The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-05-24
HIRED BY WEIGHT.
Female Singers In Turkey Must Be Fat to
Be Popular.

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, aud
would be a total failure on the stage in
Constautin0ple. Unless woman is fat
she cannot secure an engagement In
music ball, and the fatter she is the more
enthusiasm she arouses and the larger is
her salary.
On the Monday evening after my ar
rival in Constantinople | went to the
Concoldia music hall with my American
acquaintance, and there l saw more
feminine breadth, depth, thickness, heft
and circumference than | had ever be-
fore seen under one roof. Practically the
entire show was given by wOmen-wO~
men with moon faces, rolling jOwls ju>
diciOusly busted with powder and ele-
phantine forms that defed the Confding
hold of any corset. Fat women! Women
who were built straight out from the
chin and then retreated toward an in
definite waist line; women whose dim>
pied arms were the shape of holsters and
whose bursting slippers squeaked be-
meath the weight put on them
Judging from the Arrangement of the
bill and the applause bestowed on the
various maStOdOn Oubrettes, | would
say that IN COnstantinOpie a woman
weighing 225 pounds and possessed of
fair singing voice could get an engage
ment at music hall, but she would oe
compelled to accept a low salary and
appear early in the bill.
A woman ibhing $50 could get
slightly larger salary and better place
on the bill.
The salary would thus increase as the
weight increased. In ConstantinOple
they hire soubretteS by the pound. One
who can weigh III 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 net.
In the bill az the ConcOrdia were
French and German women, Cne lone
American ESTIMATED weight 275), and
several from Turkish Europe. The first
woman who sung was fat; the sec md
fatter; the third was-nO, not latest, al
though she was much heavier than No.
2. She was merely the promise of what
was yet to come.
They were holding back the really big
artists for the finale. At last these two
came on. They we're SISTERS" and they
made a large family by themselves. We
called them the ReheIuOth sisters Thew
were in white and they waddled out on
the stage.
"Great Scottn' exclaimed the man
from Lafayette. "Why didn't they roll
them on the stage? How much do you
suppose they welgh?''
IA 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
stOhdly in the boxes looking with dull
uDconcern at the fIail vOcalists who
weighed less than 300, now Strengthened
up and clapped their hands. A Turk in
front of US Che had checkerhoard trOus-
ers and low white Vest) shouted: BRA
vo.
The two sisters we're the hit CT the
show. They had to sing until their
glObular faces were pink with exertion
and their balloon-lke costumes rose and
fell with the heaviDgs of their exertiOn
We wondered if they ever had comic
operas in Turkey, and if it would be safe
to put an entire chorus on one stage
Chicago Record.