Cary Grant has captivated movie goers for many decades. He usually was cast as a man-about-town— well-heeled and erudite, never losing his cool and somewhat quizzical demeanor. The dialogue he recited included easy banter and he seemed comfortable in any social situation.
Make a few notes of your impressions. Have a look at the the holistic category and the basic indicators category and see what you find.
Be alert to anything that jumps out at you. Study the letter, word and line spacing. How about his thinking pattern? The zone emphasis will tell you more.
I will return and add some thoughts about him later.
First some comments by Cary Grant himself from his autobiography, Archie Leach.
My family name is Leach. To which, at my christening, was added Archibald Alexander, with no opportunity for me to protest. For more than half my fifty-eight years I have cautiously peered from behind the facade of a man known as Cary Grant. The protection of that facade proved both an advantage and a disadvantage. If I couldn't clearly see out, how could anyone see in?
I was born in the provincial city of Bristol, England, but have avidly frequented the brightest capitals of the world ever since, and now keep a permanent residence in the so-called, through misnamed, glamour capital of Hollywood.
I had no sisters, was separated from my mother when I was nine years old, was stammeringly shy in the presence of girls; yet have married three times and found myself making love on the screen -- in public, mind you, in front of millions of people -- to such fascinating women as Ingrid Bergman, Doris Day, Mae West, Irene Dunne, Deborah Kerr, Eva Marie Saint, Sophia Loren, Marlene Dietrich and Grace Kelly.
I was an only child, and first saw the light of day -- or rather the dark of night -- around 1:00 a.m. on a cold January morning, in a suburban stone house which, lacking modern heating conveniences, kept only one step ahead of freezing by means of small coal fires in small bedroom fireplaces; and ever since, I've persistently arranged to spend every possible moment where the sun shines warmest. My father made no more than a modest living and we had little money. Yet today I am considered, except among the wealthy, to be wealthy. I received only a sketchy education by most scholastic standards, lacked confidence and the courage to enjoy life, but on the screen seem to have successfully epitomized an informed, capable and happy man. A series of contradictions too evident to be coincidental. Perhaps the original circumstances caused, created and provoked all the others. Perhaps they can all be reconciled into one complete life, my own, as I recall each step that led to each next step and look back on the path of my life from this older and, I trust, more mature viewpoint.
I have spent the greater part of my life fluctuating between Archie Leach and Cary Grant; unsure of either, suspecting each. Only recently have I begun to unify them into one person: the man and boy in me, the hate and the love and all the degrees of each in me, and the power of God in me.
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Elaine Ness, CGA
My comments:
Is this a bold extrovert? Not even close. Note the wide spacing between his words, which tells us he likes to keep his distance. Here is the proverbial, "private person." It would have taken a long time to get to know him.
Other clues about his reserve: his vertical slant, for one. He is not a touchy-feely sort of man, rather he holds back and does not reveal himself easily. Another indicator is the single unlooped downstroke in "cordially"—sometimes referred to as the "loner stroke." (If we had a bigger sample I think we would find more of them.)
By the way, it is common to find such straight strokes interspersed with looped structures within a sample of writing. The meaning is that the writer is comfortable with being alone at least some of the time and may even savor and need to be. (Writers who show nothing but big loops in the lower zone often feel lonely when they are forced to spend long periods alone. They will call, e-mail or find a way to have personal contact when they feel restless.)
Back to Cary: his frequent dashes are unique. They may suggest caution in making the next move (caution usually shows in elongated endings on words) because such a filler slows down action, even in writing. Gives a momentary pause on paper, which stems from the mind's signal.)
His goals are strong and so he asks a lot of himself. Look at the height and strength of those t bars! He had good self-confidence, which was a spur to his ambition to succeed.
Did you spot the large buckle on the letter k? Another person here with defiance; something I often see in the handwriting of people who have had to fight hard for their rights. Note the one inflexible entrance stroke, "we" which suggests he was stewing on some unresolved issue.
A couple of t bars that are bent downward at the ends; one of them is a very strong stroke. That sort of t bar indicates self-control. It is literally a bending of the will. Was he always needing to watch his weight or his tongue or?? We can't tell what he was trying to control but there must have been something.
His curious habit of making a break in his lower loops is intriguing. Recall that loops indicate imagination so they must be completed and return to the baseline to be usuable in the real world. Not sure what it indicates in his case. He does show good follow-through, which is found in the lower descenders. (The longer they go and the stronger the stroke the firmer the determination to finish a project.) His are long when we consider that they go a respectable distance before the break shows up. (The length is measured in proportion to the height average of the middle zone letters.) He hung in there. He sure made a lot of movies.
Cary Grant's signature is hard to decipher. He either got tired of writing his name and/or he really didn't want to have people know him all that well. The rest of his writing is quite legible.
One more trait shows up that could cast some light on his reserved nature. See the two sets of the double l letters? the second l is higher in both instances, which indicates self-consciousness. Not extreme but enough to tell us in certain situations he was not all that comfortable. His natural reserve would emphasize that. Friendly, yes, but still holding back. (Wonder what his wives would have said. He was married and divorced several times.)
He intimated he did not know himself well and his handwriting supports that conclusion, given the erratic size of his middle zone letters and thinking that was more curious than probing. He may have been somewhat introspective but he never quite figured out who he was. As he put it, he formed an image and fulfilled the prophecy.
This is a complex and fascinating man we could discuss for pages. He will entertain us for a long time to come.
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