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.

Happyland - 1905 Sylvia

 DeWolf Hopper was the star of Happyland, but another rising star was Marguerite Clark. The diminutive Clark made her Broadway debut in 1900, at the age of 17. In 1903 she starred with DeWolf Hopper in Mr. Pickwick, and in 1904 she was a replacement in the role of Contrary Mary in Babes in Toyland. She rejoined Hopper in 1905 for Happyland, playing his daughter Sylvia. The six-foot six-inch Hopper and the four-foot ten-inch Clark made an amusing visual pair on the stage.

In 1914 Clark began to star in silent films, including the influential 1916 version of Snow White, a role she had previously played on Broadway in 1912. Her popularity rivaled Mary Pickford on the screen. She retired in 1921, and the majority of her films are considered lost today.

Caroline Siedle designed costumes for Clark in several shows; The Belle of Bohemia in 1900, The New Yorkers in 1901, The Wild Rose in 1902. In Happyland, Clark played the Princess Sylvia, an unbelievably innocent young woman. Siedle's design is a simple Grecian-styled white gown, with sparkling decorative trim. The drawing uses silver glitter to simulate the shine of the trim. 

In the course of the show Clark changes to a boy's outfit, as seen in the poster above. Her character is ingenuous enough to be uncertain whether she is male or female, adding to the general confusion of the story. Of course everyone is happily paired off by the end of the show, even the king; married to a wife who should be able to make him unhappy, his greatest wish!

Happyland - 1905

Happyland was a 1905 vehicle created for DeWolf Hopper, which successfully played on Broadway before touring well into 1909. Hopper was a perennial favorite of audiences, and a large figure on the stage (literally). He’s probably best known today for his recitations of Casey at the Bat; he also married numerous times, providing his name to 5th wife Hedda Hopper.

The show dealt with the problems of the King of Elysia, played by Hopper, who is the one discontented person in a perfect land. He attempts to sow discord among his subjects by insisting they all marry, but finds that even that drastic idea doesn't help! Along with this, he has the dilemma of having promised his son in marriage to the daughter of a neighboring king, when of age, and the time has arrived to fulfill that promise; but he has no son, only a daughter…who he does try to pass off as a son. As it turns out, the neighboring king has no daughter so that problem eventually works itself out.

A working copy of the original script is shown above, from the collection of the New York Public Library. The script includes two laid-in sheets detailing costuming needs, including the change of 8 Elysian Maidens to 6 Palm Girls, and the list of chorus ladies chosen. 

 Here we have Siedle’s costume design for "Maidens of Elysia - Act I - Chorus Ladies". This notation on the bottom of the board has been crossed out with red pencil and changed to "6 Palm Girls".  On the back of the board is a list of chorus ladies playing the roles. 

Siedle has chosen a Grecian theme to style the costumes for the show, an appropriate choice as the Elysian Fields were a concept of Greek mythology, a paradise in the afterlife where the most righteous dwell. Loose flowing gowns with ribbon ties and pastel colors were featured, with the overall design of set and costumes modeled after the look of Lawrence Alma-Tadema's painting Sappho and Alcaeus.

Bird Center - 1904

Bird Center began in 1903 as a series of panel cartoons by John T. McCutcheon, outlining the doings of the inhabitants of a small midwestern town in Illinois. The satiric simplicity of the town, compared to the bustle of contemporary city living, proved popular; perhaps similar in some ways to the tales of Lake Wobegon, told by Garrison Keillor.

The original comics were single panels, accompanied by a few paragraphs of text explaining the activities pictured.   

The series became so popular that in 1904 the comics were turned into a stage show, staged by Julian Mitchell and written by Glen MacDonough, the same team responsible for recent musical extravaganza hits like The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Toyland. Unfortunately Bird Center (which was a play) failed to find an audience, closing after 13 performances. According to the December 3rd, 1904 Rock Island Argus:

 “Bird Center”, which opened the season in Peoria and this city early in the fall, has fallen with the daisies. It hardly endured until the frost. It was very funny in some places, but when it struck New York it received a chilly reception that was felt clear back in the box office, and the treasurer shriveled up and died.”

Caroline Siedle was once again enlisted to provide costume designs for this show, and it appears her choices hewed closely to the descriptions from the actual comics. This design was for 8 bridesmaids. Fortunately it is labeled “8 Bridesmaids for Bird Centre”, otherwise I’d probably never have figured out its use! In the comic, there is a wedding celebration with a description of the single bridesmaid:

“The bridesmaid carried pink roses and wore a dress of pink mulls trimmed with cheny lace and ribbons.”

Mulls is a lightweight fabric, like a fine muslin. I haven't found a specific description for cheny lace, but it must be one of the many varieties of lace-making that exist!

 

The drawing has a number of notes and small sketches on the back, detailing aspects of the design.  Siedle's handwriting can sometimes be quite difficult to decipher, especially as the notes are in pencil and somewhat rubbed with time! 

 

A Mystery

Sometimes a drawing that seems as though it should be identifiable can prove to be a mystery. This is another lovely example of Caroline Siedle's work in black & white. There are several bits of information to follow, but I've been unable to trace them to any resolution.

Quite often Siedle would write the character name at the foot of the board, and we do have a name, "Ann Olfield", written at the bottom of the design. But it appears to be in different pencil than the rest of the notation, and possibly was written over top of an erased earlier note; it's difficult to say if this is a character or an actress being identified. Along with this is the notation "drawing room of Mrs. Brett Act IV scene II"; the IV part also seems to be a change from the original notation. There's no further information on the front or back of the board.

The fact that this appears to be for a four act production would indicate that it was a play rather than a musical; musicals tended to run for two or three acts at that time. But I've had no luck tracking down a play with a scene taking place in Mrs. Brett's drawing room. Searching for Ann Olfield only results in bringing up the 18th century actress Ann Oldfield, who was a well known and highly paid personality of her time. Perhaps this was for a play incorporating her as a character? 

The costume shows what appears to be a well to do lady, with a stylish gown and hat in rather an 18th century style. The wide black choker at her neck and black gloves compliment the trim of her sleeves and skirt. 

Siedle did design costumes for various 18th century period pieces; there were several musicals including The Two Roses (a 1904 production based on She Stoops to Conquer, which does have a character named Mrs. Oldfield), Lady Teazle (from 1904, adapted from The Rivals) and Dolly Varden (1902, taken from Dicken's Barnaby Rudge) to name a few. This drawing looks like a character rather than a chorus piece to me, especially if it was intended for use in a play. The search will continue! 

Stage Designer

One of the lesser known aspects of Caroline Siedle's work are the occasional prop and set pieces that she seems to have designed. Her husband, Edward Siedle, was renowned for the wonderful effects he created as prop master for the Metropolitan Opera. Among these was the dragon Fafner, in Wagner's Siegfried. An article in the New York Daily Tribune from July 17, 1897, discusses how the basic effect was created, along with the drawings on the right. But Caroline seems to have done some work in that line herself.

In the collection of The New York Public Library there is a drawing of a couple riding in a leafy chariot, steered by a cherub and drawn by a dragonfly. It's a delicate piece of work, for an unknown production with no additional information attached to it.

The Museum of the City of New York has a drawing for a wagon in the form of a Siamese Junk, including a large elephant. I've no idea what either of these pieces were for, but they do show her skill in designing this sort of work. 

I also have an example of a possible set piece. This is a drawing titled "Candy girl for center of table". It shows a peppermint stick gazebo, with a shepherdess holding a long candy cane and two sheep at her feet. Her skirt appears to be ribbon candy, and the whole design is colored in delicate pink and white. Two doves hold garlands above her head, while a third perches with outstretched wings at the top of the gazebo. 

It's a lovely, fanciful design, beautifully drawn, and I have no idea what it was for. I'm not even sure if it was meant to be life size, with a chorus girl taking the part of shepherdess, or a prop to be set on a table. The back of the board has the name "Ripley", while the front has the enigmatic note "with 6 in square top. 9" & bottom - 6 ft 9", and "5 ft 6". All very mysterious. If the intent was for the overall piece to be 6' 9", it would need quite a large table to support it!

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!