This is part 2 of Evelyn Nesbit’s story.
Thanks to her success as a Floradora girl, Evelyn Nesbit was offered a one-year contract to perform in The Wild Rose. And instead of being in a group of chorus girls, Evelyn was given a real role.
Evelyn as a gypsy in The Wild Rose
All New York was in love with her beauty. Her acting, less so. “As an actress, she was impossible. She had no talent. Even physical beauty will not carry a woman of the stage to favor if she cannot sing or act,” ran a March 15, 1907 piece in the United Opinion.
White persuaded Mrs. Nesbit to return to Pennsylvania for a visit and sweetly promised to look after 16-year-old Evelyn while she was away. Having already disposed of Evelyn’s brother Howard by sending him to Philadelphia for an expensive education, White was now alone with Evelyn. After Mrs. Nesbit’s departure, White invited Evelyn to his West 24th Street studio, where he arranged for photos to be taken of her.
old spirituals 