The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-15

f, ladies and gentlemen Of the Coincide
| Franchise must be paragons of neatness.
for their aggregate laundry bills amount to
from a thousand to 81 .250 per month. while
the budget Of so small a playhouse as the
Chatelet affords as many francs for the
same laudable purpose. In the Gate ana
. Porte Saint-Martin the management pro-
| vides and washes the actors linen and I'M
derwear, but not the actresses. The Odeon,
on the other hand. 10 as liberal as the
Coincide.
ACTRESSES BENEFITS.
As Q general thing. nonsubsidized mana
! gers treat their actresses less generously
than they do the actors. The Gymnase and
Vaudeville have lately adopted the Gates
! plan. with respect to lingerie. soiled and
otherwise. and their managers are likewise
fint-hearted enough to ask the ladies to
provide themselves with street costumes on
their W hook-of course, only with such
as they need for private use. For the stage.
street costumes are furnished as before.
The director of the Varieties continues to
pay the laundry bills OF both ladies' and
gentlemen attached to his establishment
who permit him to examine their bundles.
1t is said that he spends six full hours every
month gazing at the latest creations in the
lingerie line. The same precautionary
measures are observed at the Palais
Royal.
While subsidized houses like the Coincide.
Opera Comique, Odeon. etc. are most liberal
with their actresses. they provide only such
portions OF ladies' lingerie as were in use
among females when the free laundry
privilege was first enacted. Stars and
chorus alike receive petticoats. shirts and
stockings. but other necessary things they
must buy themselves, because the ladies OF
the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries
knew them not. The management also buys
shoes and C1{pnarc FIR tho rrtraScac y-bich
accounts for the elegant footwear seen on
the Partisan stage.
The Grand Opera. for instance, buys 6.6O
pairs OF slippers a year. and I myself have
seen twenty-five pairs standing side by side
on the shelves Of a %coryphee's wardrobe.
That was a year or two ago.. Since then
In order has been Issued providing that
new shoes shall be delivered only upon the
return of an old pair. These latter the man
agement sells to the smaller houses, there
by taking away a perquisite 'royar'
actresses and dancers have possessed from
time immemorial.
FALSE HAIR.
The Paris theaters use 100, 400 pounds Of
false hair annually. mostly delivered free
to CONSUMERS by obliging directors. or
this $4,000 pounds are said to he of French
origin. The other half comes from Scandi-
navia, Hungary. Italy. China and Japan.
While great stars like Rejane. Agnes
Sorel, Nine. SECOND, weber, Jane HadinS
and Bernhardt demand hair costing LOCO
francs per pound. the smaller lights do with
lesser qualities. and the chorus is glad to
get wigs and chignons at 20 francs a pound.
The cheap hair comes from the extreme
East, and Is sometimes almost as coarse as
horsehair. The most expensive false hair
worn by any actor Is the elder Coquelin's
white wig. made OF the silver locks of a
gentleman of 80. Artificiaily bleached white
hair is not in demand. by stars.
The French Republic is probably the own
er of the biggest theatrical wardrobe in
the world, as the Grand Opera and Odeon
are obliged to turn over TO the state every
costume used once or oftener. The value
of this collection may be Judged from a
few items: The Odeon's Hamlet costume
cost 600 francs. as twelve embroiderers
worked three months over It; a minor cos
tune used in 1.-THE Huguenots' cost 500
francs. A single grand opera usually re-
ouires up to GOD costumes, including changes.
LONG SKIRTS.
Some time ago President Loubet was pc
titioned by same goody-goodies to use his
influence to the effect that the ballet girls
frocks be heightened one or two inches. He
promised to look into the matter-and was
forthwith informed that the girls skirts re-
outred no less than from fifteen to sixteen