MRS FRIANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22305, 20 January 1938, Page 2

MRS FRIANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

CLEVER, VIVACIOUS

WOMAN

Never a beauty, but a vivacious, witty woman with brains —such is Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President of the United States, the one woman who knows the President’s mind on matters of national and international importance. • Before she married, in 1905, she already had a famous name, plenty of money, and an enviable social position. She is not, and never was, a snob. She married her cousin, handsome Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when she was quite young, two years before he was admitted to the Bar.

It was a love match, for she had many suitors more eligible than young Franklin. Throughout his long and successful career she has been a great stimulating power.

Simple Tastes

Mrs Roosevelt’s life has not been an easy one since she became First Lady. When her husband was elected President in 1933 the depression was m full swing, and the new President’s wife had to watch her step if she wanted to keep the people’s faith. She had always been democratic. She became more so. She drove her own car round Washington, and still does. She “hops an aeroplane” for New York or Chicago, to speak at some club, and gets home in time for dinner. When possible she goes to New York by train, in an ordinary Pullman, and knits most of the way.

Mrs Roosevelt walks to appointments when she has time, steps into a shop if she happens to see a frock she likes, tries It on, and if it fits takes it along under her arm. She reads a great deal, and does the family mending. For Charity

During the depression she broadcast and gave the fees she earned to charity. She had the courage to say what she thought, especially about the lack of ambition of American youth. She wrote magazine articles, some good, some poor, and again she gave to charity the money she received from them.

The poorer classes heard a great deal about Mrs Roosevelt. They began to admire her. She was the right kind of woman, took care of her home, her husband, and yet found time to speak to the public. Soon she received many invitations to speak at clubs and meetings. She accepted all, no matter how unimportant they might be. In a tweed suit she appeared on the platform in slum districts just as willingly as she spoke at smart clubs, wearing smart evening dress. Saved Theatres She brought back the theatre business to Washington by insisting that the President attended all good plays. Washington is to New York-what Manchester or Leeds is to London, a city in which to try out new plays and one of the main cities for touring companies. For years the Washington theatres had been closed. All American actors have reason to be grateful to Mrs Roosevelt.

By her words and the way she conducted her own life Eleanor Roosevelt helped to convince the poorer classes that their country was not a bad place, and that the President, her husband, was just a man like other men, a man who worked harder than most to attain his position, a man working for them and in their ii^erests. Franklin Delano Roosevelt owes his second term as President to his poor voters, nearly half of them women, who, because of their faith in Mrs Roosevelt, voted for her husband.

POST-WEDDING DANCE

FESTIVITIES AT PENTLOW

In honour of the wedding of their daughter Sylvia and Mr Brian Savill, Mr and Mrs C. L. Orbell entertained a number of friends at an enjoyable dance at their home at Pentlow last night. Mrs Orbell wore a trained frock of saffron georgette and lace. Among those invited were Mr and Mrs F. J. Savill, Mr and Mrs W. H. Orbell, Mr and Mrs H. S. Savill (England), Mr and Mrs J. M- Ritchie, Mr and Mrs M. C. Harper. Mr and Mrs A. P. Boyle, Mr and Mrs K. H. Hargreaves, Mr and Mrs Harold Elwortby, Mr and. Mrs J. Acland, Mr and Mrs Derrick Gould, Mr and Mrs J. H. Sin-clair-Thomson, Mr and Mrs Derrick Orbell, Mr and Mrs C. Batchelor, Mr and Mrs H. B. L. Johnstone, Mr and Mrs Forbes O’Rorke, Mr and Mrs Bernard Thomas, Mr and Mrs Gould Hunter-Weston, Mr and Mrs E. S. Elworthy, Mr and Mrs Bruce Murray, Mr and Mrs John Elworthy, Mr and Mrs E. S. Johnstone, Mr and Mrs S. Beeves, Mr and Mrs J. Edmonds (Dunedin), Mr and Mrs Desmond Unwin, Mr and Mrs Ken Nicholls, Mr and Mrs Colin Douglas, Mr and Mrs K. de Castro, Mr and Mrs Gerald Murray, Mr and Mrs Peter Gresson, Mr and Mrs George Gray, Mesdames Basil Unwin and David Williams (Hawke’s Bay), Misses Molly Birch, Nan Bond, Juliet Kain, Mary McKenzie, Jeanetta Johnstone, Patricia Harper, Diana Elworthy, Mary Bond, P. Courage, Marion Maclean, True Neill, Peggy Orbell, Nancy Deans, Margaret Maclean, Joan Harper, Jean Newton, M. Macdonald, Lorraine Orbell, Mary Reeves, Sheila Atkinson, Prue Wilder, Elizabeth Ritchie, Cara Pinckney, Joan Maling, Nance Blunden, Annette Orbell, Peggy Acton-Adams, Antoinette Wilder, Jean Riley, Patricia Ritchie, Carlisle Studholme, Agatha Upham, Delia Reese, Nonie Pinckney, K. Ormond, Patricia Powrie, Janet Studholme, Joan Ritchie, Commander A. D. Boyle, Messrs G. Chapman, A. C. Elworthy, B. Goulding, Michael Godby, B. Kain, G. Harper, P. Godby, R. Harper, T. Barker, L. Chapman, R. Howell, A. Kilian, G. Kain, J. Hazlett, C. Bethell, J. Ormond, J. Sutherland, B, Savill, N. Wilder, D. Ormond, D. Studholme, I. Ritchie, A Orbell, Newton (2), J. Orbell, P. Unwin, W. R. Westerns, J. Rolleston, L Rennie, M. Gresison, J. Hennessy, A. Macdonald, R. Lawson, G. Kain, W. Leckie, M. Bailey, J, M. Kerr, B, Shaw, B, Wynn-Wil-liams, G. Westenra, R. Savill, M. Sidey, T. Reeves, D. Orbell, D. Powrie, G. Reeves, J. Studholme, J. Fisher, D, Atkinson, G. Rolleston, T. Ritchie, A Scott, J. Young, A Guild, K. Neill, R. Bethell, C. Guild, and Captain C. Burdon,