The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-03
The Tall and SinuOus Creatures
Are Passe.
TIGHTS TO BE IN STYLE
The Old Time Amazon Chorus
Will Be Revived.
The FIorOdOra WardrObes No
Longer the Rage.


veloped sister in tights. For couple
of seasons the tall and sinuous crea-
ture that attained to greatest promi-
hence in "F1orodora' gradually has
been losing attractiveness in the eyes
of managers, and the revival of
Wang last spring marked the prac-
teal return to favor of the tightly
laced beauty of the old "Adonis" days,
says the New York Express
There have been many indications
of late that during the winter We are
10 watch plump Amazons parade in
the forefront of musical productions.
When De Wolf Hopper brought his
Siamese court to the Lyric he was
surrounded by a company of pretty
girls in tights. and auditors applauded
them generously. Five years ago
Henry Z. Dixey revived 'Adonis' with
poor success, because playgoers look
ed upon his troupe of straight limbed
lasses as unbeautiful and old fashion
ed compared with the maidens in
trailing gowns. who naively sang that
there were a few, kind sirs, at home
of equal charms with themselves.
Thus do fashions in girls change, just
like fashions in dress. We have be-
come wearied of the stately miss strid-
ing in studied dignity and setting her
pompadour in a frame of variegated
parasols. Instead of frills and fiounceS
we are to have tights of every hue;
bulging calves and thighs are to be
shown instead of the graceful lines
cut by the modiste's scissors
He is an old playgoer whose mem
ory stretches back to the time when
tights first became popular. Z. Z.
Rice dearly loved a muscular chorus.
He reigned for many years as the
arbiter of chorus styles. He liked to
see the stage filled with girls in close
array, and each one a rival of the
other in physical fullness. Rice an
ticipated physical culture, and he
tice his art in stage management in
these days of dumbbells, Indian clubs
and breathing exercises.
The BLACK Crook" introduced the
Amazon chorus, and great was the
hubbub that was stirred uD in clerical
circles. Sermons denouncing the APP
pearance of women in tights were
preached in a majority of city
churches. and from the lecture plat
form Ome bitter criticism of the
Theatre novelty. 1.-The degradation
of the stage" was a common utter
ance about thirty years gao, but play
goers, with their usual indifference to
their moral advisers, thronged Niblo'S
Garden, and soon the fame of the
chorus was country wide Tights were
a leading feature of nearly all light
entertainments until DiXey made his
memorable success in 'Adonis,' and
then came a radical change. DiXey's
manager engaged tall and robust girls
for his chorus. and he accumulated
their expansive curves by clever pad
ding. Rice staged 'tAdoniS," and he
was as proud of the great avoirdupois
of the chorus as Dixey himself. 1t is
almost twenty years now since Dixey
opened in the piece in the Bijou, and
for two years thereafter AdonlS
was a magnet to playgOerS-
In a sense Dixey and mis- heavyweight
chorus became an institution of the
city that all visitors had to see, and
the belief was general that the play
trio oil
fulness- But slowly public ideas were
changing. Criticism of tights long be-
fore had ceased, and the pink silks lost
interest simply because the Wh1rllg1S
of time had made them ordinary. There
was really nothing to recommend them
Eave their convenience in showing of
legs. and the curiosity of the public
wore itself out.
Dixey died hard, and his Amazons to
the end bitterly resented a hint that
they were made of common clay But
audiences dwindled. and when Dixey
had spent several seasons vainly seek
ing success in other ventures in 1899 he
called his old favorites around him and
gain opened in the Bijou- An engage
ment of six weeks had been planned,
but six nights were sufficient to prove
that theatergoers were Indifferent to
the comedian and his bulky brigade.
Lefty Lind tolled the passing of
'Adonis" and his cohorts in tights.
This young woman aroused enthusiasm
when she came here from England. She
wore skirts, and she was a dancer of
ability and grace In a night almost
she esta blished the chorus of the skirt
in public esteem. Playgoers began to
wonder why they had been so warm in
edmiration of the girls of the BLACK
Crook and -'Adonis." and soon there
came the generously draped chOruseS
that preceded the maidens of "Floro-
dora"
Philadelphia is a favorite city for
trying out revivals- The reason for this
Lot ~r1ar
that DiXey revived "Adonis," and there
Hopper travelled with his merry crew in |
Wang" a few months ago The result
I'm the first instance was disastrous; in
the second il was SO successful that 1t
is likely to lead the elongated comed- |
fan to London. The chorus in Wang |
was not as substantial that in
"AdoniS," but there was the same af- |
fectation of tights. Philadelphia re-
ceived Hopper in a lively mood, and |
New York hailed him with an enthus-
iasm that was supposed to be impossi-
BILE in the pervading languor of last |
season. Again tights were timely
Playgoers had become wearied of
drawn out rows of slim beauties in
shivering costumes, and there was a
hankering for tights stretched to the !
limit OF safety.
Hopper had a lasting fondness for a |
chorus of comfortable proportion. He |
admires what he calls liberal COM |
pactness." On the stage he prefers to |
hug a girl whose substance is not lost |
In a veil of loose draperies. Il like |
chorus with the muscles of its necks |
painted out" says Hopper. land with |
Its tanks running to adipose and re-
pose" The comedian humored mis- fancy |
when the chorus for Wang was en- |
gagged. and he professed to nave cast |
OF decade of age by hugging in the |
old. satisfying way.
Tights are to be worn, but we are /
not to have the capacious Amazons |
as of old. The tiny soldiers of the /
mfkado are victors over the giants /
of the car, and diminutive misses are /