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. 

 

Alice Nielsen - 1898

I'm not aware of many actual costumes designed by Caroline Siedle surviving into the present day. However, the Museum of Kansas City does have an example of her work in their clothing and textiles division, thanks to Alice Nielsen. This striking set of tunic, hat and boots was designed for Miss Nielsen in her role of Fedor in The Fortune Teller.

Nielsen was a successful actress and opera singer who was born in 1872 and raised as a child in Kansas City. Her career spanned from the 1890’s into the mid-1920’s, and she continued to perform in concert occasionally until her death in 1943. 

In 1900 she was America’s biggest box office draw. She formed her own theatrical company and toured the country for several years, then went on to study grand opera in Europe.

An 1895 interview mentions that Caroline Siedle has just finished up designs for a Russian (actually Hungarian) opera titled The Fortune Teller; unless there was another production with the same title, it was presumably this comic opera with music by Victor Herbert. It didn’t open on Broadway until 1898, so perhaps Siedle was simply working that far in advance! The production starred Nielsen in three different roles - Irma, her twin brother Fedor, and Musette, a gypsy fortune teller - in a convoluted story of love, deception and disguise.

After the Kansas City Museum opened in 1940, the actress bequeathed her papers and collection to her hometown institution. This photo of Miss Nielsen, with models showing several of her original costumes, is from the time of her donation. On the right, the uniform from The Fortune Teller can be seen.

Photo Confusion

One last costume example related to 1897’s The Whirl of the Town; sometimes the identification of a costume and show can be complicated by bad information from the time period. 

 

In 2009, this design by Caroline Siedle was offered at Bloomsbury Auctions. The drawing is not in my collection, and this image is from the LiveAuctioneers website - where the artist's last name is misspelled Seidle. At the time it was listed as possibly being for Babes in Toyland, but I've recently come across an image on the Museum of the City of New York website that appears to confirm it was actually designed a couple years earlier for 1897’s The Whirl of The Town.

This photo is clearly labeled The Whirl of the Town at the bottom, and shows a group of manicurists all wearing this dress. But after further investigation, it becomes clear that this is actually a scene from The Social Whirl, another Casino show, produced almost ten years later in 1906. Obviously the word Whirl in the title of both shows confused someone! The first setting of the 1906 show is a manicurist’s parlor, which is clearly what we’re seeing here. The plot of the show concerns a scandal sheet, and according to the November 11th, 1906 Washington Times:

The manicuring establishment seen in the first act of "The Social Whirl" is a reproduction to the smallest detail of one well known on Broadway - the one where much of the news that caused the recent expose of a certain society journal's methods is supposed to have originated. 

This is confirmed in a different newspaper with a print of the image with the correct title:

Apparently the concept of manicurists as gossip-mongers predates The Women by quite some time! In any case, the dress is another fine example of Caroline Siedle's skill at designing in black & white.

 

The Whirl of the Town? - 1897

Caroline Siedle designed quite a few costumes in simple black & white. The graphic quality of these outfits would have had a striking appearance on stage, as a contrast to other more colorful elements. 

This particular costume design by Mrs. Siedle bears no useful information for placing it within a show, but as it was acquired together with the two Whirl of the Town designs previously shown, I have classed it with that production. I haven't been able to locate any contemporary information to make it definite that this is the case, but I'll keep looking. I may find it was intended for something else altogether!

One of the reasons I consider it might be for this show is this postcard of Madge Lessing wearing a costume of very similar appearance. The caption on the card reads: 

"Mother Goose" 
Madge Lessing as Jill

Lessing did appear as Jill in a production of Mother Goose in London, but I can find no record of Siedle designing for that show. That particular production took place in 1902; but although this photo is labeled as Mother Goose it isn’t positive proof that the photo was taken from that show. It’s not uncommon to find earlier publicity photos of stars being used to promote their latest endeavor. This particular photo could easily be from The Whirl of the Town.

In spite of the lack of identifying features, there is a great deal of information on the back of the design. This is sometimes the case, with instructions concerning materials and construction of the costume:

 

The jacket is of black satin with white satin reverse & edged with swansdown. High flaring (illegible) collar.
Buttons tapering in at waist are of rhinestone. Strip to sling muff on is black velvet ribbon, backed with white satin showing edge on each side of black. 

Rhinestone buckle to regulate length. White satin ruffle at each end of muff & an owl on top.

The skirt is of transparent goods machine pleated.
Up the pleats are sewn silver hanging spangles, suspended with a few silver small beads.

The tights have flesh tops, woven to represent black stockings and flesh above.
Black silk fitted trunks. Show as much flesh as is possible. Skirt is open both sides.
Garter of satin & stone buckle

Outside of umbrella applique represents an owl on a branch with moon & stars. The stick comes out at top of owl’s beak. Edge umbrella cover with swansdown & ball of same at points.

Hat black satin outside. White inside edged in down. A good white plume. Bow knot of stones.

 

Siedle has done a faint sketch showing the design of an owl on a branch with moon & stars, which was the design intended for the umbrellas. There's also an explanatory sketch for the tights, showing how the effect of bare skin would be achieved.   

 

A final note, written sideways on the right of the drawing reads:

8 clowns
White & orange

 

 Perhaps these were to be a backup up chorus for this costume!