The "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty"

[Sam Clements]

George,

The Atlanta Constitution date was 1888, not 1889.  Sorry.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Clements" <sclements at NEO.RR.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 9:11 PM
Subject: Re: The "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty"


> George,
>
> Using ancestry.com, I found an 1889 cite in the Atlanta Constitution,
Dec.
> 30. p.18, col 1.   It is talking about plays and athletes trying to be
> actors.
>
>      The other eminent and good man who is creating a sensation in this
line
> is the very honorable Michael Josephus Kelly, the ten thousand-dollar
Beauty
> of the Boston baseball club.  "Kell" is just now being used as the drawing
> feature in Charlie Hoyt's laughable shot, "A Tin soldier."
>
>
> This at least gives a baseball connection to the phrase before your 1890
> cite.
>
> PS--King Kelly only had one more good year after that.  Was it the acting
> that did him in?
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Thompson" <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 4:43 PM
> Subject: The "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty"
>
>
> > A while ago I posted a biographical sketch of Ben Henderson, pitcher for
> the Portland Beavers, who used the word "jazz" in an interview in 1912.
One
> of the stories quoted in the sketch referred to Henderson as the "ten
> thousand dollar beauty" (see the 1911 passage below), a phrase that
puzzled
> me, since Henderson, having no bargaining leverage, couldn't possibly have
> gained a contract that would have paid him $10,000.  A participant to the
> 19th Century Baseball list suggested that Henderson's contract had been
sold
> for that sum by one team to another, a more likely speculation.
> >
> > However, it appears that "ten thousand dollar beauty," was a catchphrase
> through the end of the 19th C and the first few decades of the 20th,
meaning
> "the featured attraction".
> >
> > The passages below were all found through Proquest's Historical
Newspapers
> databases.  The 1882 passage is evidently playing on the familiarity of
the
> expression.
> >
> > 1882:   A THIRTY TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR BEAUTY.  How a Discarded Romeo Got
> Even with His Faithless Juliet by Publishing Her Derelictions and Their
Cost
> to Him before the Audience She Was Fascinating.  [caption to an
> illustration]
> >         National Police Gazette, February 18, 1882, p. 1.
> >
> > 1890:   The young woman may even have been good looking, or even pretty,
> four years ago, but at the present she could not get an engagement with a
> ten-cent show as the "ten thousand dollar beauty," but she carries a glib
> tongue in her head. . . .
> >         Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1890, p. 2, col.
> >
> > 1905:   "Drawing Cards" in Baseball.  The Individuality of Certain Star
> Players Makes Them Popular with the Fans.  ***   Baseball never had a
bigger
> "card" than Mike Kelly, the famous "ten thousand dollar beauty," of the
> Boston team.
> >          National Police Gazette, September 9, 1905, p. 7
> >
> > 1906:   NICK ALTROCK, SHOEMAKER.  Sox Pitcher Quit Awl and Last to Go
Into
> Baseball.  Father of  Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty Proud of Son's Work in
> Second Game of Series.  [headline]
> >         Washington Post, October 14, 1906, section S, p. 2, col.
> >
> > 1906:   "In the parades," she went on, "I ride the big elephant, and am
> known as ten thousand dollar beauty."
> >         Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1904, section F, p. 2, col.
> ("The Greatest Show on Earth", by Antony E. Anderson)
> >
> > 1910:   LOUISE MONTAGUE DEAD.  Was Famous "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty"
of
> Forepaugh's Circus.  [headline]  Louise M. Montague, once heralded over
the
> country as the “Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty,” died on Tuesday at her home,
> 104 Manhattan Avenue.  Louise Montague was an actress with Edward E.
Rice's
> company in "The Corsair," and later became a star of David Henderson's
> "Sindbad the Sailor."  Adam Forepaugh, determined to make her beauty the
> feature of his circus, and in 1878 he engaged her to travel with his
circus.
> She was advertised as the "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty."  and rode in the
> parades in a gorgeous chariot especially constructed for her.  New York
> Times, March 17, 1910, p. 1, col.
> >
> > 1911:   Ben Henderson, pitcher and "Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty" of the
> Beaver squad, who fell off the water wagon at Stockton with such eclat
that
> he had to go to a hospital to recuperate, now seems to have fallen off the
> map.  Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1911, section III, p. 1, col. 6
> >
> > 1919:   [a horse show will include a category for polo ponies,] and so
the
> public will be able to see in the ring some of the "ten thousand dollar
> beauties" that have hitherto been seen only on the playing field.
> > New York Times, October 5, 1919, p. 120, col.
> >
> > This is the last occurence of this phrase turned up through these
> databases, except for an instance of it used with historical reference,
from
> the 1930s.
> >
> > For those yearning to know more of Miss Montague's beauty, here are two
> items from 1881, when she won Forepaugh's prize:
> > THE HANDSOMEST WOMAN.  Her First Appearance in Forepaugh's Parade
To-day.
> [headline]  Miss Louise Montague, the queen of beauty, who has been so
> fortunate as to secure Forepaugh's $10,000 offered for the handsomest
woman
> in the world, will arrive in this city from Philadelphia early this
morning.
> . . .   {She will ride in the parade to the showgrounds.]
> >         Washington Post, April 4, 1881, p. 3, col.
> >
> > Miss Montague's claims to beauty is that she is a demi-blonde with
classic
> features, a charming blue eye and a beautiful light complexion.  Of medium
> height, she possesses a full and symmetrical figure.  Her weight is 147
> pounds.   A mass of wavy dark chestnut hair, combed well down over the
> narrow Grecian forehead, gives her somewhat of a matronly air, though it
> adds ten-fold to her beauty.
> >         National Police Gazette, April 23, 1881, p. 12.  For those who
> want ocular proof, the NPG offers an engraving from a photograph, also on
p.
> 12.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998.
> >
>