The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-08

Was 7 ever a chorus girl7 Neverl
And l was never in vaudeville until
"The Chorus Lady" was transferred
from n. sketch in a magazine to one
act play. I took it out on the continu-
Gus and then to London, and 1T made
such a hit that it was changed a bit,
made into q four-act drama-and here
we are. While it is true that | never
filed the place of a chorus girl myself,
aside from the fact that Patricia
0 'Brien is a good photograph of this
particular woman of the stage, l am
tremendously familiar with the chorus
girl s life. from the girl who gets fifteen
per and lives on it. to the chorus queen,
who, apparently on the same income,
rides in nutom obiles.
There are lots of Patricias, struggling
plucky, spunky, straight and good
hearted. They are funny. but they are
pathetic, too, and they have hard life:
! studied the chorus Hlady' on and
off the stage for years. 1t S 4 sight for
the gods and the humorist to see her
at lunch counter on the road. She
falls off the train and rushes into the
station to get u sandwich and 4 glass
of milk, or n doughnut and a piece of
pie, She gives her order as King Rich
ard might call for his horse or Cleopatra
her barge, and heaven help the poor at
tendants if they do not fly to do her
bidding, She is disdainful Of her food
and scathing In her comments on the
service. She pays her check with the
air of an injured queen and stalks out,
leaving the lunchroom menialS under the
impression that they have failed to
please Nine Duse or Sarah Bernhardt.
Then she goes back to the train and
will sit up half the night sewing frills
on her costumes to make brave show
ing on the opening night in the next
town, and ther, after night of work,
she trudges out of the station in the
chilly dawn to search for a cheap lodg-
ing.
These girls have a long, idle summer
to get through on their savings of the
winter, and many of them. like Patricia,
have a younger sister to look after, or
a mother at home to help and they man.
age somehow 10 do 1t. And most of
them run straight, and turn down the
Johunies who think, like the villain in
the play, that they can pay for the
havoc they cause.
Where does the chorus girl come from
and what becomes OF her3 Why not
ask, what becomes of the pins1 She
comes from the country as rule, The
mirror over the wnshstand in her farm
house bedroom has told her that the
country is no place for her. so she packs
her carpet bag, buys some high heels
and a big hat and comes to town TO
show New York what real youth and
beauty are. Once In while girl
NAV start out with the ambition tc
become a singer or an actress, but, as
rule, the country girl seeks the chorus
because it S easier to wear tights than
TO scrub floors and sweller' to dance
than to stand all day behind counter
please do not think by this that my
advice is to 90 into the chorus rather
than do these things. One in q hun.
drcd thousand becomes n star like Edna
May. Edna Wallace Hopper and Lula
CHASER, the others marry--it S the only
thing for thCm to do II they are sensi;
BILE. When ! was in vaudeville / used
TO love to sit in the wings and make
friends with the performers. The trained
birds, the performing ponies and the
India rubber acrobats; but most of all
the spangled sisters just waiting to
do their .ftoin." I think they liked me
because I liked them. They were used
TO chesty ''legits' who sn lobed them
and you may be sure that they had
their own opinions of the chesty
'legitsn and it wasn't expressed in
blank verse, either.
1t il be known that Patricia O'Brien
is not a "chesty legt, - but she has her
ideas and iuSpirations, which many Of
the in slated celebrities are sadly in need
of. She believes that there should al
( WAYS be n tear behind the laugh in
/ every part This is the reason, perhaps,
| that Patricia y Brien is so much loved
| bv her audiences. It's all very well to
make people laugh, but just laughter is
] empty. Unless there is some heart in.
! tcrest you 20 way and forget both
play and PLAYER. OF course u great
many people pay their money to laugh
only, but most of them, l think-espe,
ciallv that part of the audience com
posed of my scx-enjoy a happy galaxy
Of laughter and tears, but the others,
the ono thing 1 like best to do is TO
make a man cry after j have made him
laugh. I think Patricia o 'Brien does
get under his vest at times.