Show Task ask of Getting Into New Ne v York fork Chorus Difficult 02 t S S g H Hundreds of Girls Seek leek Stage Jobs Jobs Few Few Chosen Chos Ie 0 By SAUNDERS NEA EA Service Writer MEW J YORK Oct 15 15 The The best bestIN l IN show on Broadway is one the public never sees Even the affluent butter and egg delegates who can pay the speculators speculator's top prices for opening night seats are not privileged ed to witness the drama that Is lived before a musical comedy can call callin callIn callIn in the critics for the first per per- perform form nce Behind the glitter and the girls the pep and pulchritude of a new production in the musical comedy capital of the world are weeks of Just plain perspiration and some some- sometimes sometimes times heartbreaks There may be Just 20 chorines smiling and gay say in the show but every one who made a place in that chorus represents a hundred who did not not not-a a hundred others maybe just as pretty and just as u smiling First a Backer Before Defore a a. musical comedy is pro produced there must be a backer He must be willing to sink a healthy bank roll before the curtain goes up There must be a a. book and lyrics Stage sets must be made costumes es designed and the dancers comedians and the featured players assembled The last major operation In the production is hiring the chorus Here Is where the elimination contest con con- contest cont test t t begins If It the producer is optimistic he ss 11 1 C R a aI S 4 I 1 r 7 First TInt you ou join a line of tryout applicants such as that In the top lop in New York musical comedy Later photo if you ou want to dance a theres there's a lot of practice stepping to be bed b e done d o 0 n I c in n tile the t h e left l I e I f t M picture Ralph Reeder chorus Instructor In is showing four girls how v r Then fn when the first night finally comes you jou OU have your jour our chance at fame may insert an ad in the dally theatrical paper saying that chor chor- chorus chorus us girls may call at a certain hour He will find hundreds of girls all pushIng lushing and shoving to get set into the he door at the appointed time They will range from 16 to 60 years ears in age and include every type ype from the ex-burlesque ex queen queeno to o the daughter of or Park avenue who wants to crash into the theatrical thea- thea world The pessimistic producer mean- mean meanIng meaning Ing ng the experienced one will call callup callup callup up an agency where here chorus girls are arc graded and sorted like Uke ct crackers ackers In n a box He will give e an order for forsay forsay forsay say 50 blondes 25 brunettes and 12 cd red red heads asking that they be de de- delivered livered lI to the stage entrance at 11 o'clock the next morning At 11 they will be there They The will be neat small halted and Inconspicuous The wise chor chor- chorus us girl does not over-dress over when she applies for a Job She looks looka like an earnest little girl who ho has a mother moth moth- er to support She is serious and disciplined There is an army of chorus girls many of them from excellent homes and smart finishing schools They know the etiquette of a try tr out Onto a a. bare stage the hundred girls are marshaled Some assistant to o the manager arranges s them in rows W the h shorter ir ones sn in front fr m They Th Thare are inspected a row at a time The girl in the blue suit next to the he girl in the black step black step forward and give your address says the producer producer pro pro- producer ducer sitting In the orchestra pit pitt He is picking the girls as he would pick peaches out of a bushel basket or canned fruit from the grocers grocer's shelf shel He knows what he wants and andIs ands Is s impersonal about it lie He may se select se- se select select lect half a B. dozen girls The rest are dismissed They file out as quiet quiet- quietly ly as they came You Yu can guess what they think as they survey the few who are chosen but that is all Tomorrow they will get another call They I too may land then Hunting Jobs is a Job itself Itsel I 1 watched Gene Buck spend a whole morning selecting four tour from froma a of girls for Take the theAir Air He is a veteran at the busi busi- ness It took him a week to round roundup up 50 girls to start rehearsal This would simmer down to about 20 in inthe Inthe inthe the three weeks before the opening TWELVE HOURS A DAY In the rehearsal hall hail the chorus girls work from 11 to 11 ii They show up in gingham practice frocks that from the waist up look like Its It's blossoming time for lor new shows on New Yorks York's Broadway the main street of the stage sUge world Of the New York shows the colorful col- col tuneful very Irly musical comedies usually attract the wid wid- widest widest widest est attention They're beautiful Out But Hortense Saunders writer Titer for lor forThe forThe The Standard Examiner and BA Service found lound that providing pro this beauty for Broadway requires cs a lot of rather drab worry and toll As a backstage visitor to some of New Yorks York's leading thea thea- theatres theatres tres she got rot an Intimate picture of a big musical show in the mak Mak- log ing Here lIere Is her story atory f v Y a. a they might wear for a a. mornings morning's s 's dusting During the day their bare knees become as dirty as asif asif if they had spent the day scrubbing the floor The gingham frocks be become be- be become become come wet and wilted and cling to slim bodies that must never nc weigh more than 10 All day long lon they work up that pep pcp and speed that the audiences de de- de- de demand mand stepping Fast-stepping is hard work A pianist breaks his finger nails oft off the the Jazz tunes A trainer works out the routine foi for every ry number They kick step tap and ri bend b At t first r you see Pt them individually Later they become ono one large entity in which arms and legs work in sets and groups The showman probably selects the hardest dance number for the first lint days day's rehearsal This speeds up the elimination As the chorus perspires down down- stairs often oCten the principals are arc re rehearsing re- re rehearsing rehearsing upstairs At the end of the tho second week chorus and principals work together The Thc culmination is the dress rehearsal which lasts all night Just before the opening The Tho chorus is tired The IM principals are aro more so Usually there is something wrong with Ith the costumes and the lights dont don't work right Everything Is terrible The producer thinks of suicide But who knows who will stop the show What pretty girl may step out of the chorus and be made overnight Who knows which of the tunes may be whistled in every city of the country within a a. week weck Who knows whose fortune is assured The new nev or Buck or Shu- Shu Shubert Shubert Shubert bert or George White show is now in the lap of Broadways Broadway's gods The Tho opening night is at hand But the best show of all is the preparatory one on which the cur cur- curtain curtain tain taht has just been rung run down |