Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-10-16
PLAYING TWO PARTS.
INSTANCES IN WHICH AN ACTOR HAS
 BEEN TWO MEN AT ONCE.

@'1N I tA0AiI1 FA faSAANFA3 NGtafGtAEk 4NA6EfAH
 erse and the "Egons Nfail@ Are Plays in
 Which It Is Necessary For the Star to
 Make These Qniek Changes.
 To be able to play two parts in the same pieee--to portray, perhaps two characters of totally different eahber- is not an undertaking which many ac- tors care 10 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 ele3 without an efforI. there are many more difficulties in his path than meet the eye of the habituai theater goer.
 Not only must the actor De possessed of no small amount or histIionie talent, but he must often call i'll the hid of an understudy, whose duty it is 10 gull the onloeker into the belief that their favor ite Is performing the impossible feat of being l a tive places at one and the same Iime For ill nearly every play of such Q character it Is well nigh impossible for the author so te arrange his piece that tAAN stNARA may AIOfAA AN StttkGNA dtOtA tl be on the stage with his Gouble.
 Any one who has been to see "The Prisoner of Xenda performed at the St. James theater, must have malyeled at the lightning celerity with which MT George Alexander, moment before the drunken king of Kuritania, suddenly as by some actof witehcfaft. reappeared as Rudolf Rassendyll. clad in the ordi- nary costume of tEe English tourist Then, to every ones surprise the supine body of the king waj carried in 70 that to all appearances Mr Alexander was gazing upon his OWL person. In reality. of course, il was merely I lightning change. and the uHaGstudg had to be requisitionel 10 supFiy tie person of the king
 \ more famous eate of doube imper- sonation, howevtr, i3 that of 4'he Cor sican Brothers, the 1lst play perhaps in which Sir Henry Irglng gave Us taste of his wonderful jaleEt
 In the first aet--te give q slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis Filled in duel ty a certain Chateau Remand in the forest of FoHtainebleau, appears t0 fabien, his brother. The sec ond act takes Gs to Paris, and through varied incident 10 the death of Louis Here Irving was Louis
 h the thifd act, however it is Fabien who is onca more before us. who has constituted himself the avenger of his brothers death. He meets Chateau Renaud and demands satisfaction Re maud is worsted aud 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 staad 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 paratiyely simple: Irving stepped be- hind property" tree. His double instantly filled his place, taking good care ree to face the audience when il was ute.s say for him to confront the ghost. nencp tine lightning change from mortal 10 spirit and the resultant be- wilderment of tke beholdcrs
 Neither k the Corsican Brothers the only play ill which Irving has con. triyed to take double part and yet nonplus the audience by the adIoitncss of his metamorphosis.
 Those who are familiar with fine Lyons Mail" will doubtless remem- Der the most telling scene in the play Here Dnbosc, the murderer, is in an attic gazing down uron the propara tions being made for the execution c the innocent Lesurque1 whose Hkcucss to the real murderer has brought him to such il terrible pass--an expression of horrible glee upon hls face, clapping his hands as he sees the apparently doomed man step forward to nis death
 But his exultation is premGturo Ie. sarques is rep1ievei, and the crowd suddenly catches sieat of the villainoua faca of the real murderer at the attic window The door of the room is bat tered i'll. Behind il stands Dubosc The wretch is dragged from his refuge and as they do so Irving Iesurques coolly walks in upon the scene of turmoil
 4ue tsytL u tllC dttlc lS Ui@to kt OptI inward thus shutting Irving .Ilubosc from view of the auditorium. lu q mo. ment he slips through a trap His double" takes his place, to Dc hustled uneeremoniously by the crowd of "su peIs, whose duty it is also to conceal the man face iu case the fraud saould be discovered. Irving Lesurques can heu como on in his new role
 But an actor has been known to play two parts without the assistance of dummy.
 In certain play II was the duty of the hero te leap out uf the window of ais room and to enter fedin q door on the opposite side of the stage clad in differ. ent clothes, though otherwise the same.
 This, however, was juggling pure and simple The actor dropped into his second dress ill much the s,aue way as an American fireman Is sepnted to jump into his uniform The costume consisted of but one piece witi patent fastening down the back, and us he