Smile, And The World Smiles

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 13

Smile, And The World Smiles

By B U.H.

"SMILE little father. smile." the Vt the , Great to !"N- P . h ° toß , T . a P h of Lenin in Ninotchka, whereupon the basKf "l featUr £ es c "nkled into a lautheH SOrt °J grin ' the audie nce laugKed and everybody „ as

peoples spirits Wp an i-S v; to PiaSl

1 here are, of course, a few peculiar people who never smile—even when you turn your own beam fullv ? n them. And one can't help wondering how they have the nerve to stare back unblinkingly or look the other way. There's also the sicklv smile that people give when they're not sure whether they reallv know you. Probably we all do it on occasion, hut it's much better not to make the effort at all, if it can't be done properly. It mightn't always be easv to smile, especially in these davs, although someone has calculated/in that clever way of statisticians, that it takes a hundred (or was it a thousand) times as much energy to make the effort of frowning as it does to smile. But that, of course, is just being tiresome.

However, apart from the question of being a cheer-germ in times of national stress, have you ever thought what individual things smiles are? And for what different reasons we smile.

There's the wide, spontaneous smile that is truly a flash of sunshine. The smile that really does brighten our day, if we're lucky

enough to meet it. There's the artificial switch-on" smile of mannequins, completely mirthless. n f .. the most famous living tTIJ £ (le , t s not 6° into the Mona Lisa here) is that of the Queen—the smile in=:t -» hess '" ha " dark rilvc 1 S s^' e ? tn ess in these little tirpH' ™ hoi, ? h U might look a Jiuie tiled oi sad sometimes. ™e Duchess of Kcnt a,so ha s a most individual smile. That little quirk upwards at the corner of her R ♦' S n°" e er charms. T of Garb °. she has what wav™ c , 1 a P erfec t smile, it's warm and spontaneous, yet the! features don't get disarranged in the ! process, as they do with many of us. t l h h sV^ 1( ! screwing up of the eyes, j tnough that can sometimes be attractive, no grooves from nose to mouth, , Ilnes unexpectedly revealing lovely 6 And the teeth are so

Its quite a real thing, this disarranging of features when we smile home people, for instance, smile much more attractively with their mouths closed than open. Since we seem to be talking about film stars perhaps you have noticed that Hedy 1-amarr's exotic beauty is spoilt somewhat by her smile. How Smiles Vary There's a certain tvpe of smile that could almost be called a salute. iou may know it. The evebrows raise themselves in a certain way. and as it is usually given in greeting one. it has the same effect as a wave of the arm.

Then take the varying smiles that (iinerent occasions produce. There is no mirth behind the heart-break-ing smile of the wallflower at a party. Remember how brilliantlv Katharine Hepburn portrayed it in "Alice Adams?"

Not so tragic, though still "putting a good face on it." is the hovering, uncertain smile of the person at the end of the row in a theatre, who can't hear the conversation of the rest of the party, but wants to look as though he's in on it.

Eyes are just as important as mouths in this business of smiling. A smile that curves the lips, but leaves the eyes cold is no smile. It might be a cruel grimace, or it might be just a sad gesture that failed. Again, eyes that twinkle make it unnecessary for the mouth to do anything at all.

Some eyes disappear almost completely when they smile, some have laugh lines at the corners that betray their owner even when he is serious; and there are black eyes that get two devils in them when they smile.

Which reminds me—have you noticed that black eyes are probablv the most wicked and mysterious of all eyes. You can't get to the depths of them as you can with grey or blue eyes, probably the most candid and expressive of the various types. Yes, a smile is a lovesome thing. God wot. No paints, no pot. All you need is a warm heart and the joy of living. So turn up the corners, conserve your energy, and smile!