FROM BETTY'S LIBRARY

Secrets of Poise, Personality and Model Beauty

By John Robert Powers

 I love vintage books on how to carry yourself like a lady with poise and style. These books are practically non-existent nowadays.  There are books on the market today that somewhat cover charm school like principles, but are mostly geared towards young girls with a few make-up tips and some additional tips on modeling, but in my humble opinion it is mostly fluff and contribute very little to assist a young woman in developing her personality and character. They train girls to be a pretty package with no contents.

In 1923, John Robert Powers, a former actor  founded a modeling agency; The John Robert Powers Agency represented and  trained  many models who went on to successful careers in Hollywood ; among the success  stories included Raquel Welch, Betty Bloomer who became the First Lady of the United States and Grace Kelly who went on to become an Academy Award winning actress and later the princess of Monaco. The training these women  received under his instruction was to teach them to be more than just a pretty face; they were trained how to walk, sit stand, converse and exude personality; training that would prove useful throughout their lives.Although Powers' clientele was overwhelmingly female and to be identified as  a "Powers Girl" was a much sought-after position, the agency also represented several men who went on to fame in the movies such as Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, Clayton Moore, and Tyrone Power.

His book, Secrets of, Poise, Personality, and Model Beauty is a great book to have in your library; it is chuck full of the training and insight that John used to train his models and some of the principles are still utilized at his agency today. Reading through this book, I enjoyed the fact that the very same things I was studying, John probably told Princess Grace in her early days as she trained to be a model and actress. If the training was good enough for Princess Grace, it is good enough for me.

The book  was printed in the early 1960's, this version is out of print, but they have copies listed at Amazon and Alibris ranging from 15 dollars and up. I got mine for a steal  (1 dollar) Don't hate, but get a copy before it's too late!