Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-12-17
PLAYING TWO PARTS.
INSTANCES W WHICH AN ACTOR t.As
 eEEh 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--. ls not an undertaking which many ao. tors care to attempt It Is only the ex- perlenced 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 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. ite Is performing the impossible feat Of belng In two places at one and the sama time. For in nearly every play of such a character it is well nigh impossible for the author 30 to arrange his piece that the actor nay never be called upon to Do on the stage with his double.
 Any One who has been to see "Ths PrisonerW zenda" performed at the Ss. James theater, must have marveled at the lightning eeler1Gy with which MT. George Alexander, moment before ths drunken king of Ruritania, suddenly, as by some act of witehcraft, reappeared as Rudolf Rassendyll, clad in the erdi- 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, 1t was merely lightning change, and the understudy had to be Fequisitioned 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 aet-to give slight re- sume of the play-the ghost of Louis, killed ill duel by certain Chateau Renaud i'll the forest If Fentainebleau. 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 Fabten 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 and falls to the ground, Then suddenly the ghost of Louis ap. pears, and, to personate tho 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? Tho 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 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 tie beholders.
 Neither is the "Corsican Brothers" the only play ill which Irving has con- trived to take double part and yet nonplus the audience by tho adroitnes of his metamorphosis.
 Those who are familiar with the
 Lyons Mail'' will doubtless remem- bor the most telling sceno in the play. Here Dubosc, the murderer, is in an attic, gazing down upon the prepara- tions being made for the execution cS the innocent Lesurques-whose likeness to the real murderer has brought him to such terrible pass-an expression of horrible glee upon his face, elapplng his hands as he sees the apparently doomed man step forward to his death
 But his exultation is premature. Le- surques is reprieved, and tho 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 coo.ly 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 mo- ment he slips through trap. His "double" takes his place, to be hustled unceremoniously by tho crowd of Hsu- pers, "'whose duty it is also to conaea! the mans face in case tho 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 dummy.
 In a 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 VAS juggling pure and simple The actor dropped into his second dress i'll much the samo way as all American fireman is reputed to jump into his uniform. The costume consisted of but one piece with a patent fastening down tho back, and as he Ieapod through the window frame be leapea into his clothes, which, so k 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 tho mass of warriors, countrymen and the like that go to make up stage crowd. He must be possessed of no sf;oht o,nounf of adaDtahility and smart.