Chorus Girl and Actress
Nesbit became disaffected and bored with the long hours spent in confined environments maintaining the immobile poses required of a studio model. Her popularity modeling had generated the interests of theatrical promoters, some legitimate and some disreputable, offering her acting opportunities. Nesbit pressed her mother to let her enter the theatre world, and Mrs. Nesbit ultimately agreed to let her daughter attempt this new way to augment their finances. An interview was arranged for the aspiring performer with John C. Fisher, company manager of the wildly popular play, Florodora, enjoying a long run at the Casino Theatre on Broadway. Mrs. Nesbit’s initial objections were softened by the knowledge that some of the girls in the show had managed to marry millionaires. In July of 1901, costumed as a “Spanish maiden,” Nesbit became a member of the show’s chorus line whose enthusiastic public dubbed them the “Floradora Girls.” Billed as “Florence Evelyn,” the new chorus girl was called “Flossie the Fuss,” by the cast, a nickname which displeased her, and induced her to change her theatrical name to Evelyn Nesbit.
After her stint as a “Floradora Girl” ended, Nesbit sought out other theatrical possibilities. She won a part in a production, which had just come to Broadway, The Wild Rose. After an initial interview with Nesbit, the show’s producer, George Lederer, sensed he had discovered a new sensation. He offered her a year contract, and more significantly, moved her out of the chorus line, and into a position as a featured player— the role of the Gypsy girl, “Vashti.” The publicity machine began to roll, possibly fueled by Stanford White’s influence, and she was hyped up in the gossip columns and theatrical periodicals of the day. On May 4, 1902, The New York Herald showcased her in a two-page article, liberally enhanced by photographs, promoting her rise as a new theatrical light, detailing her career trajectory from model to chorus line to key cast member. “Her Winsome Face to be Seen Only from 8 to 11pm,” the newspaper title announced to the public. The press coverage invariably touted her physical charms and potent stage presence; her acting skills were rarely mentioned.
Read more about this topic: Evelyn Nesbit
Famous quotes containing the words chorus girl, chorus, girl and/or actress:
“Haggerty: Girls! Girls! Girls! Be careful of my hats.
Chorus Girl: Well, we gotta get down on the stage.
Haggerty: I don’t care. I won’t allow you to ruin them.
Dressing Room Matron: See, I told you. They were too high and too wide.
Haggerty: Well, Big Woman, I designed the costumes for the show, not the doors for the theater.
Dressing Room Matron: I know that. If you had, they’d have been done in lavender.”
—James Gleason (1886–1959)
“For decades child development experts have erroneously directed parents to sing with one voice, a unison chorus of values, politics, disciplinary and loving styles. But duets have greater harmonic possibilities and are more interesting to listen to, so long as cacophony or dissonance remains at acceptable levels.”
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)
“... the time will come when no servant will be hired without a diploma from some training school, and a girl will as much expect to fit herself for house-maid or cook, as for dressmaker or any trade.”
—Lydia Hoyt Farmer (1842–1903)
“An actress reading a part for the first time tries many ways to say the same line before she settles into the one she believes suits the character and situation best. There’s an aspect of the rehearsing actress about the girl on the verge of her teens. Playfully, she is starting to try out ways to be a grown-up person.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)