The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-20
1870
A STAGE DEATH OR. TWO.
Views of an Actress VINO Has Had n
Varied Experience.

Miss Viola Allen has probably died as
many times as any >other woman on
the stage-that is to say, of course,
a dramatic death, says the Boston
Globe.
There is something fascinating to
me-" she said, ''in d death scene. If
the actress has to fall to the ground
in death agony she must be careful
that she does not perform the feat as
though she were clasp-knife folding
up. Then, again, she must cultivate
breathing, so that she may seem not to
be breathing at ali. Nothing is more
ridiculous than the spectacle presented
by a supposed corpse whose chest is
heaving violently, in consequence Of
the emotion attendant upon falling.
L remember in 'Virginius | was
stabbed and fell backward to the
ground. The blow made me gasp
gradually my limbs BECAME. rigid, and
1 fell at the moment NE spark of life
was supposed to have left my body.
1 used TO remain mCtionless with my
mouth and eyes open. Once fly flew
into my mouth-but that is another
story. My authority for such action
and subsequent pose is the strongest.
L was the witness of just such a trag-
edy in real life. The only pain l ex-
perienced in that scene was the en-
forced holding of my breath. The
length of the actual death scene is
about five minutes -
when l played i'm 'Othello with
Tomaso Salvini 1 was always very
nervous during the snlOthering scene,
because the italian tragedian used to
get extremely excited would turn my
face Sideways and hold small space
open under -he further side of the
pillow, SO that l could breathe, but
even that breathing mole Woulu ire
quently get closed under Salvini's
forceful energy. Then when ne had
found that he had killed Desdemona
without cause, in his remorse ne would
throw himself heavily upon the body
l used to wait for this piece of bust
ness as one would wait for a locomo-
tive about TO project itself upon the
waistband.
FAs Juliet I have died many times
Romeo. you know, drinks the poison
and subsequently, throws the phial
away as Juliet approaches him; then,
seeing him die, stabs herself and falls
over him. AT one theater the property
man, thinking poison should be repre-
sented by some black fluid, filled the
vial with ink. As Romeo made merely
a slight motion of drinking the liquid,
he did not notice the nature of the
fluid. But when he threw the bottle
from him it struck somewhere near
Juliet, and the ink flew all over my
face and the lovely white gown [ wore
On that occasion, you may be sure the
life OF Juliet was ended with the least
possible delay.
In La Charbonniere' the heroine
dies slow death by poison. In this
case 1 took special care to find out
the right poison that should be men
toned in the piece, as the one that
would cause a slow numbing of the
senses.
Death by starvation is by no means
jolly. AS Jess in .Hoodman I have
had to make believe ! would give my
life for doughnut. In this play my
death occurred While [ was reclining
on my side well down the stage, to-
ward the footlights This was quite
often an awkward situation, because
of the different curtains at .the various
theaters. Now and then, TO avoid my
being struck by the curtain, the hero
would be obliged to draw my body
back, and once, though a man put out
his hand TO keep the roller from touch
ing me, the heavy mass actually grazed
my nose"