Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-05-02
Fat Ladies Of the Stage.
Actresses Whose AYoirdupOis Is a
Great Attraction.
Amelia Summeryille, Carrie Per
kins, Elma Delar0 and Others
Stars Who Don't Like TO be
Stout.

Ayoirdupois has become a des .deratun
upon the stage. There is no middle
| ground. To be thoroughly successful in
the public eye, a woman must be either
very tat or very thin. The thin ones
seem 20 reach the greater emincuoe-
Beruhardt ana Terry, for instance, But,
says the New York Journal, place has
been made for the very plump woman
| that makes her existence necessity of
the drama, There is something so very
/ jolly about an actress Who has been bless
/ ed with perahundance OF adipose It's
sue that her appearance on the stage is
calculated to make an audience laugh,
even 1t she be only an average perform
er. There are certain parts that are not
funny If not performed by very stout
creature-the stouter the better. Take
She mountain mHid "AdoEis,' which gave
| Amelia Summvrvile such reputation
that SHE got rather too large head aud
strove for something thai she has not
reached Her youth, her prettiuess, but
mainly her embuppoint, made her the
talk of the town and positive attraction
IN the entertainment Then she aspred
to something greater aud got thin again;
| but since that time she has not been
sought after Toy managers to the extent
that she anticipated.
And it is that very part in "Adonis" that
| gives Dxey the greatest amount OF
trouble. IL must have a very stout wOm-
an-they are very scarce, and, therefore,
they come high Carrie Perkins who
I has been sick for a few days, Is the pres
ent mountain maid of "Adonis," and
/ though generally very clever woman,
/ has been, after all, especially selected be
cause OF what ehe weighs more than what
she does.
| The fun of Katherine in "Evangoliue,"
| is one g. lat al ne. The idea is TO have
q very little man for Leblanc, and very
/ big woman for Katherine. The woman
could never be found, and so the part was
] given to the enormOuse George FOrtes-
cue; who has been playing 10 for eight or
nine years without break In fact,
Fortescue has become as much identified
with "Eyaug eliue' as doe jefferson with
"Rip Van W,ukle.n Here again the
humor is the fat.
Thin women seldom are funny. Lolita
and Alice Harrison are perhaps the only
thing besides acquired humor. There
always seems 90 be- something funny ia a
large mass OF flesh shaking with merrl
meut To a great extent, more, perhaps
than may be thought this is what gave
Amy Ames, SO large a salary aad sogarRe
a reputation. She may do the most
grotesque things in the world becaus,
the fat is there TO really make them fun
my.
Elma Delaro, now the "old woman uN
the Casino, has grown very stout OF late
aud while her voice has gradually bsei
going of, her fat has increased The lat
ter is an infinitely preferable quality II
opera bouffe In these days than voice
which is hardly in demand,
A very clever, thin woman, Jeuni,
Weathersby, played these parts at the
Casino before, but the fat woman tool
her place.
AmoNg the middle-aged stout womet
ia Marion Booth, niece, by the way OF
the great traRedian, and II she would
adopt the burlesque stage IN place Oh
! playing heioinep she might make gooC
deal more money than she does. IL II
precisely fat women with pretty faces and
p fair approach TO youth that the public
d)tes on.
Efn8 Germon has grown very stout OF
recent years, and it was increasing OBJ
ssity that took her ont of the line of sou
brettes IN which she had been 10 clever
and popular for years in Wallacks. She
would not come down to Playing old won
en-, and she has not yet.
Mrs. Sol Smith, many years ago known
as Mrs. Sedley Brown, aud also n member
of the Wallaok company has groNn 70
very ample proportions Of late years, In
com pany with Emmp Abbott, who may
now fairly be reckonej among the stOui
beauties of the stage II was feared that
/ Rrief would make her thinner, bnt, to the
satisfao'ion of her friends, she appears 20
be growing just the same. Sophie Frye
is anoIber rtOut beauty.
J his list W uld be moon Dlete without
adding Mss Helen Barry, but as she siill
plays leading roles n Is exceedingly for
tunote for her that her grea, Rirth is, 20
q large extent, redeemed and Hpoigizsd
for by great hight Mrs. Bafry's exact
size we do not know, but it must be very
close on 20 ak feet. Charles Gleuuy who
Is a fair eized man, looks like a pigmy
beside her, and just about comes up 20 her
-houlder. With 1t all she il well pro
portioned woman and in youth must have
been a great beauty.
Fanny Davenport can 20 longer be
reckoned among the stout women OF the
day, stil she il gaining again. Since her
divorce from Mr.. Price she has increased
by twenty Bve pounds. What this may be
attributed to W. do not know. Whether
Mr.. Price's strict regime lept her thin
or happiness az getting rid Of him makes
her fat, it is certain that her cOnsumpiiye
appearance is fast disappearing
ARMORED TRAINS,