Etiquette and Rank Among Actors

‘Une Coryphée’ Lithograph by Ethel Gabain,1916 — Were a subscriber to pit or box tier, who has his entree to the green-room, engaged in a conversation in the wings with a member of the quadrille, and a coryphée to come up, the former would have to go away. The same etiquette would be observed by a coryphée if a subject came up; and if the star deigned to speak to the gentleman the subject would be expected to fall back in an attitude which would express the deep sense she felt of the honor done her by the star in deigning to address the admirer of the subject.

Fine Distinctions of Etiquette Observed in the Green-Room

There is no place under heaven in which hierarchical grades are so rigidly established as in the dancers’ green room at the European opera-houses. The star, says the Chicago News, bears exactly the same relation to the subjects as a Queen does to the ladies of the court, and the subjects the same relation to the coryphées as, say, the Ladies of the Bedchamber to the Dressers of her Majesty. The quadrille is a mol of novices having no rank to speak of. 

Were a subscriber to pit or box tier, who has his entree to the green-room, engaged in a conversation in the wings with a member of the quadrille, and a coryphée to come up, the former would have to go away. The same etiquette would be observed by a coryphée if a subject came up; and if the star deigned to speak to the gentleman the subject would be expected to fall back in an attitude which would express the deep sense she felt of the honor done her by the star in deigning to address the admirer of the subject. 

A star would think herself called upon to resent being invited to dine with an inferior member of the corps de ballet unless her leave were first asked. The etiquette would be to ask her what members it might be agreeable for her to meet, and whether, if she did not desire to make a choice herself, it might be agreeable for M’d’lle Such-a-One to be invited? Nor would it be thought rude if she made a choice excluding the danseuse so named. Subjects stand in a relative position toward coryphées. But young ladies of the quadrille should be only asked to meet each other. — Morning Union, 1891

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia