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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1912)
V The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page Copyright 1913. by American-Examiner. Great Britain Rights Reservtd, f P VJpifspW'" hat IT a Res?' 1? Lilly Elaie, Lowelieit of the English Type of Chorus Girl, Whose Bet-nty Took Her From t. Chorus to Starhood ' nd from Starhood to Be a Millionaire's Wife. it And WHERE Has She Gone? She's Not on the Stage Where She OUGHT to Be! Manager Ziegfeld, Learned in the Ways of the Footlight Explains the Difficulties of Gathering It. NTS .... , , iv Crop, WHAT Is the recfpe for besuUful chorus glrls?' U the ingredients are known, and they exist, why are the musical comedies so deficient in this, the chief excuse for their existence? Other forms of stage entertainment depend for success upon ability, talent, gifts of the mind rather than of the body; but without beauty In the chorus the lighter' musical stage productions are a waste of money as the sequel Invariably proves. . This has been a dlrastrous season for musical conv edy' productions rarely has the percentage ot real beauty in the choruses been so low. Is the visible supply of pretty chorus girl material exhausted? Or don't the musical comedy managers know where to find It? Or don't they recognize It when It presents Itself at their offices for engagement? What is the troui .e? What are they going to do about It, any way? As Florence Ziegfeld, Jr., is probably the most Indus trious producer. of musical comedies In this country, snd therefore has a more anxious interest in chorus girl beauty th anybody else, those ouestinns were put to him with the result here printed. By Florence Ziegfeld, Jr. YOU'RE right It keeps me awake nights! Show me a constant source of truly beautiful chorus girl material and I'll crowd the theatres where my musical productions are played and retire a mill ionaire. . . " -J V -The Ingredients ARE known. I know them but they're scs' , t rne trouble. To begin with the negative side of the proposition, bow-legged girls sre not oeautlful. In the chorus vr anywhere else; and it grieves me to say that a large part of the girl population, otherwise besuUful more or less is bow-lps-sed. The other extrei -kn'ch-knees also fle-"- nnlte in etn' On the stage, skirts won't disguise these serious structural defects. In the "Chorus of Amnions, where skirts are, of course, strictly taboo, a pair of bow-legs or knock-knees would positively shriek their gul!y confession at the audience; and In the lawn party or society bazaar scenes, although awsthed in skirts that sweep th) floor, they are bound to reveal themse'ves in the characteristic awkward movements that go only with bow-legs and knock-knees. There for. Ingredient No. 1: Pine, straight, shapely nether limbs Ingredient No. 2: Perfect health. How many girls out of a hundred, when yon look at them with a trained eye, appear perfectly healthy? Jns.ructed by my legal adviser, I refuse to answer! Ingredient No. 3: A well-proportioned, beautiful figure, with a naturally graceful carriage. Why, occasionally yon read In the newspapers that some famous magazine Illustrator has discovered such a figure and engaged her as his model Sooa yon read that a rival magazine Illustrator has stolen her for the same valuable service. And presently yon reed that aba has been kidnapped by a third famous magazine Illustrator, who has clinched his argument by marrying her! It takes more than one such to make up a chorus and this is a monogamous country! Ingredient No. 4: A beautiful face on a charming head which la poised on a slender, lovely neck. These are not so difficult to find, but without all of the other Ingredients Included In the total they are only good for so many more empty seats In the or chestra and boxes. i As a matter of fact, I hare recently picked out. and there are now In my employ, forty-four of the most beautiful chorus girls In America. It was a labor of Hercules, going over the whole chorus girl crop of 1912 with a fine-toothed comb. There aren't any left to compare with them not In the returns up to date. If others have Incubated la out-of-the-way corners of the earth, they will be Instantly engaged on application. Inasmuch as the success of musics! comedy produc tions spells beauty in the chorus, I have often been asked why I and other producers of this class of stage pieces do not send forth everywhere. Into all classes of society, beauty expertsvempowered to seize perfect specimens wherever found and drag them Into the footlights' glare. If the' stage Is so hard up for beauty, they say, why wait tor beauty to seek the stage? Why not do the logical thing and let the stage seek the beauty? The answer to that suggestion is that, as a general thing, parents and guardians do not approve of a stage career for the girls in their charge. They are suffi ciently unwilling when the girls , themselves take the initiative. As honorable and worthy as the profession ot the stage is, It would be a brave, even reckless, manager who would, uninvited, carry such propa ganda Into any family where the subject had not been previously canvassed with favorable results. One thing we producers can do, and are- doing, and that is to, as much as possible, increase the comforts, improve the surrounding conditions and advance the opportunities of chorus girls. Their salaries are con siderably higher than are those of the most capable chorus men, and there is now no prejudice in the act ing profession which operates against their advance ment, when competent, to principal parts. In fact. In musical comedy, frequently recruits to the ranks of principals are from the chorus in the case of women. I could, offhand, name a dozea recent Instances. ' In England, where George Edwardea is famed as the greatest living organizer of beauty ohoruses for musical comedy, be has also been referred to as that country's most capable "matrimonial agent" Every newspaper observes the frequency with which English chorus beauties marry into the British peerage, or Into millions. To a lesser extent there Is a similar tendency In this country for rich men, particularly rich men's sons, to look for, and to And, their heart's Ideal In some beauty of the chorus. But no reputable manager could seriously hold that chance out as aa inducement tor pretty girls to enter his chorus. o ll'U t. L- .4 S J ill Haxel Dawn, a Real Musical Contody Star, Whose Beautiful Throat and Poia of Head An Two Moat Effective Details in the Make Up of a Perfect Chorus Girl. Why Signor Mascagni Needs 176 Collars and 75 Dress Shirts . London, Much It. 1 1 j, AVALLERIA - RUSTICANA" ( at the Hippodrome coa ducted by Its celebrated poi er. Signor Mascagni, truly is giv Ini. the London public its money's woiti. In fact, even a stone deaf person would get his money back several times in the Joy of watching Mascagni conduct Mascagni conducts with every arascie In his body. His whole bvlng ts a-ouiver with musical tael Int from the beginning to the end ei ssv-Ji performance. The disss tr eun rwsnlt suffered by his collar! ami oress shin are visible to the wto '. audience they begin to melt and run Into each ether before the or" a is half through. Vrfmdy who baa witnesed Uas eac2 conducting a performance of - k masterpiece winders that he cans with him In his professional trx -els total of 171 collars and 75 drees shirts. - They have a special trunk all -o themselves. As this trunk vaa missing on the maestro's arrival, 'or a few anxious hours it seemed t'-iat his first appear aace at the Hippo drome would have to be postponed Fortunately the collars and shirts turned np la time, v The Importance of being always in communlcaUoa with his speclsl laundry supply is doe to Maseagni's need of perfect ease of body. It his shirts and collars were of the nor mal stiffness he would not be able to obtain that freedom of movement which his eccentric conducting re quires. . Maseagni's emotionalism is abso lutely irresistible, and is transmitted cot only to the instrumentalists, but to the singers aad the audience as welL In spite of rumor to the contrary, the great Italian la by no means outrageous in his gesture- la the beautifnl overture his movements are enlte nbdoed, and la the sub lime prayer music and the popular Inter mezzo they are brood and dig nified, as befits the spirit ot the music But when the tragedy la at Its height, as when Turidda brutally flings 8antuzza aside and when. In revenge, she betraye his secret to Alfio, then Maseagni's locks of black hair begin to shiver like springs, his face becomes charger'; with tragedy, and his baton be comes almost aa threatening as tae weapons of the two rivals. Here ts where his collar and shirt front visibly melt . Curtoasly eaoagh, the tatenMsse which no self-respecting barrel organ has dared to omit from its repertory for a decade, is not over loaded with exaggerated effect. Yet lis full beauty and power have not been fully realized till now. Signor Mascagni looks surprising ly young, and at the end of hla vigorous performance loked like nothing so much as aa athlete who had Just won a rare except, ot coarse, that he waa la evening dresa. vs ! ivj n V4 Probably there la a popular lmpresnflon that a pro fessional assessment ot a chorus spp'dcant's "points" of beauty Is a lengthy process and dlllcult for her to undergo with equanimity Perhaps at brief descrip tion of my own methods msy remove 'this Impression. Aa the girl applicant enters the room I know In the first moment whether, in a general way, she would please an audience. If a girl makes that Impression at first glance yon may rely upon it she is beautiful. It really la a composite impression, a flash by which I note that she has a good Mldress, which Is a part of personality. The silhouette made by her fig ure in the door Is glrlisb. She wears her clothes well and wears a pleasant expression. ' In brief, the flash pronounces her generally pleasing she Is beautiful. As I tslk with her for a few minutes there is a more or less conscious analysis. 1 note her height. . She must be live feet five inches or more, but she must not be tall enough to be un gslnly. She must be of the weight that I consider the. right one for beauty 125 pounds. ' But while I am making theipe mental notes I am more sensible of her eyes than ot anything else about her. They must be fairly large,' and neither "pop" nor deep set The color fs not of great Importance, though I prefer brown. Brown eyes reflect more sentiment than those of any ether color- And the chief beauty, the absolute essential of beaaty In eyes. Is their ex pression. They must Indeed be mirrors, with high reflecting powers. The moot a must be good. Its size does not matter, unless It ne freakishly large. But the teeth must be white rad regular, and the lips mnst have the trick ot sm ping readily, a smile that mesne something. I detest' a trick smile, one of the machine made sort that baa no feeling, nor thought behind it A smile must show how you feel or what yon think. A smile Is no mere crack In the face. The nose must be good also. By a good nose I mean one that Is straight and not too large for the face that supports It 1 The hair, as to color, matters little, but Its becom ing arrangement Is Important I prefer brown hah. Miss Anna Meld has bautlful hair. I dislike curly hair, and never engage a girl who has It. I always notice whether the neck Is kng or short, that Is, whether tt matches the body. I dislike both extremes. But the necdt should "be well covered with flesh. ' The shoulders should be Inconspicuous and gently sloping, feminine. 1 don't like a broad shouldered womaa. 8he looks m assive. The chest should be full ' but without "Dustiness." A "busty" girl, ao matter what her age. looks mature. I would never place oa my stage a short, stsoky womaa. And the feet murst be shspely and the ankles trim. I wonld never chooee a girl with ngly feet and ankles. s The most beautiful women I know are Marie Stud holme. Uillaa Lorraine, Edna May, Hazel Dawn, Ma rie Wilson and Lilly Elsie. v Maria Stndhoime's beauty lay la perfeeUoa of teat area aad ealntinefsi of coloring. Lilly Elsie's ts that of a perfectly fashioned face. Edna May's was a saccharine beauty, hot was (Hassle of its kind. Camilla Clifford waa bewitching chiefly beefuse of the curving Usee of her figure. Marie Wilson's wss the Junoesque type of beauty w'jlrh still has many admirers among the artistic set Lillian Lorraine's loveliness Is large ly In ber smile Her smile Is absolutely unique, and is aaiquely beajtifuL Her eyes are also marvellously expressive. ' These are -standard bean ties. By our admirations we are govend. Uaeonsctonsly, perhaps, I measure the appllcanta who come to my office by the high types I have ennxaemted- aad. 1uIla mnm mn To aom wt What is a beautiful chorus girl? Lillian Lorraine, Whoso Eyes, "Uniqoe" Ssaue and Graceful FignW An Models ol rare ae a day in June! . . . - s Musical Comedy Charm .V 0