Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-08-26
PLAYING TWO PARTS.
INSTANCES IN WHICH AN ACTOR HAS
 BEEN TWO MEN AT ONCE.

Make These Quick Changes.
 To be able to play two parts in the same piece--fo portray, perhaps two characters of totally different caliber- is not an undertaking which many ac- tors care To attempt 1t is only the ex- perienced artist who may attempt the feat with impunity, and even then, though he may appear to the audience to achieve his end without an effort, there are many more difficulties in his path than meet the eye of the habitnal theater goer.
 Not only must the actor be possessed of no small amount of histrionie talent, but he must often call ill the aid of an understudy, whose duty it is to gull the onlooker into the belief that their favor ite is performing the impossible feat of being h two places at one and the same time. for i'll nearly every play Of such :; character 1t is well nigh impossible for the author so to arrange his piece that the actor may never be called upon to be on the stage with his double
 Any one who has been to see ssThe Prisoner of Zenda" performed at the St. 1 James theater, must have maryeled at l the lightning celerity with which Mr. l George Alexander. moment before the drunken king of Ruritania, suddenly, as by some act of witchcraft. reappeared as Rudolf Rassendyll, clad in the ordi- nary costume of the English tourist. l Then, to every ones surprise, the supine body of the king was carried in SO that to all appearances Mr. Alexander was i gazing upon his own person. h reality, of course, 1t was merely a lightning change, and the unde1stndy had to be requisitioned to supply the person of the king.
 A more famous case of double imper- Eonation. however, is that of "The Cor sican Brothers, ? the first play perhaps in which Sir Henry Irving gave Us Il taste of his wonderful talent
 In the first act-to give slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis, killed in duel ny a certain Chateau Remand in the forest Of Fontainebleau, appears to Fabien, his brother. The sec ond act takes Us to Paris, and through varied incident to the death of Louis Here Irving was Louis
 In the third act, however it is Fabien who is once more before us, who has constituted himself the avenger of his brothers death. Ho meets Chateau Renaud and demands satisfaction Re. maud is worsted and falls to the ground. Then suddenly the ghost of Louis ap- pears and, to personate the spirit of the dead man, Irving had had to fly to the wings, make his way below the stage and take his stand upon the trap, which conveyed him upward to the gaze of the thrilled spectators
 How was it done: The audience was amazed Yet the explanation is com paratively simple: Irving stepped be- hind property" tree. His double" instantly filled his place. taking good was necessary for him to confront the ghost. Hence the lightning change from mortal to spirit and the resultant be- wilderment of the beholders
 Neither Is the "Corsican Brothers the only play ill which Irving has con- triyed to take q double part and yet nonplus the audience by the adroitness of his metamorphosis
 Those who are familiar with the Lyons Mail'' will doubtless remem- Der the most telling scene in the play. Here Dubosc, the murderer, is in an attic, gazing down upon the prepara- tions being made for the execution of the innocent Lesurques-whos likeness to the real murderer has brought him to such terrible pass-un expression of horrible glee upon his face, clapping his hands as he sees tine apparently doomed man step forward to his death.
 But his exultation is premature. Le- snrques is reprieved, and tie crowd suddenly catches sight Of the villainous face of the real murderer at the attic window The door of the room k bat tered in. Behind it stands Dubosc. The wretch is dragged from his refuge, and as they do go Irving Lesurques coolly walks in upon the scene of turmoil
 The door of the attic is made to open inward, thus shutting Irving Dubosc from view of the auditorium. in mo- ment he slips through a trap. His double takes his place, to be hustled uneeremoniously by the crowd of tsu-
 
 the mans face in case the fraud should be discovered. Irving Lesurques can hen come on in his new role
 But an actor has been known to play two parts without the assistance of a dummy.
 In certain play it was the duty Of the hero to leap out of the window of his room and to enter from door ou the opposite side Of the stage clad ill differ ent clothes, though otherwise the same
 This, however, was juggling pure and simple The actor dropped into his second dress ill much the same way as ! all American ii. eman is reputed to jump into his uniform. Tt.e costume consisted of but one piece with patent fastening down lle back, and as he leaped through the window frame he leapsd into his clothes, which, so to speak. shut behind him and left him re- | habiIitatQd