The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-06

Nethersole or singers like Nordica wear
fine raiment. But more ordinarily actress
es, real actresses, wear to the theater
Irocks long passe and unfit to be seen.
The first act of preparing for the stage
is to strip.
No actress not even a. well-minded
chorus girl. wears rag on the stage that
she wears in private life. AT least she is
not supposed or expected to. The UNI
probably no news to any one that many
players wear tights, with modern as well
and easier. a long, loose garment is put on
"a makeup jacket. Some actresses wear
a dressing sack some wear al cotton wrap
per-, some wear a bath wrap. Some buy
cotton garments on purpose. Some wear
out their old silk night dresses. Some have
makeup wraps that are relies OF elegance,
some simple, sensible garments, evidently
never intended for anything else. All de-
tails of this sort depend on the woman,
as the order of her room at home would
be, or as her private habits of life are, for
acting and the life of the theater adjust
themselves to a woman's nature RADICAL
ly they do not change her, except as they
give her more money to enable her to show
her real taste and her real ideals of life
more freely.
The task of making up the face then
begins Seated in front of her triple glass.
with all the lights up the actress pushes
her hair all back from her face and bobs
it on top of her head. She rubs her entire
which she carefully wipes off with a towel
Then, with soft sponge, the liquid white
is applied, the exclusives and eyebrows be-
ing at once relieved of their share Some
actresses wet their fingers in their mouths
for this purpose, but daintier ones use VIC
let water or something of that sort. Rouge
is then applied with soft brush; red paste
is used for the lips, more often applied With
the tip of the finger than otherwise Cos
metic for the lasheSs and eyebrows is most
frequently applied with hairpin heated
in the gas. and the whole face carefully
busted with the powder puff.
ART IN THE. PROCESS.
Some actresses are as careful in making
up as if they expected to be inspected with
a magnifying glass. Some are not. Many
who look very we'll in their dressing rooms
are quite wrong on the stage, where, per.
haps makeup applied under the ordinary
cream light of gas white light of the
electric burner is seen under a blue light
for moonlight, a yellow light or red
light or the combination of the two. But
that is an art that actresses are learning,
although even Ellen Terry does not always
master the problem.
Those who know how carefully Henry
Irving's leading woman studies effect of
the light, and that she makes UP in her
dressing room under the same light to be
used for each scene in which she is to APP
pear, can recall at least one failure, ''Yo-
lande" when the leper's makeup conveyed
no illusion at all, but was simply palpa-
BILE mask of chalk, exactly like that of a
clown. That unlucky effect was very evil
IDENTIFY the result of failure on the part
of the electrician to discover the proper
light to heighten, not analyZe, to conceal,
not to betray, the makeup of the actress,
as Well us of the player to find the tone
of her liquid makeup that would not be
penetrated by the lighting of the scene
Miss Terry uses almost entirely liquid
n
wants for her skin by being mixed, in
saucer. sometimes with cream powder,
used over it, and carmine paste for the lips.
The face being made up the hair is
ui esseu iiiSii II d MY i-ie'h " eS9 - " pe
worn the throat and neck, and ears are
brought to the same tone as the face. and
if low-neck. neck and arms are washed
over and powdered to blend with the face.
The dress is then donned. Hands are
washed and made up The dressing room
door is flung wide for fresh air and the /
cues listened for.
Almost every actress has her peculari-
ties Sarah Bernhardt puts the ends of her
rouges her ears. And every popularity of a
prominent actress is initiated. even. Duse's
1t is amusing for people Wiz have never |
witnessed the process to see = actress |
rush into her dressing room when - play
is over. wash her hands, strip her G1<s~ Oh !
and, plunging her hands into the cold cr,s'c /
pot, proceed to clean up her face. In on
minute there is a mess of red black and /
green that is amazing to This is wiped !
off on a towel, most unsightly act. About |
three doses restores to the face it's clean |
skin, and the actress ernerges from her
mask sweet and rosy with rubbing.
Now, women differ as much in this man |
ner of preparing for home after the play |
as they do in all things else. TO most wom- |
en- the fall of the curtain brings relaxation, /
if nothing seriously discomforting has hap |
pened. 1t is their cheerful. restful. chatty |
time. Work is over. They are going out to |
supper or home to supper. Some Of them |
are as careful in their cleaning up as If |
they We're going to ball. Some are not. |
Some, like Georgia Cayvan, who was al |
ways one of the best groomed women on |
the stage-to use an expressive. if not very /
elegant word-are rubbed down thor /
oughy as a winning racer would be, and |
one can't say more than that Others do up |
their faces well enough to Dc, and, with |
cosmetic still showing on their lashes, |
rouge in their nostrils. and makeup on |
their fingernails, tie thick veil over their |
faces and. saying, "Oh, that's good enough /
for tonight" hurry to the hotel for a hot |
bath. You recognize that habit if you look
at the collar of the garments they wear |
to and from the theater, for the neck will |
be disfgured with pink and white. Therein |
lies the logic of Emma Eames's cotton |
waists, that so into the wash.