The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-10-25
THE STAGE FALL.
4 Feat which Few Retors Have Ac-
CURED Explanations OF How 1t Is


Done.
fCroffut's Letter In Boston Globe
How to fall gracefully and safely be.
fore an audience is feat which only q
few actors have thoroughly acquired.
A good many fall SO aWkwardly as to
excite mirth, and a good many hurt
themselves. remember young lady
in one Of Days plays few years ago
to whom he said, aHerel You must fall
at this cue.' At that cue, accordingly,
she tainted and fell, but she knocked
over chair ana stand, broke lamp
and set the stage afre! The cur
tain was rung down, the fire put out,
and, indignant, he asked her what she
meant by such ciumsiness. Well,
she said, "you never told me how to
fall, and nobody ever showed me.n She
had never thought of taking lesson in
so important matter. Fanny Daven-
port is now q large and solid woman,
but her fall in Fedora is one of the
most effective bits of stage business.
she reels fainting TO the sofa, qnivers
and dies in an instant, half lying on her
face, and as her horrifed husband runs
up to look and learns the
dreadful truth, she rolls entirely
over by sheer force of gravity and drops
with startling thud upon the floor.
The best fall remember having seen
is that OF Francis Wilson in the
"Princess of Trebizonde" at the Casino.
He posed among the comic statuary on
pedestal a foot and half high, with
brass-drum on his breast. He would
fall directly over, backward, or on
either side, without putting out a hand
or bending his body-fall straight
upon the floor, like a stone figure I
wonder it didn't kill him-especially
when he was eneorel half dozen
times I dou't think death or a ia al
injury ought to be repeated too often.
Agnes Booth doesn't know how to fall
easily unless she has learned lately.
When she was playing the wife in "The
Celebrated Case, she used to hurt her.
self every night-got black and blue
till she finally threw up the part, and
Miss Cowell took it and "fell" into it
gracefully.
These recollections have been sug-
gested by a technical lesson. The
other afternoon | dropped into Fro
bisber's college Of acting, and found
him engaged teaching class of theatre
bound young ladies how to fall, Illus
trating his teaching with them one by
one. Remember this" he said, per
sons fall either from fainting, drunken
ness or sudden death. They die either
by dagger, sword, pistol or poison
except an occasional case like Mans
field, who dies of apoplexy. Sudden
death is fol owed by sudden relaxation,
which causes the knees to bend
as one of the first visible signs.
| The knees bend, the shoulders
| droop, the victim turns partially
in his tracks-so-a falls-so-''
| "not, he resumed on recovering his
feet, "as if he were built Of iron, or
wood, or even of flesh and bone, but as
If he were made of snow or of sand
melting away at the bottom first"
| Now, Miss Wright, let's see you fall
at the cut, Wretch, here I ann
There are two things to be avoided, re-
member Don't crouch down as if you
were afraid, and don't flop your feet
and show your stockings, for that is not
impressive. Now, then Wretch! here
I am
The young lady gathered herself up
and fell.
"Ah, that isn't fa;rls he said; you
sat down. You must always strike first
On the side of your knees
II am afraid it will hurt me-"
Nonsense! Do you want to be an
actress ?"
"Yes; I will do anything. Give me
| the cue.s
It was tried again with better sue
cess. Always fall diagonally, he con.
tinued, "head toward one of the corners
of the stage. Another thing. in recov.
ering from a swoon the head should be
the last to rise. In regaining conscious
ness the heart st.rs first, then the hands
and the frame the man rolls half over
perhaps, before he lifts his head at all
| Sometimes it is necessary to fall or
being struck with the fst-men usually
It is a back-fall, and is effected BY
holding the body rigid, withdrawing tlle
tongue from between the teeth, raising
the head slightly and falling straight on
the shoulders. [ can teach anybody il
an hour so as to make the back fall un
erringly and safely" Then Professor
Frobisher resumed his lesson and
came away.
This back fall I remember seeing
Charlotte Cushman make in surpris
ing manner. I think it was in "Mes
Merrils." She jumped up foot from
the floor and took the back fa.I witt
| tremendous effect.
In drunken falls the most reckless
ever saw was that of Harry Watkins
the well-known actor, who has probabl
played more parts and written NOR
plays that were put on the boards thai
any other living man. remember see
ing him jump fifteen or twenty fee
during the delirium tremens scenes a
Middleton in "The Drunkard," hi
own play, and I asked him how b
could stand it. @Well,' he said, "m
right s de is t4rrihly bruised, and hav
skinned my arms, but | am pretty wei
bandaged, and I am having some pad
made to ease my fall. :
By the way, Harry Watkins. JAIME
Wallack and Old Burton were the onl
actors l ever saw whose drunkenness
seemed real. As for Sothern's drunken
ness in David Garrick" and Irving's i
the last scene OF j" The Lyons Mail, J"
is the yeriest caricature. It is sort {
staggering dance an irregular hol
When men are drunk they do not ho
or dance. They put their feet down 0
the ground and take them up as seldol
as possible. Barton and Watkins woul
both glue their feet to the stage as
they had suckers on them, and the
drunkenness was very drunk indeed.
wonder why Watkins Drunkardn ism