WHAT IS AN “OOMPH GIRL?,’

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21529, 16 December 1939, Page 16

WHAT IS AN “OOMPH GIRL?,’

EVEN ANN SHERIDAN HERSELF DOES NOT KNOW You won’t find it in the dictionary., it isn’t mentioned in any of the more recent compendiums of American slang and even Ann Sheridan herself can’t tell you the meaning of that curiously coarse sobriquet which has been ungenerously wished on her, the “oomph girl,” writes Bosley Crowther in the “New York Times.” Some crude persons might suspect that the phrase has a secular connotation which is not to be confused with the sterling qualities of her mind. On that subject, naturally, Miss Sheridan wouldn’t be wishing to talk. Others of a more sceptical turn might detect the suspicious spoor of a publicity agent in the vicinity. Again Miss Sheridan wouldn’t be sure. All she knows is that she’s got it!

There is really something rather tragic about poor Miss Sheridan and her ■■oomph,” whatever it is. Here she

i was, working along like any other selfrespecting actress last winter, when somebody at the Warner studio came up to her on the set one day and asked her how she would like to be the guest of honour at a party that night. She allowed as how she would, but why. Then the fellow blandly said, “You’re going to be the oomph girl.” Well, that kind of took her aback, even though she had once studied at the Texas State Teachers’ College and knew most of the words. But, being an obliging young lady and willing to try anything once, she graciously accepted the honour. That evening she attended the dinner as the guest of some two dozen males—the nominating committee, it appeared—and thereupon received the designation which she has bravely borne from that day unto this. Becomes Glamour Girl And what has the consequence been? From the modest position of a promising and personable starlet recognised chiefly for her work in “Angels With Dirty Faces,” Miss Sheridan suddenly became a sixteencylinder glamour girl. Of course, her subsequent performances in “Dodge City” and “Indianapolis Speedway” may have had something to do with it (and shame to the scoundrel who would say nay), but there is reason to believe that the public was truly captured by that five-letter grunt.

And thus we had Miss Sheridan, among the ranking female stars at Warners now, rolling into New York for her first /.sit to the little town with one of the loudest fanfares of

publicity that any conquering heroine has ever received. On the way east from Hollywood she had been daily reported hereabouts by cryptic messages from paid informers, such as “Sheridan 2.610 miles away”—which was, of course, another uncouth liberty taken by the publicity agents, just because her name also happened to be that of General Phil, who made the famous horseback ride. And at Grand Central Station she was met by 1,000 or more shrilling fans, all of them curious about that “oomph.”

The Same Answer So, naturally, were the persons whose privilege it was to inquire. But to all Miss Sheridan gave the same answer—" What is it? I haven’t the slightest idea.” And just from the way she said it, one could gather it was wise to lay off. In fact, there Is reason to believe that “oomph” has gone far enough and that, still undefined, it Is now hopefully headed toward the discard. Miss Sheridan, who was formerly wont to appear in attire which put a premium on good eyesight, arrived in New York in a mink coat, beneath which she wore a quite simple and unostentatious black dress. She was wearing dark things almost exclusively, according to casual report, with a leaning toward turbans in headgear. “Regular” Type Indeed, Miss Sheridan Is the type

the boys would general’y be inclined to call "regular.” She is moderately tall, more slender than her pictures suggest, with copper-red hair and a healthy complexion. She’s the sort who moves quickly into a room, talks straight from the shoulder like most Texans, with just the faintest trace of a drawl, and refers frequently to herself as Sheridan. This being her first visit to New York, she hopes to see a lot of the ; city. She wants especially to see “those —what do you call them?—slums.” Having recently completed a picture with John Garfield called “City of Lost Men,” in which she plays a New York gal, she sort of thinks it would be a good idea.