The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-26

| diamonds sealskin and sables, but she
| turned obediently, hattered at the at
| tention.
Now, there's a show girl" continued
the manager, swinging her round till
| the bunch of light fell on her face.
And where did you come from:" /
asked.
From Louisville. I'm a Southern
girl she replied in tone of obedience,
for she was under the stage managers
eye and he was an autocrat. / wanted
| to question her further, but the auto
! crat patted her kindly on her sealskin
back and pushed her gently into the
crowd. saying:
"That'll do, and. mind. now, you don't
give out no pictures to the newspapers
| till I've seen EN-" Ands she faded
away into the bevy of feminine charm
| ers.
That's the girl to show off our hand
some costumes"
Then he summoned another girl, tall,
slender and more quietly gowned.
Nov, / call her a chorus girl, cause
she can only sing. / don't care II they
never see her from the 'front.'" con-
tinued the autocrat.
And where do you come from?"
| asked her.
cleveland. Ohio" came the faint re-
ply.
Been on the stage long?"
1.-TWO years."
Everybody implicated in this act. att
tend to business yells the stage man
ager, and the rehearsal is on.
Sitting on an old wooden table, her
feet on a chair her elbows on her lap
and her chin resting on them, is a lit
tie girl about is, who. a few weeks
ago, was sent from a nearby town by
the priests of her own church. Per-
suaded that she would be a great
singer they contributed a few hundred
dollars for her studies in New York.
After taking a few lessons her re-
solve to work patiently broke down.
the money spent, she has drifted into
one of those cheap boarding houses
which demoralize so many good ambl-
tions, and from that to the stage. The
kind priests should have known bet
ter.
She is too young for positive beauty
but she gives promise of being show
girl some day, and If she does not ruin
her voice she will develop into a fine
singer But the chorus of a burlesque
Is the last place for talented young
girls with good voices and who are not
worldly wise. Her salary may be $40
or $l2 week, and she just fills in
the stage. She secured the engagement
by letters from politician more or less
his influence with city officials.
There are some cases where young
girls go from one theater to another
asking for engagements, and securing
them on merit, but usually 1t is "quid
pro quo through introduction, infu-
ence or pull"
Sitting one day in George M. Led
erer's outer office / watched a young
| woman clinging to other music roll and
nervously buttoning and unbuttcninE
her gloves. After she had tried to read
a paper upside down she broke the
ice.
"Will you tell me what I'm going to
do?" she asked ingenuously.
"Tll try" 1 answered, sensing the
facts in the case.
81 want an engagement, and how am
to get it?"
What can you do?"
II can sing, at least, have been told
so. l began as a concert singer"
"Yes?"
"Yes, 1 got up a concert at Mendels-
sohn Hall. 1t cost me all the money
had and the newspaper notices-were
bad. Out West they told me had
great voice.
A little sob rose in her throat.
And you hadn't?" asked gently.
"The papers said children should be
seen and not heard. What am to do?"
Keep on applying until you get in
somewhere"
THAT sounds we'll. don't suppose
Lederer will even see me-" q knew he
wouldn't, because he was not engaging
any one just then)
I'm going round to the H. Theater.
They're sending out an opera company.
But it's a hard drop from concert TO
| chorus" And she fitted away.
The hight of the chorus girls ann
bition is to get a place at the Casino
or Weber & Fields. where seasons
run may be counted upon. At the lat
| ter house one day in each week is set
aside for seeing applicants. No list Of
names and addresses is kept, because.
according to Julian Mitchell. The stage
manager, ii is utterly impossible 70
keep track of them.
you see, with u.s." he explained, "it
is largely a matter of htting the girl
to the costume; that is, after the pror
duction is in running order. The only
/ way girl can get IN is through the
falling out of some one else; then the
newcomer must fit her predecessor
costume. / always tell the girls to call
once week, and IL there's vacancy
I'll see themII report to Messrs. Weber
e. Field, and on Thursdays they make
business of selecting any girls they
may need. II is difficult to get in, for
Bonnie Maginn, whose dancing has
delighted patrons of this house, told me
that she got her engagement with
Weber & Field when she was only rs
She attended rehearsal with a friend,
quite by accident. She had come from
the West with a company that had
failed. and she was leaving for her
home that same night. But at rehearsal
an opening came-and she has never
gone West
"And what is your anbition?" In
quired.
II want TO be Fay Templeton."
she said earnestly. "but It sernes such
a long way off, Although / began at
a small salary. have now been here
five years and am earning about
hundred dollars a week"
But Bonnie Maginn is an exception.
The usual rise OF the chorus girl is less
rapid. and the career OF the show
girl II quite a different story.
what Mrs. Brown Says.
"Graybeard Compound cured me OF