New-York tribune., 1920-05-16
Intimate Information From the Realm of Make Believe
What Is Supreme Ordeal?
Ziegfeld Says It's Picking
Beauty for the Chorus
Continued from preceding page

she means business. Not in those
words. but to that effect. She always
answers ans that she means to make it a
m NE work. He uses his own discretion
about accepting it. He says he has
got to the point where he can deter
mine positively whether girl is tell
ing him the truth or not What a Gift!
She talks with him about anything
she chooses. He never forces a cor
versation. If there appears to be a
chance for her he will tell her so and
invite her to return again on a certain
day. And as she greets this he makes
more mental notes, and likewise does
he follow her to the doorway with his
eyes, because In choosing persons for
the stage he must be certain that there
is not one flaw in them. that thew are
ACE high and all WOOL" as he saws
One mistake on his part and a chorus
Is completely at disadvantage Might
as we'll try to mix oil and water. Beauty
and homeliness have no common ground
in the choruses of the Zegfeld ranks.
1t is a job of selection such as never
in the history of the stage has been
equalcd. And it is getting to be more
particular business as the seasons pass.
Il don't know" he said the other
day, but 1T seems to me that girls are
getting prettier each year We have
to hustle to beat the other fellows in
obtaining prettiness. OF course, we al
ways get them
Every girl must be treated in her own
particular way. Thousands OF them
have turned on their heels and told
broadway and the stage to go TO grass
just because they haven't had the
proper word spoken to them as they
entered the ziegfeld Offices Tempera-
ment? They're worse than prima
donnas ever dared to be. 1t is the
wonder of the producer himself how
stage managers ever get along with
them after they have become assem-
hled, considering his experiences with
them.
There are all sorts of subterfuees
resorted to to reach the producers eye
and ear. One girl told him the other day
that she had letter from his brother
in London. Ziegfeld has no brother in
London, but he admitted the girl, and
she confessed that she was desperate
and that she knew he would be pleased
with her beauty. What is more, he
was pleased with it, and she will ap-
pear shortly in the chorus of the mine
O'clock Froic"
Others forge notes from managers
and prominent men. A letter not long
ago read:
Dear ziegfeld Give this girl
chance, She has ability. Signed
Belasco."
1t was dated that day on Knicker-
booker Hotel stationery and the girl
only smiled blandly when Mr.. Ziegfeld
told her that Belasco was in Europe
And so it goes-hour by hour, day !
by day--until when dark comes, tired, !
wearied looking man escapes to his au-
through secret entrance and
gldes over to the smooth asphalt OF
Riverside Drive where the cool breezes
may blow on a fevered brow as he
whiZz"s northward home.
There is one thing he has learned ,
above all other things in dealing with
the thousands of beautiful girls year
BY year.
Some people have the idea" he says.
that beauty and common sense do not
go hand in hand. That is a mistake. |
The beautiful girl, I have found, is the /
confident girl, and confidence in the !
theatrical profession is the Gibraltar
OF strength"