Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-06
DARK HAIR IN FAVOR

'.All of the theatrical agents whom l met
IN New York on this last trip expressed the
view that during the next season the theat-
rical blonde will become as dead as the
dodo." remarked q Washington manager
back from a sojourn in Manhattan. "One
of them told me that out of 800 chorus wo-
men whom he had engaged for early pro-
auctions only thirty-two were blondes, ana
these thirty-two were employed because OF
their possession IF exceptionally fine voices.
Nor. he added, was there a single. solitary
chemical blonde among the thirty-two'
They were all natural. 1t would seem as
il the blonde woman must be unusually tai
ented to obtain stage employment nowadays
in any line Of theatrical endeavor. let alone
the chorus work. The dark-haired girl has
the floor now, and they are predicting that
her inning is going to be long one.
Il asked one of the best known OF the
theatrical agents how he gauged the thea
tergoers ideas Of what constitutes feminine
beauty on the stage. BY mixing with tneii
and hearing them talk. was his reply.
He said that the male theatergoers be-
gan to get sore upon the drug shop blonde
several years ago. The mania among Wo-
men Of all degrees for peroxided hair was
brought home to tens of thousands or men
who had to battle with their wives to pre-
vent them from going Off and having their
hair bleached to the hue Of fax. That was
the beginning of the end Of the stage
blonde. according to the theatrical agents
view of it. They attribute the passing OF
the stage blonde to the menacing univer-
salty about decade ago Of the peroxide
habit.
There isn't anything connected with the
the shifting ideas Of the theatergoing pub
lie as to feminine beauty. Only ten or
twelve years ago the plump. not to say
the actually stodgy chorus girl IN tights nus
RI or Oil
and curveless. the better. But they sim
ply had to be buxom-looking and robust,
especially to their lower extremitles, TO
get on at all. The big. strapping and gen
was wanted for Amazon marches particu-
larly. but she fitted into any notch where
snug tights were called for. The slender
girl. no matter how graceful, was not
in the picture, and the few who were en-
gagged on account of special talent. or be-
cause they had particularly good voices, or
singularly pretty faces. were padded out
that they did not know their own ng-
ures in their dressing room glasses
well, as 1t stands now, big. strapping
girls can't get on at all. unless they take
to the burlesque shows or the stag houses.
where the demand Is for quantity rather
than for quality and grace.
The slender, willowy girl. with certain
manifesto tons OF a rightly apportioned
plumpness. Is all the thing now. and has
been for number OF years. nor does there
seem 10 De any sigh lIldl BIC Ia gums ~
be soon displaced. Some of the prettiest
and cleverest of the show girls of this
type have to constantly guard against In
creasing plumpness, and a good many of
them have to lead the most austere lives
with that purpose In mind
And then, as to the tights. The ex-
travaganza of a dozen years ago couldn't
even have papered the house If most of
the girls weren't dked out In the merest
wisps of ieshlings. Tights were the idea.
and the very extreme of this manifestation
Of public taste found its exemplifcation
in the so-called living pictures. which no
body would much as look at now.
IAN of a sudden. 1t seemed. the girls in
tights began to lose out. They weren't
wanted any more. The girls In the knee
skirts or long dresses. whose every skit-
fish kick or movement revealed more or
less 1lmy and mystifying apparel, came
into vogue.
''Fhe old-time Amazon march came to be
hooted even in the cheap stag houses.
certain imaginative subtlety took posses
sion of the theatergoers who make up opin-
ion as to what stage women should look
like and dress in and this imaginative SUBJ
tlety was the beginning OF the end Of the
show with loads Of girls moving around
the stage in the screened undress of tights"