Show I STAGE FRIGHT OFTEN FATAL I New York Physician Citss Examples i I of His Own Experience Of all the many ills to which theatrical I thea-trical flesh is heir to said an Qld physician phy-sician who has a large clientele of I actors to a New York Telegraph reporter re-porter the worst js stage fright This I is nothing le s than a species of heart i I I I disease induced by the nervous dread i i j that ones performance may lYOt be successful suc-cessful This naturally attacks < begin gilttrs ripreTCfteH han the olH stairs I land Set hi taie < s < are by no jnqaji I I I Isofkfro whtre death has been brbughT about through its evils even in the case i of old timers I Perhaps however the most peculiar instance of alL vas > that of the veteran performer wljohaql gone ihroug thirty years of stagy work without experiencing experienc-ing this malady One iiiglit however he confided to a fellow player that a I quite unaccountable nervousness had suddenly taken hold of him and that he did not think he could ever act againHis I His comrade laughed at the > nand n-and urged him to go on as usual but his astonishment may well be conceived I when the poor old player went on the stage and after making several vain efforts to speak fell hack and expired I The doctor who made the post mortem examination stated that death was due I to failure of the hearts action evidently evident-ly I induced by the presence of an attack of stage fright i Death is by no means an infrequent end to tHe trouble and more than one aFein myown practice has ended fatally fa-tally It is not always the person whose heart is already affected who I suffers the most either for I recall one I I case some years ago where a young I isvomani whosjj heart I knew to be perfectly I per-fectly normal made her professional debut in this city While standing in I 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 I her signal for entrance did she 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 ben 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 hall dune at rehearsal i At the close of her scene she came off the stage staggered to her dressing I room and sank unconscious to the floor She never recovered from her coma and an autonsy developed the fact that he had died of heart < disease tiiough I had examined her shortly bcfove and could find no trace of cardiac affection Several standard authorities quote the ease 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 upon up-on brandy andgiven encouragement by I those on the stage with him but no sooner had he stepped upon the stage than he clapned 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 it One curious case was told me not 10nl alo IH onE of fhp nJ < n < t Bloomingdale I A young man a member mem-ber of a colltgt dramatic club was brought there for treatment He had been cast for a part in the spring production pro-duction and this extra study added to I the regular studies imposed by the col I legiate course caused something to I I give way On the occasion of the dress I rehearsal it was found that he could i not remember a line of his part and thisso worried him that he broke down I and was brought here For several weeks he could not I I speak an intelligent sentence and then j suddenly his part cam back to him and ho could pro throucrh it cues and j all without a break For smother full week he kept 1 going through the lines f ofhispart r and then developeda severe I attack of brain fever from which he t qame put perfectly rational but oddly enough with absolutely no memory < of the lines of the play in question The excitement caused by stage fright is a most curious thing and did the opjsontunity presentjl should like 4Lo write a trcfatise on the subject fbPit is a fascinating one but I am kepttoo busy patching up the troubles that exist ex-ist to write of the troubles which have I existed |