The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-31
MRS. FISH GIVES A
VAUDEVILLE SHOW
Takes Whole Theatrical Conn
pany to Her House to En-
tertain Her Guests

There are few women in the New
York smart set who do things in as
large way as Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish,
who is altogether an original person.
When one considers how extremely
difficult it is to be original in these
days of great expenditures, one real
ICES what an exceedingly clever wom-
an is Mrs Fish. One of her fads is to
adopt color for season and have her
entire wardrobe made of stuffs of one
shade; this year she adopted green
and her gowns, both street and evening.
are of various shades of green. Now,
of course, some captious persons might
regard that as a silly fad, but it is GER
tainly original and marks Mrs. Fish as
possessed Of some gray matter in her
head.
Her latest feat was on Friday night
last when Mrs. Fish engaged the EN-
tire cast of Lady Teazle'' to come to
her house and give two acts Of the play.
Now if one remembers what this
means in the way of trouble and ex-
pense it will be seen that Mrs. Fish
considered nothing too good for her
guests. The way it was done was this:
After the company finished at the
theater, they were bundled into buses
and driven to MIS-. Fish's house. where
they gave their play-that is, an act or
two of it-on an improvised stage be-
fore an audience of exceeding smart
ness. The burning question of the
hour to the rank and file of the COM
pany was, would they be fed? The
principals of the company also Won
dered whether they would be expected
to mingle with the elect after the
"Show'' was over. Now it seems that
Mrs. Fish's idea of true hospitality to
actress folk was plenty of champagne
and cigarettes, but the ladies of the
chorus wanted ice cream and cake.
suppose champagne and cigarettes are
so common among the stage beauties
that ice cream and cake are more like
a party. At all events, it is reported
that there was some confusion owing
to the demand for viands other than
were furnished, all of which added
much to the fun of the evening and in
cidentally entertained those persons
who are thoroughly bored by the COM
monplace But one thing was accom-
pliShed at all events, and that was the
coming to close quarters with smart
society by ladies cf the chorus and
others who shine back of the footlights.
1t was a memorable occasion not likely
to be forgotten by those fortunate
One or two of the performers wanted
lemonade and were not backward about
making their desires known; cham
pagne is not lemonade any way you
look at it, and there was a deadlock
for a few minutes, only to be succeeded
by real crisis when one of the stage
ladies discovered her name was not
upon the goldcrested programme. No
wonder she did not like it and that
diplomatic relations between Mrs. Fish
and her stage friends were badly
strained for few moments. Just how
this important matter was adjusted
has not been reported, but it was prob
ably arbitrated and war averted. For
If society and the stage really went to
war it would be a serious matter.
But the fact remains that the two
have been brought into closer rela--
tions through the agency of Mrs. Fish's
original idea of giving her guests a
real performance of real opera, which
it is reported cost the hostess some
thing like $4,000. Of course when
money becomes mere dross and the
counting of it WEAKNESS, its possess
sors get into a frame of mind when
they are willing to do almost anything
to relieve the monotony. And that is the
condition of smart society. Now if
feeding hungry persons could only. be-
this winter, what an admirable thing
it would be. If ones position in the
smart set could be made to depend en-
tirely upon how much good could be
done for the suffering, think how it
would hasten the millennium. But 1t
would have to become q fashionable
fad in order to go with a rush.