Sarah Bernhardt's Bath

1901

The youthfulness and vivacity of the famous French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, have been the wonder and admiration of the public for many years. There is probably no woman before the American public today who takes greater care of herself than Mme. Bernhardt.

Writing in The Ledger Monthly, Stella Stuart says that a sponge bath which affords exquisite refreshment to tired muscles and jaded spirits and is an excellent preparation for the evening toilet is used regularly by the talented French actress and is said to be a potent auxiliary in preserving her apparently perennial charm.

It consists of ½ pint of alcohol, 2 ounces spirits of camphor, 2 ounces spirits of ammonia, 2 ounces sea salt, and boiling water to make one quart. The directions called for agitating this mixture thoroughly and rubbing it into the skin with the bare hands. It was considered excellent for one to bathe the neck and shoulders before donning an evening dress.

A Nervy Museum Manager

1901

Sarah Bernhardt said that one night during a visit to America when she was playing "Jeanne d'Arc," she hurt her knee with a rusty nail. "The wound gave me considerable pain and trouble," she said, "and it was thought that a slight operation might possibly be required. This fact appeared in the daily papers, and a day or two afterward I received a telegram from the manager of a museum in Chicago saying that if it was necessary to amputate my leg might he please have it. He added he would drape it if desired."

The Combustible Clive

1910

As long ago as the middle of the eighteenth century, a famous Georgian actress, Mrs. Kitty Clive, felt the call of the nerves commonly associated with modern women. The whole green room, according to the author of "Garrick and his Circle," feared her tantrums.

Her character stood high, but her clean, wholesome nature and honest heart scarcely offset her temper. She was the one player Garrick feared, and he did everything he could to disperse her nerve storms, or, if they broke, assuage them. It is among the legends of the English stage that he said to her:

"I have heard of tartar and brimstone, but you are the cream of one and the flower of the other!" — Youth's Companion.

New Earthquake Theory

1910

Areas of earthquake and volcanic activity are traveling westward about twenty-five miles a year, according to the investigation of H. Wehner, a German physicist. He accounts for this by the novel theory that the earth's solid crust encloses a thin layer of liquid, within which is a solid nucleus rotating about the same axis as the outer shell, and in the same direction, but with a slightly less velocity, the lagging behind causing the nucleus to make a revolution to the west in the crust in about 952 years.

It is assumed that earthquake and volcanic disturbances result when projecting or active spots on the nucleus are moved under weak portions of the crust. From reports by ships during the last 60 years it is calculated that the active spots of the Atlantic are nearly all collected at the present time under the region between 35 and 41 degrees west longitude and one degree north and one degree south latitude, and that this area off the northeastern coast of South America may be regarded as a danger zone.


Grecian Nose Worth £1,000

Mlle. Boucheraud, a fascinating Parisian actress, once had a perfect Grecian nose. Now it is slightly concave in its lower part, and she is claiming in the law courts £1,000 from M. Lang, who was the direct cause of the alteration. M. Lang considered that Mlle. Boucheraud did not reserve her fascination for himself, and in the course of a lovers' quarrel struck her heavily on the face.

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.

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.

"Left Clothes on Ship by Mistake," Says Paris Actress Noted for Legs

1920
Click picture for nice big copy

American Legs Shapely

French Girl With Million Dollar Limbs Won't Compete With American Women

NEW YORK, March 3. — The French girl with the "million dollar legs" won't bet a cent on 'em against American competition.

Mlle. Andre Spinelli, who walked into the European hall of fame on "the most shapely limbs in the world," looked down from the balcony on a scantily clad Zeigfeld chorus girl going through rehearsal steps and said:

"No, I will not say I have ze best."

And the conversation turned to legs.

Whereupon the noted little French danseuse freed herself of some personal secrets.

"On ze other side it es ze whole shape," with a sweeping gesture from the shoulders down.

"Ze Americans also zink ze leg is only from here to here," pointing from a dainty bare ankle to a dimpled knee that peeped out below a flaming pair of wildly combined colors in crepe de chine junior breeches.

"But on ze other side zey call it ze leg from here down" marking the start at the hip where a brief white "hug-me-tight" sweater reached its farthest.

"Most of my clothes got on ze Adriatic by mistake and aren't here yet," she added and no one questioned it.

"Ze papers say I have ze most beautiful legs in ze world. Well, I do not know. I will let ze Americans judge for themselves. I never say I have ze best but I do say I have ze fine shape. So have all ze American girls I have seen. Oh, oui, oui.

"I do not like ze talk about ze legs. Ze people will zink zat's all I have, I have ze whole shape. And I sing and I act. I like to do ze comedy and I am going to do it.

"What are ze ideal limbs? I could not say. I am not ze man. Look, what you say?"

The reporter didn't say.