Stage Signals

1901

There are a number of ways of giving the signal which warns the leader of the theater orchestra that the curtain is about to rise. The most common in American theaters is the illumination by electricity of a common incandescent bulb placed in front of the conductor. Many players, however, follow the English custom of having the ring of a bell as a signal. This has the advantage of giving notice alike to the players behind the curtain and the orchestra and the audience in front.

The French players employ the system, but not the bells. A stout club rapped loudly on the stage floor does duty instead. Two raps constitute the one minute signal and three as the final notice. The reason for the cumbersome method is that of precedent, for the call is that of the Theatre Francais. — Chicago Tribune.

Glasses for Players

1910

A recent instance of American ingenuity is afforded by the device of an optician for the relief of stage folk afflicted with defective eyesight.

Glasses fitted with tiny lenses are now made for the use of the actor so afflicted, who, in deference to the character he is enacting, may not wear the regulation eyeglasses or spectacles.

These special glasses fit close to the eyeball, and are hardly discernible from the front of the house, except when the footlights are at their highest point of illumination. The nosepiece, or bridge connecting the lenses is covered with flesh colored material which aide the illusion.

An Actress Tells About Health and Good Looks

1900

Something Useful May Be Learned From Her Experience

One of the most admired of American actresses, both for her grace and comeliness, has been divulging some of the secrets by which she has preserved her beauty.

"Vigilance," she says, "is the first requisite. I am ever on the alert and when I discover traces of fatigue or any other beauty-destroying symptoms in my face or figure I set about remedying it at once. I don't attempt to be anything but a professional woman during the theatrical season. I don't receive and I don't go to other people's houses, I simply haven't time, and I don't make it.

"My mode of life is very simple. I sleep nine or ten hours as a rule — never less than eight. I eat regularly and heartily, and avoid everything that would be apt to give me indigestion. Indigestion is a powerful foe to beauty, a greater foe than age, as great even as worry. I walk every day, rain or shine, and I wear a corded corset waist and stout flat-heeled boots. I try not to worry, no matter what happens, and I never tire myself unnecessarily.

"My method is so very simple few women would care to try it. It has no balms or diets, and I don't even go in for fancy baths. A warm bath at night and a cold bath in the morning are good enough for me. On Sundays I don't have to go to the theater, but I don't devote it to lolling or receiving visitors. I have my usual amount of exercise and then devote most of the day to manicure and hairdresser. When one's hair is five feet long and very thick it is not an easy task to have it shampooed.

"How do I keep the same weight all the time? Why, by vigilance and determination. If I gain a pound I immediately stop drinking water at meals and give up sugar for a while. If the bones in my neck begin to show I eat bananas and cream and put an extra spoonful of oil in my salad. It's so simple, but, of course, it precludes much pleasure."

Chorus Girls Quit Stage for Factory

1920

Higher Pay in Shops Overcomes Lure of Footlights

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Theatrical managers and producers are becoming alarmed at the shortage of chorus girls — and to think that there used to be so many of them the producer had to hide himself to keep from being overwhelmed with applications! This is the word that New York is casting abroad.

In the good days gone, it said, the chorus girls received larger pay than they could get in the shops or factories or offices. Besides, there was the lure since the pay of women in business is so much more than it is upon the stage.

It is said that the shops of New York, and even the factories, pay much better wages than is possible with the theaters. As one observer puts it, "Better money can be obtained in the shops, in the canning factories, in the laundries, than upon the stage."


Shonts' Will Makes Wife Chief Heiress

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Mrs. Milla D. Shonts, widow of the former president of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, who was cut off in her husband's will with a picture and a small bequest, has filed for probate another will made in 1905.

This will gives $5,000 each to Drake University and Monmouth College, Iowa; $100,000 to Mrs. Shonts and minor gifts to the relatives.

The remainder is to be shared equally by Mrs. Shonts and the two daughters.

Hired 'Wife' To Weep For Him

1914

But Court Learns of Trick and Sentences Pickpocket

New York, Jan. 22. — When, nearly a year ago, Samuel Berman was arraigned before Judge Nott in the court of general sessions on a charge of picking pockets, a wistful woman, with four children clinging to her skirts, wept pitifully.

The prisoner said she was his wife. The court, touched, suspended sentence and a collection of $100 was taken up for the family.

Berman was in court again on a similar charge. The court eyed him wrathfully. He had learned that the prisoner's "wife and children" of a year ago had been hired for the occasion.

The prisoner pleaded guilty to duping the judge and to picking pockets. He was sentenced to five years in Sing Sing.

Tango Dances Drive 'Em Mad

1914

New York, Jan. 1. — The extent of the present dancing madness is shown in no manner more vividly than the way in which many society women now madly vie with each other for the questionable honor of tangoing with former chorus men and other cheap actors whom a few short months ago they would not have deigned to accept an introduction.

Now they wait their turn like outcasts in the bread line for the exhilarating experience of stepping the latest measures with individuals who, before the prevalence of this twentieth century lunacy, were content to be seen, unheard and untouched, in the rear of a musical comedy ensemble.

A new dance, the "Paul Jones," is the latest and most amazing manifestation of the craze.

In this exhibition, at a blast from a whistle, all present, dance with those next to them whether acquainted with them or not. No introductions are necessary.

Although some of these affairs are high priced and are conducted in high toned neighborhoods under "society" auspices, the crowds are exceedingly mixed and there can be no telling what may be the character of the man with whom some woman from exclusive circles may grab for a partner.

Many men of no standing and little repute are patronizing these "swell" affairs regularly under the assurance that they may tango or trot madly with women who heretofore have been supposed to hold themselves dearly.

Burlesque Queen Dances to Disprove Charge of Indecency

1916

Burlesque "Queen" Edifies Chicago Court as She's "Walkin' the Dog"

Chicago, Oct. 18. — Judge Samuel A. Trude's court in the city hall had all the aspects of a burlesque show for five or ten minutes yesterday afternoon.

A petite brunette stepped to the judge's bench, tossed her head, flashed a smile to the jury, then threw off her heavy outer cloak, and in a trice was "Walkin' the Dog" and doing other syncopated steps about the small enclosure in a dance to a ragtime accompaniment sung by herself.

It was Miss May Mills, leading lady of the "Follies of Pleasure," dressed in her spangled costume of gold and silver, demonstrating the exhibition for which J. H. Herk is on trial on charges of keeping a disorderly house, alleged to have permitted immoral dancing and acting in the Gaiety theater, 531 South State street, of which he is manager.

"Just Walked Like This"

Miss Mills was the star witness for the defense. It is upon her interpretation that the attorneys for Herk hope to prove the charges against him groundless.

"I simply walked like this," said Miss Mills between snatches of the song, as she deftly paced the small enclosure.

"I swayed like this and I waved my arms like that," demonstrating.

She pirouetted in front of the jury box, skirting the fenced enclosure, and brought up with a stamp of her foot, an appealing gesture and a toss of her head.

"Whoopee!"

"Whoopee!" cried some one in the rear of the courtroom, carried away momentarily. A stern bailiff quickly restored him to order. Then the spectators in the courtroom broke into applause, but this, too, was quickly silenced. There were some, however, who did not applaud. They were the members of the Women's Church federation, complainants to the charge, and others allied with the prosecution.

Judge Trude at the beginning of the song and dance was seated viewing the exhibition with becoming austerity. Before it was half over however, he was pacing back and forth behind his chair, his hands folded behind his back, his face beaming in a broad smile.

His opinion of the dance, however, he refused to communicate.

No Jass Band Around

"I'm afraid I won't do very well," said Miss Mills when called to perform. "You see, I have no music."

"Attorneys for the defense will probably whistle for the young lady," suggested Assistant City Attorney Bippus. But this they declined to do.

The name of Chief of Police Healey was drawn into the hearing yesterday. Witnesses for the prosecution testified to making repeated complaints of alleged immorality and lewdness permitted at the theater. No action so far as they knew, they testified, had ever been taken on the complaint.

Tights Shock Copper

Herk, the manager, when called to the stand, told of one complaint which had been brought to his attention. A policeman, he testified, had notified him that he would have to prohibit the wearing of tights by actresses. He saw the chief personally, he said, and complained that such action was discrimination and was told to "go ahead and run the theater as usual."

It is expected the case will be given to the jury this morning.

Mrs. George W. Hall, of 416 West Forty-sixth place; Mrs. J. G. Boor, of 832 Buckingham place, members of the Women's Church federation, and F. A Beale, of 4806 Forrestville avenue, testified to the immorality of the dance of Miss Mills. In their testimony they described the dance in detail, asserted that the costume worn by her was transparent, and that she deported herself offensively. It was to disprove this that Miss Mills gave her "skit." The costume worn by her yesterday, which she asserted was the one used by her in the dance, was not transparent.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Oct. 19, 1916, p. 7.

Commas and Inflection Make a Difference

1895

Commas and Inflection

A Good Deal Depends on Them Sometimes

We published recently an account of a suit for heavy damages arising from lack of punctuation in a telegram. A man sent the message: "Don't come. Too late." But the doctor received it, "Don't come too late," and immediately engaged a special train to convey him a long distance.

Mr. Story, the sculptor, who began life as a lawyer, tells a good anecdote which illustrates the fact that the emphasis which punctuates has as much to do with determining the sense of a sentence as the meaning of the words. Once, when he was called upon to defend a woman accused of murdering her husband, he adduced as one of the proofs of her innocence the fact of her having attended him on his deathbed, and saying to him, when he was dying, "Goodbye, George!" The counsel for the prosecution declared that that ought rather to be taken as a proof of her guilt, and that the words she had used were "Good! by George!"

A well known clergyman of New York used to make a strong point by reading the verse, "God said, Let there be light, and there was light," with the emphasis on the word light, not on was, as usually rendered.

An elocutionist of considerable note has questioned the method of the great Mrs. Siddons, who in answer to Macbeth's suggestion of possible failure was wont to reply, "Fail!" with a emphatic drop of the voice that implied, "Well, then, fail, that's all there is to it." "Lady Macbeth would never have got him in the world," said this critic, "had she addressed him in that manner. She undoubtedly said, 'Fail,' in a tone of utter contempt for a man who could imagine such an outcome to his villainy. The word should be given in a deep tone, with a falling inflection and then an upward tendency." — Brooklyn Eagle.

Theda Bara Says She is Going To Quit Vamping

1920

Famous Movie Vampire Says Everybody is Some Sort of a Vamp But She is Tired of the Business

New York — Theda Bara, she of celluloid fame, who has had the unique experience of vamping herself into fame, vamping herself out of fame, and now intends to outvamp herself — as it were — expects greater success on the stage than she ever found on the screen.

Seated in a little dressing room off the stage suite of Al H. Woods, her new producer, she told me of her new ambitions. She confided that when she appears in "The Blue Flame," under the direction of Woods, America will see not the old Theda Bara, not the new Theda Bara, but "The old Theda Bara and the new Theda Bara and the real Theda Bara."

The interview was not a minute old before I discovered that Theda Bara has a voice extremely well suited to the stage.

"I have given myself up to this new thing to a greater extent than I ever did before," she said. "Practically every minute of every day since my rehearsals have started has been devoted to work, and, with the exception of the theater, I have almost given up amusement, for the time being. My new play — my first on the stage — is everything I could desire, for it gives me a chance to show a woman of modern times as many of them are, entirely conscienceless and hardened at times and yet as lovable at others, changeful brilliant, and yet just a woman."

"Then, said I, "you believe every woman is more or less of a vampire, and that this is particularly true in these days of fur coats, automobiles, and $1,000 evening gowns?"

"Surely," said she. "And by saying that, I don't mean there is anything wrong in being a vampire — at least, not in the way I mean. Doesn't every wife do the vampirish tricks to please her husband? Doesn't every girl strive to appear at her best? And shouldn't they? Surely. The parts I portray only show that trait in an exaggerated, or rather extreme form."

—Appleton Post Crescent, Appleton, WI, Feb. 9, 1920, p. 8.

History of Roller Skates — First Used in Pantomime Act

1877

History of Roller Skates

Invented by a Yankee and First Used in a Ravel Pantomime.

The late ex-Mayor Winslow made good deal of money in skates, ice and roller, although he was a man of many affairs, says the Worcester, Mass., Gazette. His death naturally recalls the days when the rink was in its prime, and when the gallant and graceful Kynock, professor in the art of rolling about, used to promenade first with one pretty girl and then with another, occasionally darting off with vast outer-edge sweeps backward and forward.

Forty years ago the Ravels, French pantomimists of extraordinary cleverness, made great profit in the United States. One of their shorter pantomimes was Godinski, or the Skater of Wien. The last scene showed a Polish pond covered with gay skaters, who careened around merrily and threw property snowballs at each other. Godinski appeared with a chair learning to skate. This was the original act, and before the days of the Ravels nobody had ever seen a roller skate. The scene ended by the ice breaking, Godinski fell through, but was rescued in the end.

These skates ran on little wheels set squarely, in the place of the blades of an ice skate — the simplest possible form. They did not pivot and could not be used for figure-skating. Except they were low, they were like the high road skates lately put in use in Scotland and now on trial in Europe, they set Yankee inventors to thinking, why not a real skating party on boards as well as actors.

One day there opened in what was then upper Washington street, Boston, in the top story of Plympton's furniture warehouse, a school and practice ground for roller skaters. This was about the year 1867. Plympton's brother had invented a skate on which you could do the outer edge by leaning over, as on ice. The rollers were in pairs and on pivots. The boys and girls came out and found it easy to learn, but it was not advertised and few heard of it. The result was the closing of the place and the apparent failure of the invention as a popular toy.

The inventor went to Europe. Pursuing more liberal methods, he made a huge success. He planted rinks in every principal city, and gathered ducats in piles. Unfortunately they lasted nowhere more than a few years. New plants had to be constantly established.

When the Lalimes took up roller skating at the Worcester rink, which, by the way, was admirably adapted for the sport, and the skating craze broke out in this country, it was all over in Europe, but Plympton had made fortune out of it. Here, too, rinks were short-lived.

The Winslow skate, made later, brought out lawsuits with Plympton, who claimed an infringement. But Plympton's patent had not long to run, and the dispute was in some way adjusted.

It was an admirable exercise, and there was no end to the possible skill. It was a pity it could not last, but Americans overdo all amusements.

New Zealand's Many Names

New Zealand has been called by its inhabitants "The Fortunate Isles," "The Star of the South" and "The Wonderland of the Pacific."
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And "Safe"
The New York savants who have been trying to pick out the 25 most beautiful words in the language seem also to have overlooked the inherent beauty of the word two-bagger.
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Acting a Part
During courtship, be it long or short, is it not a fact that both Phyllis and Corydon with the best intentions in the world, are acting a part as much as if they were assisting in private theatricals? -- U. Caldwell.
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The Ruins of Yucatan
There is in Yucatan a chain of ruins three hundred miles long where once stood buildings richly decorated and erected with a vast amount of architectural knowledge. The buildings belong to the Stone Age, when the figures were carved with pieces of flint. The people of this age had not the use of either bronze or iron.
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Sagacity of Frogs
In the manner of disposing of their eggs many species of frogs exhibit remarkable peculiarities. A tree frog, native of Paraguay, makes its nest in a bush overhanging a pond. The lower ends of a number of leaves are drawn together and fixed in that position by a number of empty egg capsules. The eggs are also covered with a shield of empty capsules to protect them from the sun and air. When the eggs are hatched the plug at the bottom appears to fall out and the tadpoles tumble into the water.

--The Ellis Review-Headlight, Ellis, Kansas, 1911.