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Another matter which emerges over and over again in all TV meetings is that of trying to act the part we feel we are portraying. This may seem repetitious--I've written about this point many times, but there are some stubborn friends who absolutely refuse to give an inch of ground when it comes to expressing femininity. For the sake of illustration, let's say that one of us is a cowboy by profession. sleeps many a night on the rough earth with his boots on. He knows cattle and horses like the palm of his hand. He rolls his own cigar- ettes and even chews tobacco. The nearest thing to a perfume is the smell of a stable. Let us say that he is a TV. (Although I can't for the life of me imagine such a thing!) He buys TVia from an old ur- anium prospector and, oh joy! he meets other TV's. They invite

him to a meeting and he soon realizes his fears are unfounded. No one will make fun of him. They all understand his lack of experience and are eager to help him. After 3 or 4 sessions, he begins to catch on. He exchanges his horse-hair wig for a good one. He learns make up technique. He buys the right size clothes and shoes. And before you know it, he suddenly proclaims he has reached perfection. From that point on, nobody will ever convince him that nodoby ever reaches perfection--not even the Casablanca travelers often so beautifully endowed by nature.. Do we know any TV's who fit this picture? Quite a few, no?

The rest of the group, who are well aware of the tremendously long road ahead before one can even begin to purr with satisfaction give forth a veritable barrage of subtle and not-so-subtle hints, to no avail. Let's say we are looking at a movie on television. Bette Davis is walking across the screen. One TV says "Gee! doesn't she walk beautifully?" Our cowboy friend agrees most enthusiastically. "She certainly does! " Then comes our hint. "Would you be a doll and bring me a glass of water?" Our friend goes willingly into action. Lumberingly he emerges from the chair, legs apart. The spine is curved forward, the shoulders jump ahead as if they had an important rendevous to keep between two falsies. And the glass of water reaches our hand preceded by the majestic thump thump of pumps which were never designed for such crushing activity. So the subtle hint didn't work. We try a more direct approach. "Look honey, you look terr- ific, but when you walk you remind me of Rommel's tank corps with- drawing from El Alamein." At this point you get either a withering look of annoyance or a meek, hurt look. Most likely you have lost a friend and nobody will ever get you a glass of water. Posture, ges- tures, walk, voice inflection, here are the 4 greatest problems for most TV's. I say they are the greatest because for some unfathomed they are the 4 elements most persistently ignored by the TV's themselves. We stubbornly refuse to see their tremendous, vital im-

reason,

56.