The Washington times., 1919-08-15
CHORUS GIRLS WANT
SWEARING STOPPED
'(continued PROM PaEe on

| NOOuNlMuCQ tEI0u = G6N ON~sf
whose clothes showed q pathetic at
tempt to keep up with Broadway
styles.
cit makes no difference how little
your salary Is, you've got 20 ge'
clothes that win make hit with tht
manager" said Miss. Fay Tunis,
chorus girl Of the Lew Field company
Your appearance gets and keeps 3
job. When they tell you that q girl OF
talent always rises, take II from me
they're giving you bunk. She can %
another Elsie Ferguson In looks and
everything. but II she hasn't got heI
complexion on and good looking
\ clothes. she's got q fat chance to show
her talent. You've got to keep your
nails manicured and your shoes look
ing nice-welL you've got to be
good locker from your head 70 your
feet.
"a chorus EfrI who makes S20 &
week can't make both ends meet nm
less she has friends and relatives "a
help her cut. There's always q
johnny or angel waiting for her, and
IL takes q pretty strong girl to resist
them when the rent isn't paid and the
next meal seems far away. There's
many q girl who goes to . dinner
party given by q johnny with holes
In her stockings and all the time sits
wishing the orchids which deeorate
the table were q new pair OF shoes in
stead.
Iea . Hard Life.
THE public doesn't know that .
| girl without money has to rehearSe
seven or eight weeks without pay.
One production kept the company re-
hearsing seventeen weeks without q
cent. After you've rehearsed several
| weeks, you may be told you're not
wanted. or after the show 10 ON a
night or two you may get your walk
ing papers.
eve been a chorus girl for ten
years. I always hoped I'd get fur
Their. We all hope that, and 50 keep
standing the insults OF the manager.
~The things the managers say are
too indecent to repeat A girl comes
latte because she's sick, and maybe
like 'SnoWbird'-you know. cocaine
hend-oF q Yen hawk or say,
You've been drinking too much
again, I suppose"
Next to Miss Tunis sat one Of the
pale-faced youths.
ChOFus Men WOrse on.
''We're worse or than the chorus
grin" he complained. We've got
to buy cur own shoes and stockings
for show, too. and we've got a
devil of a time making both ends
meet: but who helps the chorus man?
he never has an angel who enter
tains him and gives him presents
There's no one to pay his hotel bills
but himself when he's on the road
Not that I'm criticising the girls
you can't blame 'em for taking q lit
tie help"
Girls Have Hard Lot.
Leo Leblanc. vice president of the
union and a chorus man, who served
as an aviator during the war, Joined
the conversations:
In way the girls have a harder
time than US fellows" he said, but
a. seast they're not sco=nn.l. I was
dancer before the war with a studio
u my own. This SEASON entered
, the chorus for the first time. II was
the only job open to me and I
thought things were going to be DIFF
ferent. Two-thirds OF the men in the.
fziegfeld Follies' chorus, OF which
was q member, were ex-army and
navy men. ! served as an officer
during the war. Mr.. ZiegfeId adyer-
tised that fact. We expected 20 r..
treated as real men looking for al
Vancement We got e25. When we
protested we were calIeu buns.
old type of chorus man might be
called a bum. That type is passing
you know, the la-la, la-Ia kind, who
pranced on the stage and sang We're
the Men From Harvard sweetIy and
coy. One Of the things the union will
do will be to put that type out of
business. We're going to have chorus
men who are manly and the man
ayers shall have to look to them for
talent from which to develop stars.
Warning to Managers.
when union chorus men hear of a
manager who abuses chorus girls
they are going to bih him in the
face and take what is left Of him
to a police station"
Marie Dressler has announced that
Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, jr., Mrs.
William Fel1owes Morgan and other
wealthy women are ready to give
their moral and financial support to
the new organization. Not only, she
said, was the union to have a club
house of its own in New York, but
there are plans to establish in all
the large cities hostess houses along
the lines or those provided for the
soldiers during the war where chorus
girls would DE able to get rooms
while travelling for so cents a night
and meals at cost. Mrs. Rockefeller,
she said, was willing to help build
these S"chorus girls hotels" provided
they would be self-supporting.
And when we set our club in New
York." she said, "you no longer will
have to give a half weeks salary to
agents to secure an engagement. The
union will be yOhr agent for moth
ing. l, myself, will take charge.
When the managers want to engage
you boys and girls they'll have to
come to me-"
The most important and least ap-
preciated OF all theatrical folk-the
stage hands-were on record today
as allies Of the striking actors.
The appointment of Rowland D. |
Mahany and Benjamin M. Squiers as
conciliators in the actors strike in |
New York was announced by the De- |
partment of Labor today.