Adventures in the Arts: Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and PoetsHartley, Marsden
History
Adventures in the Arts: Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets
Hartley, Marsden
Art; Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Vaudeville
It is something for so young a woman to have walked away with first
honours in her chosen field, yet like the true artist that she is, she
is thinking always of how she can beautify her accomplishment to a
still greater degree. She is mistress of a very difficult art, and yet
the brilliancy of her performance makes it seem as if it were but the
experiment of an afternoon, in the out-of-doors. Like all fine
artists, she has brushed away from sight all aspects of labour, and
presents you, with astounding ease, the apparent easiness of the
thing. She is powerfully built, and her muscles are master of
coordination, such as would be the envy of multitudes of men, and
with all this power, she is as simple in her manner and appearance as
is the young debutante at her coming out function. You are impressed
with her sweetness and refinement, first of all, and the utter lack of
show about her, as also with her brother who is a dapper young man of
the very English type, who works with her, and acts as the
dress-suited gentleman in this acrobatic ringplay of theirs. Three
other members of her family take part also with her, the
ring-mistress, a woman of possibly forty, acting as host, looking
exceptionally well, handsome indeed, in grey and silver evening dress,
with fine dark eyes and an older sister who opens the performance with
some good work. This seems to me to be the modern touch, for there was
a time when it was always the very well groomed ringmaster, with top
hat and monocle, who acted as host of the ring.
It will likewise be remembered by those who saw the Hannafords at the
circus, that they were also possessed of a very handsome
ring-mistress, elegantly gowned, both of these older ladies lending
great distinction, by their presence, to already brilliant
performances. I would be very pleased to make myself historian for
these fine artists, these esthetes of muscular melody. I should like
very much to be spokesman for them, and point out to an enforcedly
ignorant public, the beauties of this line of artistic expression, and
to give historical account of the development of these various
picturesque athletic arts. Alas, that is not possible, for it must
remain forever in the limbo of tradition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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