Modern Mechanix: How to Grow a Beard
J. Robert Connor in the October 1956 issue of Mechanix Illustrated on the benefits of growing a beard:
But beard growing isn’t all agony. The number of women who affect distaste for the beard is more than compensated for by those who go for it as cats go for catnip. Two out of five women are unable to contain their enthusiasm. They stare at a beard in joyous fascination; if allowed to they will stroke it as the minutes fly by.
A prominent example of the modern beard-loving woman is Jet MacDonald, wife of William Johnson who appears in the Broadway musical Pipe Dream.” Johnson sports a growth about which Jet says, “It’s soft and warm, like kissing a precious little cocker spaniel.”
Two out of five women: it’s real science!
Also gold from Connor’s piece are his travails in growing a beard (“On the road unknown motorists will pull up alongside your car and give you a savage glare.”), sketches of people with facial hair in the shape of letters from the English alphabet, and manipulated photos of former President Harry Truman with various styles of facial hair. A must-read.