ID# 857:
Marriage announcement of Ruth and Edwin Shawn, union "may produce results of great value to the science of race betterment"
Date:
1922
Pages: (1|2)
Source:
American Philosophical Society, ERO, MSC77,Ser I,box 77

Marriage announcement of Ruth and Edwin Shawn, union &quote;may produce results of great value to the science of race betterment&quote;

[large graphic illustration] [caption] Ruth St. Denis Displaying the Figure Which Is Exciting the Interests of Eugenic Scientists. [caption] Edwin Shawn in the Role of a Greek Faun Which Made Ruth St. Denis Lose Her Heart. [caption]Photo by Otto Sarony Co. [caption](c) By Toloff Evanston, Ill. them, what are likely to be perpetuated if carried by only one parent, and so forth. The logical course is to progress from marriages from which defectives are excluded to those between persons of ideal physique, like Ruth St. Denis and Edwin Shawn. When serious defects have been eradicated from the race there will be only normal persons, and marriages can only take place between such persons. Then the eugenicist will concentrate his attention on pairing off perfect specimens. The intelligent observer may note that there is some disparity between the ages of the two parties to this romance. Eugenic science would not approve of this. Excessive maturity or immaturity in parents has a bad effect on offspring. The ideal age for parenthood is between twenty-five and thirty for a woman, and between thirty and thirty-five for a man. Nevertheless, it is stated that in some cases the excessive youth of one parent is compensated by the maturity of the other. Miss Ruth St. Denis has very interesting and original ideas upon the subject of preserving the health and beauty of the body. "I believe," she said just before her marriage, "that health is mainly a question of right breathing. I believe that every cell was created free and equal and should be given an equal chance. Tight lacing is slavery to the lower portion of the lungs and therefore should be abolished. "I have delved deep into the history of the early Egyptian dances, and I find that while they were [torn off original] express the poetry of motion, their chief aim was to encourage deep breathing. "The Egyptian dancing girl wore hardly any clothes, because she realized that clothes handicap nature. The best garb is no garb. As far as modern convention and Anthony Comstock will allow, I have preserved this phase of Egyptian dance in my presentation. "Personally, I shall put these views into practise off the stage as well as on, and I believe that I shall not only enjoy life more, but shall enjoy more life as result. "I am going to live to be 100 years old, because I refuse to accept the mandates of fashion, which in its utter indifference to comfort and health demands that, women garb themselves in clothes, which, per se, propagate ill health. "My dances are a protest against tight lacing, tight shoes, tight clothes. There is long life in bodily freedom." Mr. Shawn is a disciple of the same system of deep breathing and light clothing. Together they will do their utmost to improve our poor, deformed race.

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