The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-26
STAGE FRIGHT FATAL.
New York Physician cites Examples
of His own Experience.
From the New York Telegraph.

OF HIS OWN experience
From the New York Telegraph.
"Of all the many Ills to which Theatrical
flesh is heir to-" said an Old physician who
has 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 successful. This naturally
attacks beginners more often than the
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 thirty
years of stage work without experiencing
this malady. One night. however he con-
fded to a fel.owplayer that a quite I'M
accountable nervousness had suddenly
taken hold of him, aud 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 conceived
when the poor old player went on the
stage and after making several vain et-
forts to speak, fell back and expired The
doctor who made the pOst-mortem eX-
| animation stated that death was due to
0
| failure Of the hearts action, evidently in
| duced by the presence of an attack of
stage fright.
Death is by no means an lnfrequent
! 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 l recall one case some
! years ago where young woman whose
heart knew 10 he perfectly normal made
| her profess oual 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 sur
| prise 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 play
| ed the scene better than she had done
! at rehearsal. Al the close of her scene
! she came off the stage, staggered to her
! dressing room, and sank unconscious a.
the floor. She never recovered from her
coma. and an autopsy developed the fact
| that she had died of heart disease, though
| / had examined her shortly before and
could find no trace of cardlas affection.
Several standard authorities quote the
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 encouragement by those on the
stage with him, but no sooner had be
stepped upon the stage that ne clappel
| his hand upon his heart and fell dead
The excitement had ruptured the valves
of his heart, and he had ended his career
as he was about to begin 1t.
zone curious case was told me not long
ago by one of the physicians at Bloom
ingdale. A young man, a member Of @
colleg dramatic club was brought there
for treatment He had been cast for 4
part in the spring production, and this
extra study, added to the regular studies
| imposed by the collegiate course, caused
something to give way. On the occasion
of the dress rehearsal 1t was found thai
he could not remember line of his part
and this so worried him that he broke
down and was brought here.
For several weeks he could not speap
an intelligent sentence. and then sud
could go through it, cues and all. without
a break. For another full week he KEEP
going through the lines Of his part anC
then developed a sever attack of brair
fever, from which he came out perfectly
rational, but oddly enough, with abso
lutely no memory Of the lines Of the play
I'm question.
"The excitement caused by stage frigh
Is a most curious thing, and did the op
portunity present 1 should Ike to writ
a treatise on the subject, for 1t is a 1as
cinating one, but ] am kept too bus!
patching up the troubles that exist 4
write OF the troubles which have ex
listed"