Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-11-03
STAGE FRIGHT FATAL
MANY GASES WHERE IT BROUGHT
DEATH TO THE VICTIM.
The Affection Is Not Confined to Beginners
Before the Footlishts. but Has Been Known
to Attack Players Of Experience.

atrical flesh Is heir" said an old ply
sician who has a large clientele of &C
tors, "the worst is stage fright. This
is nothing less than species OF heart
disease, induced by the nervous dread
that ones performance may not be
successful. This naturally attacks be-
ginners 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 pecu-
liar instance OF all was that of the vet
eran performer who had gone through
80 years of stage work without exper.
iencing this malady. One night, how
ever, he confided to q fellow player
that a quite unaccountable nervous
ness 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 60 on, as usual, but
his astonishment may we'll be con-
ceived when the poor old player went
on the stage and, after making several
vain efforts to speak, fell back and ex-
pired. The doctor who made the post
mortem examination stated that death
was due to failure of the hearts ac-
ton, evidently induced by the pres
ence of an attack of stage fright.
death is by no means an infre-
quep. end to the trouble, and more
than one case in my own practice has
ended fatally. 1t is not always the
person whose heart is already affected
who suffers the most, either, for re-
call one case same years ago where a
young woman whose heart l knew to
be perfectly normal made her profess
sional 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
sne 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.
"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 l had examined her shortly be-
fore 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.
"One curious case was told me not
long ago by one of the physicians at
Bloomingdale. A young man, a men,
Der of q college dramatic club, was
brought there for treatment. He had
been cast for part in the spring pro.
duction, 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 it was found that 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
speak an intelligent sentence, and
then suddenly his part came back to
him, and he could 60 through it, cues
and all. without 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, l 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"
- -
If the Prussian conscription were
applied to India. England would
have 100000 regular soldiers ac
tually in barracks, with SOO,OOO re-
cruits coming up every year.