Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-06-20
THE DRESSING ROOM.
Great Actresses and Singers Prepar.
ing for the Stage.

To me there is no particular spot in
that unknown region behind the foot
lights toward which my thoughts turn
with greater curiosity than the dress
ing roHm of the star, and l think this
is true of most women who entertain
any interest in the dramatic art. This
curiosity is even shared by the first
lady i'll the land. who, l am informed.
visited the dresslng-room OF a great
artist during her engagement at one o (
the principal theaters OF Washington.
Marie RoZe was the one who first in
vited me to her dressing room while
she was dressing. AS every one
knows, she Is a most beautiful woman,
and when, III response to her hus-
bands knock, she had the door opened
for me to enter, as she stood with a
bright red shawl thrown over her bare
shoulder and arms, L thought she was
more beautiful than on the stage,
writes lady to the Chicago Nail.
She is known as a woman of lovely
disposition. and, unlike most siugers,
not at all given to small vanities and
large iealousies. When her husband
had gone she threw off her shawl, and
without apology or comment went on
with her dressing.
Her arms and neck were perfectly
bare, as for the next scene her dress of
Grecian drapery required that not even
a band should cover her shapely arm,
and to be able to use her arms unre-
stricted she was obliged to finish her
couture without more dressing, and as
her white hands cleaned In her dark
hair and the pretty mouth rolled out In
soft Partisan accent her native Ian
guage. could not but think that the
enhancing picture she made was that
much more striking in that she was
utterly unconscious Of her charms.
The most deliberate, quiet dresser Is
Genevieve Ward, and one of the most
independent. Accustomed all her life
to maid. she calls upon one in the
dressing room scarcely at all, and
leaves her little to do but pack her
costumes when she is through with
them. One evening | spent all the
time between the acts in her dressing
room and marveled more and more as
! watched her dress and make up.
She is so deliberate, yet so quick; she
never makes a movement that is not
necessary.
The superb Worth costumes were all
made without a Thalebone, and all
worn over what women will recognize
as baby waist.
She never wears her dresses low in
the neck or the sleeves so short that
she needs to tuck away the sleeves OF
her underwear. as many are obliged
to do.
GenevIeve Ward has a peculiar
method OF making up her face. When
| she is all dressed for the next scene
she sits down at the dressing table
CT shelf dignilied with that name-and
| puts lighted IcaudIe beneath her face.
Where the shadows come she darkenS
| her face, and in a few seconds and
with a few strokes she fs made up. In
putting her hair up or in fastening hel
wig her fingers seem scarcely to touch
her head, and her dressing is done.
Another independent, almost indiff.
erent dresser is Minnie Madden. She
waits on herself, even to pulling on her
| stockings and shoes after she is dressed.
| Her dresses are what most women
would call ''frightfully loose" but they
might well initiate her in that respect
if at the same time they could acquire
her grace of movement.
She snatcheS her pretty hair IN her
two hands. rams hairpin on each
oluc. anu Illcu pullS away dJ IL
savagely, and loI her hair is dressed
in her odd, yet becoming style.
The most characteristic, interesting
person in her dressing-room is, per
haps, of all L have known, Emma Alb
bott. If there is one place more than
another where this little woman is at
home and altogether her enthusiastic
self, it IS in her dressing-Toom.
You can always count on her burst
ing out into trill or cadenZa at any
instant in her dressing, and that seems
the one thing that never detalns her or
causes break in her thoughts and at
tentioH.
She never needs to make up for
shoulders or arms; when she tucks the
possibly rebellious bands of her under
garment in her corset or gets ready for
a boys costume there is no woman
living could resist the temptation to
pinch her arm; they are more like a
baby's IN color than woman s and are
as smooth as marble.
She has all her undercIothes made
after ideas of her own, so that when
she is reduced to two garments and is
ready for her boys costume in "Mig-
nOn," she is perfectly modest in her APP
pearance, although her neck and arms
and marble-like bust are bare.