The Brookhaven leader., 1885-09-10
Masks and Costumes.


Gus social festiv ties. dealer in masks
and costumes said. has steadily in
creased during the past few years. Not
many years ago It was con mel in this
country to a few German Sprieties in
large cities and towns. Now, howeS or,
there is scarcely n village making any
pretensions to modern social customs
which does not have On or more
masquerade balls during the winter
season. Tn mas ucradc buil season
begins ust after the holidays, and i
kept up ti.G Z eater part OF the winter.
'Whe" do masks come from? 4 few
are made in this country. but the
largest number are imported from
France and Germany. The production
is 80 cheap in those countries that they
haze practically the monopoly, for eve ,
with duty of f0riy-iiSe per cent. added
nobody in this country has ever been
able successfully to CorDcte With
France AMI Germany in making masks.
You see, there no money IN them. and
,hcy can be made pro tab = only where
labor is very cheap. A tolerably good
mask can be bought for one cent. To
be sure, spectators frequently buy the
privilege of selling masks at balls, and
charge as high as seventy-tive cents fol
all ordinary paper mask, but the same
mask could be bought OF dealer fol
twenty-five cents.
The making of mask is not such g
simple matter as it seems to be. Oi
course the principal things used in its
construction are ordinary paper and =
plaster of Paris or composition mold.
In making half maSks-that is. masks
which simply cover the facc-the labor
is very small. compared with the con.
strucion of the full-head masks, which
cover the whole fa2e and head of the
wearer and rest on the shoulders. The
paper is placed on the mould in layer.
until the required thickness is attained
The mo ds are made b, n class OF
artists who make Il specially of this
work. They are usu1lly made from
photographs of sub jects, many If which
are indicated by the dealer when he
orders from the ma 1ufacturer. The
large full-head m SKIS re uire \ series Oi
molds, each forming part OF sub
ject. When all the arts of a mask are
completed. they are all joined together
in such way as to conceal the places
where the parts are DIN q.
MASKS have not changed in general
character for the past fi,ty vas. Each
season the variety is increased by the
representation of some character moi
shown before. usua ly carcature OF
some prominent person, or a true like.
ness of some foreign or American nota-
bilitv, or some very odd or grotesque
subject borrowed from the animal
Kingdom. We have masks represent
ing Pope Leo MIL, Napoleon, Bis,
marck, Kaiser Wilhelm, the Crowr
Prin e, Beecher, Ben Butler, General
Grant, Blaine, Conkling. President Ar.
thur, Carl Schurz aud others. Among
the newest masks !his season are t oSe
representing John Kelly, Peter Cooper
and Talma.e. The gene al line con-
sists OF masks representing old women.
young women. fat babies, the typical
Irish, | utch, Yankee, English, Negro
and Chinese characters, Kings. Queens,
harlequins, clowns, Santa Claus. etc.
Then we have masks with movable
jaws, wnking masks, masks repre-
sent ny 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. Costumes are made up with
them, representing the various charac-
ters in ShakespearGan and otner plays
of historical or scr plural character.
We have make-ups' of Booth, ,ietfer-
son, Raymond. Emmett. Sarah Bern
lardt, AMI other famous actors and
actresses as they appear in their re-
spective masterpieces. Masquerade
costumes vary greatly, according to the
tastes of ca h particular individual and
the prevailing fashion in dress. Fre-
quently. when q historical costume is
chosen, it is used aS a sort of groun l.
work. and mod ed or elaborated by us
in any way the fancy Of the W, arer may
dictate. In choosing historical cos
TUNES, as a general rule, gentlemen adj
here CLOSELY to the style of the original.
Ladies, on the contrary, want the cos
tune modified accord ng to the prevail
ing fashion. For instance. if it is the
fashion to wear putfs on the side. or if
sashes are worn. the gentle sex want
the style in the mas lucrade costum
II a gentleman. however. orders cos
tune worn three hundred years ago, he
sticks to it. 1t is funny. but it is 50.
Most costumes are simply fantastic with
out regard to any of the historical
styles shown in the earlier tim ,s. Cos
tunes are in many cases made to order,
but generally they are hired for special
occasions from regular costumerS. who
keep great variety of styles on hand.
Often costumes are made To order for q
special occasion, and taken back by the
cOstumer afterward and hired by les.
fashionable people for other occasions.
Formerly masquerade suits were
trimmed with fancy braids and ribbons:
now they are embroidered in the mn-t
exre Isive manner. There is scarce -
any limit to their cost. That depends
on the richness of the material, style
and the character of ornamentation. I
have known a wealthy society lady to
pay as high as five hundred dollars for n
masquerade suit. Even that figure is
often exceeded ~ y Sun.
AtmOst Inc -ed ihie