Happyland - 1905 Chorus Ladies

This striking design is another by Caroline Siedle for Happyland, the 1905 DeWolf Hopper vehicle. These  dresses were worn by the Reaper Girls, in the opening choruses of the show. The bold use of poppy orange would be a dazzling effect spread over six chorus ladies. 

The drawing is labeled “Reaper Girls Act 1”, and shows the figure with a sheaf of wheat and poppies. The sleeves of her dress are tightly pleated, as is her skirt, mimicking the poppy flowers in her hands. There are remnants of an earlier design for a large hat, which was changed to the simpler hood, a sort of Phrygian cap, seen in the final drawing. On the rear of the board is a two line note, reading “Full orange poppies” above the words “golden corn” which have been crossed out and replaced by “wheat”, and underlined three times.

The Reaper Girls were paired with an equal number of Reaper Boys, also played by women. I have an image of a design that I think is for the Reaper Boys, dressed in brick red, shown below. I’m not certain where this image came from, but there’s a good chance it’s from the Shubert Archive. The reapers performed a sickle dance during the opening numbers of the show, distributing flowers among the chorus of Elysian Maidens on stage. 

 

Here we have an Act II design, this time for two chorus ladies dressed as "Lily Girls - Act II Chorus Ladies". The opening of the second act featured a procession that included pairs of Lily, Rose, Violet, and Mignotte girls. The white gown shading to gold mimics the look of a lily in bloom, complete with leafy tendrils cascading from the shoulders.

This show is a surprising example of Caroline Siedle not receiving credit for her costume designs. It’s unusual to see her overlooked at this date, when demand for her work was at its height. Newspaper articles announcing upcoming productions regularly mentioned when the costumes "are being designed by Mme. Siedle" or "Seidle", or "Seidel", etc...but apparently not in this case.

I’m currently aware of about a dozen designs by Siedle for the show, several of which are backed up by stage photos, but in the program it appears the Eaves Costume Co. was credited for the costumes. Like Dazian’s and E. Castel Bert, Eaves was another costume supplier who created their own designs, but would also build designs by others.