Chorus Gents - Waiter

Here’s a chorus gentlemen who may easily have been designed by Caroline Siedle for the same show as the last chorus gent I posted, the Saloon Keeper. At any rate both are wearing the same red-striped trousers! It's been suggested that this might have been drawn for The Monks of Malabar, a 1900 production which was set in India, but so far I've been unable to confirm that.

An inscription at the bottom of the board identifies this as "Waiter Act 2 Chorus Gent". On the back of the board is an obscure little note reading "No. 34 Niles" along with a slight partial sketch of something, perhaps the waistline of this or another piece.

Niles may possibly be the name of the chorus gent in question who was to play the waiter, but it's really not enough for identifying the use of this design. It's a striking costume, with the exaggerated pointed epaulets on the shoulders and the large buttons down the front of the jacket. The pointed cuffs of the sleeves and turned up toes of the slippers also lend an exotic tone to this gentleman, and the row of pearls lining the vest together with the crisp red & white color scheme give this waiter an elegant finish. It would have been a stylish cafe, or restaurant!

The poses and expressions chosen by Siedle for the characters in her designs often provide an extra spark of animation. This gives a sense of personality to the images, as opposed to a generic mannequin showing a costume. While the figures don’t necessarily resemble the actors portraying the roles, they do provide a lively sense of performance!

Chorus Gents - Saloon Keeper

Here's another design by Caroline Siedle for a gentleman of the chorus. Once again the show is unidentified, but it appears we find ourselves in another exotic locale, perhaps Egypt or maybe Morocco? 

The sketch is titled: "Saloon Keeper. Prisoner Act 1 Chorus gent". He looks like a prosperous saloon keeper, judging by the glittering rings on his fingers, and pearls on his chest, wearing an elaborate costume in a color scheme of grey, red and white. But he is certainly bound and chained, wrists and ankles, in rather massive restraints!  

On the left, a blot of color obscures part of his foot lending a sense of working under pressure. Siedle would sometimes design well over 100 costumes for a show, and claimed she could design an entire production in 3 weeks time - although a month would be better!

The back of this drawing reveals a little more information. This was sketch no. 117 costume no. 40, for Mr. D. Walsh, with instructions for 1 dupe as per sketch & color. Unfortunately I’ve had no luck in tracing Mr. D. Walsh. Siedle often made notes stating that the finished costume was to match the colors of the design; an understandable request, since entire scenes were planned around specific color schemes.

Chorus Ladies - Chair Girls

Here’s a lovely design for the chorus, with the description “Chair girls - Chorus Ladies”. Caroline Siedle has chosen soft shades of lavender and pinky-purple, with multiple ruffled layers on the skirt, creating a frothy design that would move well for dancers. I haven’t found what specific show this was for, but on the reverse is the notation “Lew Fields Co.”. This helps narrow down the possibilities.

Lew Fields was part of the famous vaudeville duo Weber and Fields. Together with Joe Weber, the comedy double-act performed for years with their popular “Dutch act”, playing a pair of German immigrants.  

 

In 1896 the pair opened their own music hall, showcasing many of the leading talents of the day, and often featuring costumes by Caroline Siedle. In 1904 the pair separated and Weber took over the music hall on his own, teaming up with Florenz Ziegfeld. Fields joined Hamlin & Mitchell and Sam Shubert and went on to produce other musicals at his own theater, starting with It Happened in Nordland. 

Since this drawing only mentions Mr. Fields company, it seems likely that this piece dates sometime after 1904. Then again, perhaps Siedle worked more directly with Fields than Weber which makes this more difficult to date.

This photo, from the Museum of the City of New York, is from Whoop-Dee-Do, produced in 1903 by Weber & Fields and costumed by Siedle, and shows what I think might be a similar set of "chair girls". This doesn’t seem to be the production the drawing was intended for, as the dresses in this photo definitely do not appear to be based on this design. Perhaps there were additional girls in an alternate dress design? Or maybe this concept was used in more than one production? After all this time, it’s difficult to say!

Chorus Gents - Musician

Exoticism was popular on the stage at the turn of the 20th century, with many shows enjoying far flung settings - Asia, Egypt, South Pacific islands, Mexico, Spain, etc. Locales such as these gave Caroline Siedle a lot of play in her designing.

The costumes of the chorus were an important part of emphasizing the unusual locations. While Siedle's chorus girl designs are often quite elaborate, her work for the gentlemen of the chorus could be just as memorable.

For example, here we have a drawing labeled "Musician with tom tom. Chorus gent act 1". I do not know what show this was meant for, but on the back we find that this is “Sketch #37 for Act 1, 4 chorus gents musicians”. Also, “Nos. 27 Mr Herman 28 Mr Arling 2 dupes as per sketch and color”. This leads me to believe there were 4 musicians, but possibly only 2 of them were tom-tom players wearing this design, while the others had other instruments and perhaps different costumes. Of course this is just speculation on my part - I have no other information to work with, and I’ve had no luck tracing Mr. Herman or Mr. Arling. 

At any rate, Siedle has come up with a striking outfit and colorful hat for her tom-tom players! The polka dot pattern and striped accents on the tunic, along with the bold plaid of the hat, are very eye-catching. Her love of asymmetry can be seen in the unusual neckline, dropping down into a slit on the right to reveal a little more skin.