The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-21

WHEN STAR is ILL
Then the Unknown Understudy
Has a Chance to Shine.
Has Been as Carefully RehearS-
ed as the Principal.
MISS WALSH CALLED.
On a Moments Notice Took the
Leading Role.
How Edwin Booth Rose from an
Unimportant Part.
WALSH CALLED.

Wander into the New Amsterdam
Eheater any morning about II O'Clock,
and you can get a new perspective on
things theatrical, says Adolph Klauber
writing from New York. Past the pic
tured likenesses of the all-star cast
aIIuringIy exhibited in the lobby,
through the gloomy auditorium to a
position near the stage, there COMES
into view company Of actors active
~ engaged in the tedious preparation
of a stage play. You recall the fact
that it is late in the season; that no
new plays are scheduled for early
production. You note, too, that the
man VINO is heroically taking a, stand
in defense of a weeping young woman,
IN the plainest of street attire, is not
kyrle Bellew, but some one whose face
is strange and reveals not the classic
outline associated with the handsome
De Vaudry you saw the night before.
For It is The Two Orphans" that is in
rehearsal, and these are the under
studies.
William Seymour, general stage
manager for Charles Frohman, who
also made the production of The Two
Orphans" for A. NJ. Palmer, and who
rehearses the understudies for that
production every day, was in a remi~
niscent mood the other morning when
the subject was preached to him.
The understudy has come to be an
exceedingly important actor in modern
theatricalS." he said. I'VE nave an
understudv for every member of The
Two Orphans cast, but so far it has
been necessary to call into actual ser
vice only one of the number. Grace
George was i'll a few nights ago, and
the understudy took her place. In en-
gaging the young people for small and
incorporating roles in The Two
Orphans cast we considered this I'm
derstudy question very seriously. Girls
Il
and who simply help to fill in the pic
ture, were engaged largely because
they seemed to provide what would be
available timber in case they were
needed. I rehearse them regularly, and
they enter into their work with en-
thusiasm.
DO / think that understanding Of
fers any advantage to young players
] certainly do. In many instances
these Young people reveal talents al
understudy rehearsaIs which no one
ever suspected them of having Some
times, merely by their aptnesS IN 1n1-
tating the principals, though in rare
instances I have known underStud1es
to develop original business in a part
which was afterward adopted and
proved exceedingly effective. Need
less to say, when we find person
capable of doing that sort of thing we
keep our eyes on their subsequent
careers
Charles Frohman has so many
companies that it is occasionally pos
sible to make place for promising
boy or girl, whose ability has only
been made patent at the understudy
reh earsal.
"Our invariable rule for under
studies is that they must be present at
all rehearsals, and each night and on
matinee days they are expected to re-
port at the theater and wait until
every one of the regular cast has ar
rived Then they are allowed to de-
part. It is no unusual thing for an
actor or actress to be engaged to study
several people in a cast. Thus a girl
will be UP in all the female parts,
ready to assume any one when it be-
comes necessary. And during a try
ing winter such as the one just pass
ed, their services are apt to prove ex-
ceedingly valuable.
Sometimes Save a Play.
Speaking of substitutions,' con-
tinued Mr.. Seymour, reminds me of
an experience of my own, which oc-
CURED in Brooklyn just before the big
fire. Ben De Bar was booked for his
first appearance in the east as 'Fal-
staff'-an extremely important occa-
sion for him, by the way. Harry
Murdoch was to play Hal and /
being the walking gent of the COM
pany, had been intrusted with the role
Of 'POins.' Well, while he was dress
ing to go on, Murdoch was suddenly
taken i'll There was CONSERVATION
YOU may be sure. It was a pretty
serious business for De Bar, as YOU
can readily imagine, for his reputation
was at stake, for, no matter how good
an actor is, his own merits will be
more or less affected by the genera
performance. Murdoch did his best
to pull up before the curtain rose, but
it was no use. He was not able tc
lift his head. AS a last resort 1 was
told to go on and read the part Of
Hal and Henry Lusk, a minor actor
"a the cast read the part of 'Poins.