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Chronicle (Levin), 16 November 1946, Page 6

The days are fast disappearing when the glamorous girls of the cinema have to stand on boxes (out of camera sight) to romance with the handsome heroes. Somehow they have left off growing sideways to become comfortably tall. It is obvious that the modern development of the feminine form has changed the style in leading ladies, as against the old days when diminutives such as Mary Pickford, Dorothy Gish, Janet Gaynor and others stole the heart of the public while the male lead developed stooping shoulders. Observe tall, stately Ingrid Bergman in "Spellbound." Watch her closely as the tempestuous, wilful, lovely beauty from 'New Orleans in "Saratoga Trunk" with Gary Cooper, about the tallest man in pictures. - ■ . Ingrid doesn't yield to Cooper or Peck or any one else. She looks her man in the eye and they have to be tall to take it. Lauren Bacall has to kick off her shoes to match romantics with Boyer and Bogart. Alexis Smith can rub her cheek against that of Errol Flynn. Then there is Greer Garson, Ginger Rogers,' Loretta Young, Gail Patrick, Lucille .Ball, .Eleanor Parker and many others, each of whora can stretch up to a tall kiss without undue effort or assistance. Of course the tall girls are not stealing the whole show. In the "shorty" class there is Veronica Lake, Merle Oberon, Joan Fontaine, Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino, all less than five foot three. The "tallies" however are in th? majority, and they are making things a lot easier for the gentle • men who have to salute them.