The morning call., 1890-11-30
THE DANCING
BEAUTY
A Sage DisquisitiOn on What BE.
comes of the Ballet.Girls.
They Have Been Known to Die-Vivsc:ous Talk
ofOne Who Knows Lie hts and Shadows.
Glimpses Behind Stage Tinasl.

| having maximum Of cheek and minimum
| of hair that the ballet-girl never dies. never
ceases to be girl" and never quits dane
| ing. They are led to this conclusion from
| the close observation of years in tile front
rows at the physical drama. But then this
| is a biased judgment. Certain it is that
mob ody ever saw dead ballet girl. But
who, except those who have been In the
army, where mules were sometimes killed.
ever saw a dead mule? What becomes of
mules? Do they gradually grow old and
wither away at breath?
1t is true there is no parallel between a
ballet-dancer and Il mule beyond the fact
that both are well known as eccentric kick
ers and as tough as joey b. If the induce
ment of assured perennial youth were rot
sufficient this fact of never ceasing to exist
in the garisb atmosphere of the footlights is
enough to attract the rising female genera
ton. 1t Is the fate of womanhood in the
ordinary walks of life to marry and become
old. II they do not marry they arg soon old
anyhow, and are a neglected, if not de-
spised, lot
SHE'S ALWAYS ADMIRED.
Not so the Dallet-girl She may be mar
ried or not-and she frequently is the mother
Of family of young kickers-she may be 10
or 30, or anywhere along between those in
teresting extremes-she always has her
share of admirers. If fairly good looking
she has many of them. Why men will sac
Iiice restful nights, money, sweethearts,
wives, at the shrine OF the ballet-girls is one
of those mysterious things to be decided
after this life. But it is fact that they
will, and do, ana fact quite well known to
the ballet-sirl herself Who has not, for
that matter, at some period of his life lin
gered wistfully in the shadow Of the stage
door?
The ballet-girl may be said to remind US
of a mule in another respect-she is born
and OF made No woman born was ever
nodded over into ballet-girl. She may be-
come famous actress-she may be made
into lay figure for the spectacular. get a
job as ch0rus-girl. or have thinking
part in modern farce comedy-UecOme
DaIlet-gifl, never! You might as well talk
of taking brakesman off the railroad and
turning him into contortionist.
ONE BEAUTY's STORY.
My mother was dancer before me-"
said one charming young balet-girl the
other evening. She referred 10 the fact
with sigh. She had done matinee and
evening turn at Palmer's in the Red Hus-
saT', and was polishing off lunch of brOiled
chicken and beer Her appetite is enough
to throw a sickly shade Of green over the
WORKOUT men-of- the world who can scarce
ly eat single square meal day.
began dancing when L was a mere
child. My mother was dancing with the
grown-up ballet as | am now. l danced in
chiidren's parts. You might say | was a
born dancer, for My mother had been filling
an engagement which she resumed as soon
as possible.
Eyes, mother is living now, but not dane
Ing" she laughngly retorted in answer to
the stereotyped joke. 80 that disposes of
d loo hr.pab nf the mr. lrrc upErcti-
ton. She is too stout. One of the evils of
the many we have to contend with Is the
early tendency to stuutness. When you first
saw me was slender slip. OF II; now look
at mel
She has undeniably broadeped and thick
ened during these six years, though the
change improves her personal appearance.
STOPS AT TwENTY-THREE.
"1f keep on growing stouter Ishall have
to diet myself, and that will break my heart.
I'm now 23-dQn't give 1t away. / wish to
remain %, see?'
"What becomes of the girls? Oh, some
are with the Kiralfys. Emma's with some
show in the West; Kate is married, so is
''No, no: what becomes of them finally p"
"Why, dear ms how do j know? Die and
go to heaven? Not if there's dancing there,
hope. 1t is quite enough to be a ballet
gill here all your life! Nearly all of the girls
! knew when child dancer are still alive
and kicking. In fact, don't actually know
If any OF them are dead. They are about all
in the business, too"
Eyes, they have a good many offers of
marriage Some marry, but they nearly all
get back to the stage. The girls can't stand
the yoke very well, you see. The quietude
of married life would soon kin most of Them
We get awful tired of this. but from the ex-
periences of those who have quit the stage
to marry, l should say there are worse things.
Ii marriage IS the thing it's cracked up to
be, why do they all come back? Answer me
! that!"
MATRIMONIAL PHILOSOPHY.
Her black eyes fairly snapped. She had
evidently been considering the matrimonial
| problem on her own account The next OBJ
servaton of this philosophical maiden made
| that certain.
The trouble is that the kind of a man l
| would have is the kind who will probably
never ask me to marry him, and the kind
who does ask | wouldn't have That's it
up to date! Having been born and bred TO
this business. | scarcely know how would
manage to live any other way. But dear
me! There are two sides to this matter.
| Look at the kind of men we meet! What
| sort of husband is a man likely to make
who gets wild over the ballet? Why not
| give us credit for some womanhood; with
| some tastes, good desires, feelings, ambition,
the same rs is accorded other girls who must
work for living? These same girls, who
are spoken of cOntemptuously only ballet
| girls are made OF better stuff than most
| women OF good society. Now, do wish
| you would say good word for u.s." plead
| ingly. There is rarely anything printed
about us except slurs, insinuations and con-
temptuous sneers about our calling. Not
! that it really makes any difference because
| 1t doesn't Only it would be refreshing to
| read something different"
THE SALARY PART OF IT.
1.-THE ballet business with the Red Hus-
| sar' is easy for Us" went on the ballet girl !;
81 mean compared with our work with the
| Kiralfys. There is no danger OF growing
over stout with the Kiralfys. When the
brothers were at outs and fighting each
other they used to bid for us to keep us
away from one another. But they made us
work hard, for the ballet was always the
| principal feature. Good dancers in any con-
siderable number are hard to get in this
| country, and two big spectacular shows like
the ballet at the Madison-sanare Garden
and Nero use up nearly all the material.
| That is the reason you see in the front near
| ly all Of the same girls.
1--WE have only two short dances here, and
it is considered a good engagement. We
| get $50 week. The chorus-girls get SIS.
| Any kind of pretty girl can be put in a
chorus We never have anything to do with
them, on or off the stage! Crhis with some
show of prideo They are probably very
nice girls, though. The managers know all
| of us, and they make engagements with us
the same as are made with actors and act
resses for the presentation of the regular
| drama"
But what life! TO those who must live
| it the thing Is a matter of course. To nine
tenths of the mothers and fathers of the
great world of quiet homes the spectacle of
these young girls amid such daily and
| nightly associations would carry with it the
sentiments of profound sorrow and CON-
miseraliOn. L. Murray, in Pitts
burg Dispatch.
HENRY CLAWS PTCTTRE.