Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-12
GOSSIP OF GOTHAM
Always Something New on
Peter Stuyvesant's Island.
WAITING FOR PARSIFAL
NEW WORKERS WANT IT, BUT
PURIsTS ARE DETECTING.
Chorus Girls Ever a New Theme for
Study-Novelties in the Way
of Crooked Work.
WAITING FOR PARSIFAL


tan Opera House are we'll under way FRAU
Cosima has lost out Everybody seems, in
consequence. to be glad. The Frau Coslma
"a said to be the most tight-fisted elderly
person in Europe. 1t is not anticipated
that her LAWYERS already on the ground
here and breathing more fire than the
Dragon of the Trilogy, will be able to &C
complish anything toward stopping the pro-
duction. Herr Conried, the director Oh the
Metropolitan, has Tod the lawyers that IL
they would publicly give one val1d reason
other than that the Frau Cosima needs the
money-why ''Parsifal' should not De given
in New York, he would abandon the pro-
duction, This was equivalent to herr Con-
feds forming loop with forehnser ana
thumb and politely requesting the lawyers
of Wagner's widow to jump through II. Inc
case has been lost before coming 10 ,[iai d.;
There isn't any valid reason why ParsIai
should not be given in New York, except
Herr Conried Hides.
Well. Herr Conried has been denying HIM
self to all callers for ten days. lie has
been having prayerful and ''rassling' time
Win himself, trying to make up his MIND
whether he shall permit the temptation
scene from "Parsfal" to ''go as writ In
New Yorks production of the partly reh-
Eious but considerably libidinous opera, Vi
cut it out altogether. Herr Conrled coslta-
tons on this proposition nave Deen tne ihoie
intense because he heard, only the other
day, that Anthony Comstock, the phenome-
fally busy censor of the public morals OF
Greater New York knows the German IAN
Kuage. Now the so-caIed temptation
9cene" in "ParsifRl," according to hardened
male travellers who have seen the same as
given in Bayreuth, would. If produced on
the Metropolitan stage In all OF us g1ouy
abandon of song and spoken word ana
wriggled posture, be nothing more nor less
than pie for the argus-eyed Anthony In
other words. the Temptation" in "Parsifal'
would 1t Is feared. be a tremendous temp
tation to Anthony (some folks write the
st" before his baptismal name) to close
Up the show well-known New York
clubman, who saw "Parsifaf' at Bayreuth,
told some friends the other day that the
Temptation scene" struck him as being the
hottest stuff that he had ever seen out of
Port Said or away from the now defunct
Moulin Rouge. Imaginative persons who
Set themselves the gloomy task of reading
the "Parsifal' book all agree on this point.
A few years ago they gave all Of the usual
~ omitted parts of ''Tannhauser" In pro-
duction at the Metropolitan of that early
opera of wagner's Including the ballet
Now the ballet of "Tannhauser," according
to reliable persons who have seen both
operas as done at Bayreuth. Is as circum
spect as a rendition by college girls Of
Greek play when compared with the
caloric cachouca cavortings of the careless
"Parsifal''
And vet the Society for the Suppression Of
Vice notified the Metropolitan people that
Some few reefs would have to be taken in
the bland ga1ety of the "Tannhauser' ballet
on peril of the Metropolitan being made
dark" Complicat tons were averted by the
boss of the Metropolitan's Instructions to
the "Tannhauser" ballet to behave. What.
then. will the Comstock outfit do to or with
''Parslfal2"
Has to Be Tempted.
The young man in 'Parsifar' has got to
be tempted If the opera Is to have any
sense at all, and the temptation scene" Is
as much part of the opera as the first
fiddle Is q part of the orchestra And If
they're going to tempt, the girls in the
show have got to tempt according to Wag
ner's book-nothing else could be thought
Of And If the Temptation scene" is pulled
OFF in New York just as Wagner wrote and
arranged It, why, then there is the stodgy.
bewhiskered. phlegmatic and truly good
Comstock standing back of the last tier of
boxes glowering, and only waiting for the
drop of the curtain to touch Herr Conried
on the shoulder and tell him that "Parsi-
fall" as given, won't do.
Oh, there is use In talking at ALL 1t Is
very solemn, not to say agoniZing, prob
lem. and so it's no wonder that. nowadays,
Herr Conried's naturally tousled hair looks
more than ever as If 1t had been combed
with two-pronged pitchfork. In the mean
time. the town is bracing itself for the
SnOCk II tndt Splenululy duNtIilStu teHptd-
ton scene should be really given. Most of
the society persons among the boXholders
at the Metropolitan know German, of
course. woman reporter interviewed
woman who has for years been one of the
figurantes of New York society about what
she thought of the coming production of
"Parsifal."
You know German, of course?" the wo-
man reporter said.
"Um-I'll not exactly admit that-but If 1
do know German l am going to try to for
get as much of it as l can before the Par
sifaf production-there Is such a thing.
even yet, as saving ones countenance. My
husband saw 'Parsifar at Bayreuth and he
has warned me. So that l shall not know
enough German to hurt. so to speak, when
I attend the performance here. After the
production / should be pleased to have you
drop in at any time and talk German TO
me. I earned a prize at Vassar for my
German. But you are not to print that-un-
til after 'Parsifal""
Chicago Chorus Girls.
A chattering consignment of Chicago cho-
rus women none of whom had ever seen
New York before. got along here the other
day, and they have been pervading and
permeating the town ever since Some of
them are not so Unlocking If you like the
show girl type of beauty" as it is called
Whatever else may be said about this outfit
OF Chicago chorus women, 1t can never be
said that they are unobtrusive. You can't
throw a rock on Broadway without hitting
one OF them-of course, you can't throw
rocks on Broadway. anyhow but that is a
Detail. Few, If any, of these Chicago cho-
rus girls ever saw the sea before and they
have been putting all of the time that they
could spare away from Broadway down on
the nearby beaches. One of them a frugal
young thing. who gets SIS per week imme-
diately bought 81 500 electric launch out
OF her savings, and, with a few friends
male and female, began to navigate the
placid waters of Canarsie bay. She was
standing on the seat cushion in the stern
sheets. waving dada to some left-behind
friends when the cox un of the electric cut
ter suddenly started the machinery, and
and the boat bounded forward. The provi
dent young person who owned the launch
went into the water, but she didn't MIND
that at all. She was picked up almost i'm
mediately.
II am forever falling overheard" she
said, gayly, TO her New York friends wher
they hauled her into her launch. Only 9
fortnight ago l fell out of my other launch
into the Chicago river. Luckily, however
landed on my feet"
"Yes?" said her friends. And then?"
"Oh. l simply picked myself up an6
walked back to the boat. which waited fol
me In mid-stream. Later, though. / found
that l had a sprained ankle-you know the
Chicago river, don't your