The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-06-28
HIRED BY. WEIGHT.
Among the Turks the Women singers
Must Be Fat to Be
Popular.

In Turkey the most beautiful and de-
sirable woman is the one who weighs
the most. A thin and willowy creature
would have no standing in Turkey and
would be a total failure on the stage in
Constantinople. Unless a woman is fat
she cannot secure an engagement in
music hall, and the fatter she is the
more enthusiasm she arouses and the
larger is her salary.
On Monday evening after my arrival
in Constantinople 1 went to the Con-
cordia Music hall with my American ac-
quaintances. and there | saw more
feminine breadth. depth, thickness, heft
and circumference than | had ever be-
fore seen under one roof. Practically
the whole show was given by women
women with moon faces, rolling jowl,
judiciously busted with powder, and
elephantine forms that defed the con-
fiding hold of any corset. Fat women!
Women who were built straight out
from the chin and then retreated to-
ward an indefinite waist line; women
whose dimpled arms were the shape of
holsters and whose bursting slippers
squeaked beneath the weight put on
them.
Judging from the arrangement of the
bill and the applause bestowed on the
various mastodon soubrettes, L would
say that in Constantinople a woman
weighing 225 pounds and possessed of
fair singing voice could get an en-
oagement at a music hall. but she
would be compelled to accept low
salary and appear early in the bill.
A woman weighing $50 could get
slightly larger salary and better place
on the bill.
The salary would thus increase as
the weight increased. In Constanti-
nople they hire their soubrettes by the
pound. One who can weigh in each
evening at $50 or more is sure to get her
name in black type and draw the star
salary, no matter whether she can sing
or not.
In the bill at the Concordia were
French and German women, one lone
American ESTIMATED weight, 2T5), and
several from Turkish Europe. The
first woman who sang was fat. the sec
ond was fatter, the third was-no. not
latest, although she was much heavier
than No. 2. She was merely the prom
Use of what was yet to come.
They were holding back the really big
artists for the finale. At last these two
came on. They were sisters" and
they made large family by themselves.
We called them the Behemoth Sisters.
They were in white and they waddIed
out on the stage.
Great Scott" exclaimed the man
from Lafayette. why didn't they roll
them on the stage? How much do you
suppose they weigh?''
"A ton apiece" ventured the New
Yorker.
Too low, too low.
The house rose in joy as the two
vast egg-shaped objects appeared on
the stage. The Turks, who had been
sitting stolidly in the boxes looking
with dull unconcern at the frail vocal
lists who weighed less than 300. now
Strengthened up and clapped their
hands. A Turk in front of US The had
checker-board trousers and low white
vest) shouted Bravo"
The two sisters were the hit of the
show. They had to sing until their
globular faces were pink with exertion
and their balloon-like costumes rose
and fell with the heavings of their exer-
ton.
We wondered if they ever had comic
opera in Turkey, and if it would be safe
to put an entire chorus on one stage
G hica on Record