The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-09-26
BTAGE FRIGHT FATAL
MANY CASES WHERE IT BROUGHT
DEATH TO THE VICTIM.

The Affection Is Not Confined to Be
gfnners Before the FoOtlights, but
Has Been Known to Attack Players
of Experience.
"Of all the many Ills to which the
atrical flesh is heir" said an old
physician who has q large clientele of
actors, ''the worst is stage fright. This
is nothing less than a species of heart
disease, induced by the nervous dread
that ones performance may not be sue
cessful This naturally attacks begin
ners more often than old stagers, and
yet instances are by no means isolated
where death has been brought about
through its evils, even In the case of
old timers.
Perhaps, however, the most peculiar
instance Of all was that Of the veteran
performer who had gone through 30
years of stage work without experience
ing this malady. One night, however,
he confded to a fellow player that a
quite unaecountabIe nervousness had
suddenly taken hold of him and that
he did not think he could ever act
again.
His comrade laughed at the notion
and urged him to go on, as usual, but
his establishment may well be con-
ceived when the poor old player went
on the stage and, after making several
vain efforts to speak, fell back and ex-
II
mortem examination stated that deaCh
was due to failure of the hearts action,
evidently induced by the presence Of
an attack Of stage fright.
Death is by no means an infrequent
end to the trouble, and more than one
case in my own practice has ended IA
tally. 1t is not always the person whose
heart Is already affected who suffers
the most, either. for recall one case
some years ago where young woman
whose heart I knew to be perfectly
normal made her professional debut in
this city. While standing in the wings
awaiting her first cue she was seized
with an attack of stage fright and
trembled violently.
Not till she heard the line spoken
which was her signal for entrance did
she make any effort at recovery, and
then, to the surprise of those who
were trying to get her in shape, she
braced up and went on the stage as
though she had been on the boards
for years. She went through her part
mechanically and without apparent
consciousness of her actions, but she
played the scene better than she had
done at rehearsal.
cat the close of her scene she came
on the stage, staggered to her dressing
room and sank unconscious to the
floor. She never recovered from her
coma, and an autopsy developed the
fact that she had died of heart disease,
though l had examined her shortly
before and could find no trace of
cardiac affection.
Several standard authorities quote
the case Of a young English aspirant
who came to the theater on the night
Of his debut in a state bordering on
nervous prostration. He was braced
up on brandy and given encourage
ment by those on the stage with him,
but no sooner had he stepped upon the
stage than he clapped his hand upon
his heart and fell dead. The excite
ment had ruptured the valves of his
heart, and he had ended his career as
he was about to begin it,
zone curious case was told me not
long ago by one of the physicians at
Bloomingdale A young man, a mem
Der of college dramatic club, was
brought there for treatment He had
been cast for part In the spring
production, and this extra study, add
ed to the regular studies imposed by
the collegiate course, caused some
thing to give way. On, the occasion
of the dress rehearsal it was found
that he could not remember a line of
his part, and this so worried him that
he broke down and was brought here.
"For several weeks he could not
speak an intelligent sentence, and
then suddenly his part came back to
him, and he could go through it, cues
and all, without a break. For another
full week he kept going through the
lines of his part, and then developed a
severe attack Of brain fever, from
which he came, out perfectly rational,
but, oddly enough, with absolutely NO
memory of the lines Of the play in
question.
The excitement caused by stage
fright is most curious thing, and did
the opportunity present, 1 should like
to write treatise on the subject, for
it is fascinating one, but am kept
too busy patching up the troubles that
exist to write of the troubles which
have existed. New York Telegraph.