Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-17
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-to portray, perhaps two characters of totally different caliber- is not an undertaking which many &C., tors care TO attempt. It is only the ex. perienoed artist who may attempt the feat with impunity. and even then, though he may appear to the audience to achieve his end without an efforG. there are many more difficulties in his path than meet the eye of the habitual theater goer.
 Not only must the actor be possessed of no small amount of histrionie talent but he must often call in the aid of an understudy, whose duty it is to gull the onloeker into the belief that their favor lte IS performing the impossible feat of being In two places at one and the same time. For in nearly every play of such character 1t Is well nigh impossible for the author so to arrange his piece that the actor may never De called upon ts be on tie stage with his double
 Any one who has been to see "'Ths Prisoner of zenda" performed at the St. James theater, must have maryeed at the lightning eelerity with which Mr George Alexander, moment before tbe drunken king of Ruritania, suddenly, as by some act of witehcraft. reappeared as Rudolf Rassendyll, clad i'll the ordi- nary costume of tke English tourist Then, to every ones surprise, the supine body of the king was carried i'll so that to all appearances Mir Alexander was gazing upon his own person. In reality, Of course, it was merely a lightning change, and the understudy had to be IeqGisitioned to supply the person of the king.
 A more famous case of double imper. sonation, however, is that of "The Cor sican Brothers, /" the first play perhaps in which Sir Henry Irving gave us taste of his wonderful talent.
 In the first act-to give slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis. killed i'll a duel hy certain Chateau Renaud ill 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 moro before us, who has constituted himself the ayenger of his brothers death He meets Chateau Renaud and demands satisfaction. Re maud is worsted altd falls to the ground. Then suddenly the ghost of Louis ap. pears, and, to pcfsonate the spirit Of the dead man, Irving had had to fiy 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 cem paratiyely simple: Irving stepped be. hind property tree. His double instantly filled his place, taking good care not to face the audience when it was necessary for him to confront the ghost. Hence the lightning change from mortal to spirit and the resultant be- wi 1RassfffReeFF IS sef the belhaQ2lsders. si the only play in which Irving has con triyed to take a 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 ill an attic, gazing down upon the prepara- tions being made for the execution of the innocent Lesurques-whose likeness to the real murderer has brought him to such terrible pass--an expression of horrible glee upon his face, elapping his hands as he sees the apparently doomed man step forward to his death
 But his exultation is premature. Le surques is reprieved, and the crowd suddenly catches sight of the yillainous face of the real murderer at the attic window. The door of the room is bat. tered in. Behind it stands Duhoge. The wretch is dragged from his refuge, and as they do so 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 a mo. ment he slips through trap His double" takes his place. to be hustled uneeremoniously by the crowd of 'su. pers, whose duty it is also to conceal the man face in case the fraud should be discovered. Irving LesurQues can hen come on i'll his new role.
 But an actor has been known to play two parts without the assistance of g dummy.
 In certain play 1t was the duty oi the hero to leap out Of the window of his room and to enter from door on the opposite side of the stage clad in differ. cut 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. The costume consisted of but one piece with 8 patent fastening dcwn the back, and as he leaped thrcpsh the window frame he leaped int. his clothes, which, so to speak, shut behind him and left him re-