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He employs at present no less than 800 glorified girls in his various chori. Half of these are blonde, half brunette; all of them were chosen by Ziegfeld himself in person, with great labor, from an annual crowd of applicants numbering at least 15.000. For the six shows which he contemplates producing next year, Maestro Ziegfeld will be able to draw upon a large reserve of chorines whose names, measurements and telephone numbers he keeps on record; others he will select himself, by a process of elimination, from determined battalions that assemble for his inspection, at a whispered word. He will do this clad in shirt sleeves; the scene will be a large rehearsal hall.*
This season, his most highly paid star is said to be Marilyn Miller, of Rosalie,† she gets a guarantee of $5,000 weekly on a percentage basis which nets her $1,000 above this sum.
The members of the ensemble, if they are haughty "show girls," receive an average of $125 weekly, in addition to extras; if successful, they are likely to graduate into the even more profitably perilous cinema industry. If they are agile "dancing girls" they receive perhaps $55 per week and they are more likely to achieve legitimate success, if any.
It would be tedious to enumerate the stars whom Producer Ziegfeld has, in the theatrical sense of the word, made. A few, in the cinema, are: Olive Thomas, Louise Brooks, Dolores Costello, Greta Nissen, Mae Murray, Marion Davies. On the stage: Nora Bayes, Anna Held, Martha Mansfield, Leon Errol, Gallagher and Shean, Peggy Hopkins (Joyce), Eddie Cantor, James Barton, Ina Claire.
Ziegfeld chorus girls report for work at 7:30; they dress not in large, damp rooms but in small, cozy ones, with walls covered with photographs and curious trophies. Their dresses are mended by ruddy Kate Reddy, for 18 years the warden of Ziegfeld wardrobes. Five percent of them marry rich men.
Ziegfeld is explicit when he explains the formula for his box-office batting average. There are, he thinks, three themes for musical shows: Sex, Adventure, Romance. Right now, he thinks Romance is the winner and builds his plays accordingly. Soon Sex will have its turn again.
He thinks that the personal contribution which he makes to all his shows can be best described by the three words "Splendor and Intelligence." This is because he is proud of what he has done, not because he is conceited about what he is. Ziggy has never appeared upon the stage, except when pushed there after an opening performance.
Tickets to his shows are usually high in price; most of them are bought far in advance by speculators or private purchasers. It is reported that Edna Ferber, the author of Show Boat, one day learned that someone had purchased four good seats at box office prices, only one week in advance. So great was her surprise, that she developed a splitting headache.
He acknowledges no rivals in his corner of the show business; while he has established his own tradition, he would be ready to admit a forerunner in the once wealthy Edward E. Rice who produced elaborate "high class burlesque" in the 1890's and who died two years ago, without a nickel.