Chorus Ladies - Lambs

Themed choruses were certainly popular in Caroline Siedle’s day. Chorus girls dressed as flowers, fruit, insects, animals, abstract concepts, anything and everything were all to be found on the New York stages.

In this case, we have lambs. The lamb’s head bonnets make this clear, along with the fleecy collars and trim on the skirt and long gloves, not to mention the tails hanging off the muff. This design has the simple notation of “Lambs - Chorus Ladies” and nothing else to identify where it was used. I’m tempted again to place it in a Weber & Fields show, or perhaps from the Casino Theatre, as the revue-style productions they produced could easily lend themselves to these fanciful kinds of design.

Another fun possibility, though with nothing to back it up, is Babes in Toyland. In the first act the Piper children sing to Bo-Peep to console her about her lost sheep, and the song includes a chorus with bleating sheep. It’s amusing to think that there may have been chorus ladies in these costumes portraying the sheep! Admittedly, it’s not a very likely theory.

 An interesting point on costume manufacturing at this time was the tendency to have costumes made in Europe. They were cheaper to manufacture, and with the quantity of dresses and other garments needed for a large cast, the savings could add up. However, there was a 60% tariff on clothing imported into the USA, so the enterprising theater managers would have the costumes cut and loosely basted together, not finished. That way they could be imported as fabric rather than garments and finished here, saving a good deal of money!