k up the costumes. These lights are not
focused on the scenery at all. The other lights are worked to tone the
scenery to the desired effect, either to obscure it or to bring it out
vividly.

Be very careful of the kind of light you use on the costumes. If you
have trouble with the scenery or the costumes, you can usually
disguise them and make them look entirely different by some sort of
trick lighting effect. I remember one time staging a production at the
Winter Garden. The management set a limit of $23 for each costume;
that's all they would allow. I had about sixty-four girls in that
ballet, and it was staged by Theodore Kosloff, who is now in Los
Angeles. He was formerly at the Empire Theatre in London, when I lived
in London. He couldn't speak a word of English at that time. He had to
sail for Europe before he finished staging this ballet, and he turned
the ballet over to me, with a friendly request that I personally
finish it for him, which I gladly did. He had explained what he wanted
in costumes, and the management finally ordered some costumes made at
the above price. I just wish you could have seen what came in. When
you are used to spending $150, $175, and as much as $1,500 on chorus
costumes alone you can imagine what we got for $23. When the girls put
them on I was obliged to put colored lights on them, red, blue, dark
amber, and I did finally manage to get a very beautiful effect, which
you can do if you find that your costumes are not up to the mark.
Experiment with your colors until you get the desired effect.

After we get through with our costumes and lights, we are ready to add
the orchestra. That is the last thing of all. I bring the orchestra in
for a reading rehearsal, with the composer and musical director, and
we correct whatever orchestra parts there may be wrong and smooth out
the music. We always have a special orchestra rehearsal without
scenery, without costumes, without the principals, without the lights,
without any stage hands being around, and we perfect the musical end
of the show with the orchestra and company prior to the dress
rehearsal.

Then we have the final full dress rehearsal, orchestra, stage hands,
costumes, lights, props, scenery, facial makeups, everything complete.
We make them up for the dress rehearsal thinking that they will
remember how to make up for the opening performance, but we always
find that they can't do it, and about half past four or five in the
aftern