BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
By OLIVENE GODFREY
A beautiful movie, "The Enchanted Cottage", has always been one of my very favorite movies. It was based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero and was adapted to the silent screen in 1924 as a timely story involving physical and emotional disabilities following the First World War. The 1945 version which I saw that year was an updated World War 11 version set in New England.
Besides the fact that the movie tells a beautiful love story, I remember being impressed with the theme of the movie, which is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A soldier who had been altered by his wounds and a girl who by the world's standards was not attractive fall in love. And because of their deep love for each other they see beyond the scars and know each other for what they really are. In the film they appear to each other pictorially as they look to each other, beautiful and unscarred, W.S. Gilbert said, "Things are seldom what they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream." True beauty must come from the inside, not from cosmetics.
I think most young girls are naturally attractive. But the beauty of youth is a fragile thing that can fade like the color of a rose. If the young girl's beauty isn't replaced with a loveliness that comes from within her, artificial aids cannot mask an inner ugliness of mind and heart. And that young fellah you thought so handsome back in high school or college, what happened to him? Did he continue to grow as a person? And what about the homely brainy youth? Maybe you recognize him now as a distinguished, happy, successful man. Well, of course, not all people who are blessed with natural good looks, become gloomy, unattractive people as they grow older. But, it's wise to remember these words by Reznikoff: "The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly."
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A successful author once complained to Mark Twain that he was losing his confidence to write, and asked if Twain ever suffered from the feeling. Twain replied, "Once after I had been writing for 15 years, it suddenly dawned on me that I had no talent for writing. But, what could I do? By then I was already famous."
See you next time.
By OLIVENE GODFREY
A beautiful movie, "The Enchanted Cottage", has always been one of my very favorite movies. It was based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero and was adapted to the silent screen in 1924 as a timely story involving physical and emotional disabilities following the First World War. The 1945 version which I saw that year was an updated World War 11 version set in New England.
Besides the fact that the movie tells a beautiful love story, I remember being impressed with the theme of the movie, which is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A soldier who had been altered by his wounds and a girl who by the world's standards was not attractive fall in love. And because of their deep love for each other they see beyond the scars and know each other for what they really are. In the film they appear to each other pictorially as they look to each other, beautiful and unscarred, W.S. Gilbert said, "Things are seldom what they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream." True beauty must come from the inside, not from cosmetics.
I think most young girls are naturally attractive. But the beauty of youth is a fragile thing that can fade like the color of a rose. If the young girl's beauty isn't replaced with a loveliness that comes from within her, artificial aids cannot mask an inner ugliness of mind and heart. And that young fellah you thought so handsome back in high school or college, what happened to him? Did he continue to grow as a person? And what about the homely brainy youth? Maybe you recognize him now as a distinguished, happy, successful man. Well, of course, not all people who are blessed with natural good looks, become gloomy, unattractive people as they grow older. But, it's wise to remember these words by Reznikoff: "The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly."
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A successful author once complained to Mark Twain that he was losing his confidence to write, and asked if Twain ever suffered from the feeling. Twain replied, "Once after I had been writing for 15 years, it suddenly dawned on me that I had no talent for writing. But, what could I do? By then I was already famous."
See you next time.
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