The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-07-06
BY JOSEPH MITCHELL
Times stan Writer


make the Minsky girls look like
skeletons"
1t is wistfully that Harold Seton,
dean of Manhattan's first nighters,
recalls the tremendous ladies of
Billy watson's Beef Trust" and
the Dainty Duchesses,' each
duchess burdening the tested
scales with 200 pounds, and the
Gay Morning Glories."
He is disconsolate when he re-
calls the gentle British actress,
Mrs. Kendall, of whom it was said
she had not seen her plate for
years and always was surprised to
discover what was on her fork;
and the undulant Lillian Russell,
Americas Greatest Beauty" who
was never svelte enough to COM
pete with Minsky's Ada Onion
from Bermuda"
1.-the and issom ladies never
got jobs in those choruses," Mr..
Seton said, suff1ing a handful of
photographs of bulky burlesque
queens. "At the turn of the CEN
fury, playgoers preferred what was
known as the voluptuous curve
"One of the popular chorus
maneuvers of the time was the
Amazon March. The march was
often led by a coryphee of 200
pounds. She carried sword and
was followed resolutely by a bri-
gade of fair women weighing in at
100 each.
"One of the sword carriers was
Anne Sutherland, who now is pro-
prietress of a restaurant in Green
wich Village. She was not exceed
ingly stout, however She played
the captain of the guard in Prince
KIM at the Casino, in 1898.
"E VEN emotional actresses were
IL large. Those tragic ladies
would have laughed heartily at
meal of a lamb chop and a slice
of pineapple. They went in for
honest T-bone steaks and beer or
champagne and Holsters.
Fanny Davenport, a popular
tragedienne and member of
celebrated family of players, used
to breathe heavily in tragic roles.
II saw her as Cleopatra and
Gismonda and in other Bernhardt
parts, and I recall she used to
make her leading man, as well as
persons in the audience, uncom-
Portable in the love scenes because
was so monumental.
However, the internationally
famous girls in the 'Florodora'
double Sextet were reasonably
1.-the. This show, one of Ameri-
cas- most successful musical come
dies, opened at the Casino in 1900.
Those girls undoubtedly caused a
shift in taste.
Il remember the opening night
of that show. The leading lady
was Edna Wallace Hopper, the
perennial flapper, who was born in
San Francisco during the Civil
war period and now delivers radio
lectures on how to be young and
effervescent.
"She is approaching 70 and I
have been told that she is an ex-
cellent adagio dancer. Remark
able LADY,
We'll, in 'Florodora' she had q
song hit called Tact But the
feature of the show was the IA
nous 'Florodora Sextet.' 1t was
double. Six girls and six men.
THE girls danced and the men
bowed, dropped on their knees,
and sang Tell Me, Pretty Maiden,
Are There Any More at Home Like
You?' The girls sweetly. replied,
There Are a Few, Kind Sir
THE girls were dressed in the
hour glass fashion, slim waists
and thick hips. Tights were popu-
lar only in the music halls. 1t
was not until a couple of decades
later that the bare leg and shin
idea was imported from the caba-
rets of Paris.
"EVEN in that innocent time
IL wealthy Showgirls married
poor noblemen, Anna Robinson, a
little girl from Philadelphia, re-
tired from Broadway and went to
live in Paris.
Her jewels and furs excited the
town. and soon she was married to
the impoverished Earl of Rosslyn,
who had acted in Manhattan as
st. Clair ErSkine. He first was di-
vorced by Violet Vyner, and was
later divorced by Anna.
They became known, respec-
lively as Violet Countess of Ross
Ign, and Anna, Countess of Ross
lyn, creating considerable confu-
sion, especially when a third wife
Vera Bayley - became Vera,
Countess of RoSslyn!
Poor Anna later returned to
New York pennilesS, and when she
died her body was saved at the
last moment from the potter's
field by her sister, Margaret Rob-
inson, also an actress.
incidentally, another titled
gentleman who acted on Broadway
was the eccentric Earl of Var
mouth, who appeared in a melo-
drama, The Price of Peace, in
1901. He married Alice Thaw,
sister of Harry K, and held up
the marriage ceremony until the
family gave him huge settle
ment. They were later divorced.
1T was a spectacular show and
all the girls in the Sextet married
well. Marie Wilson, an extremely
shapely member, was married to
that celebrated man about town,
Freddie Gerhard, uncle of the first
Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt.
Even the stage manager of the
'Florodora' company married well.
He was Walter G. Russell. known
in the theater as Louis Hooper.
He surprised the town by becom-
ing the Son-in-law of Mrs. Jack
Gouraud, whose daughter by the
first Of her five husbands. GLADYS
Acho vx~or cNnx. -