Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-17

! bread and fruits She rarely drinks tea or
/ coffee, and beer never. She rides as little
/ as possible, exercising on foot all that her
| time will permit. If ssthe profession"
would generally follow PATHS simple and
abstemious manner Of living they would
seldom become too feshy to appear in
| youthful roles. Patti has from an early age
| followed this strict regimen, led into it
primarily for the development ofher voice,
and afterward adhering to it as a preventive
of corpulenee.
The American queen of light opera, Lii
liam Russell, has at an earlier period of life
than most others suecunbed to that bane of
her calling, obesity. But for her determined
and strenuous efforts to reduce her flesh it
would soon be said of her as it was of the
enormous Parepa-Rosa, that she resembles
an elephant with a nightingale in its
throat. 1t is well known that Miss Rus
sell began her professional career on the
variety stage. Here she attracted the no.
tice of manager of light opera troupe,
and he offered to give her the leading role
in a new opera he was about to produce,
provided she would
Train Down Sufficiently to Look the Part
That manager was John McCaull, and the
name of the opera Gf remember rightly
''The Serpent Charmer." She had one
summer in which to learn the role and to
reduce her weight to the required number
of pounds. She succeeded, evolving a
course of training which, as the years have
gone on and her flesh is obstinate in in
creasing, she has added to until she is able
to keep down to 150 pounds. This she reg
ulates by scaling every day. If she finds
herself going up in weight she cuts off some
fat-fOrming food in which she may have
been indulging, such as bread and butter,
potatoes and sugar. Like Patti, she eats
only bread that has been dried hard in the
oven. OF late years Miss Russell has given
up beer, champagne, wine and late suppers,
to which, however, she was never inordi-
nately addicted
That snack after the performance is what
lays the foundation of the obesity for the
profession. 1t is the meal for which they
have most appetite, being fatigued after
acting. Miss Russells methods for keep
ing down her flesh are these: She takes
cup of coffee about IL o'clock in bed. Then
she rises and takes a bath in hot water,
which is gradually cooled off until it is
very cold, after which her maid rubs her
down with tiannels. This brings her to
about 1870, when she breakfasts on fish or
lean meat with dry bread. Then, if she is
not rehearsing, she starts out for her consti-
tutional, covering daily about three miles of
ground. Formerly she did not walk so
much, but tried dumbbells and other GYM
nastic exercises and horseback riding, but
finding that nothing reduces eOrpulenee so
etfectually as walking, she now confines her,
self solely to pedestrian exercise.
Lillian Russell Sleeps Ten Hours.
She drinks beef tea during a performance;
at other times glycerine and water, which is
an excellent thing for clearing the throat.
She, too, occasionally takes her small bite
after the performance, but not regularly,
and only allows herself little easily digest
ed food, such as broiled SQUAD. Then she in
dulges in a ten hours sleep.
In her heroic efforts to Keep herself with
in the limits of what may be called Slight
opera weight" Miss Lillian Rus
sell has evolved out of her own
inner consciousness an exceedingly
good course of training. Indeed,
she has almost arrived at what is known as
the 'sNewmarket sweating" system, by
which jockeys are trained down for racing.
1t would not be safe for every one to start
in at once on this treatment, but Miss Rus
sell has gone so far that if she goes just a
little further she will have the 'sNewmarket
sweat in perfection, following which I
have been assured that a person can lose
seven pounds day without injury. Here
are the directions:
Persons training should arise at any hour
in the morning, before preferred, and
dress in heavy hannels, underneath the Or
binary garments; this in order not to attract
attention. The more clothing that they
can carry the better. Let them walk as
fast as possible for 20, 40 or go minutes nm
til thoroughly bathed in perspiration, and
then return home at smart rate and jump
into bed between blankets with all fannels
on and pile on double allowance of bed
clothes (Caution--keep all windows
closed). Then let an assistant bring half
pint or pint of hot tea, without milk or
sugar, and after drinking as much as re-
quired, lie in bed still well covered for
about half an hour, then rise and sponge
the body with tepid water, use a rough
towel and put on a change of linen. You
will then be in the very pink of health and
feel as if you had suddenly lost your
burden of fat.
Still She Weighs Too Much.
If Miss Russell would take about three
Newmarket sweats a week, summer and
winter-in fair weather, of course-she
would soon ''take off to stay her superhu-
Gus fat, of which she has several pounds too
much, notwithstanding her constant train
ing. In height Miss Russell is about feet
3 inches and weighs $50 pounds. This is ex-
actly 20 pounds in excess of what she
should weigh, according to the average
weight table of the Equitable Life Assur-
ance Society, but as that is computed
strictly for business purposes, we will allow
five more pounds. For her profession Miss
Russell should never allow herself to weigh
more than 135 pounds. Every additional
year of her life will increase her tendency
to obesity, and the more difficult will re-
ductlon become, even ito so determined q
banter" CELIA LOGAN.