VAMPS OF BOTH SEXES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1929, Page 13

VAMPS OF BOTH SEXES

SYNTHETIC CHARM OF VAMPS. WILLING VICTIMS OF SORCERY. “It sounds a terribly cynical thing to s: y,’ declared Frances Doble, tho wellknown young actress, in the course of an interview, “but the sort of men all women lovo are delightful, unreliable, and every tiling that a really nice man should not be. Good women, charming women, women who ought to know better, and who do know better in rare flashes of clear-sightedness —they arc all the same. The bad man gets them almost every time. He may be graceless, and his principles cither deplorable or conveniently absent; his word not his bond except when it pleases him to keep it, and his heartlessness only’- equalled by tho scheming heartlessness of the female vamp. But all those shortcomings appear to make no difference, and only scorn to add to his attraction for the opposite sex. Women love tho people who cause them the most heart-ache. The nicer and more guileless tho woman, the better she will adore the male creature who plays oh her feelings and susceptibilities and rockets her about from happiness to grief, and then to a return of complete faith, and even to spasms of self-re-proach for having doubted her beloved one’s single-hearted devotion.

WHEN VAMP MEETS VAMP. Of course, I must say there are certain types of women who see through cads—and they are not the nicest and most charming types of femininity. Which seems a pity, but it is an undoubted fact. The cold, scheming type of woman who invariably tries to use everybody as a stepping-stone for her own advancement secs through the male butterfly, and has no use for him. It doos not mean that she is not fascinated ’by his personality at times in her calculating way, but she is very much on her guard, and so is he. •It is' a case of “When Vamp Meets 1 amp! ” Did I once hear somebody say that were were no male vamps. Don’t you believe it. There are plenty of them, ai I I assure you when two of the kind 01 tho opposing sex meet, there’s generally no lovo lost between them. They know too much about each other. That antagonism existing between similar types of men and women probably accounts for tho incongruity of the couples one meets. For instance, where married people are concerned, one often finds that one of tho parties is delightful, while the other is absolutely detestable, and not at all the sympathetic and conge. .al companion ono would imagine the former would have chosen for a life partner.

A reason why the female vamp cannot stand the male variety is because the latter sees through her charm, for we must remember that the vamp’s eharm is carefully built up. A woman may be a vamp by nature, but she won’t succeed unless she weaves a clever web of enchantment around her personality. She is not born with it. It is not inherent in her mental and psychological make-up. Well, the sophisticated, suave male who is her counterpart knows all about that. Ho is familiar with tho whole process. For it is so similar to his own methods of charm tactics.

SYNTHETIC CHARM. As you have undoubtemy noticed, the typical Don Juan never directs his attacks on one of those hundred-per-cent, sirens who would be a match for him at any time. He centres his attention on something sweet and very youthful. Likewise, tho female vamp will focus her attentions on tho helpless man who has had little to do with women on the whole. She makes him believe in her. Sometimes, if he's unfortunate, he will believe in her angelic qualities forever. “Surely,” someone onco told me, “a woman must be born with great charm if she can always hold or bring back a man ?” But that does not follow. There aro two kinds of charm, yju see. There is real charm, tho magnetic attraction born in a woman, and there is synthetic charm, which, as its name implies, is acquired after careful study. 1 have often noticed that when a male vamp falls witli a flop, he never falls for tho synthetic charmer, but with the guileless enchantress who was born with her witchery, which is all the more powerful because most of tho time she forgets about it.