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Show Chorus Girl is Unique; jj Teaches at Sunday Schooll ' , : - -1 V i V A J 'l - J' V 5 I ' ' s " ' - " , :x . . tcjf ," 5 - ; " " ; vJ ' - Pi . ; - '; i I . V " I unlink as worshipful a flock of soveii-yonr-oltl Johnnies as ever i .graced a stage door. i NEW YOKK It's a long, Ions , trail from the footlights to the 1 chapel foul,, even for dancing feet. P.nt little Frances Jlildern makes the journey every Saturday night hetweeu midnight and morning. Saturday night, the curtain rises in the new Ziegfeld theatre. Frances is discovered as a Ziegfeld beauty tripping tlie light fantastic, chid chiefly in personality and greasepaint. Frances admits she had some (rouble in accustoming her theater friends to the sight- Possib'.y. the tolerance of her church is as much to be wondered at. '"Why. in my mother's time." says Frances, "no church would have dared allow a show girl to teach the liiblo. Some churches wouldn't even admit them to membership. mem-bership. ''Nowadays, it is not a girl's job, but her character that counts. Mr: Charles Frohman belongs to my church. There are oilier theatrical' people in it. The rector is glad to have them, and they're very fond of hi in." Denver to Broadway Frances is another little girl who came out of the Y'ost Denver. Co".o.. to be exact to conquer Broadway. If she has not yet landed land-ed in headlines, she has made a liv-. ing Willi her dancing and appeared in iniiby successful musical shows. I!ut the first connection she made in New York when she arrived here with her mother was with the Chapel of the Intercession. Her family always nad been Episcopalian, Episcopal-ian, and it never occurred to her that her theatre life would interfere with her church life. She found a congregation that was liberal in its lews. As to mash notes and gay parlies and the olher concomita in s of life in the Foi'ies, Frances has only a shrug for comment. Reason For Indifference "Of course I get invitalions. Some of them are nice and I accept them. Others I just ignore. I like a very conservative lift! with my mother. .Many of the girls do. I'm not interested inter-ested in every man who wants 0 meet inc.'' And for that last siafement. then seems to be a reason. France: need never worry about an eseorl to take her homo al'ier the show There is a young church curate win is glad to perform that service sometimes with his clerical collai in bis pocket and a less eonspieilom ; one around his neck'. And on matinee days when 111. . class is on baud. she. may count oi But ou Sunday, when the lights go on iu the primary room of the L'hnpel- of the Intercession, the world may see Frances, the Sunday school tencher, rouge-less and demure, de-mure, surrounded by an adorning flock. Sunday School Teacher For two years she has been the most popular teacher iu the Sunday school and at the same time a chorus girl in Broadway shows. Her life is a medley of cue-books and Sunday school quarterlies, powder pow-der puffs and prayer books. She scarcely knows which of these two careers she likes the better. An 4 she thinks each helps the other ! I '"What the theatre needs," she says, " is a little more church influence. I love the stage, and I really hope to see it improved by the influence of church members. I bring my class of youngsters down to matinees of 'Kio Rita Showmanship In Church "They love it, and I think the beauty of the show is good for them. "And as for the church well, my class has grown steadi'.v. A chorus girl ought to know some tricks i( hold her audience, whet her it has come to watch her dance or to learn the ten commandments. 1 use showmanship show-manship in church and Christianity in the theatre. Why isn't that fair exchange?" v Apparently it is. Nobody has objected ob-jected to her dual life, so far, though it has occasioned a good deal of curiosity. Naturally, a chorus girl who brings her Bible to the show, sit she can study it between the acts, i liable to some kidding from the airv footed sisterhood ot" the stage |
