The New Yorkers -1901

Here is a Siedle gown designed for a set of ten chorus ladies. This particular outfit appears to be a variation of the pink dresses, black gloves and black hats worn by the famous Florodora girls, the beauty chorus of six women known as the Florodora sextette, as seen below. Florodora was a hugely successful and influential production that opened on Broadway in 1900; I’ve heard that Caroline Siedle designed the costumes, but I’ve been unable to verify the claim.

The drawing of this pale pink gown, trimmed with elaborate appliqués in black & white, has been cut to an oval shape for framing at some point in the past. Sadly this removed the Siedle signature and any useful information that might have been written in the corners of the board; fortunately the back does still feature a list of the names of the ten chorus ladies who wore the dress, which makes it possible to place this in The New Yorkers, a 1901 show produced by George Lederer at the Herald Square Theatre.

 The production featured Dan Daly, appearing in his first starring role, as a struggling New Yorker living in Paris, France. He tries to pass himself off as a Baron in order to marry a wealthy heiress, but the real Baron turns up, leading to assorted comic situations. The music was written by Ludwig Englander, a prolific and successful composer for the stage - in the course of seven years he wrote the scores for 15 comic operas!