The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-10-19
Are Days
When B~urlesques
Are Being Made
Chorus Girls. Comedian and Princi.
pals Rehearsing In New York the
Slap.stick Shows Will Tour the
Country Next Winter.

A month g the burlesque prcduc.
ers began sending calls for chorus
girls and principals. but the bathing
girls numbers still are being rehears-
ed with a few girls shy. says the New
York Globe. The reason isn't that
there aren't enough girls to so around.
It's many of the dear young
things are holding back. hoping they
can get a job in a Broadway produc-
ton that will pay them perhaps s25
a week. and which-if it Is a hit-will
insure them a continued residence in
their Bronx ballroom until far into
the winter. Most of the younger and
prettier girls who can sing and dance
take this chance.
Up in the wilds of Harlem. at One
Hundred and Sixteenth street and
L-enoX avenue. there is a building that
has been housing five nurlesque com
panles all in herearsal at the same
time.
In small rooms the principals are
trying their jokes and their voices on
the bare walls. and in larger ones the
chorus girls r scampering up and
down to music from a violinist who
will lead orchestra playing that same
music and who will look at the same
persons singing the same songs and
cracking the same jokes twice a day
for forty consecutive weeks.
A Show in Rehearsal.
Joe Hurtig. one of the most sue
cessful burlesque producers. and his
assistants had charge of THE Bowery
B~urlesquers'' troupe. Backward and
forward these assistants rushed. like
couriers in q battle, as the rehearsals
progressed.
"Fiji Islands! Fiji Islands! Fiji Is
lands!" yelled a thin. hot. sh~irt-sleev-
ed young man at the girls. "Remem-
Der that. will you! Now. Jack. give
'em the cue."
nounced calmly:
They've all gone to d. Fiji Is
lands"
Now" yelled the stage director.
waving his hands.
"Whee-e-e-e!" chirruped the cho-
U girls. "Whee-e-e-e! Here comes
the widow"
"Whee-e-e-e!" Knocked the stage di.
rector with disgust. What do you
think she is. a bill collector? Make a
noise! You're supposed to be glad to
see her. Act as If she was bringing a
bucket Of beer in each hand. Try it
again."
This time. inspired by the thought
Of the widow coming with a bucket
Of beer in each hand. the chorus YELL
ed Justify and the stage director said
that was better.
Any Old Clothes Do.
Sure enough, in came the widow.
pushing her way through the chorus
of girls. who were dressed in motley
array. The dozen show girls were
perfectly fit to be seen on anybody's
street, but the ponies-they were
hardly saddled. Most Of them wore
o%ne-piece bloomer effects that in most
cases reached the tops Of their stock
ings. One wore socks and nobody
seemed to care. They were there for
work and meant to be as comfortable
as they knew how.
whats the first line, Joe?" the
widow asked as she stopped in the
middle Of the circle and turned to a
rather large mar who sat on a ros-
trum directly where the footlights
ought to be.
ITS awfully good Of said Joe,
reading from a manuscript.
The widow caught the drift of it
and told the girls she was tickled to
death to see them all down at the
beach to welcome her back to dear
old Newport.
We'll. Whatter you dom? Asleep"
rasped the stage director toward the
back of the chorus girl row.
"Oh," apologize da plump show girl.
and she sidled up to the widow and
said with a wave of her hands:
THE widow is always welcome be-
cause she is SO charming"
Even the Author Was There.
While the chorus testified in song
to the Widows charms Thomas r.
Roiley, the author. inspected the
troupe. Roiley, a University of Mis-
souri, graduate. has written several
burlesque shows. thus branding as q
lie the report that the actors COM
pose them as they 60.
The actors stopped and the violin
lists began playing.
whats the matter with society,""
yelled the stage manager. It sounded
like a college cheer.
we don't know It," said the young
woman.