Isabelle Urquhart
[6][8] She ran away again and found a job as a chorus girl, officially starting her theatrical career and ending her formal education.
[8] Urquhart's first theatrical job was as a chorus girl at the Standard Theatre in New York City for $10 a week ($339 in today's money).
[8] Other sources say that her first stage appearance was in the chorus in Billee Taylor, produced by the Richard D'Oyly Carte and E. E. Rice opera companies on February 19, 1881.
[17][18][b] During the 1885 to 1886 theater season in New York City, Urquhart was also in two comedies by George Bernard Shaw: Arms and the Man and How He Lied to Her Husband.
[19] In 1886, Urquhart acted in dramas with Lawrence Barrett at the Globe Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, appearing as Portia in Julius Caesar, Nicol in The King's Pleasure, and Donna Isabella in The Wonder.
[22][13] Comedian and actor Francis Wilson recalled: Over this innovation of Urquhart, men raved, and women, taking the hint, became imitators.
In place of the bulging hourglass type of dress, adored by the Dutch, American women became an anatomy, a slender, clinging thing of beauty....
This startling change in female attire followed so pat upon the appearance and action of Miss Urquhart that I have ventured to credit her with its origin.
[6] In September 1891, Urquhart took on the role of Chloe in a Brooks and Dickson production of Sims and Clay's new operetta, The Merry Duchess, at the Standard Theatre in New York City.
[31][32] However, later that year, Urquhart and Standing appeared together in a Loie Fuller production that closed after just two and a half weeks of its scheduled six-week run.
In 1897, she performed a sketch of her own devising, at the Union Square Theatre, in which she "did little more ... than display her form in a handsome gown to the utmost advantage.
"[39] The Shea's manager opined, "Miss Urquhart is a very good actress and has some fine gowns which show to advantage clothing her graceful figure.
[41] She then returned to Broadway, performing as Mrs. Challoner in Martha Morton's comedy The Diplomat at the Madison Square Theatre in April 1902.
[47][48][49] Around 1888, she posed for trade cards issued by Allen & Ginter for its Dixie, Opera Puff Cigarettes, Our Little Beauties, and Virginia Brights.
[54] In 1890, Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company issued an Urquhart trade card to promote Sweet Caporal cigarettes.
[55] Around the same time, Kinney Brothers issued a colorized trade card featuring Urquhart to promote its Sporting Extra cigarettes.
[56] In 1890, Urquhart lived with her mother and aunt in a New York City apartment that overlooked the Metropolitan Opera House.
[5][34] In their divorce settlement, Urquhart received $10 a week in alimony from Standing; by February 1905, he was in arrears for $2,475 ($83,930 in today's money).
