Saturday, February 28, 2026

Alice Nielsen - 1898

I'm not aware of many actual costumes designed by Caroline Siedle surviving into the present day. However, the Museum of Kansas City does have an example of her work in their clothing and textiles division, thanks to Alice Nielsen. This striking set of tunic, hat and boots was designed for Miss Nielsen in her role of Fedor in The Fortune Teller.

Nielsen was a successful actress and opera singer who was born in 1872 and raised as a child in Kansas City. Her career spanned from the 1890’s into the mid-1920’s, and she continued to perform in concert occasionally until her death in 1943. 

In 1900 she was America’s biggest box office draw. She formed her own theatrical company and toured the country for several years, then went on to study grand opera in Europe.

An 1895 interview mentions that Caroline Siedle has just finished up designs for a Russian (actually Hungarian) opera titled The Fortune Teller; unless there was another production with the same title, it was presumably this comic opera with music by Victor Herbert. It didn’t open on Broadway until 1898, so perhaps Siedle was simply working that far in advance! The production starred Nielsen in three different roles - 
Irma, her twin brother Fedor, and Musette, a gypsy fortune teller - in a convoluted story of love, deception and disguise.

After the Kansas City Museum opened in 1940, the actress bequeathed her papers and collection to her hometown institution. This photo of Miss Nielsen, with models showing several of her original costumes, is from the time of her donation. On the right, the uniform from The Fortune Teller can be seen.

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