The Return of Elegance

The nurse who was kissed by an exuberant sailor in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II passed away last week. Greta Zimmer was a 21-year old dental assistant on August 14, 1945, one of thousands of New Yorkers who streamed into the streets when they heard the news that the Emperor of Japan had surrendered unconditionally. Greta didn’t know George Mendonsa before or after “The Kiss,” but she was happy to oblige photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, who asked her to pose with Mendonsa. Greta Zimmer, whose parents died in the Holocaust, later married Dr. Misha Friedman, raised a family, and led a happy life. At age 92, she will be buried next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.

“The Kiss,” became one of the most famous photographs of the World War II era. It effortlessly conveyed the sheer joy of the moment when Americans realized that forty-four months of desperate all-out war were finally over. Looking closely at the photo one can clearly see seven faces in the background, all of them smiling. And why not? Americans sacrificed mightily during the Second World War — sixteen million served under arms, 300,000 were killed, 400,000 maimed, everyone endured rationing, shortages, heartache and heartbreak. But now all that was finished and here were Greta in her white uniform, George in his navy blues – happy to embrace as strangers because that’s what the day required.

Perhaps she knew that that Tuesday would be the day to mark the end of the war in the Pacific, V-J Day, and perhaps that is why she chose white nurses’ stockings to complete her uniform, elegant stockings possibly made of silk, miles and miles of which had been diverted to make parachutes during the war years, not stockings.  Americans were weary of war with all of its attendant sacrifice and worry and loss and bitterness – it was time re-establish the outward display of a strong and confident society. White silk stockings, seams perfectly straight — almost naughty after so many years of doing without. In a word, elegance.

U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan for fifteen years, four times longer than we fought in World War II. Those sharp, brittle days of all-out war that were fought by one-and-all, home and abroad, soldier and civilian for a known and worthwhile cause have been supplanted by our current struggle, which continues to slog on to no purpose whatsoever; ruinously mismanaged by a succession of mendacious, capricious politicians.

The corrosive effect on a land like ours can be seen in the morals and manners of our people — how we treat one another, how they treat us.   Elegance is a state of mind, not a piece of legislation. Some folks get it, some folks don’t, but we all know we want it and our country needs it. Fred Astaire, who starred with Cyd Charisse in the 1957 film, “Silk Stockings,” once averred, “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”

The coming election features a couple of spent old duffers who once had a few manners but sold them to the highest bidder long ago. Elegance is not on the debate menu this time around. Pity. I’m told that silk stockings will never return to the ladies’ fashion scene, either, for a variety of reasons. That’s a pity, too.

And, it’s a pity that neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Trump possesses even a molecule of style or grace or, well, elegance. Despite owning great wealth, which can certainly be one requisite to getting into the neighborhood, neither seems bothered by the coarseness of the current campaign. We have never loved the words and braggadocio that Donald has used to get this far, his rough and tumble union boss bluster, unrelenting self aggrandizement, the attack rooster strutting, the shouts, sneers and snubs — right on platform, wrong on delivery. And Hillary? Can America abide for much longer that cornpone hillbilly accent that spills out whenever she steps into a black church, or the frenetic shrieking in an unknown key to punctuate outrage at the Donald, the absence of any recognition or remorse that the lies she tells in every sentence are just plain wrong?

One of these two will be elected. Americans will vote based on very important considerations, of course, and “elegance” won’t be one of them.

However, if it were, consider this:

Hillary, if elected, will bring along Bill, Chelsea, and the whole pack of new/old progressives. What could go wrong?

Donald, if elected, will bring along a family of fresh, accomplished achievers. They don’t need money, they posses most of the world’s supply already, so maybe, just maybe, they will try something new.

Here’s a suggestion. If Trump is elected, how about replacing the PC police with the Elegance police? And the first Chief of that department?

Ivanka Trump.