Arizona republican., 1898-02-07
HE DAMNED THE DOOR.
Scme. Actors Recall Reminiscent c-s of
 of Long Runs of Plays.

Of Long Runs Of P1ayS.
 Several actors after a perf0rmi nee last week were discussing the o.d time long runs of plays and the effect which the multiplication of rope, ition has upon the performers. One who was prese n,t said: Joe Jefferson played Rip so often ihat he feared his mind would give way. He had the play rewritten twice Hnd the 'bus.- ness considerably revised in order to give variety to his nightly task. He would forget the lines, tra spose' them and sometimes speak the words and make all the gestures in purely me chanical way. Al the end not know ing a word he had said. Fi2nlly he broke away from the spell and in creased his repertory by the addition of Cricket on the Hearth Lend Me Five Shillings' and The Riva S."
 "Yes," said another, Frank Mayo was the same wny with fDavy Crock ett.' He tried to vary she bills by g.v- ing Hamlet and The Three Guards men, but he was no, so fortunate as MT. Jefferson, and the pubic would only have him in the part of the gal lant backwOodsman. James O'Neil experienced the snme difficulty with Nome Cristo,' which he played for so many years. After he had played the part for several seasons it was notfc ed that his playing, motions and artic- ulation were purely mechanical. He went through the scenes in the dazed ma nner of a man under the influence of drugs or hypnotism. His enunci ation became jerky and some ines al most unintelligible.
 ''On one occasion out west after he had played the part cons ;antly for four or five years his dresser came to him after the third act O'Neil look ed at him in surprise and said: You've made mistake. Ina is the COS ume for the third act. What I want is the- second act costume' He did not know that he had gone through all the trying scenes of the second act. He had no recollection of doing So and sthe dresser had to bring in some other members of the company to persuade the star which act was jus. about to be played"
 ''I remember the thnee years run of Hazel Kirke' at the Madison Square theater,' said a listener, "and I know what an effort the members of the original c2st had to make to remember their lines after the frs year. Fife Elisler told me that un- less she concentrated her thought up- on something foreign to the play she would forget her lines and break down. She would consequently pick out woman in the audience and fix her mind upon that woman's costume, inspecting it minmtely and telling herself where the woman bought it., under what circums ances she got 1t and how it was made. By doing this she managed to stick closely to her Mines, although she and Couldock, Whiffin and the rest often went far as5ray on the words of Steele Mack aye, only coming back to what he had really sat down when they approach ed the cues which they gave their associates.
 "Couldoclz, toward the end of his enga cement in this play, became very irritable and the whole company had to coddle the old actor in every way to keep him in good humor. On one occasion when as the aged and iblind Dunstan Kirke he wais in the middle of a most pathetic scene, a little dog belonging to Miss Elisler ran, upon the scene and began playfully to pull at :Couldock's shoes. The old ac .chr turn ed around and without dropping the character of his lines for a moment, kicked the dog into the wings An other time when the heartbroken and blind father alone in the house hears outside the voice of the child he has cursed and driven from the house, and he goes about groping for the door by which he would let her in, he did not find the door where it had been, a new scene being used on that evening and the play proceeded some thing like this:
 Hazel outside)-Father, father! "Dunstan (groping along the walD- Me girls voice-me che-ild. Where is me che-ild-
 Hazel (as before)-Father!
 "Dunstan (still groping)-Tm com ling, me little che-ild. I'm coming, if il can ever find this damned door!'- Chicago Chronicle.