The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-13
FREAKS OF MEMORY.
Actors Suddenly Forgetting Their
Parts on the Stage.
NOM tte M York TeIe0rqm.

| al VS Oh ZIG oOuAO'
From the Nei1 York Telegram.
Almost any pleasant afternoon a dozen or
more theatrical people may be seen stand
ing about conversing and joking in front OF
a certain club house not a great way from
Madison square and that part Of Broadway
where the most deliberately dressed sons and
daughters Of New York pass in review
One afternoon quite recently one such little
party of actors were collected about TINS
spot listening attentively to one OF their
number whose gray hair seemed to lend
weight TO his statements as he held forth.
1T always seems queer to me, SAID the
speaker, that somebody doesn't write a
book on the psychological aspect of life on
the stage. Probably the actor has as large
an opportunity of becoming acquainted
with curious phenomena OF the human III
tellect as any man that lives. The curious
freaks of superstitious fancy that atfiict
some of the best known actors are old themes
| of discussion. For instance, some tnlnk
they can't act if they see horse OF Ger
tain color--not necessarily white, however
or if they don't wear certain clothing, or
if they play in a certain house.
MEN OF ONE PART.
"Some actors have played one part so
many times that the work becomes entirely
mechanical, and they at times forget how
| Lar dOilS JHey ave SOt III VIC pay ChNoA
some conditions of mind the oldest actor is
liable to miss his cue or cut fellow actor
ont Of his lines even though he may know
the play 50 well that he can repeat the
whole thing from beginning to end. | have
known even so thorough and careful an
actor as Lawrence Barrett, who has played
| Richelieu' thousands of times, L suppose,
to get thrown off the track in the first in
| terview between the Cardinal and Julie,
and have to go back to his first speech to get
it right.
Not long ago heard Frederick Warde,
in expatiating on his favorite play, Damon
| and Pythias, in which he has acted in prIn-
cipal and subordinate parts for fifteen years,
utterly fail to recall three lines from the
| very passage he was wont to deliver with
| the greatest effect from the stage. But the
most serious freak of an actors memory,
and the one to my mind fuEthest from any
! rational explanation, is the way it will
| sometimes, and for no apparent cause, ut
terly refuse to take any impression at all.
| remember very we'll the first experience of
that kind ! ever had.
A LEAK IN HIS MEMORY.
81 was in the company OF a well-known
| tragedian of this city, and a change in the
cast had given me the part Of 'Baradas
two days before "Richelieu" was to be per-
| form ed. | was fairly familiar with the part
and thought l wonld have no difficulty in
becoming dead perfect in it. | studied all
my lengths that night till l knew them
| quite thoroughly. The next day ] went at
them again, and to my speechleSs horror |
| discovered that all | had committed the
| previous night had escaped my mind. Read
the lines over as often as | would, and
strive as hard as | would to impress them
upon my memory, not one solitary line
| would stick. If | should ever become a
raving maniac | would never become more
| pitiable object than | was that day. !
| locked myself in my room and refused to
eat, while ! went over the lines to myself,
as Nicholas Nickleby went over the apOthe-
| carys lines to poor Smike. Toward even
! ing began to get the better of them, and
when | went to the theatre l thought had
them all pat, had regained my confidence
and had no anticipation of trouble,
Imagine my feelings when | discovered,
as heard my first cue, that the whole part
| had again flown from my mind. | stood
| before that audience of upturned faces with
out the first idea of what | should say At
! last found my voice and said something
what, don't know, but such version of
! Baradas as | gave them Pm sure no audience
| ever listened to before or since Istruggled
/ along coming sentences as proceeded, try
| ing to keep what | said i'll harmony with
the general plot of the play, of which l re-
| tanned a fairly distinct impression. / don't
| suppose what | said sounded half so bad to
Others as it did to me. for the people in the
wings afterward told me that few persons
not familiar with the text would have Sus-
pected the spurious character l was present.
| ing.
AS BAD AS EVER.
GAS soon as l was off the stage | made
| rush for the dressingrOOm, grabbed my
| play book and laboriously studied my next
! lengths until was called out again. 1t was
| OF 10 use. l could not recall one word of
my part when got before the footlights
again. Desperation came to my aid, how
| ever, and | plunged boldly in and got
through with an improvisation that would
have made Bdlwer's hair stand on end,
without any very bad breaks. That night
as | was getting into bed, feeling absolutely
disguised with myself and all creation,
every line of my part came back to me like
| a flash, as clear as though the text was be-
fore my eyes, and for weeks and weeks
after they haunted me day and night In
deed, they took such root in my memory
! that had all | could do to drive them out
when the time came to learn another part.
| This occurred ten years ago. and never
| had another touch of that malady again till
| last winter We were trying a new piece
! 'on the dog i'll Providence. We had been
rehearsng it for some time, and fell sure
| ! knew all my part and business as wdN as
| knew my name | was the villain, and i'll
! the fourth act was to quarrel with and stab
my accomplice in crime, for which | was to
! be sentenced to death, after confessing all
my villainy, in the next act.
ANOTHER CASE OF FORGETFULNEss
81 had a scene with the hero Just before
| the quarrel, and, bless me if | didn't for
get lines, business and everything else and,
| jumping away down to the end of the act,
killed the hero The author of the play.
who was sitting in a box, must nave been
paralyzed at the liberties took with the
! text, and the audience must have thought it
very odd that the hero should come to life
so readily IN the next act and that | should
! be sentenced to death for having merely
tried 70 Kill him. But the dog lived and !
got off with only a 'scorching' from the
manager"
| such freaks and lapses of memory are not
at all uncommon with people who commit
| lines 60 memory. Many clergymen. who
| first write and then memorize their sermons.
have been victims Of such f0ur pas of
memory. But is actors, by the nature of
! their profession, do more memOrizing than
any other set Of men, there are more in
stances Of this kind among them than with
others Dion Boucicault has suffered often
and acutey from the freaks Of his memory,
| ana in describing one instance said.
/ Among the hundred and one amusing
! incidents Of my professional life none excel
| the chapter of accidents that happened at
| E..-t, ,N,.N 90