New-York tribune., 1920-03-14
Behind the Scenes
At the Dressmaker's
With Blanche Yurka

II ever woman lets her temper
slip beyond her control, if ever she die
tates and domineers, if ever she is
truculent and stubborn, 1t Is at her
dressmaker's. Here two minds, not al
ways in agreement, come together and
the result Is often battlefield lit
tered with hairpins, chalk, white cot
ton and pins. The swish of the shears
and the rip, rip of temporary seams
rise above the portiered inclosure as
the contest is on.
Usually when man goes to his
tailor he surveys himself hastily in q
mirror, points out few flaws here and
there, says, You're the boss, 60 ahead"
and then permits himself to be turned
about and marked up by the man with
the tape measure. Clothes is hardly
the subject for more than ten min
utes of conversation, which may then
flow into the channels of politics, bust
ness, prohibition and baseball. With
a woman, however, trying on clothes
is almost a rite. Food, time, family
home, everything is forgotten while
the pressing questions of whether the
cape collar should have two clasps or
three or whether the sash of the
iounging robe should be two or three
INCHES wide are decided.
1t is not often that the newspaper
interviewer Is permitted to enter the
sanctuary of a theatrical dressmaker's
establishment when an actress il
choosing and trying on gowns for new
play, but Blanche Yurka accorded this
unusual privilege to the Tribune rep
resentative when, between rehearsals
and other preparations incident to an
opening, she could find no other time
20 see him. The tall, blonde actress,
who was last seen with Walter Hamp-
den In The Wayfarer." opened last
Theater WY
Fresh from a rehearsal Of tn. NAV
OF scandinavian domestic life, she wa.
trying on the mourning gown and cane
IN IN winch she is SO charming in the
Uooge and Pogany production. At a
aistance of twenty feet the inter
viewer sat and listened to the hubbub
from the fitting room. Miss Yurka
was singing snatches Of song, OCCASION
ai!y she would compliment the designer.
VINO would reply banteringly, and fre.
au"smnssiy she would exclaim:
@ MS IS the ,prettiest dress I have.
After some minutes the ,nterv;aU,. imu.
was permitted to move nearer. tha c',r
saihs thrown back, and Miss Yurka wa &.
seVeaieo In black gown Of silk tr;cc'
sIne, fastened together here and ther.
WIN ~, liberal supply of pins
lou are being let into the tnmost
eTv:ses W:.H OF woman's SOUL" she said.
"len dlff1cu!ty Miss Yurka stroye IN
proVe nerself an exception to the pen.
sfai ruie' TO forget about the clothes for
iew moments and talk and think Of
something else. 1t was evident that tho
play ana the clothes were the two things
uppermost in her mind. "'"s'
III Is strange, isn't 1t, to 90 PROM
gigantic Madison Square Garden to ~
intimate little Punch and Judy?. havs
oeen asked whether I would not find -
aimcair after acting in so large an andi.
forum to accustom myself to sneak;nr
IN small theater. There Is no diffars
ence IN speaking in either place. II ia
simply a question of placing the voice
''''e
Then she went back to q cons;dera.
ton OF the clothes, the curtain was
drawn again. and for the time being the
interview was forgotten.
:, This season | am doing exactly the
.nlngs 1 nave wanted to do" she said.
IS she again became visible. 81 wanted
o act In classical play written in
,lank verse, and l was chosen for sTba
"ayfarer.' After that / desired an
'itramodern, realistic play and Musk
vhich certainly is that, came along.
Ssss' Ss !. | should like real human COM
.3ha raourping sarmens. n.sssd r,,c,