European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse                                We seen them stopping a Model to feel the material from which the gown was Marshall plan for the ladies by make Gever illustration by Bert e. Marsh i an american woman takes a fiver on the subject of the Continental Man apparently a Type in Short Supply in the state women who write to me from  seem to have the idea that am an unquestionable authority. On european men an attitude for which there is practically. No basis in fact Are the French really so Gallant what Are British men like Are any of them different from the americans that last is the clincher. It has a certain Wistful Quality As if my friends hoped there might be a Strain of the Genus male Superior to the one they re used to somewhere in the world. I am inclined to wonder just whammy american friends think a woman s life is like overseas. From the number and variety of their questions i some times suspect that they picture me con stantly surrounded by mustachioed Continental gentlemen in Tail Oats and White gloves who. Kiss Tny hand Waltz me around ballrooms me in sparkling Tiara and billowing skirts of coarse and clandestinely Send me single pal roses at the full of the Taxon. If this is the image my friends Are crazy. What europeans i be met on the male Side Are mostly the rather Ordi nary friends husbands of friends _ friends of my husband and clerks i Paris tailors establishments. Ordinary that is except in one Basic respect they like women1.this is going to be something of. A Shock to my. Friends who have accustomed themselves to men who Don t. A Frenchman recently said to me now Tell me about yourself. Was col lege the happiest period of your life i denied it grimly because i knew what was coming next for most american women it is he said. The never seem to get beyond that  much As i disliked that photographer at the moment i had to admit he was right. American women Are nostalgic about College because it represents the one period in their lives when the native males regard them As desirable it s the courting period the june Moo phase. Once past it the american woman if considered at All is reduce to the status of an averaged poodle whose presence around the House i faintly distasteful but to be tolerated out of a certain sense of humane  Best she. Is conceded the Virtues of a piece of furniture necessary to com. Fort but valuable Only in its place. The wife and Mother Racket is considered just that by most american males a sort of soft touch a free ride a meal ticket. In protest against this attitude some women Chuck the Home body routine for a career of their own. This puts them into direct Competition with their men. Every one resents every one else and the War betwee the sexes becomes a violent fact. Maybe the women Back Home who whether they know it or nol. Are in this trap will be glad to know that the european Man seems to consider Home making and child raising a rather. Special career one he could t handle. A himself. It therefore seems to Merit his admiration this is an endearing Atti tude in a Man. I la stick my neck outland go As far As to say it makes him practically irresistible. As if this weren t enough of an advantage the european male has the. Disturbing Charm of seeming to believe he can get More companionship from a woman than say his dog. He appears o enjoy talking to women he even listens when she talks Back. Get Bunch of european men into the living room and. The conversation does no inevitably Groove itself on business. That would be a refreshing change Formy friends Back Home who Are used to pinning smiles of interest on their face while the men on one Side of the room talk about sales figures. Show me woman an american one who does to know How to keep that smile going while she mentally goes Over her Spring wardrobe or flips pages in Chebook she s been Reading usually wish ing she had it at that moment. Pm not sure that my friends Backhoe care but maybe they la be glad to know that the men Here in Europe Don t regard dressing like a perennial adolescent As the height of sartorial taste. High style checked jackets patterned shirts and blazing socks Are donned in Europe rarely and the Only for Active sports. A Frenchman for example does t seem to feel that he s undressed when he turned out in the evening in an inconspicuously Tai lored dark suit with quiet carefully selected tie and socks. Perhaps the. Chief advantage the european has Over the american male is the former s attitude toward the rugged outdoorsy routine. No one has Ever told him that he has to get out Ofa saturday afternoon and play two rounds of Golf or undergo a couple a brisk hours of handball at the club. No one has Ever told him that if he wants to be a Success in later life he d better at least make second string Quarter Back in College and then go Back every Homecoming Day to wave Pennant and get Boozy in the bleachers with the other old grads. No one inshore has told him Fiat he has to prove his masculinity. This Means that he s left with a Lotof time on his hands and i think my friends Back Home would be reassure to know that he seems to enjoy spend ing it with a woman. I would t want to go so far As to say that it s All this spare time which is responsible for his reputation for being a great Lover but it helps. I have occasionally been tempted to say acidly i confess to the husbands of my friends that the surest Way of proving their Devotion to the women they claim to love is to spend a Little time with them. It s a secret the european Man seems to know instinctively. I have seen him wandering around Paris Art galleries standing Back and admiring the pictures and at the same time admiring the woman he s escorting. He has a Way of seeming to find her distracting As if her charms exceeded those of the Picasso Van Gogh and Matisse on View. I m sure that if my friends could see this they would be considerably though pleasantly shaken. Some of whom at least have succeeded entrapping their husbands or dances in Art galleries by a series of devious and no doubt underhanded methods. It s discouraging for them to find that looking at pictures seems to exhaust the average otherwise rugged an Vitamin stuffed american male. At the end of fifteen minutes he has a Way of asking where the nearest bar is. If my friends Are Wise they give in Tex lore with the men of their Choice the Superior charms of a. Dry  could go on and on with reassurances for my friends. I be seen euro Pean men shopping with their wives and never wearing that Iet s7get-this Over with expression. I be even see them in the salons of parisian Coutou riders clucking interest edly with the womenfolk Over the costumes com paring notes stopping a Model now an then to ask her a question or to feel the material from which her gown is  s a Nice thing to watch. I think it s Nice that no one has Ever told the that being interested in female clothes is  does Europe s male product look self conscious or embarrassed . When i see him he s Apt to be holding her hand whoever she is and listening to the music just As. If this were the Normal Way for a Man tract. I have moments of thinking that he likes music and not just Gene Krupa never having been conditioned to thinking that concert music is essentially feminine and that a fondness for it is to be concealed from the Public like some loathsome disease. As a matter of fact about the Only thing at this Point which would seem to be to his disadvantage so far As my friends Back Home Are concerned is the fact that he s european. That make Shim relatively inaccessible to most american women unless they can All persuade their husbands to take that european tour this coming summer theone he s promised her Ever since they were married that is As soon As Pecan tear himself away from the office. We kind april it inc