Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-03-14
Masks and Costumes.

hC Use VI HubSkS lOT DdllS ana VdTl-
Gus social festivities. q dealer in masks
and costumes said. ''has steadily In
creased during the past few years. Not
many years ago it was confined in this
country to few German societies in
large cities and towns. Now, however,
there is scarcelya village making any
pretensions TO modern social customs
which does not have one or more
masquerade balls during the winter
season. The masquerade ball season
begins just after the holidays, and is
kept up the greater part of the winter.
''Where do masks come from? A few
are made in this country, but the
largest number are imported from
France and Germany. The production
is so cheap i'm those countries that they
haze practically the monopoly. for even
with duty of forty-Eve per cent. added
nobody in this country has ever been
able successfully to compete with
France and Germany in making mss Is.
You sec. there's no money in them. and
they can DC mad pro;tably ONLY where
labor Is very cheap. A tOlerab'y good
mask can be hough. for one cent. To
bc SURE. spectators frequently buy the
privilege Of selling masks at balls, and
charge as high as Seventy-fye cents for
an ordinary paper mask, but the same
mask could be bought OF dealer for
twenty-five cents.
1.-The making OF n mask is not such a
simple matter rs it seems to be. OF
course the principal things used in its
construction are ordinary paper and a
plaster of Paris or composition mold.
In making half masks-that is, masks
which simply cover the face-the labor
is very small, compared with the con-
struclion of the fuil-head masks, which
cover the whole facc and head of the
wearer and rest on the shoulders The
paper is placed on the mould in LAYERS
until the required thickness is attained.
The mods are made b.. class of
artists who make q specially of this
work. They are usually made from
photographs of subjects. many Of which
are indicated by the dealer when he
orders from the manufacturer. The
large full-hcad m lslss re ,uire series OF
mods, each form ng "a part of a sub
ject. When all the parts of a mask are
completed. they are all joined together
In such a way as To conceal the places
where the parts are Join d.
'MaSks have not changed in general
character for the past titty.years. Each
season the variety is increased by the
representation of some character not
shown before. usually a caricature Of
some prominent person, or true like
ness of some foreign or American nota-
bilitv, or some very odd or grotcsque
subject borrowed from the animal
LII
ing Pope Leo Kill, Napoleon, Bis
marck, Kaiser Wilhelm, the CrOwI
Prin g, Beecher. Ben Butler, General
Grant, Blaine, Conkling. President Ar
thur. Carl Schurz aud others. Among
the newest masks this season are those
representing John Kelly, Peter Cooper
and Talmage. The general line con
s:sts of masks representing old women
young women, fat babies, the typica
| Irish, Iutch, Yankee, English, Negro
| and Chinese characters, Kings. Queens
| harlequ Ms, clowns, Santa Claus, etc
Then. we have masks with movable
jaws, w.nking masks, masks repre-
| sent.ng bears, wolves, monkeys
cats, dogs, frogs, and almost
( every other kind of animal. Many
masks are made to order for the wear
ers. A large demand for masks arises
| from their use for amateur theatrical
/ purposes. Cos: umes are made mp w til
J them, representing the various charac.
| tiers IN Sl.akcspcarean and ether play:
| OF historical or Scr.ptural character
| We have make-ups' OF Booth, Jeilcr
son. Raymond, Emmett, Sarah Bern
| hardt, and other famous actors anC
a;trcsSeS as they appear in their re
| spective master pieces. MaSguerad,
costumes vary greatly, according TO the
| tastes of each articular individual anC
the prevailing fashion in dress. Ere
| Iuently, when n historical costume i:
Chosen. il is used as a sort of groun l
work, and modified or elaborated by u.
in any way the fancy Of the wearcr may
dictate. In choosing historical cos
TUNES, n general rule, gentlemen sd
here closely TO the style of the original
Ladies', on the contrary, want the cos
tune modified according to the prevail
ing fashion. For instance, if il is thu
fashion to wear puflS on the side, or j
sasheS are worn. the gentle sex want
! the style in Their mas yuerade costumes
If gentleman. however. orders n COS
tune worn three hundred years ago, h,
sticks to IL. 1t is funny. but il is 50
Most costumes are simply fantastic with
out regard To any of the historical
styles shown in the earlier times. Cos
tunes are in many eases made to order
but generally they are hired for specia
occasions from regular costumers, who
keep great variety of STYLES on hand
Often costumes are made To order for
| special occasion, and taken hack bV tho
costumer afterward and hired by les.
fashionable people for other occasions
] Formerly masquerade suits wer,
trimmed with fancy braids and ribbons
now they are embroidered in the mos
exre lsive manner. There Is scare ly
any limit 10 their cost. That depend.
on the richness of the material, styl,
and the character of ornamantation.
have known wealthy society lady t.
pay rs high "a five hundred dollars for
masquerade suit. Even that figure i
often exceeded ~. T. san.
|