123315 920.7 T23s 1O96973 Taves Successful women and how they attained success SUCCESSFUL WOMEN SUCCESS'lOTWOMEN How They Attained Success By Isabella Taves YORK, 1943 . P. Dutton and Company, Inc. t 2943, by'E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. d$j, j&ghts Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. FIRST EDITION H No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in con- nection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper or radio broadcast. S. A. JACOBS, THE GOLDEN EAGLE PRESS MOUNT VERNON, N. Y. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction: Successful Women 1 1 Radio Mary Margaret McBride, Columnist 1 7 PHOTO FACING PAGE 32 Bourke- Margaret White, Photographer 32 PHOTO FACING PAGE 32 Helen Actress Hayes, jo PHOTO FACING PAGE 33 Katharine Cornell, Actress 50 PHOTO FACING PAGE 48 i i Cornelia Otis Skinner, Actress & Writer 69 PHOTO FACING PAGE 49 Mary Roberts Rinehart, Writer 79 PHOTO FACING PAGE 96 Writer Kathleen Norris, 79 PHOTO FACING PAGE 96 Margaret Mitchell, Writer 79 PHOTO FACING PAGE 97 . Mary Ellen Chase, Writer 79 PHOTO FACING PAGE 97 Anne Hummert, Radio Executive 96 PHOTO FACING PAGE 112 Jane Crusinberry, Script Writer 96 PHOTO FACING PAGE 112 Valentina, Dress Designer 1 1 5 PHOTO FACING PAGE 113 V go&tents PAGE " Designer . 115 Ugri%:Q*m* "' . I I PHOTO FACING PAGE 1 1 3 Sally Victor, Millinery Designer 133 PHOTO FACING PAGE l6o Dorothy Shaver, Retail Executive 1 4 1 PHOTO FACING PAGE l6l Sara Pennoyer, Retail Executive 141 PHOTO FACING PAGE l6l Gladys Swarthout, Singer 1 60 PHOTO FACING PAGE 49 Ruby Ross Wood, Decorator 1 7 5 PHOTO FACING PAGE IO*O Louise Taylor Davis, Ad Executive 1 88 PHOTO FACING PAGE 176 Katherine Grimm, Secretary^. 202 PHOTO FACING PAGE 176 Judge Dorothy Kenyon, Leewy er 212 PHOTO FACING PAGE 177 ^Connie Guion, Doctor 226 PHOTO FACING PAGE 177 Major Julia Stimson, Registered Nurse 240 PHOTO FACING PAGE 256 Nurse ^Louise Zabriskie, Registered 240 PHOTO FACING PAGE 2j6 Helen Hokinson, Artist ^ 6 1 PHOTO FACING PAGE 257 Susanne Suba, Artist ^ 6 \ PHOTO FACING PAGE 257 vi Contents PAGE Edith Home Economist Barber, 275 PHOTO FACING PAGE 272 Home Economist Mary Barber, 275 PHOTO FACING PAGE 272 Susan Palmer, Restaurant Owner Ella Restaurant Barbour, Owner 293 PHOTO FACING PAGE 273 Aline Rhonie, Flyer PHOTO FACING PAGE 273 Vll SUCCESSFUL WOMEN INTRODUCTION SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IT is HARD TO in these of BELIEVE, days lady vice-presidents and female tycoons, that women doctors were once stoned as that women's in witches; parts the theatre were played by simpering young boys; that women writers, if they had any kind of a strong message, preferred to write under masculine pen-names. It is hard to believe that once upon a time Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, in order to prove her competency as a the lecturer, stepped out on platform in a pair of full-cut knee-length breeches which later bore her name. It incredible seems that, even as recently as a generation ago, women went into business with chips on their shoulders, and that, to get ahead, they became such violent feminists that they, temporarily at least, lost much of their charm. That isn't true today. I think that if I were to list one quality which all truly successful women now have in com- mon, it would be their femininity. They haven't attempted to step over the mangled bodies of men to climb into drivers' seats. They don't in any way want to supplant men in busi- ness. On the contrary, they have succeeded largely because they have brought womanly quickness, sensitivity and understanding to jobs where it was needed. Take Judge Dorothy Kenyon, for example. She didn't become a lawyer to prove to her father and brothers that she as went into law because was just as good a man they. She her love she felt it was a fine place for her womanly talents for and understanding of people, her feminine instinct having the last word, her talent for drama. Judge Kenyon isn't in the least masculine she would be horrified at the thought. II Introduction Take Dorothy Shaver, for another example. She is first vice-president of Lord & Taylor's store in New York. She has countless men working under her. She doesn't pretend to do her job by being a domineering executive. What she does bring to it is a keen feminine imagination, a woman's talent for understanding people and artists and designers and a recognition of what the woman customer wants. Or there is Anne Hummert. As a radio executive, Anne makes an enviable salary the word goes around the powder rooms that she is one of the highest-paid women in America, outside of Hollywood. Mrs. Hummert is pretty, and she is full of soft feminine graces. She dresses exquisitely and, the because she sits securely at top, she doesn't even confine herself to the traditional career girl tailored suits she wears soft wool dresses, the color of her eyes. And bright finger- nails. I could go on and on. My point is that, of the thirty-odd women whom I interviewed for this book, not one of them is a all trying to do man's job. They are successful because they have found a place for their talents as women in the world. It was hard, sometimes, in selecting them, to choose just one outstanding woman in each field. There are so many of them, all fascinating, all working hard, all doing tremendous things and earning upper-bracket salaries. And I could not even attempt to touch all the careers, and the positions, in which women are accomplishing great tasks today. If any girl wants to make her contribution in the world, there are now so many opportunities for her, that she has only to prove her individual ability. It is interesting, too, to see the lives that these new-style career women live. Many of them are married, for big jobs 12 Successful Women children and don't preclude homes these days. In fact, many executives feel women that their double jobs that of being wives and mothers and of being business successes, too correlate and supplement each other. to Any girl starting out work need not feel that she must sacrifice a career to a or vice husband, versa. The helpless, clinging-vine woman is outmoded today. The woman of our is feminine not so in era much her array of pretty graces, as in her depth of understanding, her calm wisdom, her sweetness. is career to That why outstanding women urge girls train for some kind of employment. There are many fields beyond those which require special native talents. Department store work, for example, not only offers splendid business training for the intelligent girl without particular artistic aptitudes but it is fine background and experience for being a wife as well. Home economics and restaurant work offer excellent are talented opportunities for clever girls who principally in home arts. And nurses, obviously, make marvelous wives and mothers. The advice successful career women give frequently, is education whether she is for any girl to get the best possible, planning to be an actress or a doctor, a writer or an artist. Katharine Cornell says that the actress of today must have a complete educational background in order to understand properly the nuances of the characters she is called upon to so far as to interpret. Judge Dorothy Kenyon goes say that, will find if you are planning to go into the professions, you education makes that a liberal non-specialized college you a better lawyer or doctor, or scientist. Even in professions where a like nursing, or department store work, college degree has not been considered necessary in the past, experi- 13 Introduction ence proves that the finer formal education you have, the better your chances for rapid advancement. train a said to "A girl can herself," personnel expert me, "by reading at home, by going to museums, by taking night courses. But whenever she can possibly afford to complete a full college course, I would advise it beyond question. It is so much easier and faster to get your educational background under experts who know how to teach, who know where to send you for information. The four years you spend in college are not wasted time they prepare you better than you dream. For you not only have the opportu- nity and leisure to study you make social contacts and engage in school activities which give you a fine basis for advancement in the business world." She also feels that it is a wise idea for any girl to take stock of herself before she goes out to answer any Help Wanted -female advertisement. "Be prepared to state simply what you can offer. Know your capabilities. Try to figure where you can be most useful. The years which are wasted are those you spend in fruitless experimentation in fields not for you. "You must start in a small way, of course. But try to secure that tiny position in a profession or industry which interests you. Then trust to hard work the luck will take care of itself." Women's place in the world of careers is firmly established today. Even in fields like aviation and medicine, where are still women pioneering for rights, the question is largely one of custom and not of capabilities.