WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 13

WOMEN'S FORUM.

STAGE AND CINEMA. It becomes more and more difficult for the girl who aspires to be a film star to walk straight into the etudios at Hollywood or at Elstree. The talkies are responsible in some degree. It is no longer enough for a girl to have a film face; good elocution is now almost as essential as the ability to act. As a result quite a number of ambitious girls are seeking to make the legitimate stage a stepping stone to the more highly paid jobs of the films. Hollywood, in particular, is looking more and more to the theatre for its recruits. There are even suggestions that the cinema industry may ultimately subsidise the stage in order to ensure a regular succession of really capable actors and actresses. How •we should have stood aghast at such a notion a score of years ago! ' TOO OLD AT 30!. I was talking recently, states a London writer, to one of the-ablest business women in London, who incidentally does a good deal of philanthropic work in assisting girls who are seeking a professional career; She wfts telling me '.of the frightful extent to. which the career of the private-secretary is overcrowded. She' instanced' the case of one woman secretary of 30, who found herself squeezed out of the profession. Young girls, Vivacious, extremely efficient, and often speaking one -or two languages, were always treading on her heels.-She saw that very soon she would not be wanted. So she collected all the money she could raise, went over to Paris, and took a thorough training in dress-design-ing. She is now in Bond Street,: earning twice as much as ever she earned as a private secretary.

PRINCESS LEARNS SKATING. Princess Elizabeth is learning to skate. Her accomplishments are already fairly numerous for a little girl, whose seventh birthday has yet to be reached. She reads, has mastered several kindergarten subjects, can knit, and shows promise of becoming a sympathetic pianist as time goes on. Her riding, too, is progressing satisfactorily, and she is looking forward to the time when she will be allowed to practise jumping. It was at the suggestion of the Duchess of York that she took up skating, and to see her on the rink, her fair curls blown about and her little face flushed with excitement, is a picturesque eight. Not only is she a fascinating figure in her woolly skating suit, but she enjoys it all immensely. When she first ventured alone the instructor was a little anxious as to how tumbles might be taken; but the Princess regards them all as part of the fun. FLYING NURSES. There has now been established at Croydon Aerodrome, with the official benediction of the Air Ministry, the first air ambulance corps of the British Red Cross. This is merely an advance guard of similar Red Cross equipment and personnel which will in due course be allocated to each of the principal aerodromes up and down the country. The Croydon air ambulance is fitted with all the very latest surgical and medical necessaries, and its staff includes a crew of very attractive-looking nurses. We have long had ambulance corps at all our railway stations of importance, so there is really nothing invidious in the aerodrome establishment. Accidents will happen, in the air as on the ground, and it is good to have the assurance that, if anything goes wrong aloft, trained experts will be on the spot in the quickest possible time.

PARDON? Recently a lady had occasion to make a call at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in London. She was shown into the visitors' waiting room, and an official asked her if she had an appointment. She replied that she had not, but wished to see the superintendent on a matter of some urgency. Just at that point, to the consternation of the lady, somebody behind her, in what she had believed to be an empty room, ejaculated an emphatic "Rot!" She turned swiftly round to confront this unchivalrous, if outspoken, commentator, and beheld a patriarchal-looking grey parrot, calmly stalking across the floor with his head on one side, and one supernaturally intelligent beady eye fixed on her. It seems that the parrot is an old and privileged retainer, who moves about at will in the hospital, and has picked up one or two succinct ejaculations from the medical staff.

PRINCESS MARY. Harewood House, Yorkshire, home of the Princess Royal, where she has been recuperating from an illness brought about by overwork, was built by the first Lord Harewood in the eighteenth century. It is designed on stately, classical lines, and, since the present Earl of Harewood took possession, has been completely modernised inside, so that to-day it is one of the most comfortable and most conveniently-planned houses in the north of England. "Harewood has been described as being "one great treasure house," and with reason. Its collection of old masters is one of the finest to be found in any English private house, while its wonderful old china is probably without rival anywhere. Nothing can be found in France to equal the old Sevres. Lord Harewood is an ardent collector of old. period furniture. Chippendale once worked at the Old Hall, so it is" fitting that some of his masterpieces should be among the Harewood collection. The suite of rooms occupied by the Princess Royal is beautifully light and airy, and there are fine views from all the windows. The walls and decorations are of those delicate pastel shades which the Princess favours, as much as her mother, the Queen. Her private sitting room has plenty of inviting chairs and divans, while ornaments and knickknacks are reduced to a minimum. It is here that she delights to entertain her friends to afternoon tea. The gardens at Harewood House are among the finest in England. They, ajso, have been modernised of recent years, and the Princess has spent a great deal of her time in them during her "rest cure."