The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-27
THAW'S CHORUS GIRL WIFE,
NEW YORK FIRST SAW HER ~
THE LONG "FLORO DORA" run.

An Artists Model as q Chlid. She Learned 10
Court Popularity In HrOadway Music
Shows As n Wifc She DID Her Hest 10
Fit Herself for Pittsburg's society.
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw was a schoolgirl in
Pittsburg when the death Of her father,
Winfield Scott Nesbit, left her mother and
herself almost destitute. Encimbrances on
the little property left by the father shut
of almost every source Of income. The
schoolgirl had to ACE more serious prob
ems than usually fall to the lot Of a girl
in knee dresses.
When the girl was only 10 a Mrs. OAR
ragh, a portrait painter and miniature
! maker Of Philadelphia, had discovered her
and had painted her head. Later Phillips,
a photographer Of Philadelphia, had asked
the Pittsburg child TO sit for several photo
graphic STUDIES. The pictures we're printed
in an art magazine and attracted attention
Before her father had been lead long Eve
lyn Nesbit found that she was being sought
af ter by such artists as Carol Beckwith,
F. s. Church. Carl Blenner and j. Wells
Champney.
The schoolgirl found herself suddenly
thrown into the atmosphere OF the studio
and the life hat calls itself bohemian.
She was not yet II and New York dazzled
her.
When grown men began to shower atten-
lions on her she suddenly found herselfa
woman. There were patrons who were
willing to lift her into Success, among them
Stanford White, man about town and first
nighter, whose attentions toward the girl
were marked. Theatrical managers who
tell the story say that Stanford Whites in
terests were almost fatherlike. Eve lyn,
they add. was nothing but a fyaway girl.
When -Florodora" was put on in the fall
Of 1900 Fisher d Ryley engaged Evelyn
Nesbit to sing In the chorus as one Of the
flower girls. Her face and her figure at
tracted attention and the girl in the chorus
found herself talked about. After the run
of "Florodora" came The White Rose, " in
which Irene Bentley starred. Evelyn Nesbit
had a small part in this short lived musical
comedy.
Popular chorus girls who number wealthy
men among their admirers do not lack for
chances. Miss Nesbit, among whose early
patrons Stanford White was said to have
been the most loyal and benefcent, sud-
denly found the means to go to Europe for
a musical education.
Her departure left a distinct gap in a
select circle Of admirers. Her memory
was kept green by Photographic studies
done by Burr Mcintosh and published in his
ma gazine. The figure Of a dark haired girl
in a graceful kimono and curled mp on a
polar bears hide became "A familiar one to
New York readers.
The trip to Europe ended in the whirl-
love affair with Harry Thaw, the sub
sequent return to New York under circum-
stances of peculiar interest and the remar-
riage in Pittsburg under the maternal
blessing circumstances made familiar by
recent recounting. Then followed the
effort of the newly welded Mrs. Shaw
to fit herself for her new place in society,
Pittsburg gossips tell how the ex-chorus
girl, made sister-in-law to the Earl of Var
mouth, diligently undertook to study Ger
man and French as well "a music at one
time. Prof. Luigi Won Kunits attended at
o O'Clock to teach Mrs, Thaw French, the
professors wife followed with instruction
in polite German and the afternoons We're
given over to Henry Bramsen, pianoforte
instructor, and Nine. Bramsen, onltivator
Of the voice
The entrance Of Mrs. Harry Thaw into Pitts
burg society was signalized by a revolt on
the part OF the women which threatened for Il
time to create n lasting break. Mrs. Thaw,
the mother, was insistent a reception was
planned, and the Pittsburg social set vas
whipped into line by that determined lady.
Though there we're a few insurgents, most
Of the smar people bowed to the mandate
of Harry Tia VS. mother.