‘Horrid thief takes gown of charmer’

Oct. 6, 1909: Miss Thais Magrane, “leading woman at the Belasco,” announced that “a Redfern butterfly gown” worth $500 had been stolen from her theater dressing room, The Times reported under the headline “Horrid Thief Takes Gown of Charmer.”

“If the gown had cost less it could have been called a dress, but having been made in New York and sent west with its pedigree, the garment is entitled to be called a gown or a creation, or something of the sort,” the newspaper said.

In the play “Du Barry,” Miss Magrane wore eight or nine gowns.

“She took off one and put on another, and so on, until, by the last curtain of the last act, she had worn about $3,000 worth of clothes,” The Times said.

“Three to four dressmakers” worked to reproduce the gown in time for the next performance.