The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-03
they MASH WHOLE TOWNS
Do These Sometimes Young, Pretty
and Interesting Fairies Of
the Chorus.
In Ago They Range From Fifteen
to Fifty and Earn $12
a Week. ''@5
The Roll Called and Comment Made
Rigid Etiquette of the Chorus
Lcngth of Service.

The other afternoon I called on Mr.. How
q Van Swell, man about town, in his
apartments on Madison square, II talked
to HIM for an hour or 80 about the chorus
girls of Gotham, writes Lew Rosen in the
New York Recorder. Phi reproduce as
nearly as l can what this connoisseur of
light gossip of the stage told me on that oc-
caslon, and thus give you n glimpse Of a
class of minor stage divinities who may not
be as familiar to you as the prime dome.
Rowland Van swell, l may DO allowed 80
preface, ia but one of a constantly ~increas-
ing body of elegant oilers who haunt the
clubs, the cafes and the stage doors of the
metropolis. Seated in a luxurious arm
chair, clad in the striped luxury of loose
flowing pajamas. Rowland Van swell spoke
in an easy, rambling manner, and inter-
spersed MS information and opinions with
dashes of good-nstured cynicism and whiffs
OF exotic cigarette smoke.
"The chorus of a comic opera comr any,
dear boy, consists of girls who range from
Is to 80 in age, and who get salaries that
run all the way from $12 to $50 a week.
They rehearse daily when there ia a new
opera on, and only ENTHUSIASTICALLY when
the opera Is in running shape. Rehearsals
last from three to four hours. The stage
manager is absolute master over the chorus.
lie can fire or dismiss a girl at will. OF
course, she can appeal to the manager of
the company, but even If he sides with her
her doom is sealed. The stage manager ia
but human, and gets even sooner or later,
l am told chorus girls feel considerable
embarrassment when they first put on
tights, but they soon get over little things
like that, or perhaps | should say they soon
get into them all right. Run your eye over
the chorus girls who nightly gyrate around
Apollo MT the Casino, and you sec a pretty
good looking lot of women.
"That tall and stately girl is Florence
Bell, though young in years, in sage expo
rience DID, as the poet says. That small
girl with reddish hair ia Ina Weddle. Not
tie Black, like her name, is dark. Grace
Wallace has Il temper and q bicycle. Rose
Ricoi has been Ill the chorus for years. and
ought to be given n part. Miss Ricci was
married to n musical leader once upon a
time. It's wonderful what influence the
managerial baton exerts oytr chorus girls.
May Hanley, jolly and stout, is Il Sister of
Emma Haniey, who Is now in farce-comedy.
That girl with brown hair and blue eyes is
Mndge Perry. If you spoil the name of
Alice Lieno, of the iet-black hair. back
wards you get at her real natae. They joke
blonde Wally Myers for her Katoifelsalgd
accent. but she IL n witty girl all the same.
Mabel Potter has n beautiful coutralto
speaking voice. Bessie Barton has two
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES complexion md easy
going deposition. They call pretty Becky
HaiRht by the soubriquct Carrots for her
hair is reddish and her eyes are brown.
Florence Chaoo ID light and pretty, and
BERTHE Florence il dark and pert.
There" continued MIR. Rowland Van
Swell afterh pause, looking for reference
at a card which lay on u table beside his
chair, there, that about comprises the Ca