The Irene Dunne Site
GIRLS, gather round while I introduce you to on Hollywood charmer whose appeal to men is the kind that every girl secretly longs to have - and is is likely to be permament. She isn't a devastating blonde, tightly gowned with a come-hither look in her eye. Her dark hair is as natural as her manners, and she has had neither a spectacular romance nor a single fit of temperament chalked up against her record. When it comes to popularity with the masculine portion of Hollywood, Irene Dunne wins without a struggle.
It is form the men and women who are with a star during her working hours that you may expect a genuine appraisal. She is not on parade then. Indeed, she may be forgiven for showing the least pleasant side of her personality. Nerves grow taut from emotional strain. The blazing lights exact a terrific toll of strength and energy. Courtesy and consideration for others demands a distinct effort. And Irene Dunne always had friendly words for everyone around her, from director to the lowliest scene-shifter. And men have a way, just as women do, of cherishing gestures of thoughtfulness.
Fellow-workers will tell you dozens of stories to illustrate this trait in Irene Dunne. The one I liked best concerns an eletrician who worked on one of her pictures.
This man has a small daughter who must spend long months of each year in a sanitarium, trying to while away the endless days until seasonal atmospheric changes make it possible for her to return to Mother and Daddy. Miss Dunne happened to overhear the father discussing his little domestic tragedy with a fellow workman, and inquired into it. Now the lonely mite receives frequent notes and carefully selected gifts in an attempt to lessen the weariness of her lot. Of course, any star might duplicate the presents. They represent no great effort. But the personally written letters would be missing in most cases. They are a typically Dunne touch. Nor would anyone know about either letters of gifts, but for the grateful father.
I knew a young chap employed with the studio unit that produced Cimarron, Miss Dunne's first screen success. A very sophisticated nineteen, he would, one imagined, admire a more flamboyant type. But he immediately fell victim to the well-bred charms of the fair Kentuckian, and she still represents an ideal of feminine loveliness to him.
You never hear of this particular star having contract trouble. Yet she has just talked her home studio into an agreement to let her make two pictures for other companies before completing the balance of her contract with RKO. (They will be The Magnificent Obsession and Show Boat, both for Universal) Irene Dunne usually gets what she wants, and without the assistance of pyrotechnics. She marshals her arguments - then prefaces their presentation by saying "Don't you think?" instead of "I insist upon."
Two new Dunne evening gowns; (left) yellow taffeta, with wing shoulders and a draped skirt; (right) white crepe ornamented only with a gold belt
NOT long ago I was one of a group that included a rising young ingènue, pretty and ambitious, who complained of the matter-of-fact manner in which men treated woman nowadays. A newspaperman took up the cudgels for his sex. For years, he said, women have been crying for equal rights - single standards. Well, they seem to have acquired them. Why try to evade the inevitable consequences?
"But," the young actress protested "can't a girl meet men on a equal footing in the business professional world, yet remain a lady a rightly expect to be treated as one?"
"She could," the newspaperman agreed, "but too many women don't. My principal complaint is against the girl who thinks it's smart to outdrink, outsmoke and outswear her male companions - and still expects to be wrapped in the same brand of cotton-wool that protected the sensibilities of her grand-mother, if it becomes desirable."
He mentioned a famous beauty, notorious for a vocubulary that would bring blushes to the cheeks of any irate truck driver.
"Can you imagine treating her as a lady?"
Another man spoke up. "Can you imagine not treating Irene Dunne like one?"
"That just goes to prove my point," the reporter contented. "Irene Dunne has never lost the qualities that awaken gallantry in a man. And," he turned to the pretty youngster who had precipitated the discussion, "you girls who want careers and still hope for a full measure of personal happiness would do much better to pattern yourselves after her, than after some of the more spectacular women you try to imitate."
I couldn't resist telling Irene Dunne about this conversation.
"YOU'RE sure he meant it as a compliment?" she laughed. "You see, some of my friends think I should develop - or at least pretend - a gayer and giddier personality than my own. They believe it would make me more colorful.
"Nowm I'm not naive. I know the words that are supposed to blister ears. When someone wants to use them, I'm not shocked. But it just happens that I've always found it possible to express myself without their assistance.
"I like parties - late ones, too. When I'm in New York (and I've just returned from there), my husband and I have an active social life. And when Dr. Griffin visits me out here, we do a fair amout of gadding about. But when I'm working on a picture, I lead a pretty quiet life. After a long day at the studio, a hot bath and a comfortable bed seem about all I would wish for if I had Aladdin's lamp."
The transcontinental marriage of Irene Dunne and Dr. Francis Griffin has been described too often to merit discussion here, other than to mention the genuine affection that appears to exist between them.
When you consider the way in which she bowls over men in general, plus the lengthy seperations from her husband, it lends importance to the fact that no hint of romantic gossip has ever
attached itself to the name of Irene Dunne. If you have any idea of what a slight basis is necessary for romantic gossip in Hollywood, you will appreciate the compliment to Miss Dunne's dignity
and good taste that this represents. Nor is she a recluse in her husband's absence. Her name appears on the guest list of filmland's more conservative hostesses. And she is frequently seen on
golf links, usually with eager escorts.
WE ALL have heard women alibi lack of interest in sports stating that "men don't like athletic women." The lovely Irene Dunne is evidence that this is a choice bit of the
well-known delicatessen stand-by. She golfs, she swims, she rides - yet, all the men I know who are Dunne devotees seem to be most impressed by her utter femininity.
In a plaid skirt, navy blue twin sweaters, flat-heeled oxfords and a felt hat unadorned except for a grosgrain band, she can achieve a greater air of daintiness and allure than most of us could manage in a trailing velvet tea gown. This is partly due to such gifts of the gods as a porcelain complexion, slender curves, limpid blue eyes and a voice that has never lost its Southern softness.
However, age is bound to do things to even such authentic beauty as Irene Dunne possesses. A network of lines will etch its pattern on her delicate skin. Her eyes will dim, her svelte lines disappear. And when that time comes, I'll wager that you will find faithful cavaliers still paying homage to this lady's charm and intense femininity.
What men think Woman should be, at her loveliest, she is - wise, witty, kind, companionable, understanding, gently dignified. Men, the darlings, are mostly idealists. And Irene Dunne gives them something to idealize.
(Movie Classic, September 1935)