The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-21
THREE MACART SISTERS
ENGLISH GYMNAsTs WHO HAVE
NOVEL AND ExACTING ACT.
They Come of n Famous Family and
Were Judiciously Trafned-Fa-
vorites I'm Russia.

A trio of unusually interesting perform
ers are the Macart sisters. three English
girls. who appeared in a most surprising
equilibristic and acrobatic act at the Grand
Opera House all of last week. Aside from
their wonderful work the stage they
are interesting young women. who have
Travelled all over the world and are lin
gusts of remarkable ability. When three
young girls. scarcely out of their teens.
find it easy TO speak four languages-kn-
glish. French, German and Spanish-and
can lay claim TO being gymnasts Of the
highest class. dancers Of grace and agility
and excellent musicians. II is little wonder
that they attract more than the passing
attention bestowed by the public upon the
people that furnish entertainment in vaude-
Vile Iheaters.
The striking similarity in the faces and
figures of the trio has been commented
upon frequently during the last week. and
many people have shown curiosity TO learn
how three girls so much alike in physique
should be grouped together as professional
gymnasts. That they really are sisters no
one who has seen them at close range
need be told, but when one gets close to
them and engages them in conversation he
realizes that their mental similarity is even
more pronounced than their physical ap-
pearance.
During an interview last week a news
paper man obtained their measurements.
and was surprised to find them much
smaller than they appeared to be when
performing in the glare of the footlights-
Not one person in ten would guess that
the tallest of the three is less than five
feet eight inches and the other two less
than five feet six inches, but as a matter
of fact the tallest is but five feet one inch.
and the others not quite five feet in height.
The tallest. Cecilia, is the youngest and
the strongest Of them all. She weighs ex-
| actly 135 pounds. while her two sisters.
Julia and Adelaide, are of exactly the same
height and neighbour feet eleven inches
tall and weighing lie pounds. Wonderful
as is the muscular development OF these
| young English girls. it does not protrude
| itself upon the vision. Their arms and
legs are large. but not out OF proportion to
| their bodies, and they taper gracefully.
| There are no knots of muscles noticeable;
| in fact, to the eye they are such limbs as
any woman might desire to have. And yet
the girls are stronger than most men,
The development of the muscles in the
| jaw and neck of both Julia and Cecilia is
| prodigious. You can no more feel the jaw
| bone of one of those girls than you can feel
| the bone of a blacksmith by touching the
biceps muscle. The breadth that is appar-
ent in the lower parts of their faces is due
| neither to the osseous formation nor TO the
| feshy tissue; ii is owing simply TO big
tough muscles. Adelaide has a powerful
| neck and jaw herself, but she is a weakling
| in that respect as compared to the other
| two.
IN SHOW BUSINESS MANY YEARS.
1--WE have been in the show business ever
| since l can remember" said the elder Miss
| Macart one afternoon last week while
standing in the wings at the Grand waiting
| for the turn of herself and sisters. "I
began myself at three years, and Adelaide
| and Cecilia at four and five. We come OF
| a famous English family of circus people.
| Our grandmother was the noted Madam
| Macart a circus rider. We were trained
| by our father, who, until this present sea-
son. has always accompanied on all OF
| our tours. Until five years ago he en-
| ployed a governess to travel with US and
| teach us music and languages. We play
| both the mandolin and guitar, and Adelaide
| is also skillful pianist.
mo, this is not the jolly life that many
people seem to imagine. When are Civ
| ing two performances daily, as we have
had to do during our Indianapolis engage
| ment, we lead a mighty busy existence.
and even when we have but one perform
| ance a day we are obliged to practice three
hours every morning. We made our first
| appearance as a trio at the London Troco-
dero when that beautiful music hall was
| in its pride. This is our second trip to
America, but we have never played I'm this
city before. We like playing before Lon
M a hQ
| Western audiences in this country are al
ways enthusiastic. We have appeared in
nearly every civilized country, and are
| great favorites in Russia You will notice
that we carry our own property man, who
handles all of our apparatus. We would
| not dare trust that work to strangers, as
| our father was badly injured once by fall
| ing from a trapeze that had not been
| ranged securely. The work does not tire
| us at all, as we make IL point to always
| keep in the hest of condition. and we have
ofttimes. while playing in London, APP
peared at three or four music halls In one
| night, driving from one to another in
brougham, with heavy opera cloaks thrown
| over our stage costumes.
"Our father intended that we should be
merely high-class wire walkers. each doing
| a separate act, and he trained US when we
were little with that end in view. In train
| ing for this work we always stretched the
| wire about foot above the floor. for the
| beginner gets no end of tumbles, and
| thorough teacher will not allow his pupils
| to venture the high wire until at least
| two years practice has been had on the
| low one. One day father came into our
| gymnasium when my two younger sisters
| were on the wire together, maintaining
| their balance for a minute or two and then
falling off in opposite directions. That was
| what gave father the idea TO introduce an
| entirely new wire-walking act, with three
performers on the same wire going through
| the same difficult feats in unison- Our
| act. as IL stands to-day. is the result OF
/ five years of the hardest kind Of practice.
| during which time we not only learned ev-
| erything worth knowing In a wire-walking
way but also became equally competent In
contortion, acrobatic and equilibristic
| work.
Fatal Consequences.