What Are "Death Tails"?

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 52

What Are "Death Tails"?

"There are certain stage secrets which the public are never allowed to know," eaid an actor lately. "So jealously are these guarded that dramatic tutors absolutely ie*\He to teach them to their own pupils unless such are bona fide members of the theatrical profession. Among these wrinkles are the methods of preventing concussion in ' stage falls.' "The chief secret, quite unknown to amateurs, lies in the trick ktiown as ' inflating' — i.e., inhaling, while falling, a deep inspiration of air, which enormously decreases the body's weight. Sarah Berulurdt, Sir Henry Irving, and Mr Beerbohm Tree all infUte; and no artiste could oiherwiae fall nightly for hundreds of paiformancos without serious injury. So essential is this inflation that in a forthcoming drama, in which an actor has to fall from a housetop to the solid stage floor, he will wear under his costume a complete suit of rubber, iufltted with hydrogen gas, a contrivance recently invented. "Few people, by tho way, are aware that there are in London several actors who have actually had opportunies of studying 'falls' from soldiers shot through the heart or head upon the battlefield. One is especially prominent, whose realistic ' death falls' are the result of his observations in hot action in the Soudan and Zululaud. Mr Charles Wyndham, too, when acting as a surgeon with one of tbe ! Confederate armies during the American War of Secession; and Mr Charles Colletre, who held a commission in tha • Prince of Wales's' 3rd Dragoon Gu&ids, have witnessed many impressive scenes; while Mr Pennington, a hero of the famous Balaclava charge, Mr Charles Kenningham, who went through tho Ashantee" ; and Afghan wars, and M. Cuquelin the elder, who, with the late M. Mariu', fought for France in the Franco Prussian War, have since utilised their experiences on the stage."