The Stage Irishwoman

M. ALISON KIBLER

ON JANUARY 24, 1907, veteran vaudeville performers John and James Russell were scheduled to perform their signature sketch, "The Irish Servant Girls," at the Victoria Theatre in New York City. Known as the "originators of the Irish servant girl act," the Russell Brothers had started the sketch in the late 1870s but also performed blackface routines, Dutch (or German) and Yankee caricatures, as well as impersonations of famous women like Sarah Bernhardt. In the "The Irish Servant Girls" the Russell Brothers wore dresses with long white aprons, and James Russell added a red wig and covered his dress with green ribbons. James called to John, "Maggie, Maggie," in a gruff voice and they hit each other with brooms, winked at men in the audience, and exposed the underwear beneath their skirts. On this evening in late January their "shop-worn" act was anything but routine. When the Russell Brothers appeared on stage, angry Irish protesters—a hundred strong—stood up, yelled "Take them off!," hissed, whistled, and groaned. Thomas P. Tuite, an Irish-American war veteran and ardent Irish nationalist, rose up from his seat after the catcalls had subsided to address the management and the audience: "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! or by the eternal we will stop it. For whenever you again bring it on you will be met by clean, manly men who will stop it if they have to stop you." The curtain came down after a few minutes.