In 1910 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “On May 8th I caught the 20th Century for New York. Arrived next morning at 10 – big night. Had two models finished. Next noon the whole show was schemed out, estimate made, check for payment received and I was on my way home. The third day after my return, work was well under way for the show called “Girlies,” a summer show for the New Amsterdam.”
“Girlies” was Frederick Thompson’s first musical play, a two-act comedy. Moses and Thompson were well acquainted, after working on several projects together at Luna Park when he lived in New York from 1900-1904. From Thompson and Dundy’s “Trip to the Moon” to “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” Moses & Hamilton delivered a variety of attractions to Luna Park when it first opened.
In regard to Moses’ travel, the 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train that traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois. In service from 1902 until 1967, it was advertised as “the most famous train in the world.” Its passengers were mainly upper class and business travelers, such as Moses, with the train including a barbershop and secretarial services, comfortable accommodations and fine food. It first ran on June 17, 1902, completing a trip from New York to Chicago in only twenty hours at 70 miles an hour, a full four hours faster than previous trains. The 20th Century Limited only making a few stops along the way, using track pans to take water at speed. Here is a YouTube video on the 20th Century Limited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzVdzte8gY
The 20th Century train helped connect the theatrical communities in New York and Chicago, making quick turnaround project like “Girlie” possible. Sosman & Landis were able to directly compete with New York scenic studios, later establishing their own eastern affiliate in 1910 -New York Studios. The 20th Century limited helped facilitate the constant swapping of Sosman & Landis artists between Chicago and New York.
“Girlies” was written George Hobart and Van Alstyne, with dances and ensembles by Jack Mason. The scenes were set at a co-educational college, called Hightonia, situated near ‘High Hill, Highland Country, U.S.A.” The New York Tribune described the plot: “Professor Spell wants to marry Marion See, director of deportment (Carrie E. Perkins). He fails to inspire her love because she wants to marry a hero. Spell gets a hint from the students, and he decides that the best way for him to become a hero is to dress himself in the suit of newspapers and start out on a two days’ journey, with no money in his pocket, and try to earn enough in forty-eight hours – without begging or borrowing – to clothe himself from head to foot. With the aid of his dog Blitzen (David Abrahams) and after innumerable amusing experiences, he finally returns an hour before the expiration of the time limit dressed in a complete suit of clothes. In spite of the interference of a woman detective (Maude Raymond), who tries to settle upon him the responsibility for a certain petty thieveries that have been occurring in the dormitories, he wins the hand of his ladylove” (14 June 1910. Page 7). The article continued, “The play was staged with elaborate attention to detail. Seldom have so many pretty girls been seen in a chorus. Their freshness and youth were delightful and the crispness and tasting coloring of their frocks were alluring.”
It was advertised as “Bright and lively, with clever specialty people to load the fun” and “Pretty Dancing Numbers with bevies of remarkably pretty girls in charming costumes and novel evolutions” (New York Times, 14 June 1910, page 11).
Only a few weeks after contracting the play on May 8th, Moses wrote, “On my way back to New York, May 27th, with the show, on my arrival I found Thompson wanted several new scenes. I had to farm some of them out and I used the paint frame at the Amsterdam for two drops. I had to stay in New York for three weeks. In the meantime I made a model for a new show at Luna Park, and got Dodge and Castle to paint it.” Good thing Moses had connections in New York! The quick turn around for painted scenery never ceases to amaze me during this time.
Once the show opened, “Girlies” was advertised as “a delightful form of summer amusement, free from vulgarity and full of pretty spectacles, good humor, graceful dancing and tuneful music” (New-York Tribune, 3 July 1910, page 52).
On July 14, 1910, the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported:
“A Roof Garden Downstairs.
Thompson’s ‘Girlies’ at the New Amsterdam will go up higher.
‘First impressions count for a great deal,’ continually repeated that exceptionally little clever little woman, Maude Raymond, in the opening production of ‘Girlies,’ at the New Amsterdam Theatre in Manhattan, last night, but it is to be hoped for the good of the piece that the first impressions of ‘Girlies’ will not be the final one. It was Frederic Thompson’s opening venture in the field of musical shows and evidently believing that a success is secured by giving the public the old, old story, the manager presented an entertainment that was without a single but of novelty.
‘The tired business man’ need not be afraid of ‘Girlies.’ It will not worry his brain a bit. It is the same old plotless piece with the same old tunes and the same old business. Interlarded in ‘Girlies’ are numerous ‘specialty,’ and these alone saved the show. The burlesques and the vaudeville turns in the second half are clever and should be acceptable in any old kind of weather, W. Browners, F. Walker and A. Crooker as three ‘Rube’ gymnasts, were the best of what, in burlesque houses, would have been called the ‘olio.’
“Maude Raymond worked hard in the hopelessly impossible part of Gloriana Gray. As usual she succeeded in winning the audience by her singing, and her song, ‘That’s good,’ was very good indeed. A burlesque of Mrs. Fay, that came later in the piece, showed that Miss Raymond also is an excellent mimic. Joseph Cawthorne, co-star with Miss Raymond, went through the full category of a German comedian’s tricks. The hit of the evening was made, however, by Doris Mitchell, in her burlesque of ‘Madam X.’
“When warm weather comes ‘Girlies’ will move to the New Amsterdam roof. Properly trimmed it should last; through the summer in its aerial home. Last night, it was almost midnight before the hard working chorus sang the medley finale. The chorus was made up of sixty” (page 21).
To be continued…
