The Memoirs of Victor Hugo by Victor Hugo
page 70 of 398 (17%)
page 70 of 398 (17%)
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that were called ~tableaux vivants~, with a few men to
complete the groups. This show was given at the Porte Saint Martin and at the Cirque. I had the curiosity one night to go and see the women behind the scenes. I went to the Porte Saint Martin, where, I may add in parentheses, they were going to revive "Lucrêce Borgia". Villemot, the stage manager, who was of poor appearance but intelligent, said: "I will take you into the gynecium." A score of men were there--authors, actors, firemen, lamp lighters, scene shifters--who came, went, worked or looked on, and in the midst of them seven or eight women, practically nude, walked about with an air of the most naïve tranquillity. The pink tights that covered them from the feet to the neck were so thin and transparent that one could see not only the toes, the navel, and the breasts, but also the veins and the colour of the least mark on the skin on all parts of their bodies. Towards the abdomen, however, the tights became thicker and only the form was distinguishable. The men who assisted them were similarly arranged. All these people were English. At intervals of five minutes the curtain parted and they executed a ~tableau~. For this they were posed in immobile attitudes upon a large wooden disc which revolved upon a pivot. It was worked by a child of fourteen who reclined on a mattress beneath it. Men and women were dressed up in chiffons of gauze or merino that were very ugly at a distance and very ignoble ~de prês~. They were pink statues. When the disc had revolved |
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