In the dream version of my Hippodrome project, I’d write about the shows from the point of view of the many women performers, artists, and behind the scenes workers who made them possible. As I’m discovering (and as people writing any kind of hidden history already know), it’s easier to find information about the owner of the building or producer of the show and more challenging to find archives for a high diving mermaid or a wardrobe mistress. One of the best pieces of advice I took away from the BIO conference (Biographers International Organization, one of the best professional organizations I’ve joined) came from Pamela Newkirk. She said to look for traces of these people’s lives in the papers of the powerful. I’ll get to do that in the spring when I finally (COVID willing and the creek don’t rise) will get to go to the archives in New York and Austin.
In the meantime, I’ve been following research trails through one of my very favorite digital archives, Chronicling America. When you’re looking through old newspapers, searching for Hippodrome staff can sometimes turn up fun and revelatory profile pieces like this one:
Top of the Women’s Page from the New-York tribune., 19 July 1914. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. “Designs and Helps Make 6,000 Dresses Yearly” is the headline crossing the top of the page. One demure, younger women’s portrait on the bottom left, a photo of a car in front of a large house in the middle, an older and more imperious looking women’s portrait on the top right
Frances Ziebarth started working at the New York Hippodrome in 1906, assisting with the costumes for A Society Circus. She moved up in the ranks and became head of the wardrobe department, where she oversaw costume design, construction, and maintenance. (When you have twenty-four “water guards” walking into the water tank twice a day, maintenance is a big part of the job!) I haven’t tracked her all the way through her career, but the last show she gets Costume Design credit for is Happy Days, which ran from August 1919 through May 1920. The next step is historical stalking. I’ll look for traces of her on Ancestry.com and see if there are any more threads to pull on for now.