St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-11
How Actresses Cut Down
Their Avoirdupois During
the Summer.
The Tendency OF Actresses to
Put on Weight Is Very
Marked.
Carmeneita Gradually Grow
ing Heavier in Spite Of
Her Dancing.
Strict Diet and Lack Of Liquids
Said to Be Better Than
Exercise.

During the summer months the dra-
matte correspondents have but little to
do beyond supplying a daily grist of
gossip relative to the people who in the
winter season delight or disgust au-
dienees throughout the country.
Changes in the physical condition of
actresses are soon made a matter Of
comment, and therefore it is not sur
prising to hear tales of the increasing
avoirdupois which has made miserable
the lives of many stage favorites. Act
resses as rule have been quick
to seize on any method to pre-
vent the increase in flesh which,
of course, means for them a de-
crease in popularity and salary. Just
now it is reported that Carmencita, the
charming dancer, is growing fat. The
careful observer claims that the bodice
of her gowns yawns with an irregular
yearning for more room, where it was
formerly laced together so Snugly that
there was only single seam straight
up and down Carmencita's supple back.
Many of the finer lines of the
famous dancers figure have dis
appeared under the increasing weight,
but her arms are beautifully filled
out and her neck is as round as the
handle of whip. He cheeks, which
were once slightly sunken, are chubby.
If Carmencita can get fat, then exercise
leads to corpulence. No instructor IN
gymnastics has ever suggested any
thing apparently so devastating to sur
plus weight as the extraordinary twists,
whirls, ducks. dips and dances OF this
most remarkable of latter-day female
cOntortiOnists. The increase in Car
mencita's weight has not affected her
agility or vim, but it is ominous.
For same reason or other all the pOpu-
lar. idols on the stage grow fat. Nobody
ever began to realize what beautiful
woman Lillian Russell was until the
building up of her outlines and her in
creasing bulk eliminated the curves of
her stately beauty. Her ankles grew
thick and her waist heavy, and there
was the least permissible suspicion of
Thereupon half of New York grew
mellow and mournful. and the theatrical
managers insisted that Miss Russell
would have to train down if she ever
hoped to regain the affections of the
public. She has trained down regularly
every year, and she is getting ready for
it again. She puts on huge sweaters"
and heavy flannel gowns and walking
boots, and tramps miles through the
blazing sun in the country with de-
gree of determination and vim that moth
ing but wounded pride could sustain.
After one of her long trips she returns
to her cottage in drip, is rubbed down
by her maid, and rests easily for an
hour or two before beginning a second
tour.
In this way all the bullying lines of
the Lillian Russell figure are melted
away, and she returns to the idolatry of
the populace in fighting trim in the fall.
We know all about 1T, because Miss
Russell has explained it at great length
and at short intervals in the newspa-
pers. Just now she is little bit wor-
ried over the prospect of losing some of
her summer training, though she eX-
poets to resume it in the fall. She goes
to Europe the nth of August for
the purpose Of studying the English
version of La CIgale" and learning
how not to play it. A winged and
malignant rumOr flew about town last
night to the effect that Miss Russell in
tended to remain permanently in En-
gland with her former. husband, Teddy
Solomon, and would appear in his opera
at the Savoy. She has broken many
contracts before, and, according to the
rumorS, she would 90 it again, and leave
Mr. French and his opera company in
the lurch at the Garden theater in the
fall. But this rumor is easily traced to
a saturnine and diplomatic rival man
ager, and everybody knows what that
means.
Marie Jansen ceased swelling in bulk
in time. She is very short in stature,
and when she began to grow remark
ably stout she left off being stage
divinity and descended to broad COM
edy work. There was tendency on
the part of the public to smile when
die. Miss Jansen seized the dietary
system and got down to theatrical
weight promptly, and has remained there
ever since. Perhaps the most remark
able case of stage diyinitleS who have
given way to Incidence was that of Miss
Moore. of Francis Wilson's company. She
grew so stout that half of her pOpu
larity disappeared. Her pictures ceased
to sell in the shops. and audiences list
ened to her beautiful voice with phleg
matte Indifference. Francis Wilson,
who is an athlete of no mean ability,
explained to her that her value to him
as an attraction QeCf6dSeu WIFI every
ounce she added to her weight, and he
mapped out list of exercises for her.
Miss Moore went away from New York
for tour through the country looking
bulky and ungraceful. She came back
five months later with her figure re-
stored to girlish proportions, and she
resumed her old popularity in night.
Perhaps the most stubborn case OF
overweight was that of Pauline Hall.
She is now playing in Philadelphia to
very large houses in succession of
popular operas. She has inaugurated
summer season of opera there, similar
to that which is running in New York.
Her faith is pinned to the bicycle. and
she rides it at 6 in the morning, often
after less than five hours sleep. She
sticks to the exercise regularly, but it
takes vast deal of work TO bring down
her weight a single pound. The hosts
of famous women on the stage who
have been menaced more or less by
excessive eOrpulency have interchanged
opinions, views, and ideas upon the sub
iect from time to time. They Fave not
been made the less earnest in their eff
forts to keep within the limits of shapeli-
ness by the experience of Fay Temple
ton, who, when she first left here, was
beautiful woman, and who easily COM
manded a salary of $500 week. She
grew fat while in Paris. and when she