The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-15
MARY DEAN
STAGE FRIGHT OFTEN FATAL.
New York Physician Cites Examples
of His Own Experfence.


"Of all the many ills to which thea
/ trical flesh is heir TO" said an old ply.
stefan who has a large clientele OF
actors to a New York Telegraph re-
( porter 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 the old sta gers
! and set instances a.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 thirty
years Of stage work without experience
ing this malady. One night however,
he confided to a fellow player that a
quite unaccountable 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 we'll be conceived
when the POOR old player went on the
stage, and after making several vain
efforts to speak. fell back and expired
The doctor who made the post norton
examination stated that death was due
to failure of the hearts action, evident
" 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 a young
woman, whose heart knew to be per-
fecly 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 these 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
At the close of her scene she came off
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 I
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 theatre on the night
of his debut in a state bordering on
nervous prostration. He was braced up
on brandy and given encouragement by
those on the stage with him. but no
sooner had he stepped upon the stage
than he clapDed his hand upon his
heart and fell dead. The excitement
had ruDtured the valves of his heart
and he had ended his career as he was
about to begin it.
One curious case was told me not
long ago by one of the physicians at
Bloomingdale. young man. a mem
Der of a cole 81 dramatic club. was
brought there for treatment He had
been cast for part in the spring pro-
ducton. and this extra study, added to
the regular studies imposed by the col
legiate course. caused something 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 az intelligent sentence, and then
his part came back to him |
and he could go THROUGH it. cues and I
all, without a break For another full |
week he kept going through the lines
IF his part, and then developed a severe