Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-12-06
PLAYING TWO PARTS
INSTANCES w WHICH AN ACTOR HAS
 BEEN TWO MEN AT ONCE.

CTS. and the sLyons Maif' Are Plays tz
 Which It Is Necessary For the stss e
 Make These Quick Changes.
 To be able to play two parts in the same pieoe--to 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 habitual theater goer.
 Not only must the actor be possessed of no small amount of histrionic talent, but he must often call ill the aid of an understudy, whose duty it is to gull the onlooBer into the belief that their favor ite is performing the impossible feat of being in two places at one and the same time. For ill nearly every play of such a character it is we'll nigh impossible for the author so to arrange his piece that the actor may never be called upon to bo 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 oelerity with which MT. George Alexander, 6 moment before the drunken king Of Ruritania, suddenly, as by some act of witehcraft, 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 l 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 requisitioned to supply the person of the king
 A more famous case of double imper- senation, however, is that of "The Ger siean Brothers,' the first play perhaps in which Sir Henry Irving gave us 8 taste of his wonderful talent.
 In the first aet-to give Q slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis. killed in duel by certain Chateau Renaud in the forest of Fontainebleau. appears to Fabien, his brother. The seo- 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 Fabiep who Is once moro before us, who has constituted himself the avenger of his brothers death. He meets Chateau Renaud and demands satisfaction. Re maud is wersted and falls to the ground, Then suddenly the ghost of Louis ap- pears, and, to persenate 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 l patatively simple: Irving stepped be- hind property" tree. His double" instantly filled his place, taking good caro not to face the audience when 1t 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 tho "Corsican Brothers" the only play in which Irving has con- trived to take double part and yet nonplus the audience by the adroitness of his metamerphosis.
 Those who are familiar with the ''Lyons Mail' will doubtless remem- Der the most telling scene in tho play. Here Dubosc, the murderer, is in an 1 attic, gazing down upon the prepara- tions being made for the execution of 1 the innocent Lesurques-whose likeness to the real murderer has brought him to such a 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 the 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 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 unceremoniously by the crowd of "su- pers, :" whose duty it is also to conceal the mans face in case the fraud should be discovered. Irving-Lesurques can hen come on ill 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 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 in much tho same way as sn American fireman is reputed to jump into his uniform. The costume consisted of but one piece with a patent fastening down the back, and as he leaped through the window frame he leaped into his clothes, which, so to | speak, shut behind him and left him re- | habilitated.
 Neither is the part of the understudy one to be given to any ordinary super from the mass of warriors, countrymeu and the like that go to make up stage crowd. He must be possessed of nc slight amount of adaptability and smart l &rNo Ia E.s Al.