The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1897-02-22
SHE LIKES DEATH SCENES.
Viola Allen, the Actress, Says They ArS
a Fascination to Her.

viola Allen the Actress says They ArG
a Fascination to Her.
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.
There is something fascinating to
me, " she said, in death scene. If
the actress has to fall to the ground
in a death agony, she must be care
full that she does not perform the
feat as though She were Il clasp knife
folded up. Then, again, she must
cultivate breathing, so that she may
seem not to be breathing at all
Nothing is more ridiculous than the
spectacle presented by supposed
corpse whose chest is heaving vio-
lently in consequence of the emo
ton attendant upon falling.
I remember III 'Virginius' | was
stabbed and fell backward to the
ground The blow made me gasp.
Gradually my limbs became rigid,
and fell at the moment the spark
of life was supposed to have left my
body. | used to remain motionless
with my mouth and eyes open. My
authority for such action and subse-
quent pose is the strongest. / was
the witness of just such a tragedy in
real life The only pain / eXpe-
rienced 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 in 'Othello' with
Tomaso Salvini, l was always nerv-
Gus during the smothering scene,
because the Italian tragedian used
to get extremely excited. / would
turn my face sideways and hold a
small space open under the farther
side of the pillow, SO that / could
breathe, but even that breathing
hole would frequently get closed I'M
der Salvini' 5 forceful energy.
''Then, when he had found that
he had killed Desdemona without
cause, in his remorse he would
throw himself heavily upon the
body. / used to wait for this piece
of business as one would wait for a
locomotive about TO project itself
upon the waistband.
'As Juliet, l have died many
times Romeo, you know, drinks
the poison and subsequently throws
the vial away as Juliet approaches
him; then, seeing him die, stabs
herself and falls over him. At one
theater the property man, thinking
poison should he represented by
some black liquid, filled the vial
with ink As Romeo made merely
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 some.
where near Juliet, and the ink flew
all over my face and the lovely
sion, you may be sure, the life oi
Juliet was ended with the least pos
sible delay.
In La Charbonniere' the heroin,
dies a slow death by poison. II
this case took special care to fine
out the right poison that should b,
mentioned in the piece as the on
that would cause a slow numbin.
of the senses.
Death by starvation is by nt
means jolly. As jess in Hood
man, | have had to make believe
would give my life for a doughnut
In this play my death occurred
while | was reclining ON my side
well down the stage toward tn,
footlights. This was quite often al
awkward situation, because of tn,
different curtains at the variou
theaters. Now and then, to avoi,
my being struck by the curtain, tn
hero would be obliged to draw IN,
body back, and once, though a MAJ
put out his hand to keep the curtain
from touching me, the heavy mas
actually grazed my nose. ''-Bostol
Globe.