Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-08-08
TRICKS ON ACTORS
ARE PLAYED SOMETIMES BY
FAULTY MEMORIES.
PARTS WHOLLY FORGOTTEN
And Cues Come From Audience
Embarrassing Times for Players as
Well as OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
in Operas Not Very Frequent
Some Experiences.

''Its about the most embarrassing
thing that can happen to one," recent
ly declared a well-known actor when
referring to momentary lapses of
memory on the stage.
Some players" he continued, "are
peculiarly liable to forget their words,
and personally the longer | have been
playing one character the more prone
am l to run off the line You see,
you, as it were, get to know the words
too well; they are so familiar that
they fail to claim your attention, and
then, one night, before you are aware
of it, memory fails and you find your
self staring at your audience speech
less.
"A tragediau told me a rather
peculiar story as to breakdown that
happened to himself In the middle,
of one of his speeches a lady dressed
in bright red came into the stalls, and
watching the patch of brilliant color,
the actor forgot his words. The
next evening kind of terror seized
upon him lest someone in red should
again take a seat and he repeat mis-
previous nights unfortunate perform
ance. So strong had his feeling be-
come that, after three or four nights,
that man actually bought his wife a
bright red dress and got her to sit in
the stalls, so that he might overcome
his apprehension.
Another man l know plays in
musical comedy. He never forgets the
lines of his spoken parts, but often
makes a slip in song. He comes TO
the end of line, and can recs i moth
ing but the beginning of the next
verse, and he has to stop the orches-
ira and begin over again. Some
singers, when in this predicament,
just sing on Ium-ti-tum' to the tune
till the words come back. Some have
told me that having once been at sea
with their words they are sure, out of
nervousness, to make another slip the
same evening. They are so anxious
to avoid another mistake that their
minds can think of nothing but that
they must remember their words.
In singing, the tune, of course, assists
you to remember the lines.
"As you know, the prompter usually
comes to the rescue of the player so
stranded. But occasionally that Of
fetal is not at his post, and then the
man on the stage has to wrestle with
his brains. Sometimes one of the
company will, perhaps, very audibly,
supply the omission. While some
players when they break down resume
as best they can and take no notice of
the mishap, others gag or take the
audience into their confidence. Said
one over the footlights: Now, these
are just the very words I thought l
should forget. The gas man called as
| was learning them Another on COM
ing to one of these awkward full stops
said: Pardon me. please; I was
thinking whether there was enough of
that cold chop to do for supper and
quite forgot my words. These things
sound poor enough to relate, but at the
same time they go well enough.
lone singer who broke down said:
Look here. Well get over that diff
ficulty by dropping the verse slto-
gether. You'll still get your moneys
worth, for I'll sing the last verse
twice There is one little trick that
usually goes down WELL The singer
has failed and has had to appeal to
the prompter. When he finishes his
song he darts off and drags on the
rompter-probably in his shirt |
share in the applause, |
which is usually quite enthusiastic. |
An actress on one occasion broke |
down when the prompter was not at |
his post. To her surprise lady sit
ting in the front row of the stall lean
ed forward and gave the desired cue. |
She had herself played the part as an
amateur
well, as most players keep their
memories in hand, as may say, some
peculiar things have happened. In
one play an actor doubled two parts.
He was an old man in the prolog, and
a young one later on, and in each he
had a longish speech to make. These
speeches he was always attempting to
transpose, and one night he got out
some four or five lines of the wrong