Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-20
SHEKELS ANDBEAUTY
Commercial Value of Pretty Face
and Figure on the Stage.
THE PUBLIC TIRED OF OLD TYPES.
Overweight the One Great Enemy Of Per.
sOnal AttractiveneSs.
RISE AND FALL OF FAMOUS LADIES
THE PUBLIC TIRED OF OLD TYPES.
RISE AND FALL OF FAMOUS LADIES
WRITTEN FOR THE DrsPATcH- ]

dyed her hair; and this year, when she is
harassed in grim, malignant and rasping
way by the gout. The Langtry's beauty was
more productive of gold than the genias of
Rachel, Rosa Bonheur, George Sand, Ouida
and George Eliot combined. In view Of
all this, why sneer at beauty on the stage7
1t makes the world wobble sideways on its
beaten track, and casts blush over the face
of the moon.
Had Mrs. Brown-Potter been as beautiful
as she is reckless, she, too, might have been
quoted in seven figures. As it is, she is
somewhat to be likened in general way to
Northern Pacific stock, with Mr.. Bellew in
the position of Willard. The general desire
to know what he is going to do with it as far
as Mr.. Willard is concerned has always been
a very pronounced influence over the value
of the stock. When people find out what
Mr.. Bellew is going to do with Mrs. Potter
there will be some market value in her. At
present she is quoted far below the closing
price of last season, on account of Mr.. Bel
LEWIS desire to play in London. Where he
goes the Potter will follow, according to the
most authentic and reliable information
from Europe.
GENIUS WITHOUT BEAUTY.
A vivid idea of the commercial value of
beauty may be had when one considers the
cases of one or two actresses consDieuously
lacking In physical attractions. Agnes
Booth would have been more than ! second
Adelaide Nelson if her superb figure had
been crowned by beautiful face. As it is,
she is undoubtedly the most artistic and ca
pable actress in America. and her art has
lifted her to q higher plane than nature at
first designed. But the fatal gift is not there.
Despite her maturity, she occupies COM
manding position in the first stock company
in the country, but whereas statuesque
and wooden Langtry makes 500, 900 or S7O,-
900 a year, the exquisite art of an Agnes
Booth, unaided by beauty, must be content
with one-sixth of that sum.
Theater goers, according to dramatic ex-
pers, are growing weary of the older profess
sional beauties. Lillian Russell and Pauline
Hall have trained off a lot of superhuous
flesh, but good deal Of the charm has gone.
One does not like TO think that they did not
grow so, but were forced down to their pres
ent symmetrical lines by bicycle riding,
starvation diet. tremendous walks on dusty
roads, and the remuneration of half the good
things of life. In France women of the
robust type remain beauties for a long
while, and, to certain extent, this is also
true of England. But the standard of
beauty in America holds delicacy to be the
chief requisite. Hence the fame of such
distinctively American types of beauty as
Ada Rehan, Virginia Dreher, Edith King
dom Gould and. Emma Juch.
THE AMERICAN TYPE.
It is absurd for English critics to continue
to assert that there is no American types of
beauty. Everybody knows the English
beauty. She is square-shouldered, small of
waist, with straight nose, broad brows and
a chin that is rather massive in comparison
with the rest of the face, very large hands
and feet, and stalwart carriage. Further
more, the English type is distinctively ath-
letic, pushed to such an extreme degree
that in nine cases out of ten it Is maseu-
line.
The French type, on the other hand, is
precisely the reverse of this. 1t is in no
sense athletic, and never awkward. Every
thing lies in expression in France whether
facial or verbal. The French women grow
shapeless, are prone to be inordinately
plump, and do not exercise enough, but a
wonderful charm lies beneath their constant
and infinite mobility of expression.
The American woman fully realizes the
happy mean between these two extremes.
No wonder the Englishmen all marry our
girls, and that the American women are
half mobbed when they stray about in Paris.
They have gone in for athletics enough to
give them the most willowy and beautiful
figures in the world, but they are not bony
and hard. They have freedom of manner
and a vivacity and variety of expression
which comes from cosmopolitan ancestry.
American girls possess an all-around beauty.
J udic was considered the most fascinating
beauty on the French stage for years. though
she had round shoulders and shapeless fig
ure. Her only attractive feature was her
eyes. No woman can achieve distinction as
a beauty in America merely on the strength
of her eye or the symmetry of her figure.
She must be in a sense of the same school as
that which has lifted Marie Jansen into
fame as professional beauty. 1t might be
called the lovable or huggable school by
man who had a wealth OF assurance.
THE GIFTED THEo.
Perhaps its greatest and most gifted speci-
men is Theo, who was once a star in this
country and is now on the rapid decline in
Paris. Theo started out as a small, chubby,
round and plump baby, to develop into an
infantile Young girl, and finally into the
luOSL anu DACO yOuuA
woman on the French stage. At a critical
period in her placid career she married an
industrious young tailor. who devoted all
his time after the marriage ceremony to fit
ting the plump and beautiful curves of Theo
with stage gowns. His skill was so remark
able that when Theo was inelosed in the
regulation gowns they fitted her as snugly
as wet tissue paper, and Paris rayed over
her curves. She did America for a season,
and after that Theo became fat. She has
never since been able to reduce herself to the
Did dimensions, despite the most heroic and
efforts.
This enemy of beauty on the stage-oyer-
abundant weight-afects nearly all OF
,hem, and the unhappy part of it is that
after the first visitation the effects are for
ever afterward discernible. One of the most
instances of the baleful results
If overweight in women that / have ever
Ieen is that of Jefries Lewis. She was a
ew years ago not only one OF the most
powerful and commanding actresses on the
American stage, but she had face and fig
Ire that men associated with genius. She
hared with Clara Morris the honor of
absolutely swaying audiences at her will.
ALL GONE TO FAT.
The other day happened to be in from.
,f Tiffany's when she passed. Not trace
IT the figure remained. L should saw that
he actress would weigh nearly 200 pounds,
Ind her skin is of the peculiarly colorless
Ihade which sometimes comes to fat people.
If it is difficult for men to keep from get
ling too stout with all the activity which en-
ers into mans lite how much more so it
must be for beautiful woman about whom
every sort of luxuries is usually grouped.
One season of champaign, pate-de-foi-gras
md late suppers removed from her throne q
girl known as Genevieve Lytton, who
relgned absolutely for o time. Once in q
while the training down process provesto be
l mistake Thia was the case i think With