The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-03
HER FAGE Is
HER FORTUNE
Modern "ShoW Girl" and Her
Busy Life
SIMPLY LOOKS PRETTY
Draws Salary and Looks Down
on Chorus Girl
SIMPLY LOOKS PRETTY

some, some elght hundred young women
in this broad land are drawing salaries
Of from SO to So week as as theatrical
show girls says Anna Marble in the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. And the managers
are In a panic over the prospective fam
inc next season when they will need about
as many more. and no supply in sight.
The famine in chorus girls. wheron the
Eagle dwelt some six months ago, is be-
coming daily more virulent, and in max
ing itself particularly felt in the front
rank, where the enhancing visions known
professionally as show girls, mostly TO
dtSport themselves.
A few years ago the term show" girl
was unknown. Now it stands in theatre
cal parlance for the dollhouse variety OF
chorus girls who is engaged purely for
the purpose of flling the front seats of
the theaters, and the model gowns of
the Paris dressmakers which the manage
ment. buys up for them. Most of these
gowns are made from forty 10 forty-three
inches as TO their skirts and from thirty
six to thirty eight inches as TO their busts.
therefore, girls of approximately these
measurements are desired. for while the
gowns may be slightly altered TO fit the
chosen wearer, they are spoiled if too
much alteration is required.
Briefly. the essentials of the show girl
are beauty, grace and style. Tall girls
are preferred. They show better from
the front and they fill the model frocks
better And then big girls happen to be
the style just now. Whether a girl is
blonde or brunette matters little, but her
general makeup must be that of the well
groomed, athletic, up-to-date girl that
Gigson, Wenzell and Christy have ideal
ICED. The Floradora sextet set the model
for the modern show girl
Like the poet, the show girl is born
and not made. Her beauty must be
genuine. Contrary O the belief of the
| layman, she is as good looking off the
/ stage as she is on it, Her beauty may
be enhanced by costume and makeup. but
it must depend on them for its existence
She is not the chorus girl OF the last
generation. She has emerged from the
comoon of cheap tinsel and short skirt or
no skirts at all. Tights have been rele-
gated to the burlesque houses. One rare
| ly sees them in frst-class houses except
! in an occasional ballet-which is quite
beneath the show girls dignity-and even
then they are arranged with Christening
attributes of drapery so that the old OBJ
lection to them is no longer tenable. One
might appropriately say that it hasn't
| leg left TO stand on"
| The show girl is radiant butterfly in
!
and frou-frou. or chic and beautifully
gowned in the smartest OF tailor made
costumes. In order to secure the most
advanced models for these gowns, Klaw
/ & Erlanger who employ hundreds of show
/ girls in their various musical attractions,
/ have buyers whose sole duty it is to scour
Europe for gowns and hats to be worn by
them in their big productions. They also
employ a thoroughly competent corps of
/ dresSmakers TO tit over the show girls
finery as we'll as the chorus girls cos
! tunes. Among the dressmakers. as
among the buyers, employed by the diff
ferent managers there is the keenest ri
valry over which shall produce or discoY-
er the most striking and effective cos
/ tunes.
the pick of the chorus" but they are
nothing of the sort The chorus girl is
| expected 10 be able 10 sing. The show
/ girl is not. In fact, the show girl occa-
sionally causes the chorus master some
embarrassment by persisting in trying TO
sing when nature never meant her to do
so. The fate OF little birds who can sing
/ and won't sing is a matter of general
knowledge: it is frequently wished that
there was some means whereby little
birds who can't sing and will sing could
be made 20 keep quiet. The show girls
one duty in life is 70 look pretty. Gen
orally she does it with enthusiasm.
For this she is paid, as already noted,
from SIS TO SIS a week. although. as VIII
bur Bates. Klaw & Changers representa-
tive put it. The girl who draws So must
be 6 sumner" Also she must pay her
own hotel bills. whatever she draws. the
management furnishing only her hats
and frocks and sometimes her shoes and
slippers for stage wear And she. as a
rule, is paid at least . per cent less in
New York than on the road. just as the
average humble chorus girl may draw SIS
a week on the road. instead OF sl2 per,
which is considered ample while the show
is at home" The ordinary chorus girl
needs some experience, the show girl does
not. The former rarely graduates into
the ranks Of the latter. The show girl is
engaged at sight at the maximum salary.
provided the sight is sufficiently pleasing
to the managerial eve. Her face is her
fortune-thst and her ability TO carry her
charming person gracefully among her
mates.
And il is as rare for a show girl 70
graduate into the ranks OF the character
players as for a chorus girl 10 develop
into a show girl. II isolated instances
they develop real talent. given the oppor-
tunity; but as a rule, the coveted priyi-
lege Of saying airily: All. yes. the prin-
cess is charming. or, But see. some one
approaches: IL is the COUNT only proves
decisively that the speaker was not born
10 a great stage career None the less
there Is a mad scramble for that privi-
lege. And the ia who gains Il gains
also the envy OF the rest. whose iaGivid-
uaIities are squelched "a the shrin Una
nirnlty OF the reply. 1T Is, Il Is the count -
There are young women whose repa;a-
lions as show girls are as well established
in theatrical circles as are those % many
a successful star, and yet they may never
hav spoken a line IN public though shey
have beer on the stage fer years Pauline
Case, the pink psiaraa gid OF The LII
erty Bellies" Is a celebrated skeS giri
Vivian Blackburn OF Anna Held's com
paay. whose Photograph in fencing COS
tune one sees IN highly eOlcTed eATonos