Evening star. [volume], September 14, 1947, Page 8, Image 85

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Need An Octopus?
BY BOOTON HERNDON
Photograph by Bratlhty Smith
Julius Carrozzo, master-mind
of vaudeville's skin act,
will make you one to order.
He kqows animals inside out
IF you’d like a hand-made octopus, one
which waves eight tentacles in the air
at the same time, or a facsimile of a
fcline.with eyes that flash red and green,
Julius Carrozzo is your man. He has been
constructing animals for nearly 50 years.
Julius turns out these works of art for
people in show business. As long as
there’s a theater, there will be an act
composed of a couple of guys in a skin,
foolishly counterfeiting some species of
animal, accompanied by a cute little
ringmistress to put the bogus beast
through its paces.
Julius reached what he thought was
the peak of his career when he devised a
movable trunk for an elephant. It was a
complicated gadget, and he was glad
when it was completed. But it wasn t
long before a chap rushed up to him.
“That’s it,” he yelled. “That’s what I
want.” .
“What is?” asked Julius.
“That elephant! You make eight of
those trunks and you’ve got an octopus.
I knew you could do it!”
“Mama Mia,” muttered Julius, and
went back to work.
Started ia Sicily
Julius began making animals when
he was a kid in Sicily out of scraps of
cloth his father let fall from the tailor’s
bench. He came to America when he was
16, and became an apprentice in a
theatrical costumer’s shop.
Skin-making in those days consisted of
sewing pieces of burlap on a pair of
overalls. The first time Julius saw such a
thing he burst out laughing.
‘The boss asked me if I could do bet
ter,” he recalls. “I didn’t understand
English, but I nodded." He’s been mak
ing animals ever since.
Probably his most complicated crea
tion was Maude, the phony mule who
performs on skates for "Ice Capades.”
Maude winks her eyes and wiggles her
ears. She eats a hat and she waves her
stumpy tail. What’s more, she does all
this while tearing madly over the ice.
Thanks to Julius, all the front man in
Maude has to do is to pull wires —
Maude does the rest.
Julius made all the barnyard characters
in “Chanticleer” when Caruso sang the
title role. I'or a show in the old Hip
podrome, he once made 124 animals,
including a giraffe. For Ziegfeld’s Follies,
he turned out peacock and pheasant
costumes by the score.
Even skin-makers have shortage trou
bles. No springs were available for the
long tails of two cats for Ice Capades, so
he decided to make his own springs, lie
could get only short lengths of steel
wire. So he had to weld several coils
together to get the required length.
When a theatrical costumer'has to
take up welding it’s time to quit, Julius
says. The only trouble is he can’t.
‘Too many people get a kick out of
skin acts,” he says. “Somebody’s gotta
make ’em.”
MAUDE: She's Carrozzo's most complex creation
You, too, can have a Smoother Skin with just One Cake of Camay!
If beauty's your goal and romance your objective
start with a lovely skin! A smoother, softer skin
can be yours with just one cake of Camay—if you’ll give up
careless cleansing—go on the Camay Mild-Soap
Diet. Follow directions on the wrapper. See if
Camay doesn’t give you a softer, lovelier skin!
MOTT MS. AND MSS. CHITWOOD!
Randolph’* fra* Virginia. Betty's
tall, chestnut-haired and lovely.
Says she—"My very first cake of
Camay 'made my skin feel softer
... look clearer.”
Tho Chitwoods hoooymoonod on Cape
Cod—plan to go back there every sum
mer. And Betty plans to stay on the
Camay Mild-Soap Diet — all the year
around. Why don't you?
^ jL '
' tfco hnmi Bitty Adam of Jackson, Mia.
Bridal portrait paintod by
V ■"