The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-21

there were several troupes of acrobats whose female members performed in long dresses. It was a novelty that the public took kindly to, and, moreover it afforded new ideas for the pictorial billing for the show.
 There was however, no sudden revolu- tion. Many well-known circus artists thought the only proper dress for a prin- cipal equestrienne was a belt with 90 or GO yards of crinoline or tarletan attached to it in endless folds. How on earth, 1t was argued, could a rider jump from the ground to the back of her horse unless she was entirely free from the impeachment of a skirt? And who ever heard of such d thing as a rider jumping through paper hoop attired in anything but tights and tulle?
 Josie Demott one of the Barnum X Bal ley riders, solved the problem for herself by eliminating the hoop and learning to jump in her street wardrobe The rest was easy. Dallie Julian did the same thing and presently both of these clever young women were riding horseback in long skirts. The public-as represented in the audience-applauded vigorously, and a new thing in the costuming of circus riders was an accomplished fact.
 Isabelle Butler, the American girl who drives the auto in the Dip of Death. wears several stunning costumes, no one of which could be duplicated for less than six or seven hundred dollars.
 Once the fashion got fairly into swing. its development was rapid. Tights for female performers-except in jockey acts and permanences in the air requiring the utmost freedom of linb-were replaced by long skirts. The leading performers among women were expected by the management to appear in gowns Tighls and tulle were reegated to the little one-ring shows.
 This demand for long skirts in the circus arena has reached it's climax in the Bar mum & Bailey show of this season, and will be evidenced during the Birmingham engagement on October 27. In every act where the nature of the performance will permit, women wear skirts. And every effort has been made to keep up with pre- vailng modes. Long skirts of silk and chiffon are much in evidence. The dresses designed to look swell and up-to- date as possible, while the materials arc the best that money can buy. Circus CO.'S tunes are no longer made of tinsel and gauge, merely for effect They are made to last and to bear examination glance into the dressing tent of the big circus would be revelation to many fashionable society women. Individual riders and oth- CT performers have costume after costume made in the highest style of the dress makers art and representing, in many eases, an expenditure of hundreds of dol- lars.
 The Grunathe sisters comprise a gym nastic family that has yielded to the pre- vailing demand for long skirts in the cir GUS arena. Prior to their arrival in Amer ica they had always appeared in tights and trunks. In fact, their first appearance in America in Madison Square Garden New York, was notable. apart from their cleverness, owing to the fact that they were the only female acrobats who did not wear skirts. The pressure of the pre- vailing style, reinforced by a friendly hint from the management, was too much for them, and within week they had recruit ed their wardrobe, and were giving their sensational performances in long dresses. Their gowns are modish and up-to-date.