PERILS OF THE STAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 497, 29 October 1928, Page 11

PERILS OF THE STAGE

ARTISTS WHO DEFY DANGER Two recent theatre disasters, when the “Human Cannon Ball” ended his spectacular act with a broken leg, and the ill-fated acrobat, “The Ape Man. crashed to his death among his audience after falling from his trapeze, remind the public of the dangers and risks taken by the intrepid stage folk whose task it is to amuse them. Behind all the colour and glamour of the stage, the humming orchestras, the clowns’ grimaces, and the acrobats’ dare-devil feats, there is often a grim risking of life in order to gain applause and bring the crowds to the box offices. While a great audience was enjoying a vivid presentation of “Carmen” one of the actors lost his eye in a too realistic piece of dagger play. In another theatre at Padua, the leading lady of a musical comedy died of heart failure on the stage. One of the world's most famous animal mimics, the late Charles Laurie, was once keeping a large audience choking with laughter. Swooping down from the top of a rope upon which he had oeeu perched, lie reached the stage and hurried off into the wjngs. His turn was apparently over. The brave actor had been fighting illness the whole time. As soon as he was off the stage he fell dead behind the scenery, all unknown to the still laughing crowds.