowns ten
times a day and her hats every
time she changes tho gowns, But
wait. An aluminum hat, made of
tho soft, pjlablo metal wire, can be
twlstod a different shape every time
It is put on. And, inolaentally, It
will be entirely waterproof, a great
advautago Indeed.
Suqh a hat can be sold tor one
dollar and a half. It will laat a life
time, and will always look now. Is
it any wonder that husbands all
over the country are Interested In
the "Aluminum 11117"
Women will object, of course, but
only because they know this metal
only In their kitchens. Wear a fry
ing pa,n on my
head? Never,
the feminine
supporters of
the milliners
ery.
Not at All,
madam, ex
plains the Alu
minum expert.
The raw ma
terial, fresh
the earth,
Into your hats and boots. If It were,
the cost ot the everlasting bat
would be thirty cents. No, the In
got metal has to he tolled out ex-,
ceedlngly fine and drawn into thin,
flexible wire, then Into twisted
threads, These threads ure as thin
as those that form the ntraw braids
or the woollen threads that are
made up into clothes,
Hats made of these threads are
exaotly as flexlole as Panama hats,
and very nearly as light. Thoy are
as durable as life, and as tough as
hemp.
' Shoes of aluminum have been
proven to be wtrth their weight In
gold, for they ciso wear a lifetime
and are completely waterproof.
When the people of this country
wear aluminum shoes, cny the en
thusiasts wo will hav no more
pneumonia nor bronchitis
Hurt the feet? Not at all. The
wires or thread used in bootu while
hpRvIor than thaw used In the hats
nre nevertheless much softer than
.iiany ot the leathers already In use.
Women of weaUh havo worn sllp
o'rs made ot gold and silver metal
for generations, therefore there is
nothing so startling in the Alumi
num slipper and boot. And the
metal threads can be made Into
just as shapely footgear as even
satin and k'.d. Even baby's bootees
can be made of It.
Stockings? To be sure. They are
shapely, and, of course, hole proof.
Tho feminine sex will welcome
aluminum stockings with open arms
and eager hands, for they will In
sist that they bo made tor all the
familyhusbands and BOns as well
as women, They will banish the
darning bag ent'rily.
With the passing of the hat bill,
sponsored as it will be ly the hus
bands of tho c'iuntry, another bill
win be dratted to make the wearing
ot these shoes and stocking com
pulsory. And as in the case ot the
hats, the bill will stipulate that the
State must proV'de them to All citi
zens ot the country irrespective of
their sex or income, State hat,
State shoes and State stockings wtl
be added to the evergrowing ll'j
)f State rights,