Selene Mahri

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Information from https://classic.esquire.com/article/1943/5/1/american-beauties-eastern-style website Updated: 2001

The face and fortune of Selene Mahri

SELENE MAHRI came to this country from Sweden for a three months’ visit and has now been here forty-four. Of the various reasons for this extended tour, the most obvious is that she couldn’t return to Stockholm if she wanted to. And besides, she is daffy about the USA

For the first two years Miss Mahri devoted herself to the study of the English language and kindred subjects. But being strikingly beautiful, and never having suffered from an inferiority complex, she soon branched out. After winning a few minor league beauty contests and modeling for fashion shows, she hit the jackpot in 1942 when she won the title of "Miss New York". Only her alien status prevented her from going to Atlantic City for an excellent chance at the "Miss America" title.

By that time John Robert Powers had made a place for Miss Mahri in his top drawer of models, and she has been kept much busier than she originally bargained for. She is frequently asked as an Iceland lass to illustrate the kind of girl Johnny Doughboy will meet up with in Reykjavik, which is a nice lift for military morale, to say the least. When the War is over she intends to sail back to Sweden for a visit and make up her mind once and for all which country she wants to live in.

Miss Mahri on Men: “I’m dying to meet Rhett Butler in real life. He was so bold and so sure of himself. Most men are too introverted and too reserved. Why should they be afraid to swagger once in a while? I like dark men best, partly because they’re a novelty to me but mostly because I find them more colorful than blonds. In contrast with Swedish men, Americans are much more preoccupied with sex. Somehow they manage to be risqué not only in their conversation but even in the way they look at you. On the other hand, they are more active and adventurous than the men I knew in Sweden. But what I can’t stand is a man who takes you to an expensive place to make a big impression and then tries to make up for it by economizing on you.”