Mr. Charrington: Tell us what you saw, especially as to the indecency of the dresses.
Witness: My impression was that the dresses were indecent.
Mr. Charrington: I will ask what was the impression upon the audience, because I think that is important.
The Chairman: The witness has stated that he considered the dresses were objectionable, but he has not said why they were objectionable.
Mr. Forest Fulton: He said that the dresses were objectionable as disclosing the shapes of the performers.
MR. CHARRINGTON APPARENTLY SNUFFED OUT
A widely circulated cartoon during the Licensing Fight on the London County Council
[To face p. 142.
Replying to further questions by Mr. Charrington, witness said he found in the dress circle a number of prostitutes, respectably dressed, walking about in twos. They were very well-dressed indeed. In the dress circle he counted twenty or thirty. He did not see them in other parts of the house, but he saw one come downstairs, look about, and go up again. He was there about three hours. He did not see them drinking with gentlemen. He went outside, and saw them go away in hansom cabs—some with gentlemen. He saw one come down with a decanter of brandy under her "harm," get into a hansom, and drive away with a gentleman. He believed she was a prostitute.
Cross-examined by Mr. Forest Fulton: I only once visited this place. I have been many times in a theatre. I have never seen a ballet at the theatre or the opera. I have seen ladies in evening dress at the theatre. There was nothing very different in this case from the ordinary evening dress worn by the people of this country as a matter of habit. I do not know that it is possible for any ballet to be performed without the performer wearing tights underneath the dress. I believe that it is the practice in every country in the world that where a ballet is being performed, tights are worn under the dress. That was what was done here.
The tights are worn under the short dresses?—They had long dresses, but they opened down the side.