Evening star., 1901-05-25
A SOUBRETTE'S LIFE
Must Pass All Peril to Secure the
Melodrama Hero.
MIMIC DANGERS INVOLVE REAL ONES
Sensational Acts That Too FIRE.
quent|y Turn Out Mishaps.
ACCIDENT FUND NEEDED
ACCIDENT FUND NEEDED
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
With the microbe of organization work
ing through the Veins of the theatrical pro-
fcssion. with the Actors Society, the Man
ayers Association, the White Rats with
the strike feature as the leading item, and
the White Mice. the avowed object of
which is the aiding of the members of the
chorus who are stranded out of town,
through the failure of some company to
continue, it would seem that the next COM
binatiOn should be of soubrettes of melo-
drama. When that organization is formed
1t will undoubtedly include accident
fund as its chief feature, for the meOdra-
matte soubrette is heiress to all the perils
of life and limb to be found between the
flies and the basement; not stage perils,
but real ones
To the public mind all soubrettes are
ciassed under one head. The public rec
ognizes as a soubrette only the short-skirt-
ed young woman who shriekingly entreatS
a patient public to Break the News to
Mother, while on her own account she is
engaged in rupturing the drums of her
hearers with a voice best suited to the
vending of vegetables from a wagon. The
dramatic manager recognizes half a dozen
sorts. There are well defined boundaries
between the several kinds, well understood
| in theatrical circles.
The melOdramatiC SOubrette is the moro
or less young person who goes out at night
without a chaperone. filling in the play the
position of an unreCOgnZed life-SaVing ser
vice. Without her the hero would be killed
at the end of the first or second act and
the play would not proceed She trans
ports herself to far distant countries, while
apparently not in possession of either cash
or pass. She has the entree to the homes
of the rich. She is the guest of honor
in humble flats. BY the grace of the an
nd r1ll
ne shared with the hero. She is the femi-
nine melodramatic IT Even the heroine
BOWS before her. She has a voice-some-
tlmes-knows how to dance is an all-round
ithlete and an expert marksman, and some
OF the stunts required of her il her vari-
Gus roles would make flying trapeze per-
former pause to think.
Regular Life Savers
Writer'S OF melodrama appear to imagine
that sensational incident gains in effect
through the employment of a soubrette as
the central figure. Her endeavors are
largely confined to preserving the life of
the hero. 1t is "a very poor play which
does not give the soubrette an opportunitv
to save his life at least three times out
or the hVe acts For this reason the in
genuity of the play constructor is devoted
To the invention Of new forms of life-sav-
Ing devices, such would hardly be re-
garded with favor by coast guardsmen
AS an example of how this trend of mod
ern melodrama affects the SoubretteS The
Tide of Life" which started out last fall
had SOubrette slide down Il rope from
the second story of a warehouse in the
first act, make her escape from a burning
building in the second act and jump to the
roof of a rapidly moving freight car in
the third On the opening night the man
ager suggested to the young woman who
played the part that she try the slide be-
fore the curtain rose. There had been no
complete dress rehearsal of the piece, The
property man had provided a braided bell
cord, which, while possessing the neces-
sary strength, was hardly larger than a
lead pencil. The slide was ACCOMPLISHED
and the Soubrette arrived on the stage with
the skin torn from her fingers, owing to
the fact that the rope was not large enough
to be properly grasped
Almost fainting from the pain, she had
the injured hands hurriedly dressed while
the overture was being played. Twenty
minutes later a second descent had to be
made, with the result that the wounds were
torn still deeper. In spite of the agony she
was enduring, she was forced to cross the
stage, climb a stepladder to the deck of
a scenic ship and save the life of the sec
Ondary hero AS the curtain dropped she
tainted, being saved from falling off the
platform by the villain she had just sub
dued. At the close of the third act of the
play she tumbled off the platform on which
she was supposed to ride across the stage.
She promptly handed in her two weeks
notice. The present sOubrctte uses rope
Bad Experience.
In "The Bowery After Dark" in which
Terry McGovern. the pugilist. is starring,
n most of the work originally fell to the SOU
brette The soubrette had a companion in
the shape of a newsboy, who assisted her in
her efforts at rescue. When McGovern took
the piece the situations We're reversed, the
pugilist becoming the central figure. In
ha be.
the life -saver-n general to the entire COM
pany. In one scene she is let down to the
stage at the end of rope, and last season
a broken strand deprived the company of
the services of one of the best players of
the part. When she left the hospital she
decided to take her speciality into peaceful
vaudeville, letting the risky legitimate Sc
VereIy alone.
The part of Madge in "In Old Kentucky"
contains two scenes which threaten the
safety of the life saver. One of these is
that in which she swings across the ravine
at the end of rope in order to save the
life OF the hero, who lies helpless on the
ground, a dynamite cartridge securely
tucked between his feet. This act used ,1D
three 'soubrettes in one season, after which
the property man was informed that the
next time the rope broke he would lose his
Job. After this the slaughter of soubrettes
was conducted exclusively by the press
agent. This worked well for a season;
then. in the following year, the press agent
had the horse which Madge is supposed to
ride to victory in a horse race regularly
bolt AS matter of fact the horse grew
fractions on several occasions bad bruises
being carried for a time by those who
played the riders part.
TreadinE the Air.
The same player, who is the first Jill
in THE Tide of Life" for two seasons
was the soubrette of The Span of Life"
This, it will be remembered, was the first
play to introduce the living bridge A party
Of travellers. pursued by natives, headed
by the boss villain. seek to escape can
ture. Three old circus men in the COM
pany mount each others shoulders and
falling forward, the topmost man catches
the further side of the awful chasm a
distance of about seven feet Across this
bridge the party is supposed to make fts
escape, leaving the audience to wonder
how the memOers of the bridge succeeded
in crossing themselves. Each member of
the trio is supported by two invisible wires
fastened to either side Of a belt worn
around the waist. the weight of the SON.
brette being taken off their bodies nv q
travelling wire fastened to her belt One
night of the second season the wires broke
precipitating the middle man to the stage
distance of several feet This left he
soubrette suspended in mid-air. to the