Do You Feel Plain? Watch "Mary, Mary"

 July 11, 2021

I watched a Debbie Reynolds movie called “Mary, Mary” this morning. It was based on a play by the inimitable Jean Kerr.  It was a comedy, but it made an excellent point: That lots of girls who felt plain as adolescents never realized how pretty they had become, and were consequently insecure in their looks and their relationships as adults. It also mentioned husbands who never affirm their wives’ attractiveness, thereby compounding the problem. I was touched at how insightful it was. I think that any girl who feels plain at 13 should watch that movie at age 18.

Two other things about it struck me: First, the shoes that exactly matched Debbie’s dress stirred my secret desire to have matching shoes for each outfit, which always wars with my cheapness and my determination to cut back on conspicuous consumerism.

Second, I wondered how Debbie Reynolds managed to pack so many changes of clothes into a medium-sized suitcase.