The Press., 1897-11-18
PLAYING TWO PARTS.
INSTANCES IN WHICH AN ACTOR HAS
 BEEN TWO MENAT ONCE.

The 'cPrisOner of Zenda," ''COrsican Broth
 CTS" and the ''Lyons Mail" Are Plays in
 Which It Is Necessary For the Star to
 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 ac- tors care to attempt. It 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 habitual theater goer.
 Not only must the actor be possessed of no small amount of histrionic talent, but he must often call in 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 in two places at one and the same time. For in nearly every play of such a character it is well nigh impossible for the author so to arrange his piece that 
 be on the stage with his double.
 Any one who has been to see "The Prisoner of Zenda" performed at the St. James theater, must have marveled at the lightning celerity with which MT. George Alexander, a 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. Then, to every one's surprise, the supine body of the king was carried in so that to all appearances MT. Alexander was gazing upon his own person. In reality, of course, it was merely lightning change, and the understudy had to be requisitioned 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 a taste of his wonderful talent.
 In the first act-to give a slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis, killed in a duel by a certain Chateau Renaud in the forest of Fontaine bleau, 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. He 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 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- wilderment of tEe beholders.
 Neither is the "Corsican Brothers" the only play in which Irving has con- trived to take a double part and yet nonplus the audience by the adFoitness of his metamorphosis.
 Those who are familiar with the "Lyons Mail' will doubtless romem- Der the most telling scene ill 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-whose likeness to the real murderer has brought him to such terrible pass-an expression of horrible glee upon his face, clapping 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 tLe villainous face of the real murderer at the attic window. The door of the room is bat. tered in.. Behind it stands Dubosc. 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 oper inward, thus shutting Irving -DubosC from view of the auditorium. In mo ment he slips through a trap. Hi |
 unoeremoniously by the crowd of ''su f pers," whose duty it is also to concea
 the mans face in case the fraud should
 be discovered. Irving -Lesurques car hen come on in his new role. But an actor has been known to play two parts without the assistance of { ) dummy.
 In a certain play it was the duty O 3 the hero to leap out of the window O
 his room and to enter from door on tht
 opposite side of the stage clad in differ
 ent clothes, though otherwise the same This, however, was juggling pur and simple. The actor dropped into hi second dress in much the same way a an American fireman is reputed t 5 jump into his uniform. The costum P consisted of but one piece with paten
 fastening down the back, and as b leaped through the window frame h : leaped into his clothes, which, so t
 speak, shut behind him and left him re habilitated.
 6 Neither is the part of the understand one to be given to any ordinary "super' l from the mass of warriors, countrymel q and the like that go to make up a stag
 crowd. He must be possessed of n slight amount of adaptability and smart ness to enable his principal to go throug his arduous task without a hitch. = g Pearson g Weekly.
 e The two principal German fortresse on the Baltic sea are at Konigsburg an Dantzic. Central Germany has thre
 first class fortresses, Spandau, Magde : burg and Kustrin; on the French iron , tier, Metz and Strasburg, and on tn Belgian frontier, Cologne and Coblenz
 The serpent's Sight. There is tradition ill many parts c Europe that when a serpent's sigh grows dim with age he eats fennel an
 thus regains his vision