Thinking of this stuff and looking at these pictures, I'm reminded that "beautiful" as an objective, aesthetic view doesn't do much for me; it's "objectivity" masking unavoidable cultural presumptions. A high-breasted Dahomey woman with "thick" lips, "flat" nose, and regal bearing will never make the cut. My nominees for "most beautiful" women would all be ones with "It," a kind of transfigured sex appeal. It was not beauty but an intangible that created beauty, a sense that you were looking at a challenging, interesting, and sensual human being rather than a well-formed squirrel. Some of these women have it. Bacall had it, and both Hepburns in quite opposite ways. Lamarr had it a bit, and Shannon Doherty, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and Carmen Electra couldn't find it with a metal detector and a bloodhound. Interesting, and telling, that the non-Americans above generally have it, and American beauties, refugees from our Puritanism, which remains what it is even inside out, do not. For most of the current American beauties, "sexy" means available, communicated by a clothed beaver and a CFM grin on the verge of drooling, rather than the potential for sensual pleasure telegraphed by, say, Hedy Lamarr's eyes. They learned the craft of sex and never noticed there was art. Even the great prostitutes of history were not remembered for their pneumatic orifices, gals. And yes, beauty is about sex; face it. Helen Mirren, Ellen Barkin, Buffy Ste. Marie, and the goddess, Marilyn Monroe, who could step through the camera lens into any room where you were. I dunno who Meredith Salenger is, but I'm in love. M