Menjou Discusses Modern Marriages

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 23

Menjou Discusses Modern Marriages

Home and Happiness “Marriage! A serious business/* icrites Adolph Menjou. “Perhaps we are inclined to taJce it too easily, too carelessly. Perhaps the average man, the averary woman, , does not study as closyiy as they should do the technic of choosing the life-mate.** I know of no infallible rules. One comes across reckless matches which \ according to a calculation of all known factors, seemed bound to fail dismally; and yet they turned out astonishingly successful. One meets also cases of shrewd, careful, prudent matches, in which worldly-wise parents on both sides have weighed up all the chances and found nothing wanting—the marriage of the beloved young people, so well matched, cannot fail . . . and then it has failed, completely. I do not subscribe to the idea that the woman who devotes much time, thought and care to her clothes and appearance is frivolous, and that dowdiness is the mark of the sensible and intelligent woman. A Neat Home A neat, trim, tastefully-dressed wife usually means a well-ordered and appointed home; and vice versa. And the home —and not motor-cars and restaurants and parties and hotel suites j —is the basis of happy married life. The first thing I did, when I knew’ that my lovely Kathryn Carver was j willing to exchange the role of my j leading lady to that of my wife, was | to set about building a new house and j furnishing it with the utmost care. I suppose it must depend largely on a man’s character and way of life wrhether a light-hearted wife will be a blessing or a curse to him. Some strong, driving, hard-working men, the sort who create vast industrial and commercial organisations and run ! great businesses prefer the laughterloving wife to the more responsible type. Perpetual Tonic Why? Perhaps because the sparkling woman is a perpetual tonic. By taking his burdens lightly, she may end by easing them for him. Most men would find such a mate disappointing. They want a grave, quiet, sympathetic woman, who will appreciate their troubles and anxie--1 ties, and hear with a befitting gravity the tale of the day’s heavy doings. If there is any single secret of happy married life, it is this: Give and take.